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Transcending the Network in the Cloud

Transcending the Network in the Cloud Image Credit: Your_photo/Bigstockphoto.com

An insatiable demand for data is driving network transformation toward an increasingly cloudy future. Cloud-native applications are inching closer to the edge of the network, requiring more compute functionality in the cloud to enable higher speeds and lower latency. Yet, as cloud adoption gains traction, the future of data networking isn’t so clear. What’s beyond the cloud? And can providers sustain the current pace of network transformation?

#1: A question of sustainability

As worldwide data consumption continues to rise, so too does the consumption of resources by data center operations. In fact, data centers already account for three percent of global electricity consumption. This will only increase with the global data center market expected to grow at a rate of 4.5 percent through 2026, fueled in part by escalating 5G and IoT deployments, as well as new artificial intelligence (AI) applications. These demands are not sustainable for the climate, or for business profitability. As a result, sustainability is an increasingly important business driver.

There is an urgency to advance the state-of-the-art in a way that significantly reduces cost and power consumption per Gigabit. Vendors are modernizing legacy network equipment to recover space and power, as well as developing new technologies for storage, compute, liquid cooling, distributed edge computing and high-speed coherent optics.

New clean technology deployments are growing throughout the cloud ecosystem, from traditional Tier 1 telcos and vendors, to cloud and internet content providers (ICPs). Microsoft, for example, pledges to be carbon negative by 2030. NTT helped found the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) Global Forum, gathering a variety of industry leaders to build an all-photonics network to enable enormous processing capacity with reduced power consumption. Likewise, the Fujitsu Fugaku supercomputer, the world’s fastest supercomputer, is expected to be a key enabling technology for Japan’s Society 5.0 program, which aims to contribute to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and a decarbonized society.

#2: Open ecosystem drives business

The repercussions of 18 months of supply chain challenges have swept across a range of industries and highlighted the interconnectedness - and shortcomings - of global business ecosystems. From shortages of raw materials to interruptions in labor and logistics, it’s clear that the global supply chain was not engineered for a worldwide pandemic. To build up immunity to future supply chain interruptions, we must first take a closer look at how we design, source and deploy products and services.

The transition from proprietary systems to open ecosystems provides greater resiliency that drives business value. Greater adoption of open architectures, such as Open ROADM and O-RAN, supports a growing number of vendors and system integration partners, which provides greater choice and improved efficiencies. Evolution to mobile edge computing in the cloud is further expanding this ecosystem, as network operators partner with ICPs to enable hybrid cloud workloads wherever and whenever they are needed, from the telecom network to the enterprise data center.

Service offerings will continue to diversify, including best-effort low-cost services, dedicated high-speed connectivity, and enforceable service guarantees like low latency and security. Open network solutions provide the flexibility network architects and operators need to add those new service types faster, increase capacity on the fly, and target maintenance to specific portions of the network while centralizing operations.

With the freedom to choose equipment, software and even services from multiple vendors, network architects can precisely target investments for different bandwidth needs and service levels, or provide individualized value-added features for specific network segments. And cloud-capable automation in the open network aligns lower-layer resources directly to customer services orchestrated by the upper layers of the network. These open implementations transform the lower layers of the network from chronically over-provisioned dumb connections into intelligent and lightweight infrastructure with a clear path to revenue.

#3: Networks unleash borderless lives

The border is blurring between home and office, fixed and mobile networks, and even between our physical and digital lives. The need to work, learn and shop remotely throughout the COVID-19 pandemic continues to highlight the essential nature of broadband access, particularly in rural areas and inner city neighborhoods where the digital divide is wider. As more workers embrace the new work-from-anywhere (WFA) opportunity, the importance of cloud computing at the edge of the network is even more evident.

The ongoing roll-out of commercial 5G networks worldwide in 2022 will enable new and innovative use cases that promise significant business value, many of which blend mobile and fixed wireless networks. Private 5G networks enable enterprises to use resources more efficiently, and they improve economies of scale for IoT devices and sensors, smart manufacturing, and asset tracking. This transformation will only accelerate with increased deployment of 5G networks that use Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) frequency bands, and as governments worldwide invest in programs that fund broadband.

#4: Intelligent automation empowers the future

Looking to 2022 and beyond, automation will play an even greater role in network operations. As network segments become more integrated to support cross-domain provisioning and service orchestration, network automation powered by trusted AI will play an increasingly dominant role.

Service providers can expect to extend traditional management approaches, by applying tightly integrated network intelligence powered by AI to continuously evaluate service performance and infrastructure, and automatically address degradations and outages. Cross-domain data sets and microapplications will enable evidence-based responses, and provide revelations that automatically trigger appropriate actions. Organizations that understand their usage data effectively will use that information to segment product definitions and services, so that they can automatically deliver more personalized offerings within service level agreements (SLAs). Intelligent network automation also provides access to more realistic quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) predictions, changing the playing field.

Greater network automation will be needed to take advantage of technology innovations and operate the open network as if it were a single system. Without network automation, complex functions such as Open ROADM network planning and design, O-RAN Radio Intelligent Controller (RIC) software, and AI-based service assurance are simply not manageable. Moreover, this need for automation will continue to grow exponentially as service providers deploy more and more 5G architecture, with 5G microcell and tower deployments estimated to exceed 15 million worldwide over the next five years.

As these nascent 5G networks go live and drive more power-hungry data traffic, network automation can also help address the challenge of sustainability. In fact, as predictive analytics go mainstream, networks capable of adapting autonomously in real-time will leverage intelligent, cloud-based automation to improve scalability, boost cost efficiency, and reduce power consumption.

Two years in, it’s obvious that the accelerated pace of change is here to stay and will continue to evolve. Every organizational sector will be expected to maintain the current rate of digital transformation, and will need sophisticated data sharing tools, analytics and automation, as well as open ecosystems that are more environmentally sustainable.

Author

Rod Naphan is Chief Technology Officer for Fujitsu Network Communications and Head of the Photonic Systems Business Unit for Fujitsu. As the architect of the Fujitsu networking vision, Rod leads a global organization that defines, develops and delivers innovative network infrastructure technologies enabling connected services in a digital world.

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