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VNF – virtualized network function

Forrest Stroud
Last Updated May 24, 2021 7:58 am

In a Network Functions Virtualization architecture, a virtualized network function, or VNF, is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more virtual machines on top of the hardware networking infrastructure, which can include routers, switches, servers, cloud computing systems and more.

Individual virtualized network functions can be chained or combined together in a building block-style fashion to deliver full-scale networking communication services.