Managed Networking Service for Edge VNF Deployment

The patent introduces a managed networking service as an intermediary layer between organizations and multiple VNF vendors. This service abstracts the complexity of deploying and managing VNFs from different vendors, allowing organizations to benefit from diverse networking functionality without directly handling the deployment complexity. The managed service handles vendor coordination, VNF chaining, and lifecycle management, thus resolving the contradiction between versatility and complexity.

The patent merges multiple separate vendor arrangements into a single managed networking service. Instead of organizations making individual arrangements with each VNF vendor, the managed service consolidates these interactions, allowing organizations to access vendor-specific functionality through a unified interface. This significantly reduces administrative time and overhead while preserving access to diverse vendor capabilities.

The managed networking service implements self-service by automatically handling VNF chaining operations. The service includes functionality to automatically chain VNFs together based on organizational requirements, eliminating the need for manual configuration and reducing operational complexity. Organizations retain control through service-level agreements and configuration specifications, while the system handles the complex chaining execution, thereby reducing errors and simplifying operations.

The managed networking service acts as an intermediary that handles VNF management and maintenance operations. Organizations can request management actions through the service, which then executes them on behalf of the organization. This approach maintains organizational control and responsiveness while significantly reducing the operational burden and complexity of directly managing and maintaining VNFs, including fixing problems and performing updates.