*By Jason Zander
Over the past decade, we at Microsoft have seen a tremendous amount of change that digital transformation, driven by the cloud, has brought. But the biggest impact is yet to come. McKinsey estimates that by 2030, we will see more than a trillion dollars impacted by the cloud at companies in the world's top 500 Fortune 500 companies. In an industry that is currently undergoing large-scale transformation, this represents a huge opportunity.
The cloud of the future, however, will be very different from the one we have today. It will expand to reach more and more spaces, encompassing technologies like 5G – here and across the universe. It will be powered by a modern network infrastructure and will enable a new paradigm of applications and connectivity – what we call applications modern connected – that brings computing even closer to the problems we need to solve.
This new generation of highly distributed, low-latency, network-aware applications uses 5G innovation to enable computing where it's needed most and opens up entirely new landscapes for operators, enterprises and developers across a range of industries.
Unlocking opportunity for the telecom ecosystem
At Microsoft, our goal is to be the most trusted co-innovation partner in all stages of the digital evolution, and we are committed to working with communications service providers (CSPs), enterprises, developers and independent software vendors (ISVs) on the future of a ubiquitous cloud that unlocks the true potential of modern connected applications. Microsoft is delivering key solutions that are shaping the future of the cloud:
- We are empowering operators to accelerate their network transformation with our trusted tier platform, helping them unlock new opportunities with automation and AI
- We are empowering enterprises with ubiquitous computing that extends from the cloud to the edge
- And we're helping developers and ISVs build more innovative, network-aware applications
Microsoft is delivering the key solutions that are shaping the cloud of the future, and we have some exciting news in each of these areas to help operators., companies and developers getting started.
I: Accelerate network transformation with a trusted platform
One of our goals is to enable operators to leverage their existing investments and services and accelerate their network transformation on our trusted hybrid platform with our Azure for Operators portfolio. Last year, we unveiled a new wave of solutions and services of azure for Operatorshttps://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/new-azure-for-operators-solutions-and-services-built-for-the-future-of-telecommunications/, that continue to enable the secure development of high-performance, low-latency applications and next-generation wireless solutions.
Introducing Microsoft Azure Operator Nexus
Today we are announcing the public preview of Azure Operator Nexus, the next generation hybrid cloud platform built for CSPs. Since we debuted Private Preview at MWC 2022, we've expanded the capabilities of the new function to meet the needs of operators looking to modernize and transform their network. Operator Nexus enables you to use cloud technology to modernize and monetize your network investments, reducing total cost of ownership (TCO), driving operational efficiency and resiliency with advanced AI and automation, and improving the security of highly distributed networks software based.
Operator Nexus allows operators to run their workloads on premises or in Azure where they can seamlessly deploy, manage, secure and monitor everything. It was built specifically for carrier-grade workloads, using the same Azure experience offered by the hyperscale public cloud, supporting our primary solutions as well as a wide range of partner ecosystem offerings from leading NEP partners. (Network Equipment Provider) industry leaders. Proven to perform network functions at a Tier 1 operator scale, Operator Nexus meets the security, resiliency, observability, manageability and performance needs required by operators to achieve meaningful business results across the digital transformation of their mobile network.
“As a pioneer in network virtualization and SDN, AT&T is confident in our decision to run our multi-vendor 5G Standalone Mobile Core on the Azure Operator Nexus platform as we continue to deploy and operate the platform in AT&T data centers. The company made the decision to adopt the Azure Operator Nexus platform over time with the expectation of lowering the total cost of ownership (TCO), harnessing the power of AI to simplify operations, improve time to market and focus on in our main goal of building the best 5G service in the world. We appreciate the efforts of our Network Function ecosystem contributors to support the evolution of our Mobility Core platform,” said Igal Elbaz, senior vice president, network CTO, AT&T.
