ETSI published new standard for NFV deployment templates that will provide the foundation for an open ecosystem. The ETSI Industry specification Group (ISG) on Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) ended 2018 on a bright note, with the publication of the first version of ETSI GS NFV-SOL 001,  the specification of NFV descriptors based on the Topology and Orchestration Specification for Cloud Applications (TOSCA).

This was a highly-anticipated document in the industry, considering the prominent role VNF deployment templates play in an NFV system. Together with ETSI GS NFV-SOL 004, the specification of the structure and format of a VNF package, this new specification provides the foundations of an open ecosystem.

ETSI Multi-access Edge Computing group (ETSI MEC ISG) has also announced the creation of the Deployment and Ecosystem Development working group (WG DECODE). This group will focus on accelerating the market adoption and implementation of systems using MEC-defined framework and services exposed using MEC-standardized Application Programming Interfaces (APIs. The specification  ETSI GS MEC 002  targets interoperability and deployments. This includes a focus on running applications at the mobile network edge and provides use cases and technical benefits of those deployments.

The ETSI GS MEC 003 addresses the implementation of MEC applications as software-only entities that run on top of a virtualization infrastructure near the network edge. This includes specifications for MEC-in-NFV reference architecture, which defined how MEC-compliant edge deployments can be part of an overall NFV cloud architecture. Additionally, this release package includes ETSI GR MEC 022,  a report on MEC support for vehicle to infrastructure (V2X) and vehicle to vehicle (V2V) use cases.

ETSI's Technical Committee on Cybersecurity (TC CYBER) has released a new specification to help secure sensitive data in virtualized environments. ETSI TS 103 457 tackles the challenge of secure storage - where organizations need to protect customer data when using a cloud that is not under their direct control.

The new specification TS 103 457 standardizes an interface between a "secure vault" that is trusted and a cloud that could be anywhere, where such sensitive data is stored in the vault. This allows a sensitive function to exist in a lower security environment, with data held securely. The interface can also be used to search databases that hold private data. Another feature defined in the specification is a logging function that allows queries of customer data to be audited, making it easier to detect data breaches, which in turn deters malicious activity.