The ETSI Open Source MANO (OSM) group has announced the release of its latest OSM version, designed to provide production-quality open-source management and orchestration for Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV). This release focuses on delivering a robust, secure and scalable platform suitable for operators pursuing proof-of-concept deployments and field trials.
Key enhancements in this release address scalability, performance, resiliency, security and user experience. These improvements are aimed specifically at making OSM more resilient and easier to adopt in production environments where operational stability and efficient resource use are critical.
One notable addition is role-based access control (RBAC). With RBAC, different users from multiple service providers can access the OSM environment with clearly defined privileges. This capability supports more complex operational workflows while maintaining the security and integrity of both the network and management operations.
In the accompanying technical white paper, the OSM group outlines the core architecture and details the most important enhancements. The document positions this release as an important milestone, arguing that it offers the necessary capabilities for real-world trials without requiring operators to change their existing NFV infrastructure target architectures or the broader OSS transformation plans.
Francisco-Javier Ramon, chairman of the ETSI OSM group, emphasized that the new release supplies a highly functional and reliable orchestration component for NFV. He noted that by providing these capabilities in an open-source form, OSM helps all industry participants accelerate deployment schedules and reduce barriers to experimentation and trial deployments.
To help operators and developers evaluate the new features, the OSM community will demonstrate implementations and onboarding activities at the first OSM Onboarding Hackfest, which will take place during the second ETSI NFV Plugtests event in January. This hands-on environment is intended to help participants validate interoperability, test onboarding processes and understand how the release behaves under realistic conditions.
The white paper that accompanies this release presents the architecture, design choices and technical details that explain how the new features improve operational readiness. It covers topics such as multi-tenant access control, improved lifecycle management, enhanced monitoring and failure recovery mechanisms, and performance tuning options aimed at production deployments.
By strengthening access controls and hardening orchestration workflows, the release aims to make OSM more attractive for service providers who require strong governance and auditability. Enhanced resiliency features help reduce service disruptions, while performance and scalability improvements allow deployments to handle larger and more complex network services efficiently.
For teams evaluating NFV orchestration solutions, this OSM release offers a tested, open-source alternative that emphasizes interoperability and integration with existing NFV infrastructure and operational support systems. It is presented as ready for proof-of-concept work and field trials, enabling organisations to validate OSM in their operational environments before committing to broader rollouts.
For full technical details and the complete architecture description, consult the official release white paper (PDF) published by the ETSI OSM group.