5G, Cloud and AI: The Triumvirate that will Rule the Next-Gen Networks

At the thought leadership webinar on "Evolving the Network for the Next Decade" organized by Voice&Data, Vali Sunesara, Systems Engineering Senior Manager, Juniper Networks India, talked about how 5G, Cloud and AI will drive the networks of the future.

The Rising Demand for Data

Sunesera noted that the next decade belongs to the Enterprise, as demand for data surges. He said that enterprise segment represented $3.4 Trillion in 5G-enabled revenues by 2026. Out of these, energy, manufacturing and public safety will account for 55% of these revenues. Other use cases include healthcare, public transport, media and entertainment.

The customer segment also will remain an important driver for network-generated revenues, Sunesara said. According to Juniper's estimates, mobile data traffic will grow by 4 times over 2019-2023. Sunesara also said that by 2023, private enterprise networks market will amount to $120 billion; this stresses the importance of enterprises for network service providers. For them, this opens a B2B opportunity which had been limited at best.

This rapidly increasing demand for data, driven by 5G, will result in the next wave of disruptions in the networking space. Sunesara said that while consumer & government use cases continue to diversify and grow, no other can match the tremendous data demand being being generated by enterprises, calling the segment "killer".

He envisioned that for the next decade 5G will power the rapid digitization that will usher in the era of Industry 4.0.

The Paradigm Shift

Vali said that it was virtually impossible for network service providers to offer low level latency without deploying the network on the cloud. A centralized network just can't do it, because of its inherent architecture; the key network functions reside far from the customers, thus generating latencies in double digits.

However, distributing key network functions on the cloud does the trick by bringing network functions closer to the edge, the telcos can serve two purposes. One, they can provide that hallowed low latency. And, two, they can harness the gargantuan amounts of data which resides at the edge of a network.

Not only that, this also allows network operators to cut Capex and Opex costs significantly; after all, most of the network applications are on the cloud. Therefore, the need of physical network functions greatly reduces. As Sunesara said, network virtualization brings better "operations economies"; by allowing companies the freedom to pay for scalability as and when required, NFV can drastically reduce costs.

But, how do they go about accomplishing that?

From Boxes to Virtualized, Cloud Native Network functions

At the webinar, Sunesara said, " virtualization is key to moving to cloud and bringing agility to network functions". Till now, telcos have been deploying ground-based network functions. One major shortcoming of this deployment is its rigidity; telcos have to physically relocate it to shift the network function elsewhere on the network.

However, virtualizing network functions brings flexibility to the network. Now, service providers can place a network function anywhere on the network, according to their needs. With network "cloudification" comes the flexibility and agility to deploy network functions anywhere. This ultimately brings superior performance and better service experience.

Bringing core to the cloud allows for better control on the system; now network administrators can implement changes and introduce and remove features within a few seconds. Similarly, bringing the access to the cloud takes it closer to the edge; this ensures low latency and high QoS.

Juniper Networks has a complete set of "building blocks", that includes the likes of x-haul capacities, VNFs and xNFs, E2E security, open interfaces, AI/ML driven operation and so on. Juniper targets to provide the complete set of tools to anyone who wishes to embark on their network virtualization journey. As Vali said, "whatever can be virtualized <...>, we are enabling that".

From Centralized to Distributed Architecture

Sunesara said that moving network core and RAN to the edge to the edge will improve overall network performance. Moreover, he said that Juniper Networks provides customized hybrid network models for its customers to select from.

He added the future networks will have centralized control layers; this will help the distributed architecture to become lighter and more agile. Incidentally, this distributed architecture includes 5G WWC, MEC and CUPS (Control-User Plane Separation). The telcos won't be required to limit themselves to hosting RAN on cloud; they can easily host the CU and the DU on the cloud as well.

Vali said that this will allow for telcos to tap in the data at the edge, powering analytics, automation and security. Furthermore, he said that the next logical step will be deploying private telco environment.

Static Capacity to Dynamic Capacity

Sunesara talked about how telcos generally deploy their networks on the ground, which requires significant capex and opex spends when they need to upgrade the same. However, deploying network functions on the cloud solves this problem by allowing flexible scalability. These days, network vendors can provide as much as 100x scalability. This will be a game changer in the field as SPs can save a lot of money when upgrading networks.

This dynamic capacity also allows for better network slicing. Since the technique has only rapidly became important, all the SPs need to ensure that their networks are sliced, and each slice has a different QoS associated with it. That only becomes possible with a network deployed on the cloud.

A dynamic network capacity ensures that the telcos can maintain the ultra-low latency over a variety of scales - from private networks to telco-grade networks. As Sunesara said, "5G demands more stringent requirements from the network"; by deploying virtualized networks and the dynamic capacity that comes with it, telcos can tackle the upshot.

From Manual Operations to Open, Automated Operations

It is important to move towards automated operations, as consumers demand higher and higher network uptime and QoS. With virtualized networks, and the open interfaces that come with them, SPs can enable that. Having automated operations also involves having Open APIs and interfaces to ensure multi-vendor interoperability.

Basically, this involves Artificial Intelligence to collect data at the edge, and Machine Learning to take actions according to the data. However, if a network operator does not want to integrate ML in the network, it can take the insights from the AI data and act manually. As Intel has said before, 75% of the data generated will be at the edge; telcos need to ensure that they are as close to the edge as possible to benefit as much as possible.

Automating operations has clear cost-saving benefits. However, it excels at providing the best possible end-to-end user experiences; the network administrator and the end-user.

From Bolt-on Security to  Connected Security

With virtualized networks, the traditional means of security become obscure. They take too much time to deploy, and every upscaling exercise takes just as much time. However, with cloud deployment, network operators can now expand and deploy any and all methods of security however they require.

Sunesara said that a cloud-deployed network can have security that can detect threats and issues within seconds; this time can increase to as much as hours in ground-based networks. Therefore, to ensure the maximum uptime and best QoS, telcos need to focus on a connected security solution which is centralized, dynamic, adaptive and scalable.

Cloud is the Way to Go for the Telcos

Networks form the core of a telco's operations and the majority of its revenues. Be it a business, consumer or a government application, networks are a telco's most prized asset. As such, the next paradigm shift in the networks holds much promise in that way.

Everyone wants their connections to be fast and agile; telcos need to ensure that they deliver the said speed and agility with a sense of reliability and security so that the user experience does not dip.

The future of the networks is in the clouds; it is time for the telcos to virtualize their networks and move closer to the cutting edge of innovation.