One of the biggest stories of 2021 happened at the end of June when AT&T announced that it would move its 5G mobile network core to the Microsoft cloud, meaning all of its mobile network traffic would be managed using Microsoft Azure technologies. The goal was to increase the carrier’s productivity and cost efficiency and to deliver large-scale network services.
“This is the first time that a tier-one operator has embraced commercial hybrid cloud technology to run mobility network workloads that support their existing consumer base,” Shawn Hakl VP of 5G Strategy, Azure for Operators, wrote in an update on the progress of the network. “The second aspect that’s unique is that the effort is entirely focused on the mobility core network versus go-to-market collaborations at the edge.”
Microsoft’s goal is to digitally transform the network using Software Defined Networking, Cloud-Native Network Functions, and Virtualized Network Functions, according to Hakl.
Microsoft will introduce both hybrid infrastructure and software, building scalable, elastic carrier-grade networks. It will also use AI and machine learning to build self-optimizing networks that can heal, defend, and provision themselves. As a result, the carrier will be able to “hyper-automate”, bringing down costs and improving the overall service.
“Many of the benefits that Microsoft delivered in the enterprise space are directly applicable in the networking space,” wrote Hakl. “First, however, they need to be modified to account for the unique carrier-grade needs of operators. Our efforts are aimed at getting workloads on the network to function on a carrier-grade cloud, which is a hybrid cloud, spanning both public and dedicated on-premises cloud infrastructure.”
Because telecom services are highly distributed, carrier-grade hybrid clouds must reach the edge of the cloud, the edge of the network and the edge of the enterprise, according to Hakl.
With Microsoft’s acquisition of AT&T’s on-premises cloud for network workloads, development teams from AT&T’s Network Cloud organization moved into Azure for Operators, integrating the intellectual property into the Microsoft offering.
By J. Sharpe Smith Inside Towers Technology Editor
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