Joint communication from Linux Foundation projects Sylva and CNTi
About Project Sylva
Sylva is an open source project under Linux Foundation Europe that delivers a production-grade telco cloud stack while fostering collaboration among operators, vendors, and cloud providers. Sylva aims to transform edge and cloud infrastructure through a secure, standardized, and scalable model.
About CNTi
The Cloud Native Telecom Initiative (CNTi) is a Linux Foundation Networking project launched in 2024. Its mission is to accelerate the adoption of cloud native technologies across telecom networks. CNTi focuses on identifying, developing, and promoting vendor-neutral best practices for cloud native telecom networking applications.
Why We’re Collaborating
In 2024, Sylva and CNTi began working together to further the adoption of cloud native best practices in support of telecom and edge requirements. Central to this collaboration is the CNTi Test Suite—a vendor-neutral, open-source testing framework that validates Cloud-Native Network Functions (CNFs) against key cloud native principles.
The Sylva Validation Center incorporates the CNTi Test Suite into its tool chain to help verify that workloads running on Sylva-compliant stacks meet cloud native standards. This joint effort plays a critical role in reducing fragmentation and promoting interoperability by discouraging proprietary, siloed approaches.
Collaboration in Action
This partnership brings mutual value to both projects. CNTi Technical Steering Committee (TSC) members actively monitor Sylva validations and participate in bi-weekly Sylva Validation Center meetings to provide input and timely support. This close coordination ensures that test outcomes provide real-world feedback, enabling both communities to refine their tools and practices.
“Incorporating the CNTi Test Suite into the Sylva Validation Center has been an important step for validating cloud native readiness in telecom workloads. This partnership ensures that we’re not just testing in isolation, but aligning with a broader, community-driven vision for open and interoperable cloud native telco infrastructure.”
— Luis Velarde, Lead of the Sylva Validation Center, Project Sylva
First Validation Milestones
The first tangible outcomes of this collaboration have already been realized. Two CNF products – [1] Open-Xchange (Power DNS) and [2] Titan.ium Platform (DNS)—have successfully passed the criteria defined by the CNTi Test Suite.
During these validations, several limitations were identified in the CNTi test suite, including issues related to probe configuration and hardcoded IP addresses. Thanks to the collaborative feedback loop, these issues were quickly addressed. All identified improvements have now been merged and included in CNTi Test Suite release v1.4.5.
Special thanks to Neil Cook (PowerDNS) and Patrik Rokyta (Titan.ium) for not only identifying key issues but also contributing directly to enhancements.
Looking Ahead
With many more workload validations queued in the Sylva Validation backlog, this collaboration will only continue to grow. As more vendors engage and more workloads are validated, Sylva and CNTi are committed to evolving together—delivering stronger open-source tooling, clearer best practices, and greater confidence in cloud native adoption across telecom.
Stay tuned for more updates and results from this exciting partnership!
