VMware adds cloud-native support to 5G telco cloud portfolio
VMware has announced its 5G Telco Cloud Platform, a cloud-first solution powered by carrier-grade cloud-native infrastructure with intelligent automation.
The new platform includes Tanzu Kubernetes Grid - an embedded Kubernetes distribution - that will allow Communication Service Providers (CSPs) to build, manage and run containerised workloads across private, telco, edge and public clouds.
A statement from VMware says that the multi-cloud platform accelerates the rollout of 5G networks and transforms operational models through multi-layer automation while integrating with today's networks.
The Telco Cloud Platform combines Telco Cloud Infrastructure – an evolution of the vCloud NFV solution – and VMware Telco Cloud Automation – the recently launched multi-domain orchestration and automation capability.
The 5G-ready Telco Cloud Platform is tailored for CSPs to support cloud-native technology and deliver applications and services across multi-cloud infrastructure.
By changing the vCloud NFV solution to Telco Cloud Infrastructure, the company aims to provide CSPs a consistent and unified platform for consistent operations for Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) and Cloud Native Network Functions (CNFs) across telco networks.
The telco centric enhancements support distributed cloud deployments, and provide scalability and performance for consumer and enterprise users, as well as enabling CSPs to gain web-scale speed and agility while maintaining carrier-grade performance.
VMware's Telco Cloud Automation intelligently automates the end-to-end lifecycle management of network functions and serves to simplify operations and accelerate service delivery while optimising resource utilisation.
Telco Cloud Automation also now supports infrastructure and Containers-as-a-Service (CaaS) management automation and simplifies the 5G and telco edge network expansions through zero-touch-provisioning (ZTP).
"With support for cloud-native technologies in the Telco Cloud Platform, CSPs can now boost their innovation speed to deliver new applications and services, reduce operational complexities, and realise substantial total cost of ownership savings, further accelerating the rollout of their 5G networks," says VMware executive vice president and telco and edge cloud business unit general manager Shekar Ayyar.
VMware recently expanded the Ready for Telco Cloud programme to add support for Telco Cloud Automation.
The programme scope extends to container-based network functions and these workloads conformance with VMware's Cloud Native stack as well as the automation offered by the stack.
CSPs can expect that Network Functions which passed certification will be quicker to onboard and deploy on the Telco Cloud Platform.
VMware is also announcing Telco Cloud Operations, a real-time automated assurance solution designed to bridge the gap between virtual and physical networks.
The solution provides holistic monitoring and performance management across multiple layers of the network, including SD-WAN.
It integrates machine-learning-based performance analytics and vivid reporting dashboards for proactive assurance.
Complemented by the Uhana solution that provides intelligent automation for Radio Access Networks (RANs), CSPs can have operations visibility across their network.
