AUSTIN — Since virtualization, mature at this point in the core network, is influencing the architecture and management of radio access networks, there is an idea that what can be done with software should be done with software. And as telecom sets embrace software and shift workloads away from capex-intensive operating models into the cloud, there’s a parallel line of thought that if you’re going to use more and more software, why not use it as a service?
Speaking to RCR Wireless News on the sidelines of the Big 5G event this week, Nokia’s Mark Boone, Senior Vice President of Sauce Business Operations, explained: NFV was the point of inflection. Hardware and software began to separate. We took the hardware equipment and said, ‘Let’s use the shelf equipment commercially wherever we can.’ Software creates alternatives and COTS accommodates what is needed. The reality is that the industry has evolved from a hardware industry to a software industry. At this point, it makes a lot of sense for us to think of software as a service. ”
This move to open up virtualization, software, the cloud, everything is part of Nokia’s strategic evolution. Speaking during the company’s Q3 2020 earnings call, CEO Pekka Lundmark highlighted this: As a result, we expect CapXX to be limited as operators see a step-by-step change in cost-effectiveness … with increasing virtualization the broader trend towards open architecture will accelerate. This will be driven by cost pressures as well as the need to increase speed and agility. Acceptance will change drastically and a complete transformation is more than a decade away, but more open interface transfers, virtualization and cloudfacing, network function disassembly, AI-driven automation and optimization are well underway. “
In November 2021 Nokia has entered Nokia Data Marketplace plans to create three primary SaaS suites primarily to provide SaaS solutions to operators and to cover the marketplace, digital capabilities and networking. The company says it has an addressable market of 3. 3.1 billion between 2021 and 2025. Following February, Nokia expanded SaaS offers to include its AVA Network Data Analytics function and iSIM Secure Connect for machine and consumer device subscriptions using ESIM and ISIM. Compatible device.
Return to Boon. “At the moment I would say that we are basically in a state where we are today as a service model but this is the level of automation I don’t want to see.” This is an extension of the idea that software can be what it should be – what can be automated should be automated. He cites the example of the massive investment of carriers each year around the Super Bowl; If all those hardware-based functionalities other than antennas and cabling can be instantized in a distributed cloud and configured to suit the needs of any installation scene, a large-scale marquee sporting event that often features elements of a consumer-oriented tech showcase. Includes? “If you have a fully automated network to suit your needs, network as a service, it will be relatively easy to do.”
“We’re on the right track – you’ll probably hear it from CSP in this forum,” Boone said. “We are on the right track for programmability.”
In both the present and the future, the focus of software and service-based cost models is not limited to engaging with Nokia or other NEPs operators. This speaks to the growing role of hyperscalers in evolving and creating from the network edge that not only adds computing power to a base station; This is like deploying computer capabilities to run virtualized networks and other workloads, including baseband processing, in the latency profile of desired results in any part of the real estate port.
Then, when you start thinking of private networks outside of macro networks that are meant to support the needs of the enterprise and the industry, there is another level of complexity where you need to bring a system integrator to fit everything together. The point here is that relationships between sellers and operators, as well as relationships between multiple operators working to support an operator or an enterprise, are being transformed into something more like an ecosystem, and not just an ecosystem, but an ecosystem that is quite literal. Cultivation needs to be interconnected, interdependent, and for all parties involved to realize their desired business outcomes.
“We’re going to look at the future of telecom being influenced by the ecosystem,” Boone said. “It simply came to our notice then. The history of our industry is that communication service providers receive technology from their vendors, apply that technology and they provide services on top of that technology. What is changing as a service model is management ownership and responsibility. It’s been a turning point in our industry. ”