Telco cloud

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Telco cloud (also known as telecommunications cloud) is a network architecture that combines software-defined networking (SDN), network functions virtualization (NFV), and cloud native technology into a distributed computing network with resources in data centers, edges sites, and public clouds. [1] [2] The term is mostly used for referring to cloud multi-computing in the telecom industry, in particular, with regard to transition of Communications Service Providers (CSPs) using traditional infrastructure networks of vertically integrated proprietary hardware to Digital Service Providers (DSPs) using cloud-based technologies. [3] [4]

Contents

Background

While “cloud computing” has been in use for nearly two and a half decades (cloud computing" appeared as early as 1996), [5] the term telco cloud is relatively new. The concept is more about the application of cloud computing technologies in telecoms or "telco" industry vertical, such as telecoms or “telco”. [6] Telco cloud represents a technological evolution in the way networks are set up, run and managed. [1] This evolution refers not only to the deployment of virtualized and programmable network infrastructure that takes advantage of automation and artificial intelligence, but also to the adoption of new cloud business practices that change the way networks operate. More specifically, telco cloud focuses on the creation of common virtualized infrastructure to manage various network functions required to deliver communications services. Each function now is disaggregated from the hardware, to be operated from a horizontal platform as a virtual network function or cloud-native network function that executes a specific network function such as load balancing or firewalls. [7]

History

In early 2010s, the idea that a telecom provider could set up, run and manage its network like a cloud was new. Prior to the emergence of the telco cloud, two other technologies came to light. The concept of software-defined networking first appeared in 2012 after a group of telecom operators including Deutsche Telekom, Orange S.A., Verizon, Telefonica, AT&T, Telecom Italia and British Telecom published a fundamental white paper, [8] which led to the creation of the Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) Industry Specification Group (ISG). [9] Following the paper, The European Telecommunications Standards Institute Industry Specification Group for Network Functions Virtualization (ETSI ISG NFV) published the specifications of a common framework for the implementation of network virtualization, which later formed a protocol for new technology use. [10]

In recent years, the concept of telco cloud has been taking shape. It refers specifically, at its most basic level, to the data center resources of a multi-cloud network supporting a carrier-grade telecoms network: hardware and software infrastructure, with NFV as the underlying technology.

In the late 2010s, telco cloud advanced beyond enabling virtual network functions (VNF) to also enable Cloud-Native Network Functions (CNFs). The difference between the two types of functions is that a VNF is packaged using one or more virtual machines and a CNF is packaged using a form of operating system virtualization called application containers including Kubernetes, Docker and others.: [11] [12] [13] Also in the late 2010s, telco cloud platforms started incorporating analytics capabilities fueled by artificial intelligence. Together, these capabilities enable closed-loop automation telco cloud use cases.

Telco cloud characteristics

Among the commonly understood operational models for Digital Service Providers (DSPs) are the telco cloud, NFV, and SDN. In addition to SDN and NFV technologies, more advanced characteristics of telco cloud include:

Telco cloud orchestration is often discussed in the context of service-oriented architecture, virtualization, provisioning, converged infrastructure and dynamic datacenter topics. Orchestration in this sense is about aligning the business request with the applications, data, and infrastructure. [19]

In the context of cloud computing, the main difference between workflow automation that characterizes NFV systems and telco cloud orchestration is that workflows are processed and completed as processes within a single domain for automation purposes, whereas cloud orchestration includes a workflow and provides a directed action towards larger goals and objectives. Therefore, NVF is a part, albeit integral, of a more structured and coordinated cloud-native infrastructure, which is telco cloud. [20] [4]

Telco cloud also presents summation of cloud architecture family or multiclouds, which include Core, Edge, RAN, private and public clouds.

