Looking back to when digital technologies started converging with telco networks, communications service providers (CSPs) have longed to enable programmable networks. Much like a user could program their smartphone, CSPs have been looking to empower their customers in similar ways – to program the network based on their specific needs.
For monolithic network beasts, this level of control and customization wasn’t going to come easy. Open RAN brought about the first real technological vision to enable such an ability. The Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) provides access to developers to program the network and deliver tailored service based on their applications’ unique needs. Through open APIs, the RIC provides access to unified network resources and analytics, hence bringing intelligence to the radio access network.
Now is the time to bring similar intelligence to the overlay network.
The overlay – the enterprise network layered above the telco network – plays an important role in CSP business transformation. Why? Well, because it’s where enterprises innovate using CSP services as a foundation – it’s the overlay that serves as the innovation hub for enterprises. And where there is innovation, there are growth opportunities for service providers.
Nearly every industry around the world is transforming to remain agile in complex and dynamic marketplaces. This evolution has changed the needs for enterprises. As enterprises change shape to take advantage of advancements like AI and augmented reality, enterprises will need more than compute and storage. They will also require enhanced managed connectivity.
To enable this, CSP’s are offering open and programmable APIs through which enterprises can access and control an entire catalog of connectivity, performance, security and AI resources to help them prioritize services and guarantee Quality of Service based on the unique needs of their individual use cases.
But how do we facilitate access to this catalog for the enterprise?
VMware’s vision is to create an intelligent overlay that enables enterprises to efficiently manage, orchestrate and dynamically right size CSPs’ connectivity; better integrating the enterprise overlay to vast CSP capabilities.
At the center of the intelligent overlay, VMware Edge Cloud Orchestrator unifies orchestration for the Software-Defined Edge. The solution offers Edge computing, infrastructure, networking, security and services management, while allowing organizations to easily scale their edge deployments as needed to adapt to changing business requirements. Acting as mediator for the intelligent overlay, VMware Edge Orchestrator manages the interactions with the CSP’s open APIs to dynamically program undelaying connectivity as required by the enterprise’s needs.
Want to see how it works, visit the VMware exhibit at Explore, Barcelona.
