Businesses, big and small, often adopt cloud technology hoping to better serve their customers and stay competitive.
In preparation for the rollout of 5G networks and in response to data traffic growth, telecoms operators are beginning to virtualize mobile core networks. This has led to telco cloud adaptation, which entails the deployment of virtualized and programmable telecoms infrastructure, such as network function virtualization, software-defined networking, AI, automation, distributed computing, etc.
As we move deeper into the cloud era, service providers will demand more from the cloud to meet their 5G network requirements. The move from cloud to cloud-native architecture is necessary so they can achieve optimal business agility when onboarding new applications and operating services at a constant and rapid pace.
What is cloud native?
The term ‘cloud-native’ is often discussed within the industry - but what is cloud native and how do we define cloud native, exactly. At its basic level, cloud native composed of small, stateless microservices that run in containers. Similar to how it’s easier to make changes on a smaller scale than on a larger scale, small, stateless microservices allow applications to be deployed and upgraded quicker. Its small size also requires fewer cloud resources - taking only what is needed as opposed to using the full network function.
Cloud native offers DevOps for automation and fast time to market (TTM), making it ideal for businesses to deliver applications and services as operations teams can test software updates as they become available with a smaller group first without affecting end users.
Another aspect of cloud-native applications are the open cloud architecture and application programming interfaces (APIs) - enabling organizations to continually deliver innovative new services and applications to the market. Take a look at 5G, for example. It uses a service-based architecture at its core that incorporates precise APIs for networks to provide services or call upon each other. When you combine this with the cloud-native service mesh, it enables high-speed utilization of the 5G core for a variety of purposes, including the integration of network functions, as well as rapid deployment and scaling of enterprise slices.
Lastly, the beauty of cloud native is its cloud-agnostic capabilities for on-demand deployment at any location, while also eliminating hardware dependencies.
Taking into account these four aspects, we ought to consider cloud-native migration, which is a journey in and of itself. Here’s how you can get there.
Benefits of cloud-native migration
Traditionally, before cloud, each network component was confined to certain hardware, and the products were contingent on it as well. For example, communications service providers have varying hardware components in their inventories, such as stock keeping units (SKUs), and complex application management processes. While some may have internal hardware consolidation, vendors typically have multiple, different and wholly incompatible hardware platforms. This creates challenges in the migration journey.
To achieve ‘cloudification,’ the first step to take is virtualization. Virtualization is the steppingstone to enabling hardware consolidation by allowing applications – including single-threaded ones - to run on generic hardware more efficiently. While it is a way forward, in many cases, it is still not true cloudification. This is because the virtual network functions (VNFs) are still kept in isolation and there is no pooling of hardware resources across different applications, effectively making cloud benefits somewhat obsolete.
Next is the move towards automation and scale/elasticity - essentially to “cloudify” the virtualized software. Through leveraging OpenStack technology, the cloud layer makes it possible to automate the deployment of applications into the data centers running common hardware, and elasticity may be supported through VNF managers. With automation in place, it is also now possible to run multiple unique applications with the same tools in the cloud infrastructures, while also having certain requirements for underlying cloud stacks and/or to the hardware layer.
The ultimate destination is to evolve application architecture towards cloud-native applications, which includes decomposing network functions into microservices, so they can run independently on hardware, virtual machines, or in containers. This evolution also allows VNF components to share or reuse multi-vendor elements across several apps like session databases and load balancing entities. Another quality is programmability, in effect, providing well-documented APIs inside and outside of the applications - a crucial component that enables DevOps principles in the telco cloud.
Every organization’s journey is different, but no matter where they are on their route, they are heading for the same destination, which embraces all these steps.
Open cloud is the new cloud
In this new era of rapidly changing networks, applications and services, the cloud is built on openness. Open source is an essential part of this openness. But more importantly, standardization remains vital for our industry to secure interoperability between unique implementations and functions. This means becoming a key enabler for multi-vendor environments. As such, vendors should collaborate with third parties as it is the most efficient way to accelerate cloud-native innovations, but still gives you autonomy over your end-to-end solutions. Rather than locking customers into vertically integrated solutions, consider integrating them into products and optimizing them from CSPs. That way, you can effectively prepare customers to unleash the cloud era’s benefits.
