In my post last year, I predicted that 2019 would be The Year of Network Transformation, and the telecom industry as a whole would make tremendous strides as it seeked to keep up with bandwidth demands driven by billions of connected devices and with subscriber expectations for digital experiences. In order to enable this network transformation while reducing costs and accelerating service introduction, communications service providers (CSPs) turned to open components from a multi-vendor ecosystem. This work will continue at an accelerated pace in 2020 as open ecosystems such as the O-RAN Alliance, the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), and the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) - driven by CSPs in collaboration with the vendor community - deliver open reference architectures, specifications and interfaces.
#1: Disaggregation of the Access Network Remains a Strategic Priority
There are a number of important initiatives under way that are focused on disaggregating the Radio Access Network (RAN) for mobile 4G/5G networks and the fixed broadband access network.
Industry collaboration to open up the RAN - arguably the most complex element of the mobile network - has been underway for the past two years, led by efforts from the operator-driven organizations including the O-RAN Alliance, TIP, and ONF. These groups have been focused on defining open architectures, open interfaces, open APIs, and open hardware to enable disaggregation of the components, while layering in programmability, scalability, and manageability. For the fixed broadband access network, ONF has been leading with its SEBA™ initiative - SDN Enabled Broadband Access. SEBA enables broadband service providers to use disaggregated open source software such as ONOS and mass market bare-metal hardware to reduce costs and time-to-market development.
We predict that in 2020, we’ll see steadily increasing deployments of open and disaggregated mobile and fixed broadband networks - with a range of components from new and disruptive vendors that have turned the traditional telecom model on its head.
#2: OTIC Gives Open RAN Deployments a Boost
In September 2019, China Mobile and Reliance Jio, along with a number of CSP and vendor partners including Radisys, launched the Open Test & Integration Center (OTIC) initiative. OTIC is focused on facilitating the verification, integration, and testing of disaggregated RAN components based on the O-RAN Alliance specifications. Its goal is to help enable commercially deployable Open RAN solutions that will go live in 5G networks.
The first OTIC facility is being opened in Beijing by China Mobile with a second facility set to follow from Reliance Jio. OTIC testing and verification will give global mobile operators confidence that these open telecom solutions are hardened and interoperable and will work in their networks. With collaborative industry-wide efforts like OTIC underway, we predict that we’ll see deployment of open RAN go mainstream.
#3: Private Networks and CBRS Experience Explosive Growth
The CBRS Alliance crossed the final hurdle to enable commercial deployments of OnGo™ solutions in the shared 3.5 GHz band when the FCC authorized deployments in September 2019. Traditional licensed spectrum is expensive, but the shared 3.5 GHz band has been valued at being worth $15.6B according to a report commissioned by the CBRS Alliance. This opens up the opportunity for thousands of commercial deployments by enterprises across the U.S. In 2020, we predict we’ll see many OnGo certified devices come to market and a solid mix of CBRS LTE deployments in both indoor and outdoor venues such as stadiums, airports, campuses, and more.
Natasha Tamaskar,
VP, Global Marketing
& Sales Strategy,
Radisys
There is an auction scheduled for June 2020 that will auction off the licensed portion of the 3.5 GHz band that will open up access to additional spectrum, which will ultimately help drive private 4G and 5G networks.
#4: Network & Service Orchestration to Fuel Service Innovation
As mobile operators transition from 4G to 5G and as multi-access edge computing has emerged as a key enabler for ultra-reliable low-latecny communication (uRLLC) and industrial IoT applications, network and service orchestration is on an evolution path. Mobile operators are re-architecting their network functions to be deployed at both the network edge and at central data centers. Another notable transition for network functions is the evolution from pure Network Function Virtualization (NFV) to cloud native NFV deployments as a pre-cursor to 5G.
To ensure agile service delivery as well as faster time-to-market, orchestration is emerging in its new avatar – namely, “converged orchestration.”
Converged orchestration encompasses edge, data center, and cloud native deployments under a single pane of glass for operators, enabling network slicing which cuts across this distributed network infrastructure to be realized. Slice orchestration is essential for executing real-time decisions on slice instantiation, scale out and termination.
New services for private 5G networks, IoT, and for enterprises can be enabled by combining converged orchestration and network slicing. From a mobile operator’s perspective, network slices will house vertical services such as mMTC (IoT), eMBB, and uRLLC. Private 5G slices will also be instantiated on-demand for enterprises. MVNO business models will be easier to deliver through network slices being deployed through the converged orchestration layer.
We predict that in 2020, converged orchestration will be the driving force to realize the potential of 5G services, as well as to streamline service delivery in existing 4G networks.
#5: Digital Engagement and Network-as-a-Service Offers New Revenue Opportunities for Service Providers
In today’s hyper-connected and mobile world, the boundaries between work and life are often blurred. Mobile subscribers demand personalized digital experiences on their devices, but also want to have control over when, where and how they want to engage with brands, their employers, and their communities.
CSPs’ want to be able to leverage their networks beyond providing bandwidth to deliver and monetize new services to their subscribers that are personalized with flexible pricing and bundling strategies, while ensuring subscriber control over their own data. In 2020, we will see more service providers opening up their network and services infrastructure via APIs and SDKs to ecosystem partners, enterprise customers, and developer communities to create contextual and personalized applications. All-in-one Digital Engagement Platforms that can be hosted in a service provider or enterprise network, provide a single solution that brings together all communications under one application. We predict in 2020, that we’ll see service providers and enterprises move to all-in-one engagement applications in order to simplify communications with their subscribers, while driving revenue growth.
