A couple of weeks after several networking vendors tried to kickstart NFV with the formation of an interoperability testing initiative, NFV-ITI, ETSI has announced the first interoperability plugtests for the technology. These two moves indicate the vital importance of multivendor interoperability between different NFV (Network Functions Virtualization) platforms and associated VNFs (virtual network functions). Without this, operators will risk being locked into a single supplier’s approach and many of the hoped-for benefits in efficiency and flexibility will be compromised. Indeed, fears that industry bickering would derail openness and standards has been one factor behind a recent cooling in operator atttitudes to NFV, after significant support in the early days. Before most organizations will take the leap from small-scale tests and…