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Forbes Column
November 11, 2020 One of the many interesting aspects of big technology trends is how seemingly independent efforts end up getting intertwined over time. The most recent example is the multi-level link between cloud computing and 5G, with the common ties of hybrid clouds, private networks, and edge computing all coming together to enable a potentially powerful—but also potentially confusing—combination of capabilities. In two separate, but related announcements, IBM recently highlighted how its new Cloud Satellite private/hybrid cloud platform can be used to get telecom service provider customers to modernize more of their existing infrastructure and how it can help a specific telco provider (AT&T in this case) offer more of the edge computing-type services that these modernization efforts enable. The timing of these announcements seemed a bit backwards in that the IBM Cloud/AT&T partnership news came first, before the launch of the IBM Cloud for Telecommunications that could theoretically enable it, but that may have been due to legal approvals of the press releases more than anything. Regardless, it makes more logical sense to discuss the second bit of news first, because it helps set the stage for the new applications in the first announcement. To that end, IBM’s Cloud for Telecommunications looks to be an auspicious effort to bring together more than 35 different companies to help modernize 5G network infrastructure. Each of the announced ecosystem partners is offering tools that can help move telcos from the traditional closed-box hardware infrastructure that they’ve used for the last few decades into more modern, cloud computing-like architectures. (See “IBM Brings Open Hybrid Cloud Strategy To 5G And The Edge” for an overview of the company’s initial efforts here.) This transition is expected to be a long, complicated, but potentially very profitable process, hence the high degree of participation from many large vendors, including Microsoft, Samsung, Cisco, Dell, HPE, Lenovo, and Nokia in addition to IBM. At the same time, the transition is critical to the long-term success of 5G, because many of its advanced capabilities are only possible with the type of more modern, software-defined open infrastructure that this effort is intended to enable (see “Will 5G Networks Move to Open RAN?” for more). For IBM, the industry-specific focus of this telecommunications cloud effort is conceptually similar to what it did with its recent financial industry launches (see “New IBM Offering Highlights Rise Of Specialty Clouds ”). It is also an excellent vehicle for the company to debut its new Cloud Satellite offering, which is a private/hybrid cloud platform akin to Amazon’s AWS Outposts or Microsoft’s Azure Stack, where the core IBM Cloud services can be run remotely or on-premise on a wide range of base hardware. One of the many challenges in getting telco providers to embrace and leverage cloud-native computing architectures for their core network functions is the highly distributed nature of today’s telco networks. Practically speaking, it would be impossible for telco service providers to rely solely on public cloud infrastructure because of the need to have resources that are geographically close to most of their key network destinations. However, by allowing cloud-based platforms to run locally across these many network edge locations, the transition to cloud-based core network functionality becomes more practical. That’s where the IBM Cloud Satellite offering, which is based on RedHat’s OpenShift, comes in. OpenShift can run in public cloud environments when that’s most appropriate, but it can also run at these edge or other on-premise locations, giving it the flexibility to meet the demanding and often highly regulated, utility-like environments used by network carriers. Most importantly, Cloud Satellite provides a single point of management and control for all these possible deployments. It also provides the basic foundation for connecting hardware and software companies that IBM organized into an ecosystem around its new Cloud for Telecommunications. These partners will provide the hardware platforms upon which the IBM Cloud Satellite platform can run, a variety of best-of-breed software tools that can extend the platform, or advisory/consulting services to assist in getting all the elements deployed. To make the solution even more suited to the telecommunications industry, IBM is also integrating its Edge Application Manager and Telco Network Cloud Manager tools to assist in the process of telco-specific workload automation, management and deployment of network services, and more. A practical implementation of some of these concepts can be seen in the first of the two announcements made, specifically the one in conjunction with AT&T. What’s interesting about that news is that it brings some of these principles to life, and it does so within the specific context of AT&T’s existing Multi-Access Edge Computing offering. One of the key opportunities that many telcos see with 5G is the deployment of private 5G networks within certain organizations (see “New Research Shows Pent-Up Demand For Private 5G Networks” for more). With the IBM/AT&T partnership, AT&T can essentially act as a sales channel for the IBM Cloud Satellite product, letting customers set up and manage private networks or other edge computing applications that benefit from cellular connectivity, all under the auspices of the IBM software. Because it can run locally in a private cloud mode, or connect with other cloud resources in a hybrid cloud mode, Cloud Satellite lets organizations set up the type of capabilities they want—ranging from 5G-connected machines in manufacturing sites to remote monitoring in healthcare and beyond—and control them via a single tool. Ultimately, the key to making 5G more than just a faster data pipe will be to figure out ways for carriers and their customers to create the kind of meaningful applications that can help transform businesses and their processes. IBM’s efforts here—particularly in driving an ecosystem of partners that can help companies achieve these goals—look to be important steps forward. Disclosure: TECHnalysis Research is a tech industry market research and consulting firm and, like all companies in that field, works with many technology vendors as clients, some of whom may be listed in this article. Here’s a link to the original column: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobodonnell/2020/11/11/5g-networks-moving-to-cloud-with-ibm-satellite-and-att-connection/ Forbes columnist Bob O'Donnell is the president and chief analyst of TECHnalysis Research, a market research and consulting firm that provides strategic consulting and market research services to the technology industry and professional financial community.
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