Industry impact and technology practical aspects

5G technology is noted among the most potential beneficiaries from development of telco cloud infrastructure by many industry veterans. [21] [22] [23] According to GSMA MobileWorld Live, telco cloud has made a significant progress in 2019 and early 2020 in terms of acceptance, adoption and ecosystem development. [24]

A number of telecoms network operators are engaged to augment their current infrastructure with telco cloud technology. [25] [26] [27] [28] The primary reason for this evolution has been the shift towards virtualizing mobile core networks elements in response to the growth of data traffic and to prepare for 5G. The new agility and performance are supposed to accelerate automation of network operations in order to allow CSPs to more easily create and deliver services. An example of such a service is the Internet of Things (IoT) - wireless communication between a large number of connected devices such as autonomous cars, thermostats etc. [29] On the other hand, the transition from hardware to software will force network engineers and technicians to retrain to the software domain.

In December 2019, AT&T presented 3 Telco Edge Cloud Use Cases and Container Networking:

The first use case has OpenStack managing the infrastructure, with Kubernetes (or another container orchestration tool) installed on top of the infrastructure, while the second use case has Kubernetes managing the OpenStack control plane. The third use case has OpenStack (including Magnum) orchestrating both virtual machines (VMs) and containers directly. The second use case is provider/infrastructure-oriented use case. In contrast, the first and the third use cases are tenant use cases (how tenants may see OpenStack and containers operating together). [30]

Nokia and Red Hat collaborated to deliver OpenStack powered-telco cloud to enable mobile broadband operators to create telco cloud infrastructure. [25] Later, IBM acquired RedHat to jointly develop IBM Telco Network Cloud Manager in order to orchestrate its virtualized and containerized network functions. [26]

The industry led by the ETSI has developed a telco edge, also known as Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) with the aim to bring the capabilities of cloud computing to the edge of the network. Example of a use case ideally suited for MEC is to share data on road infrastructure, the position of surrounding objects like other vehicles, pedestrians, motorcycles directly to the vehicles, instead of having to interface with central cloud servers. MEC and AI combining together will allow autonomous cars to process information about their surroundings in real-time [31]

Starting in 2020, Vodafone Group deployed VMware's telco cloud infrastructure in the European markets, [27] joining other companies including Dish Network [28] Singtel, Telecom Italia, TIM Brasil and other CSPs. [32] [33] According to Telecom T.V., in September 2020, VMware claimed to launch a 5G ready telco cloud framework for managing and running containerized workloads across private, telco, edge and public clouds. [18]

Covid-19 impact

As Forbes stated: "COVID-19 and work from home has definitely shed a light on the importance of the telco cloud, as operators around the world have seen unprecedented cellular network utilization." [26] At the same time, Broadband Communities noted that COVID-19 had a negative impact on the Telco Cloud Revenue from 5G Core Deployments. [34]

Technology advantages and potential obstacles to Telco cloud implementation

Pros

ParameterTelco CloudIT Cloud
DefinitionMulti-cloud telco network deployment that manages and automates Virtual Network Functions and Cloud Native Network FunctionsCloud deployment related to an enterprise workload
DelayVery lowLow
ThroughputVery High (100G)High (10G)
ReliabilityVery HighHigh
StrategyOpen standardsRandom use of vendor-proprietary technologies [35]

