Has virtualization become obsolete in 5G?

Sat Aug 1 14:52:33 UTC 2020

>
> Be careful not to confuse vendors pumping stuff with whats actually
> deployed.
>
Well yes, there's always the hype factor to discount. The reason why I'm
asking this forum is to separate hype from hope.

Also, AT&T has been doing virtualization for nearly 10 years now, so
> perhaps you were just not paying attention

But the point is just that: how serious is this progression towards
cloud-native, if so much effort was put in to virtualization?

Incidentally, AT&T's Brian Bearden was present here
<https://intelvs.on24.com/vshow/inteldcgevents/#content/2393080>: just
listen to how he defended Intel's containerization drive @24:56.

>
>
On Sat, Aug 1, 2020 at 4:33 PM Ca By <cb.list6 at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Sat, Aug 1, 2020 at 7:21 AM Etienne-Victor Depasquale <edepa at ieee.org>
> wrote:
>
>> The surprise for me regards Intel's (and the entire Cloud Native
>> Computing Foundation's?) readiness to move past network functions run on
>> VMs
>> and towards network functions run as microservices in containers.
>>
>> See, for example, Azhar Sayeed's (Red Hat) contribution here
>> <https://www.lightreading.com/webinar.asp?webinar_id=1608>@15:33.
>>
>
> Be careful not to confuse vendors pumping stuff with whats actually
> deployed.
>
> Also, AT&T has been doing virtualization for nearly 10 years now, so
> perhaps you were just not paying attention
>
>
> https://www.fiercetelecom.com/telecom/at-t-target-for-virtualizing-75-its-network-by-2020
>
> Not sure it has helped ATT in any meaningful way, their stock price  is
> the same it was in 2015.
>
>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Etienne
>>
>> On Sat, Aug 1, 2020 at 2:35 PM Mark Tinka <mark.tinka at seacom.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 1/Aug/20 11:23, Etienne-Victor Depasquale wrote:
>>>
>>> Over the past few weeks, I've attended webinars and watched videos
>>> organized by Intel.
>>> These activities have centred on 5G and examined applications (like
>>> "visual cloud" and "gaming"),
>>> as well as segment-oriented aspects (like edge networks, 5G RAN and 5G
>>> Core).
>>>
>>> I am stunned (no hyperbole) by the emphasis on Kubernetes in particular,
>>> and cloud-native computing in general.
>>> Equally stunning (for me), public telecommunications networks have been
>>> portrayed
>>> as having a history that moved from integrated software and hardware,
>>> to virtualization and now to cloud-native computing.
>>> See, for example Alex Quach, here
>>> <https://www.telecomtv.com/content/intel-vsummit-5g-ran-5g-core/the-5g-core-is-vital-to-deliver-the-promise-of-5g-39164/> @10:30).
>>> I reason that Intel's implication is that virtualization is becoming
>>> obsolete.
>>>
>>> Would anyone care to let me know his thoughts on this prediction?
>>>
>>>
>>> In the early dawn of SDN, where it was cool to have the RP's in Beirut
>>> and the line cards in Lagos, the industry quickly realized that was not
>>> entirely feasible.
>>>
>>> If you are looking at over-the-top services, so-called cloud-native
>>> computing makes sense in order to deliver that value accordingly, and with
>>> agility. But as it pertains to actual network transport, I'm not yet sure
>>> the industry is at the stage where we are confident enough to decompose
>>> packet forwarding through a cloud.
>>>
>>> Network operators are more likely to keep using kit that integrates
>>> forwarding hardware as well as a NOS, as no amount of cloud architecting is
>>> going to rival a 100Gbps purpose-built port, for example.
>>>
>>> Suffice it to say, there was a time when folk were considering running
>>> their critical infrastructure (such as your route reflectors) in AWS or
>>> similar. I'm not quite sure public clouds are at that level of confidence
>>> yet. So if some kind of cloud-native infrastructure is to be considered for
>>> critical infrastructure, I highly suspect it will be in-house.
>>>
>>> On the other hand, for any new budding entrepreneurs that want to get
>>> into the mobile game with as little cost as possible, there is a huge
>>> opportunity to do so by building all that infrastructure in an on-prem
>>> cloud-native architecture, and offer packet forwarding using
>>> general-purpose hardware provided they don't exceed their expectations.
>>> This way, they wouldn't have to deal with the high costs traditional
>>> vendors (Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei, Siemens, ZTE, e.t.c.) impose. Granted, it
>>> would be small scale, but maybe that is the business model. And in an
>>> industry where capex is fast out-pacing revenue, it would be the mobile
>>> network equivalent of low-cost carrier airlines.
>>>
>>> I very well could be talking out the side of my neck, but my prediction
>>> is mobile operators will be optimistic but cautious. I reckon a healthy mix
>>> between cloud-native and tried & tested practices.
>>>
>>> Mark.
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Ing. Etienne-Victor Depasquale
>> Assistant Lecturer
>> Department of Communications & Computer Engineering
>> Faculty of Information & Communication Technology
>> University of Malta
>> Web. https://www.um.edu.mt/profile/etiennedepasquale
>>
>

-- 
Ing. Etienne-Victor Depasquale
Assistant Lecturer
Department of Communications & Computer Engineering
Faculty of Information & Communication Technology
University of Malta
Web. https://www.um.edu.mt/profile/etiennedepasquale
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