At the recent DTW24 summit, the Telco Cloud Native Business Tech Talk (hosted by TelecomTV) gathered leading experts in the telecom industry to discuss the application and evolution of cloud native technologies. Industry movers such as Anita D hler(CEO of NGMN Alliance), Juan Carlos Garcia Lopez (Senior Technology and Innovations Advisor), Leo Ma (Vice President of Huawei Cloud Core Network Product Line), and Ayedime Amadi (Senior Manager of MTN Group) provided valuable insights and suggestions for the industry's development.
Defining Telco Cloud Native
Juan Carlos reviewed the development history of Telco Cloud native technologies, which originated from the Network Functions Virtualization(NFV) initiative proposed by ETSI in 2012. Over the past decade, VM-based NFV technology has achieved remarkable success. Today, the telecom industry is moving fast towards the container era, with the open-source community leading this development through Kubernetes (K8s). However, operators not only need to undertake substantial enhancements to adapt cloud native technologies to their needs, but also have to meet the specific requirements of the telecom industry. In the future, Telco Cloud infrastructure will be more extensive and agile, covering complex environments from the core to the edge and serving as an infrastructure with a large number of distributed computing resources.
Key Features of Telco Cloud Native
Leo Ma pointed out that high stability is the cornerstone of the core network. And while cloud native originates from the IT field, it should not be simply replicated. Instead, it must be enhanced based on the essence of telecom services and adhere to carrier-grade high stability and performance. Leo Ma also stressed the importance of E2E automation, which can reduce OPEX, expedite the service response, and enhance user experience and network value. In addition, Leo Ma talked about the role of AI in empowering O&M intelligence, which is critical to minimizing the complexity of the Telco Cloud environment.
Cloud Native Interoperability
On behalf of the NGMN Alliance, Anita Döhler introduced their efforts in cloud native technologies, noting that, with the joint effort of operators and the industry, cloud native technologies have become a reality in the telecom field. However, there are still challenges in guiding the industry towards scalable and interoperable cloud-native solutions. Anita emphasized that the industry needs to establish unified standards, implement closed-loop business models, decouple the lifecycle of hardware and applications, and promote faster innovation to achieve agility and sustainability of cloud-based services.
Joint Efforts to Establish Telco Cloud Native Standards
Experts at the meeting agreed that it is critical to develop unified standards in the Telco Cloud field. Leo Ma highlighted the key role of ETSI in unifying standards and promoting interoperability. He pointed out that the smooth evolution of Telco Cloud must rely on unified standards, as the lack of standards would make cloud native construction more difficult. Juan Carlos specifically illustrated that in standard development collaborations, business innovators and technology providers need to pay more attention to the compatibility of different hardware environments. The experts agreed that the cloud native in the telecom industry must avoid fragmented development of standards and actively follow a unified standard path to reduce operators' trial-and-error costs and build best practices in the industry.
Presence of Telco Cloud Native in More Industries
The experts also discussed which vertical industries will also benefit from telco cloud native technologies. Juan Carlos and Leo Ma believe industries such as power grids, manufacturing, mining, and healthcare may be the first beneficiaries. Ayedime Amadi also backed up this view, and further pointed out that MTN has focused on verticals such as agriculture, financial technology, and environmental solutions to address the challenges of sustainable development.
Cloud-based Transformation: More Than Just Technological Transformation, Also an Adjustment of Organization, Talent, and Culture
Ayedime Amadi shared their cloud transformation plan and emphasized the urgency of internal transformation while driving technological progress. She pointed out that effectively adjusting the organizational structure, operation model, and talent allocation to adapt to the cloud native technology model is key to achieving the cloudification advantages of the telecom industry. She also stressed that the MTN Group has realized that technological transformation alone cannot bring significant progress. Operators must also review the skills matching of personnel and whether the organizational culture contributes to the transformation.
Future of Telco Cloud Native
The experts also discussed the future development of telco cloud native technologies. Juan Carlos predicted that Telco Cloud would expand from the core to the edge in the future and gradually incorporate AI, further increasing the complexity of the network architecture. Ayedime Amadi emphasized that operators should ensure autonomous operation of cloud infrastructure. She believed that Telco Cloud would advance alongside 5G/6G technologies in the future. Anita Döhler mentioned that NGMN has been focusing on the sustainability and operational efficiency of Telco Cloud and is looking forward to enhancing these capabilities through cloud native technologies. Leo Ma stated that the development of telco cloud native will go through three phases:Carrier-grade, Automated, and Intelligent, evolving gradually with the collective efforts of the entire industry.
For more information, visit TelecomTV.
Note: Telco Cloud Native TechTalkis the only business dialogue platform focusing on the Telco Cloud. It has been successfully held for six consecutive times, aiming to share best Telco Cloud practices, highlight technology development, fill capability gaps, promote industry progress, and enable digital intelligence transformation across industries.