As SCTE·ISBE Cable-Tec Expo is approaching, we are tuning in to see what’s next for cable. Technology innovations in DOCSIS, Distributed Access Architecture (DAA), and 5G are driving communications service providers (CSPs), including cable, telco, and mobile operators, toward a distributed, disaggregated architecture. Disaggregation enables gains in flexibility and operational and cost efficiencies while meeting bandwidth demand and preparing for next-generation ultra-reliable low-latency services. Convergence of access and mobile will also bring new market opportunities and challenges to the industry.
Now the question is what software architecture will turn this vision into reality?
To reach a mass deployment of distributed access and edge architecture, both CapEx and OpEx need to be reduced to the point that can justify such a mass deployment. Cable operators need to first virtualize their infrastructure by disaggregating the control plane from the data plane so that they can grow and scale independently from each other. This will enable cable operators to build a simplified and agile architecture that can automate and dynamically assign, share and optimize the allocation of compute, storage, and networking resources for a broad set of planned or unpredicted network and service scenarios.
To build, run, manage, connect, and protect any service running on any device in a distributed multi-access network environment, cable operators need a high level of scalability and agility, and a much larger scale of automation, network and service visibility, service assurance and manageability. Cable operators need an automation platform that can provide the scalability, repeatability, velocity, and operational efficiency to support large-scale deployments and serve a large amount of distributed remote edge sites. In order to monitor and manage such a large amount of distributed scale virtual and physical networks more efficiently, cable operators will be benefited from AI- and ML-based real-time assurance platform that can provide intelligent operations insights that they need.
Most operators, if not all, would agree that network virtualization and moving to cloud architecture is the way to meet these requirements. This shift to the cloud is similar to what mobile operators are experiencing in their 5G journey — cloud technologies provide the scalability, agility, and ROI to make mobile 5G a reality. For the cable industry, with a strong broadband subscriber base and superior video delivery network, cable cloud will unleash the full potential of the cable network and make DAA, cable 10G, and convergence of cable and mobile reality, empowering cable operators to take advantage of the cloud economy and offer next-generation cloud services.
So, what kind of cable cloud architecture will give you a competitive edge with better ROI, faster service innovation, faster time to market, and greater operational efficiency?
A common and consistent horizontal architecture that is vendor-agnostic and application-agnostic addresses the challenges of silos. A common and consistent architecture also needs to be standards-based and future-ready — a hybrid architecture of virtualization and cloud-native technology enables cable operators to have consistent operations for any existing and future service running on any device across any network in any cloud. In large-scale cloud-based networks that are co-located, a common and consistent architecture enables cable operators to further improve their cost and operational efficiency network convergence.
VMware cable cloud solutions are doing just that and much more. To learn more, check out our cable cloud website at www.vmware.com/cablecloud.
If you’re attending SCTE-ISBE Cable-Tec Expo 2020, you can find out more by joining these two workshops featuring presentations from VMware experts:
- The Network Cloud: Do You Know Where Your Edge Is
Wednesday, October 14, 2020: 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM EDT - Workflows of the Future: How to be Ready for What’s Next in Network Operations
Thursday, October 15, 2020: 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM EDT
