1). Intro to Telco (Telecommunications Company) Cloud Basics, NFV, SDN, Architecture of Cloud Networks [VIDEO]

There’s a great series of videos on YouTube giving a quick intro to telecommunication cloud basics.

The videos feature Vikas Shokeen and are available in short 4-video series.

The first one is below with some basic notes.

Architecture of Cloud Network for Telcos

Telco–a telecommunications company (informal)

Telecom–general telecommunications (informal)

(Note: As with many terms in the tech industry, “telco” and “telecom” are sometimes used interchangeably in common-day speech. Don’t get too twisted up over it. Dig deep into what’s underneath.)

Telco Cloud:

• Basics
• Introduction
• Why cloud?
• Mobile Operators
• Benefits
• Overview

Cloud–a network “out there”.

Properties of cloud networks

Properties of cloud networks include:

• No Dedicated Hardware
• Shared Resources
• Convenient Access From Anywhere
• Rapid Expansions and Elasticity
• On-Demand Network Access
• Offered as Networks, Servers, Storage, Applications & Services

Cloud is revolutionizing the way in which networks are deployed and operated.

Cloud networks are going to become the norm and surround us, changing the business model of telecom and how consumers enable (access/use/harness) data and services on the fly.

This, especially combined with the current day rollout of 5G networks, will help spur innovation due to an increased flexibility and agility in the infrastructure that simply didn’t exist before. Similar to the innovation saw with the rollout of 4G which allowed new uses cases and gave birth to applications like Instagram and Uber, among others, which continue to deeply impact our lives.

Why are cloud networks required in Telecom?

They are becoming mandatory because of the way they provide agility and flexibility to quickly spiral up network and security resources to help fortify an existing infrastructure. It can be thought of as adding back-up units, so as to relieve the pressure on the main infrastructure.

Why would this happen?

Well, think of times in the 2000’s or 2010’s when there would be huge gatherings, whether festivals, sporting events, or ground-breaking current events which “broke the internet”, or in these cases broke the underlying networks interconnecting data behind the scenes.

Cloud native network infrastructure aims to solve this with technologies like NFV (Network Function Virtualization) and SDN (Software Defined Networking).

Let’s take a scenario where the current existing infrastructure resources may be just fine handling everyday traffic, BUT now let’s suppose that a unique, extraordinary event comes along that needs backup infrastructure resources, only temporarily though. There’s no need to have the resources permanently dedicated there.

BUT, what if we had a way to temporarily have resources there, and not only that, but the system would be automated (configured and set) to continuously monitor, analyze, and allocate resources, adjusting adapting the network environment for these unique situations of network congestion?

Yeah, see!

A cloud native network helps to solve this.

With the help of NFV, we can create new capacity abilities. NFV provides virtualization capacity. If normally one GGSN (Gateway GPRS Support Node) is sufficient, but suddenly there’s spontaneous demand for multiple instances of GGSNs, then NFV will help spin up the architecture to meet that demand.

With the help of SDN, we are able to route the traffic dynamically (on-the-fly) to meet user requirements. With SDN, we create the highways, byways, and pathways (i.e.–routes!). SDN provides the connectivity between. For example, it can bridge the connectivity between users and a newly spun-up, dynamic GGSN (Gateway GPRS Support Node).

So, that’s how the power of the cloud network works to handle more traffic, more effectively, and in a much more flexible way, in order to meet any user requirement.

• Also see this other posts in this series:
  • 2). Intro to NFV (Network Function Virtualization) Basics–NFV Architecture, ETSI, NFV ManO
  • 3). Intro to SDN (Software Defined Networking) Basics–SDN & Openflow Architecture [VIDEO]
  • 4). Intro to Hypervisor, Docker & Container Basics–(VMs) Virtual Machines [VIDEO]

• Biblio:
  • [1] vCloud NFV Reference Architecture
  • [2] Tech Tutorial–Introduction to NFV: Network Function Virtualization
  • [3] Introduction to Network Function Virtualization (NFV)–Washing University in Saint Louis
  • [4] ETSI Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Architectural Framework
  • [] What is NFV and what are it benefits?–IBM