Mobile operators which embarked early on the process of virtualizing their networks may wish they had waited. Early deployment of Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) relied on first generation technology, such as OpenStack cloud infrastructure and virtual machines (VMs), which is now seen as cumbersome and outdated. The next push will be to migrate to highly flexible, disaggregated technologies like containers and microservices, in order to support fully cloud-native core networks and, eventually, RANs. The pain of having to update a hard-won virtualized network at such an early stage is not unique to operators. Even the webscale companies, which defined so many of the rules for the cloud-based telecoms era, have felt similar pain. Amazon’s CTO, Werner Vogels, told the AWS…