The large-scale commercial deployment of systems based on NFV (Network Functions Virtualization) may have been disappointing in its pace, but the ETSI specifications remain the bedrock of telcos’ transition to software-driven platforms – at least until the operator world moves forward and fully embraces the cloud-native approach coming from the cloud industry. The standards body has lost the momentum to open source groups in some areas, notably in management and orchestration (MANO) of virtualized networks, where its own Open Source MANO (OSM) is competing with the Linux Foundation-hosted ONAP (Open Network Automation Protocol). But ETSI is also making significant moves to enhance NFV’s deployability and keep its hand on the steering wheel. Last week, it published the first release of…