The managed service combines VMware’s Edge Compute Stack with NTT’s private 5G NaaS
Japanese telco and IT infrastructure company NTT has announced a new collaboration with VMware called Edge-as-a-Service. The managed compute platform leverages VMware’s edge compute stack and NTT’s private 5G network-as-a-service, to help enterprises deploy, manage and monitor edge applications. The new platform also involved support from Intel on the hardware and software side, NTT noted.
NTT bills its new Edge-as-a-Service as the first globally available and fully managed enterprise solution that marries together edge computing and private 5G. The company is aiming the new solution at Industry 4.0 applications like process automation, low-latency and near zero-latency communications at the network edge, cost optimization and better security.
The news was announced amidst the backdrop of VMware Explore, the company’s annual tech conference which happens virtually and, once again after a pandemic-related hiatus, in person, this week in San Francisco. The announcement is something of a milestone for VMware, which first announced its Edge Compute Stack at last year’s virtual event.
VMware describes Edge Compute Stack as “a purpose-built, integrated VM and container-based stack” for edge app deployment and management. The company has developed standard, advanced and enterprise-specific versions of its Edge Compute Stack, and has announced a “lightweight” version aimed at “extremely thin edge” deployments.
The new edge-as-a-service platform supports multi-cloud deployment and multi-tenant architectures, the companies said. This more distributed enterprise cloud landscape is driving “a sea change across every industry, altering where data is produced, delivered, and consumed,” said Sanjay Uppal, SVP and GM of VMware’s service provider and edge business unit.
The new service will help businesses run, manage, connect and secure edge-native apps while leveraging consistent infrastructure and operations, he added. The two businesses plan to market the new service jointly. NTT, for its part, has added edge-as-service to its portfolio of managed services products. In 2021, the company launched P5G, a globally available private 5G service aimed at companies looking for a single managed platform regardless of physical location. P5G is the basis for NTT’s contribution to the edge-as-a-service platform.
Through its DoCoMo CSP subsidiary in Japan, NTT is investing research in advanced mmWave 5G applications. The company is attempting to develop new methods of indoor signal propagation using a reconfigurable intelligent surface to reflect mmWave signals to effectively follow mobile devices. The “metasurface” has a “user-tracking function to deliver radio waves even in places where the base station antenna is not directly visible due to obstructing objects.” The testing from November 2021 used the 28 GHz band. Also on mmWave mobility, NTT DoCoMo has tested base station hand-offs to maintain connectivity to a bullet train.
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