Cloud-native 5G needs cloud-native OSS/BSS to manage it
The cloud-native 5G Core unlocks boundless business opportunities for Communication Service Providers (CSPs) and challenges to the OSS/BSS technology and processes that help them monetize their businesses. The evolution to 5G also unlocks new monitoring and analytics data to help telcos manage their networks more effectively. OSS/BSS challenges must be updated: the old way of doing business will not scale to the cloud.
This requires a fundamental OSS/BSS rethink, said three experts in the field who discussed these issues as part of RCR Wireless News’ Telco Cloud Forum 2022. Their comments have been edited for context, length and clarity.
Challenges abound. CSPs need to get the balance right with basic network operations, integrating Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) with Cloud Native Functions (CNFs), aligned and operating perfectly within an increasingly distributed hybrid cloud network. Vendors must deliver of 5G’s promise of decreased time to market for services creation, rapid innovation and an improved customer experience. Introducing automation and leveraging AI in a hybrid network function environment is a necessary but daunting task.
Arvinder Anand, VP Architecture, Technology and E2E Solutioning Digital Services, Ericsson, summarized the challenge facing CSPs.
“What is needed is a major transformation in the industry’s ways of working and the implementation of proper technology to support it,” said Anand.
There’s no single technology fix for this, Anand said. This challenge needs to be addressed more holistically.
“Rather, a consistent platform that is designed and optimized the required ways of working as needed,” he said.
Change presents opportunity
“I don’t think we would be reinventing our networks or the business systems around them if it wasn’t for the fact that the business models themselves are changing,” said Mark Price, CTO of MATRIXX, whose company makes cloud-native converged charging and billing platform for telcos.
Business transformation is an essential process of the telecom industry and 5G is no different, he said. “This may be the largest one so far but it certainly isn’t the first time.”
Telecom networks are optimized for select, broad “killer app” market segments, he said, like smartphone and video streaming. “Networks are optimized for throughput, the business systems are optimized to suit that,” he said.
Telcos should look beyond smartphones, Price said. Operator success with 5G hinges on recognizing new micro-segmentation opportunities and having the agility to support them.
“Cloudification is also an opportunity to simplify the complexity of the OSS landscape,” said Mauro Starineieri, Head of Global OSS & MANO Competence Center at ATOS.
OSS and BSS software has become stratified, a combination of off-the-shelf and bespoke components which will be unmanageable in a cloud-native environment, he said.
The experts agreed that agility is the key to CSPs unlocking new 5G business opportunities.
“We have to be agile, we have to be flexible. We can’t support any single business model. We need to be able to support models that are not even envisioned yet,” said Price.
Being able to visualize those opportunities and meaningfully understand how services are being consumed is essential, he said.
“We have more information being exposed than ever before, so analytics are essential to delivering on the promise here.”
Going cloud-native
Price and Starineieri emphasized the need for cultural adaptation within telcos making the 5G cloud journey. Being able to pivot to cloud-native technology successfully requires cloud-native approaches in every aspect of the business. This cycle starts with the DevOps process that’s at the center of the cloud app lifecycle – concepts like constant iteration and constant deployment (CI/CD). DevOps was a frequent discussion of the day in other sessions, including one focused on the role of DevOps in telco cloud success. By embracing these concepts throughout all aspects of the business, they said telcos will be better poised for future success.
Ericsson’s Anand summarized the existential question facing CSPs as they develop OSS/BSS systems to support 5G services and business opportunities.
“I think service providers should ask [themselves] certain questions,” said Anand. “Where is our company in the technology and skills in terms of cloud journey, what steps are we taking for cloud-native applications and CI/CD, and how will our infrastructure support orchestration and automation that needs to be embraced very early in the phase to get the best out of this transformation?”
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