A new generation of transformational technologies - 5G, cloud, and edge - promise to revolutionise industrial and service sectors across the world, from smart cities to manufacturing, from transportation to healthcare. A clearer view is emerging of the potential around 5G and edge computing as organisations explore their intersection in a growing number of use cases. By leveraging the unique network slicing capability of 5G and multi-cloud adoption with the hyperscalers, communications service providers (CSPs) are presented with the opportunity to diversify into multiple new markets.
New use cases are initially being deployed on private networks, giving CSPs and their customers the stability to explore the capabilities in a controlled environment. The outcome of these exploratory unetse cases are making key requirements obvious:
- Distributed 5G networks with an on-premise 5G user plane function (UPF) for high capacity and ultra low-latency.
- Open multi-access edge compute (MEC) platforms located on-premise and the network edge can host a variety of MEC applications (such as Internet of Things (IoT) analysis and video surveillance), as well as 5G core functions and value added services.
- Use of open application programming interfaces (APIs) to simplify the integration across multiple vendor solutions.
However, to build successful use – and therefore business cases, enterprises find themselves tasked with managing a massively complex environment and a customer base that has a wide variety of requirements. Services are expected on demand, scalability must be instant and seamless, network issues need to be invisible to the end user and resolved without impact on performance. Service level agreements (SLAs) are increasingly punitive as services become increasingly mission critical. This all requires coordination and control beyond the capabilities of legacy network management processes.
CSPs have an excellent opportunity to take on this role and become a vital partner in the value chain. For this, they will need a new operational approach.
This new approach requires that each network domain in the private network is fully automated, including core, radio access network (RAN), transport, and MEC. Automating network domains requires a service orchestration function to automate service provisioning and lifecycle management for the domain. In addition, a combination of network orchestration and operations support systems (OSS) such as active inventory, configuration management, and resource monitoring, ensure all aspects of workloads are automated from design and deployment to assurance and optimisation. This domain orchestration approach is the foundation for dynamic 5G services and is critical in order for 5G to meet its expectations of delivering on-demand services and enabling the rapid deployment of new features and services with real-time charging. It is a highly complicated multi-vendor network environment, with potentially a mix of telco and public clouds and highly distributed MEC.
However, this is just step one. Although the network domains are automated, the services running on the network may cross multiple domains. Even pioneering CSPs who have automated some of their network domains still use legacy procedures to create an end-to-end (E2E) service. This effectively means they need to ‘manually stitch’ services together and provision them – an extremely complex and lengthy process that completely cancels out the potential for delivering services on demand.
These advanced new networks need innovation in end-to-end edge orchestration, visualisation and management. This is the cue for E2E service orchestration, which is the approach that is needed for CSPs to drive the effective deployment, management, and monetisation of 5G and edge services, while supporting full-lifecycle automation and systems integration for 5G networks.
The word ‘orchestration’ is well chosen. While each network element, feature, and service can be its own centre of excellence, the way that they all meld and work together determines the overall quality of performance. The service orchestration of a network delivers the same function as the conductor of an orchestra – ensuring all the components play their part and that everything works in harmony to provide exceptional experiences.
Edge services, while usually hosted on the network edge or on premise, have aspects that can be hosted in regional or core data centres. Service orchestration enables the operations environment to be realigned with an end-to-end view, unifying services and readying the network to deliver the required RAN quality of service, MEC hosting connectivity, and 5G network slice services. Service orchestration is the foundation needed to drive profitability from the development of applications and services in the 5G era.
There are three key elements required for effective service orchestration. The first is intent-based orchestration, which is executing business intent with preconfigured service models to manage the growing complexity and scale of networks and delivering on-demand digital services. The second is cloud-native architecture. A microservices architecture and container-based components will help operators adapt different cloud environments to their individual requirements as businesses continue migrating to public and hybrid clouds. Thirdly, it is essential to build a partner ecosystem and adhere to industry open standards to avoid the traditional pitfalls of legacy systems, such as vendor lock-in. Open APIs and standard service models will simplify the integration and automation of multi-vendor networks and services.
Effective service orchestration will provide CSPs with a unified view across all domains, creating a closed-loop policy for smooth coordination of services enhancement, upgrades or modifications. Enabling full-service lifecycle automation and end-to-end integration, service orchestration is the key process that pulls together and harmonises diverse resources across different cloud platforms.
To truly unleash the monetisation opportunities of 5G, CSPs need flexibility, rapid provisioning of services, quality assurance, and guaranteed reliability. We are moving into the world of event-driven business models. Without service orchestration and automation, those business models will be neither achievable nor viable. With cross-domain service orchestration, networks – and their operators and users – can be agile, innovative, and profitable.
