Google aims to grease the skids for telcos uncertain about edge systems
Alphabet’s Google Cloud unit this month announced a strategy that it hopes will pull cautious telcos off the sidelines of the edge computing game. The unit is priming the pump, hoping to generate new business for itself as business heats up.
Google Cloud executives are pushing the so-called Global Mobile Edge Cloud strategy to help buyers in three key pursuits. First, of course, they want to help telecommunications turn 5G-enabled business services into a new revenue stream. Second, executives want to help the industry create engaging, data-driven experiences. Last, they want to assist companies to improve operational efficiency across their cores.
The cloud strategy will be a cooperative effort with telecommunications firms, jointly creating a number of 5G applications. Also being built as part of the strategy is “an open cloud platform for developing these network-centric applications.” Ultimately, the applications would be deployed via a globally distributed edge system.
Google Cloud has also announced Anthos for Telecom. Anthos is the unit’s cloud platform. The new function will be an open platform for network-centric applications for telecommunications firms.
The first announced partner is AT&T Inc. Google Cloud and AT&T are pitching themselves to companies new to 5G edge systems. Google Cloud has advanced edge technologies including artificial intelligence/machine learning and containerization system Kubernetes. AT&T will bring 5G network connectivity at the edge.
The pair are focusing on businesses in the transportation, manufacturing and retail industries.
In a separate development, MobiledgeX has launched a new version of its edge-integration platform to enable the deployment of location-specific services with the aim of enabling enterprise customers to have seamless private and public edge cloud integration.
In Germany, the Next Generation Mobile Networks alliance, an association of mobile telecommunications association of mobile operators, vendors, manufacturers, and research institutes, is doing some prompting of its own.
The association says it has launched “new key activities to support the adoption of a cloud-native infrastructure” for telcos. Without describing the activities, association leaders have said they will “define the high-level target architecture” for their networks.
There might little need to sell telecommunications players in China, as the government has made artificial intelligence and edge computing strategic areas of development.
The GSM Association says almost all Chinese mobile vendors see edge computing as “a major revenue opportunity in the 5G era.”
Edge IR Analysis
Edge computing is coming for telecommunications firms. Or maybe it is the other way around? Either way, the intersection of telecom and edge systems has been busy of late.
At the moment, Google making headlines with edge efforts in telecommunications, but the action is broader and involves players both in North America and overseas. This is also reflected in the activity of multiple standards bodies and industry groups, all of whom are trying to sort out both networking and edge platform interoperability issues. Whether the telco-centric standards prevail or the cloud providers will influence edge platform adoption more is yet to be determined, but the revenue and momentum behind AWS, Microsoft and Google suggest that telcos are going to place bets on both strategies.
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Article Topics
Anthos | AT&T | edge computing | edge PaaS | Google | GSMA | MobiledgeX
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