IBM wants to make it easier for mobile operators to automate their networks and simplify the deployment of 5G services, by announcing new products and partnerships at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2021 in Barcelona. 5G will provide superior services to the consumer, but the real potential lies in the enterprise market. Ultra-fast speeds, enhanced capacity, and ultra-low latency will enable mobile networks to power mission-critical applications for the first time and enable the creation of entirely new use cases. However, this forces operators to reorganize networks away from the centralized legacy core infrastructure and towards the cloud.
IBM Cloud for telecom operators
By virtualizing network functions, operators can deploy new services more quickly, dynamically allocate resources where they are needed most, and bring processing capabilities closer to the point of collection.
These needs have seen significant convergence between the telecommunications and technology sectors in recent years, with vendors from both fields working together to create bundled offerings that mix and match various computer and network technologies. IBM, along with its competitors Google and Microsoft, have invested heavily in telecommunications capabilities for their respective cloud platforms.
The main announcement is IBM Cloud Park for Network Automation, a hybrid cloud software platform that provides AI-powered automation capabilities for 5G and edge services.
It runs on RedHat OpenShift and uses advanced analytics, machine learning, and AIOps to discover patterns and trends in network operations to automatically make adjustments that optimize infrastructure and maintain uptime.
With the broader cloud and virtualization of network infrastructure that has been required to support 5G applications, network resources can be dynamically allocated where they are needed most and problems can be solved without human intervention.
The platform can model all network functions, automatically create workflows, automate service design and testing, and provide a real-time view of network performance.
IBM says that a network engineer responsible for designing, configuring, and implementing a network site can condense 2 to 6 months of manual processes into just 4 to 5 days.
“As the telecommunications industry strives to capture the new value of 5G and edge computing, many are converting their networks to software-defined platforms that can deliver on that promise. However, limited automation and a lack of real-time visibility into networks have hampered the ability to deliver innovative services to clients fairly quickly,” said Andrew Coward, general manager, Software Defined Networking, IBM.
“To help meet these growing demands, IBM's new Cloud Pak for Network Automation software uses AI-powered automation to enable hands-off provisioning of new services and simplifies the management of network functions from the cloud to the edge of the world. home.
IBM has already launched IBM for telecommunications, a cloud platform and an ecosystem of third-party providers, to help operators and businesses take advantage of it.
Now, to help carriers and enterprises manage the ever-increasing volume of data and devices at the edge, the IBM Edge Application Manager partner ecosystem has expanded to more than 30 partners and can now manage up to 40,000 devices. These include smart cameras, sensors, drones, and industrial robots.
The company has expanded its partnerships with Telefónica and Verizon, the former using IBM's AI and blockchain capabilities to help with customer service and supply chain optimization, and the latter building a 5G-based core on OpenShift.
Verizon expects to be able to take advantage of open innovations while retaining the architectural control necessary to accelerate time to market for new features, offerings and services such as split networking and advanced computing.