are sufficiently scalable for most network functions where logic is employed. NFV-related work accelerated when a group of network operators collaborated with each other on requirements establishing a study group under the auspices of the European Standards Institute (ETSI). This group was established in November 2012 and quickly gathered industry-wide participation from carriers, vendors, chip designers, aca- demic institutions, and other standards bodies. It laid out the logical framework for NFV and the critical functional blocks along with their interaction and integration points. Transforming physical network functions (PNF) into virtualized network functions (VNF) introduces a host of challenges, which are discussed in more detail in Chapter 3. 2.5.2 NFV INFRASTRUCTURE Using the NFV approach, traditional network elements are decomposed into their constituent func- tional blocks. Traditionally, in a telecom network built with appliances, software is used in two major ways-network element providers acquire and/or develop the software components to sup- port the operation and management of the network element, and service providers acquire and/ or develop the software components needed to integrate the network elements into business and operations support systems (OSS). However, in an NFV model, the potential for greater efficiency is expected from more standardization and reuse of components that go into the network functions and as a result, the effort to integrate functions and create and operate services is lower because they can be supported in a common NFVI platform. Software plays a very important role in the transformation of a traditional telecom network to a Network Cloud. The software discipline provides extensible languages and massive collabora- tion processes that enable solutions to complex problems; reusing solution components to automate tasks and find information and meaning in large amounts of raw data; and insulating solutions from current hardware design in a way that allows solutions to e