“By combining Ericsson's market-leading cloud-native 5G Core applications with the market-leading Operator Nexus platform with Microsoft's Operator Nexus platform, we see many opportunities for CSPs to digitally transform their core networks, improving customer experiences and creating exciting mobile services. Building on our success with mutual customers such as AT&T, Ericsson and Microsoft, we are investing together to ensure Ericsson's 5G Core cloud native applications run on the Operator Nexus platform efficiently, securely and reliably," said he. Monica Zethzon, Vice President and Head of Core Networks, Solutions Area, Ericsson
“With the addition of Mavenir's open cloud native architecture end-to-end solutions, including Converged Packet Core to the Azure Operator Nexus platform, we look forward to working with Microsoft to help operators drive their major network transformations.“, said Bejoy Pankajakshan, Executive Vice President. Director of Technology and Strategy, Mavenir
“we are excited in further strengthen our growing partnership with The Microsoft for O Cloud and Network Services portfolio gives Nokia, what allows what carriers run cloud-native 5G Core gives Nokia on Azure Operator Nexus. carrier-grade hybrid cloud platform, as well as for Nokia to provide the network functions and platform to make the operator's network APIs available to developers through the Azure platform", he said Fran Heeran, Senior Vice President, Core Networks, Nokia Cloud and Network Services, Nokia
Learn more about Operator Nexus at our blog and in this video.
Operator Nexus Ready and Systems Integrator programs
We are also introducing the Azure Operator Nexus Ready and Systems Integrator (SI) programs to ensure our platform has a broad and trusted ecosystem of support. To accelerate deployment and integration, the Azure Operator Nexus Ready program certifies that the ecosystem of CNFs, VNFs and other software interoperate with the Azure Operator Nexus platform. We are in the process of certifying VNFs and CNFs from a number of partners with two levels of certification.
- Level 1 is a base level that ensures interoperability with the Operator Nexus platform.
- Tier 2 adds Azure deployment automation using the Azure Network Roles Manager and offers entry into the Azure Marketplace for immediate availability to operators.
In addition, our Operator Nexus SI program includes a select group of systems integrators known for their telecommunications experience as well as their extensive Azure skills. Each of these partners will work closely with the Operator Nexus Engineering team to build their skills on the Operator Nexus platform and ensure customer success in deployment and integration.
Reimagined Voice Core
Another key objective of ours is to help optimize operators' existing communications investments and services. To that end, we are announcing the general availability of the Communications from Azure and Private Box Preview Azure Operator Postal. We've developed these voice services to support landline and mobile operators as they continue to move critical voice workloads to the cloud.
The Communications Gateway of Azure provides operators with the critical interworking functionality needed to connect an operator's established PSTN network directly to Microsoft Teams, enabling them to provide Operator Connect and Teams Phone Mobile services. Communications Gateway is a globally available managed service that provides an alternative to local solutions for session initiation protocol (SIP) interworking and API automation, thereby simplifying network integration and accelerating time to market for operators. To learn more, read the Azure Communications Gateway Technical Community blog on here
The PO Box of Operator of Azure allows operators to migrate their voicemail services to Azure and enjoy a fully managed service, reducing the operational support burden and allowing greater focus on revenue-generating projects. To learn more, read the Azure Operator Voicemail Technical Community blog on here
With these announcements, we remain committed in our effort to accelerate network transformation and serve operators right where they are on their cloud journey.
II: Unlock opportunities with automation and AI
The world has been inspired by the transformative power of AI thanks to the recent success of ChatGPT and our ongoing partnership with OpenAI. Operators can now take advantage of specialized and advanced AI solutions that help unlock new business opportunities from data and insights in their operations, such as AIOps.
State-of-the-art AI operations for operators
The complexity of managing 5G services requires a new way of managing networks reliant on real-time analysis of massive amounts of data that applies predictive AI to inform the configuration of product environments. AIOps employs the same techniques and operational resources that Microsoft uses to manage Azure, one of the world's most complex services, packaged specifically for the needs of operators.
