ory, storage) At the same time, efforts were underway to virtualize network functions that had been realized as purpose-built appliances: specialized hardware and software (e.g., routers, firewalls, switches, etc.). NFV was focused on transforming network appliances into software applications. The broad network cloud strategy, led largely by AT&T, is grounded in the confluence of NFV, SDN, and cloud technology. With VNFs running as cloud applications, the network cloud takes advantage of the dynamic capabilities of cloud cited above in defining, instantiating, and managing network infrastructures and services. This strategy shaped the definition of ONAP, its architecture and the capabilities and functions it provides. This strategy also shaped the cloud infrastructure that converges multiple clouds into a single enterprise cloud capable of interoperating dynamically with ONAP-controlled virtual functions (VFs) and third-party clouds. In this new network cloud, the dynamic cloud capabilities are applied to applications-that is, VNFs-thus applying the benefits of cloud to virtual network elements. For example, VNFs, such as routers, switches, firewalls, can be "spun up" on commodity hardware, moved from one data center to another center dynamically (within the limits of physical access tie-down constraints) and resources such as CPU, memory, and storage can be dynamically controlled. The ONAP architecture and OMF was defined to address the business/strategic objectives of the network cloud as well as new technical challenges of managing a highly dynamic environment of VNFs and services, that is, a software ecosystem where functions such as network and service pro- visioning, service instantiation, and network element deployment all occur dynamically in real time. ONAP enables the rapid onboarding of new network cloud services. The reduction of operating expenditure (OpEx) and CapEx is enabled through its metadata-driven service design and creation platform and its real-time OMF-a framework that provides real-time, 