VMware Speeds Service Providers’ Move to Multi-Cloud

To bring innovative apps and services to customers more quickly, service providers are betting heavily on the cloud. And as apps and data continue to distribute across clouds and locations, service providers require flexibility to deploy and consistently manage workloads anywhere. That is why VMware is unveiling enhancements to its Telco Cloud Platform designed to help service providers speed their multi-cloud transformation.

“With network modernization efforts well underway, service providers are now focused on how to monetize 5G services. And how to do it fast. Thanks to cloud-native architectures, time to market for launching new services has moved from months and years to days and weeks. Over 150 CSPs around the world rely on VMware Telco Cloud Platform to accelerate time to revenue while providing automation and consistent operations across networks for 4G, 5G and beyond. The VMware Telco Cloud Platform provides multi-cloud capabilities from the core to the edge without locking the service provider into a single cloud architecture or deployment. It thereby delivers the agility and speed our customers need for their massive 5G deployments.”

The enhancements to VMware Telco Cloud Platform include:

• VMware Telco Cloud Platform – Public Cloud will let service providers seamlessly incorporate public clouds into their overall 5G architecture.
• VMware Telco Cloud Platform – Edge will provide the foundation for delivery of next-generation communications and compute services at the service provider and enterprise edge.
• New VMware Telco Cloud Automation capabilities will enable consistent, multi-cloud operations across the entire network. In addition, support for network slicing will be added through Project Lattice, now in tech preview.
• VMware’s RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) platform will unlock app innovation and velocity across radio access networks (RAN).

Introducing VMware Telco Cloud Platform – Public Cloud
Service providers have started to embrace public clouds as a part of their network architecture. As network functions are deployed across on-premises telco clouds and public clouds, service providers require a platform that enables consistent multi-cloud operations and automation.

Introduced VMware Telco Cloud Platform – Public Cloud, powered by VMware Cloud, offers service providers choice and flexibility to run their workloads in multi-cloud environments with ease. An extension of VMware Telco Cloud Platform, VMware Telco Cloud Platform – Public Cloud is comprised of the same field-proven virtualization solution, carrier-grade container-as-a-service (CaaS), and multi-layer automation, consistent across core, edge, RAN, and now with public cloud.

VMware Telco Cloud Platform – Public Cloud will provide service providers with:

• The ability to migrate telco and IT workloads to public cloud infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), specifically VMware Cloud on AWS, quickly and cost efficiently while having the flexibility to bring them back to the on-premises telco clouds, if and when necessary.
• A choice to deploy leading network functions, through VMware’s partner ecosystem, on the best clouds to serve their functional purposes based on cost, availability, and performance.
• Consistent operations with multi-layer automation across any telco cloud – from core, edge, RAN, to public cloud.

VMware Telco Cloud Platform – Public Cloud is expected to be generally available in VMware’s Q4 FY22, initially supporting service providers to deploy their network functions on VMware Cloud on AWS environments. Learn more about VMware Telco Cloud Platform – Public Cloud here.

Announcing VMware Telco Cloud Platform – Edge
At VMworld 2021, VMware introduced VMware Edge, a product portfolio that will enable organizations to run, manage and better secure edge-native apps. Service providers will play a key role in VMware’s unified edge platform strategy. That’s why today VMware is announcing VMware Telco Cloud Platform – Edge, a variation of Telco Cloud Platform adapted to host and manage multi-vendor network edge solutions.

An open and multi-cloud platform, VMware Telco Cloud Platform – Edge will provide:

• A foundation for deploying next-generation communication services, including Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC), Private Mobile Networking (PMN) and Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), among others.
• Ability to deploy edge-native apps at the service provider edge or the enterprise edge.
• Automation and operational consistency across edges and other network sites.
• A bridge to VMware’s extensive partner ecosystem spanning hyperscalers, network equipment providers, ISVs, edge-native app developers, and more.

An example of a VMware Edge ecosystem partner is Lenovo. Its comprehensive edge product portfolio coupled with VMware Telco Cloud Platform – Edge will enable automated edge services that will accelerate time to value. The combined solution will provide a strong foundation for edge deployments across different market segments.

New Telco Cloud Automation Capabilities Will Enable Multi-Cloud Operations
Spanning the entire network, Telco Cloud Automation is the orchestration and automation engine for Telco Cloud Platform. It enables consistent operations and cloud-first approach to management and orchestration by abstracting cloud complexities and exposing the new multi-cloud ecosystem through standard telco interfaces and unified resources.

VMware announced new capabilities for Telco Cloud Automation, including:

• Consistent Multi-Cloud Operations:Telco Cloud Automation customers will be able to leverage Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) public cloud resources through either VMware Cloud on AWS or Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS).
• Network Slicing:VMware unveiled Project Lattice, a tech preview, that will extend Telco Cloud Automation capabilities with 3GPP standard-compliant network slicing management. This will enable service providers to plan, design, and instantiate end-to-end network slices across the RAN, edge, core and transport network domains. An add-on module to Telco Cloud Automation, the new network slicing capability will help service providers unify these domains and close the gap between the delivered services and required network resources from physical or cloud infrastructure.
• Accelerate onboarding and instantiation of network functions: Telco Cloud Automation will offer new designer capabilities to support more lifecycle automation options and accelerate onboarding and instantiation of network functions through automated CaaS and infrastructure customizations.
• Network operability improvements: Telco Cloud Automation will enable new automated Day 2 operations for CaaS operations, BIOS and firmware upgrades that reduce maintenance time while allowing greater management flexibility across data centers.
• Augmented CI/CD automation: Updates will make it easier to integrate Telco Cloud Automation into existing CI/CD pipelines with new SDK and enable a service provider to decrease new app deployment and update time—reducing integration costs and OpEx.
• Infrastructure Automation Enhancements: Telco Cloud Automation will also offer Mount Bryce driver support, and Precision Time Protocol (PTP) network function automation. These integrations will help automate away manual infrastructure-level operations that prove essential for running vRAN and other high-performance apps.

New Telco Cloud Automation capabilities will be generally available in VMware’s Q4 FY22 apart from Project Lattice, which is in tech preview. Learn more about VMware Telco Cloud Automation for multi-cloud operations here and Project Lattice for network slicing here.

Introducing VMware RIC
The RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) is a new function introduced by the O-RAN Alliance that enables service providers to deploy cloud-native control and management apps in the RAN. VMware is introducing VMware RIC, a platform that abstracts the underlying RAN infrastructure and provides developer APIs for xApps and rApps to program the RAN.

VMware RIC platform will consist of two RICs that can run independent of each other, or together:

• VMware Centralized RIC, an implementation of the non-real-time RAN Intelligent Controller (non-RT RIC) in the O-RAN Alliance reference architecture. It will manage and host rApps that have control functions with response timing greater than one second.
• VMware Distributed RIC, an implementation of the near-real-time RAN Intelligent Controller (near-RT RIC) in the O-RAN Alliance reference architecture. It will manage and host xApps that have control functions with response timing less than one second, typically on the order of 10’s of milliseconds.

About VMware
VMware is a leading provider of multi-cloud services for all apps, enabling digital innovation with enterprise control. As a trusted foundation to accelerate innovation, VMware software gives businesses the flexibility and choice they need to build the future. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, VMware is committed to building a better future through the company’s 2030 Agenda.