Today, we are announcing the public preview of two AIOps services Azure Operator Insights and Azure Operator Service Manager. These hybrid services simplify management of existing networks, while also ensuring that new Microsoft services such as Operator Nexus, Voice Communications Gateway and Operator 5G Core are managed with consistent approaches to monitoring, diagnostics and lifecycle management. .
Azure Operator Insights enables the collection and analysis of large amounts of network data gathered from complex multiparty/multivendor network functions. It provides insights into operator-specific workloads to help operators understand the health of their networks and the quality of their subscriber experiences. Azure Operator Insights
The Azure Operator Service Manager provides ongoing management of complex services deployed across hybrid cloud sites. Combined with consolidated management across Azure cloud and edge platforms, Operator Service Manager helps accelerate operator service deployment. Together, these new services generate insights from data to inform network configuration—with changes thoroughly tested using Secure Deployment Processes. We are making them available to operators, NEPs and SIs directly to manage workloads across operator networks, Azure and hybrid environments. We look forward to the opportunities these new AIOps services bring to operators in the future.
“3UK is focused on delivering a world-class gaming experience to mobile users and we are excited to be working with the Microsoft Azure for Operators organization, whose new carrier-specific analytics services are delivering near real-time insights with quality, timeliness and cost. -benefits that would otherwise not be possible", he said Iain Milligan, Network Director at 3UK.
“2degrees provides world-class mobile services to our customers. We are excited to be working with Microsoft Azure for Operators and their new operator-specific analytics services. Together, we are exploring innovative capabilities using the new Azure Operator Insights analytics service, with a focus on ensuring we continue to provide our customers with the exceptional mobile services they expect.” said Saul Parkinson, Core Network Architect, 2degrees
Azure for Operators brings together a truly better portfolio that encompasses many aspects of the operator network. It is rooted in Azure Operator 5G Core and deployed by Azure Operator Service Manager on Azure Operator Nexus. Using AI from Azure Operator Insights, it is intelligently operated and monitored. And most importantly, it includes opportunities for our partner ecosystem. Watch the video for to know more
III: Build innovative, network-aware applications with new Azure Programmable Connectivity
Together with operators, we are also working hard to enable developers to evolve cloud and edge computing. Today, we are announcing the private preview of Programmable Connectivity of azure, a solution for developers to build network-aware applications. Azure Programmable Connectivity provides a unified, standard interface between operator networks, enabling developers to build cloud-native and edge applications that interact with the intelligence of networks. This solution will provide a consistent and seamless experience across multiple connectivity environments such as public and private LTE/5G networks as well as wired and satellite networks. By exposing aspects of the underlying network to applications, Azure Programmable Connectivity provides a large developer ecosystem, enabling operators to monetize their infrastructure investments.
Azure Programmable Connectivity helps application developers deliver the best user experience for highly distributed applications by providing a seamless and enriched connection across networks and diverse computing destinations such as cloud regions, private and public MEC, IoT edge and satellite for example, ensuring that developers can easily access underlying network resources. We are also collaborating with a growing ecosystem of operators, network technology companies and API platform providers to help unlock the potential of Azure Programmable Connectivity. These include a global ecosystem of carriers including AT&T, Rogers and T-Mobile in North America; Deutsche Telekom and Telefónica in Europe; and Singtel, in Asia. Microsoft is also working with network technology partners and Ericsson API platform providers, including its Vonage/Ericsson Global Network Platform, and Nokia, including its Network as Code platform, with more partners coming soon.
Watch demos with some of our partners ATT, DT/T-Mobile and telephone
Developers can apply and apply to access the private preview program on here:
IV: Enable ubiquitous computing from the cloud to the edge
As the cloud continues to grow in capacity, agility and reach, so does our platform, which enables ubiquitous computing and connectivity that extends from cloud to edge – including private MEC, public MEC, on-premises, cloud regions and even space.
Azure Private MEC and Azure Private 5G Core now generally available
As part of this expansion, today we are pleased to announce that Azure Private MEC and Azure Private 5G Core are now generally available. Since introducing Azure Private MEC in public preview in June 2021 and Azure Private 5G Core at MWC 2022, we've continued our mission to empower enterprises and governments to achieve more with multi-access edge computing, networking and applications.
