The ETSI industry specifications group (ISG) that's been spearheading the network functions virtualization (NFV) effort will live on for two more years.

The ISG's charter expires in January. But in meetings held last week in Santa Clara, Calif., the group passed a motion to extend its charter by two years, as Ciena representative Marc Cohn reports in a blog posted to SDxCentral today.

The group also elected new leadership, in the wake of Chair Prodip Sen (formerly of Verizon, now of HP) and Vice Chair Uwe Michel (of Deutsche Telekom) both stepped down.

In their places, Steven Wright of AT&T was elected chair, and Tetsuya Nakamura of NTT Docomo was elected vice-chair, Cohn reports.

Check out Cohn's blog to see more about the ISG meeting, the group's progress, and the early stages of planning for NFV Phase 2.