FEATURE: 5G
CLOUD NATIVE APPLICATIONS
AND VIRTUALISATION
Technology alone cannot move the
market forward.
Telecommunication systems
and practices are in many ways
the opposite of cloud native
architectures and practices.
This is a result of regulatory
requirements, outdated processes,
rigid systems, and the belief that
telecommunication services are
unique from other industry verticals.
Cloud native applications and
network functions, as an evolution
of the virtualisation of the
telecommunication network, have
the potential to substantially
improve capital efficiency for
communication service providers.
Communication service providers
are actively virtualising network
functions in the mobile core
network, customer premise, and
datacentre to both lower capex
but more importantly change
the operating cost curve that
exists today in their operating
environment. The cloud lets
communication service providers
take advantage of delivering
services more rapidly to their
customers at a far lower operational
unit cost.
The journey towards virtualisation
and cloud-native which combines
virtual network functions, software
defined networking, and cloud
native applications will be
more disruptive than the move
from circuit switched to packet
networking. The cloud native
approach is application centric
where applications consume
resources, scale based on customer
demand and are completely de-
coupled from the infrastructure.
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Cloud native applications utilise a
micro-service based architecture
versus a monolithic software
stack which is pervasive in every
communication service provider
operational environment today.
The challenge for communication
service providers is how to rapidly
transform their processes and
systems to achieve the inherent
benefits offered by the cloud
and virtualisation. The tight
coupling of the network to service
deployments combined with a
monolithic management stack
inhibits communication service
providers from fully realising cloud
native, virtualised network functions.
Migration to a cloud-native
paradigm will also require rethinking
of the way applications and services
evolve to single-function micro-
services, and the speed at which
they are versioned and deployed.
The rate of market adoption
towards cloud native virtual network
functions will follow a pragmatic
process given both the culture
of the communication service
providers and tolerance for risk.
The telecommunication market
moves slowly and both culture
and organisational realignment
are necessary to achieve success.
Communication service providers
typically must design the network
management environment for each
new service, with limited reuse of
functionality and with extended
time to market. A successful move
to cloud architectures is as much
about operational change as it is
about technical system change.
Successful implementation of cloud
concepts, require major changes in
the way the business works.
Without this operational change,
the very real benefits of cloud
native architectures are very
easily lost. The challenges
for communication service
providers are that most existing
telecommunication systems and
operational practices run directly
counter to cloud native practice.
Appledore Research Group has
identified five key steps in the
evolution of the telco network to a
cloud native network. These steps
are about architectural change
but also about the underlying
characteristics of the services
delivered and the operational
model that is wrapped around
the network. Success in the
evolution of the network to a
cloud native model will require
successful change in the underlying
technology but also in the way
services are defined and the way
that they are operated. ยก
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