Cons

See also

Sources

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 What is Telco Cloud and why does it matter?
  2. ↑ Networking Review: Telco cloud architecture
  3. ↑ DevOps: Embracing the Telco Cloud
  4. 1 2 3 A Structure for Abstraction and Virtualization in the Telco Cloud
  5. ↑ Antonio Regalado (31 October 2011). "Who Coined 'Cloud Computing'?". Technology Review. MIT. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  6. ↑ Light Reading: Deconstructing the Telco Cloud
  7. ↑ SDX Central: Microservices Architecture in the Telco Cloud
  8. ↑ "Network Functions Virtualization— Introductory White Paper" (PDF). ETSI. 22 October 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  9. ↑ "Network Functions Virtualisation". ETSI Standards for NFV. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  10. ↑ ETSI: Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV)
  11. ↑ "Cloud Native Network Functions (CNF)". Ligato.io.
  12. ↑ cncf/cnf-testbed, Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), 2020-07-20, retrieved 2020-09-17
  13. ↑ Hogg, Scott (2014-05-26). "Software Containers: Used More Frequently than Most Realize". Network World. Network World, Inc. Retrieved 2020-09-17. There are many other OS-level virtualization systems such as: Linux OpenVZ, Linux-VServer, FreeBSD Jails, AIX Workload Partitions (WPARs), HP-UX Containers (SRP), Solaris Containers, among others.
  14. ↑ "Artificial Intelligence Platforms for Telecom Networks". ABI Research.
  15. ↑ "4 Areas where AI Is Transforming the Telecom Industry". Techsee.
  16. ↑ "Network Artificial Intelligence to Troubleshoot Telco Cloud". BrightTalk.
  17. ↑ Nenadic, Ivan; Kobal, Davor; Palata, Domagoj (2016). "About the telco cloud management architectures". 2016 39th International Convention on Information and Communication Technology, Electronics and Microelectronics (MIPRO). IEEE Xplorer. pp. 545–552. doi:10.1109/MIPRO.2016.7522203. ISBN   978-953-233-086-1. S2CID   17978593.
  18. 1 2 "VMware has launched a 'made for 5G' Telco Cloud Platform". TelecomTV.
  19. ↑ Menychtas, Andreas; Gatzioura, Anna; Varvarigou, Theodora (2011), "A Business Resolution Engine for Cloud Marketplaces", 2011 IEEE Third International Conference on Cloud Computing Technology and Science, IEEE Third International Conference on Cloud Computing Technology and Science (CloudCom), IEEE, pp. 462–469, doi:10.1109/CloudCom.2011.68, ISBN   978-1-4673-0090-2, S2CID   14985590
  20. ↑ Thomas Erl. Service-Oriented Architecture: Concepts, Technology & Design. Prentice Hall, ISBN   0-13-185858-0.
  21. ↑ LightReading: Hyperclouds Muscle in on Telco Cloud
  22. ↑ 5G Exchange: Telco Cloud & 5G -Two Sides of the Same Coin
  23. ↑ TelecomTV: GSMA has big plans for 5G and the edge
  24. ↑ MobileWorld: How far have we come in telco cloud?
  25. 1 2 ComputerWeekly: Nokia Networks and OpenStack provider Red Hat join forces so mobile broadband operators can create a telco cloud infrastructure
  26. 1 2 3 Forbes: IBM’s Telco Cloud And Network Edge Journey
  27. 1 2 Fierce Telecom: Vodafone slashes costs of core network functions across Europe using VMware's telco cloud
  28. 1 2 SDXCentral: VMware Scores Dish 5G Telco Cloud Deal
  29. ↑ Forbes: 5G Monetization Depends On Telco Cloud Success
  30. ↑ OpenStack: Telco Edge Cloud Use Cases and Container Networking
  31. ↑ IDC: Building the Telco Edge Will Drive Innovation, Collaboration, and Competition Among Ecosystem Players
  32. ↑ ChannelAsiaTech: Enterprise to benefit as Singtel strikes digital transformation deal with VMware
  33. ↑ EdgeAir: VMware ships Telco Cloud, helps customers manage edge cloud
  34. ↑ Broadband Communities: COVID-19 Impact: Telco Cloud Revenue from 5G Core Deployments to Miss 2020 Forecast
  35. ↑ Khatibi, Sina; Roshdi, Moustafa; Shah, Kunjan (2018). "Modelling of Computational Resources for 5G RAN". Conference: EuCNC'2018, at Ljubljana, Slovenia; Conference Paper: 1–5. doi:10.1109/EuCNC.2018.8442563. ISBN   978-1-5386-1478-5. S2CID   52124024.
  36. 1 2 3 Dell: The Fallacy of Telco Cloud (by Kevin Shatzkamer, October 15th, 2019)
  37. ↑ VanillaPlus: Avoiding public cloud? Telcos are running out of excuses
  38. ↑ Pros and Cons of Telco Cloud Adaptation

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