The communications technology landscape is undergoing a transformational shift in the way broadband networks are architected and intelligence is gathered and utilized. Communications Service Providers (CSPs) seeking a competitive edge are delivering more than a mere broadband service – they are leveraging new fiber-based broadband technologies and AI-driven insights to increase agility and create personalized multi-gigabit and converged wireline/wireless experiences. As we enter a once-in-a-generation industry upgrade cycle driven by exploding broadband demand, new applications, and technology evolution and supported by unprecedented broadband subsidies and private investment, one thing is clear: successful CSPs will invest in pushing capacity and intelligence closer to a location where they can be most responsive to the needs of their subscribers and best glean actionable AI-driven insights that can create new subscriber experiences – the EDGE.
What is the EDGE?
The EDGE is the frontier of connectivity in the CSP’s network, where data is generated, processed, and consumed. By bringing bandwidth and intelligence closer to end users, CSPs can drastically improve responsiveness and agility, reduce latency, enhance reliability, and enable a host of emerging technologies, including AI, that can guide optimal levels of network performance and elevate broadband experiences. This shift towards embracing the EDGE is imperative, as the demands of the future are quickly escalating, driven by trends ranging from the Internet of Things (IoT) and ultra-high-definition content, to augmented reality in the form of innovative new devices and services like the Apple Vision Pro.
How can CSPs gain a competitive EDGE?
To keep ahead of their competition, agile CSPs are embracing a software-defined, fiber-first strategy that pushes bandwidth and intelligence to all fronts of the EDGE in the CSP’s network.
First, we have the Subscriber EDGE - that portion of the access network that connects broadband delivered to the home or business directly to the consumer across their broadband-enabled devices. More than just the speed of connectivity within the customer premises, the Subscriber EDGE has become the focal point of the customer experience (WiFi integrity, agility, security). This interface, no matter the device, is critical in personalizing the broadband experience, both managing and optimizing subscriber satisfaction as well as serving as a platform for new subscriber insights and revenues.
Demand for a more holistic subscriber experience is higher than ever. Analysts at Omdia are observing a global trend of increased demand across the board for online applications, whether for staying in touch, entertainment, or healthcare purposes as well as a willingness to pay more for services that customize or optimize these applications. Customers no longer value broadband as just a “service” – they demand an experience.
Second, we have the Access EDGE – a modification to the traditional “last mile” of connection between the central office or data center and the subscriber’s home or business where the service termination now occurs inside the customer premises.
The Access EDGE continues to be redefined as accelerating bandwidth demand has pushed the location of access system deployment closer to the subscriber, often creating the need for environmentally hardened equipment with extraordinary performance (high capacity, ultra-low latency, user intelligence) to be deployed in entirely new and increasingly remote locations in the network. This is also underpinned by increasing government investments in rural and underserved community broadband.
New applications and technologies have also emerged, creating both a need and a necessary upgrade path from 10-Gigabit (10G) technology today to 50G/100G Passive Optical Networking (PON) technologies in the future. In fact, industry experts speculate with good reason that 100G PON technology is approaching faster than we think, meaning that CSPs making network investment decisions today should be considering efficient upgrade paths to 50G and 100G PON in the not-so-distant future.
Third is the Optical EDGE – an enhancement of the transport network that has always been the essential enabler of the access and mobile network. As access networks have increasingly enabled multi-gigabit speeds and mobile networks have pushed to 5G and beyond, the transport network has not only become dominated by optical signals over fiber, but dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) signals to enable high-speed data transmission over longer distances, offer better support of 5G technologies and provide more resilient services.
Additionally, new use cases like content delivery network (CDN) caching, 5G densification and low latency requirements make deployment of DWDM closer to the Access EDGE more necessary. CSPs are now carefully planning for assurance monitoring and AI-driven performance management of their networks, as well as new flexible deployment options and strategic roadmaps for cost-effective scale. For example, multi-billion dollar rural broadband initiatives like the Middle Mile Grant and BEAD(Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment) programs in the U.S. and many others across the world will depend in large part on the high-capacity, high-speed transport capabilities of these optical networks to bridge the digital divide.
Last is the Cloud EDGE – the essential cloud-based software infrastructure that provides the insights and analytics, often enhanced by AI, to both optimize and assure subscriber quality-of-experience and drive operational efficiencies and agility across increasingly multi-vendor networks. Whether for home or business, the Cloud EDGE not only provides the virtual infrastructure to host the services subscribers need, but also gives them control, even remotely, over those services.
Transforming at the EDGE – more than a leap of faith
By embracing the latest in edge innovations and architectures and leveraging insights gleaned from being close to the subscriber, service providers can help reduce customer churn, improve subscriber quality-of-experience and more than double their Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). One key reason – these forward thinking CSPs are redefining service agility, leveraging AI to anticipate subscriber needs and potential network performance issues, and enabling new services to be launched in days rather than the traditional multi-month roll-out process. With results like these, we anticipate that embracing the edge on all fronts – Access, Subscriber, Optical and Cloud – will become essential for CSPs seeking to gain their competitive edge and achieve long-term sustainable success.
