Open Network Automation Protocol (ONAP) was once seen as a shining pioneer of open source platforms in telecoms networks as they started to become virtualized and software-defined. Now, industry opinion is divided. Some operators remain convinced ONAP is a strong open framework for managing all the functions and components of a virtualized network. Others think it has become far too cumbersome, and that many of its approaches will be superseded by the lighter frameworks that come with containerization. Undeterred, ONAP is onto its sixth release, codenamed Frankfurt, which is focused on some of the key trends of the day, including 5G network slicing and cloud-native network functions (CNFs). Arpit Joshipura, general manager for networking, edge and IoT at the Linux…