MWC 2019: VMware says telcos must move 5G infrastructure into the cloud to stay ahead

VMware made many announcements at MWC 2019 and they all centred around one common theme: network virtualisation."If a telco wants to progress in the future, they need to think software-defined," said Gabriele di Piazza, VP products & solutions for telco at VMware. "More and more communication service providers (CSPs) are turning to VMware to lead their transformation ahead of 5G rollout.It thinks that there needs to be a shift away from hardware-defined architecture, towards a fully virtualised one which will enable telcos to beat competitors to market with fully automated, scalable infrastructure.Traditional data centre models will be a thing of the past and phones will transmit to masts and that data will be sent to the cloud, where the network is managed virtually in a SlaaS configuration - we're noticing a pattern here.VMware calls it a 'telco cloud' which will exist alongside the traditional public, private, hybrid and edge clouds. The network function virtualisation (NFV) platform on its telco cloud will enable better management of a network and improved efficency of services.