Some operators are progressing from network functions virtualization (NFV) management and orchestration (MANO) trials to the launching of commercial services, according to a new report from Current Analysis.

While some of those commercial services are at the virtualized infrastructure manager (VIM) levels of orchestration, some are at the virtual network function manager (VNFM) level and even the NFV orchestrator level, the analyst firm says. This is happening even though ETSI hasn’t released final MANO specifications.

Current Analysis says that many vendors have strong MANO product portfolios. Plus, vendors are doing a good job of addressing interoperability despite not having final specs.

“Good NFV MANO is very important to getting the best out of NFV in terms of performance and agility,” writes Current Analysis analyst David Snow, author of the report, in an email to SDxCentral.

Snow evaluated NFV MANO products from 10 vendors including Cisco, Ericsson, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Huawei, Nokia, and ZTE, and determined that NetCracker is leading the pack.

Specifically, Snow praises NetCracker for its Agile Virtualization Platform (AVP), noting that it can support the operator through many different stages of virtualization. He also notes that while NetCracker’s platform is comprehensive, it may also be too “heavyweight” for smaller carriers.

Regarding Current Analysis’ selection of vendors to evaluate, Snow says that all 10 firms are considered prominent players in the NFV MANO space and there are many companies that didn’t make the list. He also believes this is an area ripe for consolidation. “The market will inevitably consolidate,” he writes.

Asked about the two open source MANO initiatives launched earlier this year — Open Source MANO (OSM) and Open-Orchestrator Project (Open-O) — Snow says he believes open source represents a major cultural change for telecom operators. And he adds that truly open source development can only occur if there are multivendor contributions.

With more than one open source MANO initiative, Snow wonders if there is “too much of a good thing” happening.

OSM launched last February and is based on the OpenMANO work started by Telefónica about a year ago. It includes code contributed by Rift.io and Canonical, and the project is hosted by ETSI.

Open-O launched last March and is hosted by the Linux Foundation. Its founders include service providers China Mobile and China Telecom.