Azure private MEC will be built and delivered by a growing set of operators, SIs and ISV partners, serving companies in a wide range of industries worldwide, including manufacturing, transportation, logistics, energy and defense. To date, more than 25 partners have published their offerings on the Azure Marketplace, making it easy for companies to quickly deploy these solutions and take advantage of private 5G.
Azure Private 5G Core provides a simple, scalable and secure deployment of a 5G standalone core network deployed on Azure Stack Edge. This release includes a variety of advanced features such as support for standalone 4G LTE and 5G radios, rapid deployment to Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) on Azure Stack Edge Pro, and multi-premises deployment. It also includes a built-in metrics dashboard, improved availability, advanced SIM policy with QoS support, and support for select Azure Stack Edge and HCI hardware platforms.
Hosted on Azure Private MEC, we are also unveiling the Azure Edge Network Fabric, which provides policy-based secure routing between multi-access devices on a customer's premises and applications on-premises, cloud and edge networks, simplifying private MEC deployments. We are also looking at the Radio Access Network (RAN) Observability feature to integrate RAN key performance indicators (KPI) with online dashboards. This feature provides partners and enterprises with combined observability, network insights and analytics power for the entire private 4G or 5G network, all from a single Azure portal.
“Reliable network connections are critical to many processes and applications in throughout the airport, especially the bridge point between Wi-Fi networks and public networks, as this is becoming an increasing problem with large amounts of data and apps In real time. THE solution from NTT, powered by the private Azure MEC, is helping us to implement the infrastructure and applications that will increase our operational efficiency. NTT's knowledge of 5G networks, combined with its experience in the aviation industry, is the perfect match.” Sebastian Mueller, CIO Cologne Bonn Airport
Expanding Azure Public MEC solutions in North America and Asia
Finally, our public MEC capabilities continue to expand to enable enterprises and developers to deploy latency-sensitive applications in densely populated subways for use cases such as venues, airports, and connected cities. At Ignite this year, we announced the general availability of Azure Public MEC with AT&T in Atlanta and Dallas. Now, we're expanding general availability to new sites with AT&T in Detroit, with New York, Los Angeles and Miami coming soon. We are also pleased to announce the private preview of Azure Public MEC with Singtel in Singapore, the first public offering in Asia, which extends Azure capacity to Singtel's 5G network edge.
“Combining AT&T 5G with Azure's public MEC solution is laying the groundwork for low-latency use cases, especially across transport. With vehicles becoming the ultimate connected device, these edge zones will enable new and improved driving experiences.", he said Mike Troiano, Senior Vice President of Products, AT&T Business. “With each new site, we are one step closer to seeing the true breadth and depth that 5G will unleash for businesses and consumers alike.“.
“Singtel is excited with the collaboration with the Microsoft to be The first telecom company in Asia to launch an Azure public MEC offering powered by Azure and Singtel Paragon Platform. Azure Public MEC is now available for companies in Singapore to deploy latency sensitive applications. Companies too they can leveraging the app ecosystem of Singtel and Microsoft's Paragon Platform partners on the public Azure MEC.” Bill Chang, CEO Group Enterprise and Regional Data Center, Singtel
Learn more on Azure Public MEC with video single
ISV MEC programs enable rapid deployments of enterprise solutions
We invite technology partners to participate in our ISV programs for MEÇ and Azure Private MEC to receive technical benefits and platform resources designed specifically for ISVs, including discounted demos, training, and go-to-market support.
- Azure Private MEC ISV Program: watch read This one blog to learn more about Azure Private MEC ISV program with Cognitiwe, Ipsotek, RedViking and weavix. sign up on here to know
*Jason Zander, Executive Vice President, Strategic Missions and Technology
Notice: The opinion presented in this article is the responsibility of its author and not of ABES - Brazilian Association of Software Companies
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