Certified Partnerships for 5G Optimality
The reality of 5G requirements means proven partnerships are essential for deployment and service effectiveness
5G was designed to enable new network capabilities and provide the foundation for Communication Service Providers (CSPs) to create exciting 5G-powered services that drive new revenue streams. More than just delivering enhanced bandwidth, 5G introduces precise improvements in latency, coverage, capacity, and service density, as well as supporting a growing diversity of device types. These advancements ultimately enable CSPs to offer a more nuanced quality of experience (QoE) for differentiated services. However, to realize these benefits, new levels of openness and, especially, partnership are required to optimize the 5G landscape.
In pursuit of this vision, CSPs needed to find ways to efficiently deploy a network policy framework – and Policy Control function – for 5G. These systems would need to interface with other elements of the 5G Core network, manage these new network currencies and evolving 5G services, while providing backward-compatibility where required. Crucially, monetization, specifically charging, would need to respond accordingly. Furthermore, Policy and Charging Control (or PCC) functions would be essential for activating prioritized, 5G-driven services. These functions would synergistically support each other through a shared microservices architecture, effectively forming the ‘brain’ and ‘treasury’ of the 5G system, respectively.
Yet such a transformation comes with its own set of challenges. To be effective, CSPs would need to collaborate with a variety of industry partners to build more optimal, yet flexible, end-to-end solutions.
The early phase of 5G deployment highlighted the need to build, test, deploy and lifecycle solutions involving these partners, to ensure they work and meet their performance and functionality requirements. For at least some CSPs however, the complexity, cost and time involved in this process made it simply unfeasible.
Against this background, Dell, Red Hat and Amdocs leveraged their extensive collective experience, demonstrating the potential of successful partnerships to significantly enhance CSP flexibility and accelerate time to revenue.
Dell Telecom Infrastructure Blocks for Red Hat
Building on this foundation of collaboration, Dell Technologies and Red Hat have leveraged their 20+ year partnership to deliver Dell Telecom Infrastructure Blocks for Red Hat. These Infrastructure Blocks are essential for designing, deploying, and managing the lifecycle of Red Hat® OpenShift® Clusters used to support 5G Core and OSS/BSS workloads.
Telecom Infrastructure Blocks for Red Hat are engineered systems that are pre-integrated in Dell's factory. They include automation software to streamline the design, procurement, and deployment of Red Hat OpenShift, and include all the hardware, software, and automation to build and scale out a telco cloud. This provides the perfect platform to run workloads such as the Amdocs PCC function. To continue the analogy above, if PCC represents the ‘brain’ and ‘treasury’ of the network, then Infrastructure Blocks are the ‘legs’ that help you stand up a cloud network and move forward.
Meanwhile, Infrastructure Blocks support the latest generation of Dell PowerEdge servers that use 4th Gen. Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors, offering a variety of configuration and network interface cards (NICs) to meet workload needs.
Dell has taken the lead in integration and testing, partnering with Red Hat for continuous integration testing of new hardware and software. This ensures CSPs can plan and deploy solutions that meet SLAs, thereby speeding time to value, reducing costs, enhancing customer experiences, opening new revenue streams, and meeting business objectives.
Dell, Together with Amdocs Policy and Charging
Ultimately, the success of 5G depends on CSPs’ ability to monetize services – demanding a convergent, effective, and future-proof charging solution (or “treasury”). Amdocs Charging answers this challenge, providing a consolidated, flexible charging system, designed for the rapidly evolving environment and future business demands. It merges capabilities from various business silos, including prepaid and post-paid, consumer and enterprise, as well as fixed and mobile. Fully microservices-based and cloud-native, it is available on public, private, or hybrid clouds, aligning with the deployment strategies CSPs choose, and supporting the scale and diversity of future services.
Amdocs Policy is another crucial component of the joint solution, serving as the ‘network brain’ that manages and controls key service characteristics of the 5G network. It enables CSPs to control, manage, and monetize the network’s enhanced features, effectively catering to dynamic new markets like enterprise verticals and the Internet of Things (IoT). This positions CSPs at center stage of the 5G value chain, enabling them to develop offers centered on critical 5G network features such as latency, speed, coverage, capacity, and density. Moreover, Amdocs Policy facilitates the creation of new 5G services that leverage these features, along with advanced capabilities like network slicing and edge resource handling.
Together, Amdocs Policy and Charging (or PCC) form a comprehensive framework for CSPs to effectively control and monetize 5G services. While Amdocs Policy manages and optimizes network resources and service quality, Amdocs Charging complements this by enabling flexible and dynamic monetization strategies that can adapt to the diverse and evolving needs of 5G services. This microservices-driven 5G focal point not only enhances service delivery but also ensures efficient revenue generation through a more granular and responsive charging system.
Why This Matters to CSPs
Reflecting on the collaboration, it’s clear why overcoming these challenges matters. Recognizing these difficulties, Dell Technologies, Red Hat, and Amdocs have not only tackled the technical challenges but also created opportunities for CSPs to excel in the 5G arena. The strategic collaboration has led to the certification of Amdocs PCC functions in the Dell Open Telecom Ecosystem Lab (OTEL), assuring CSPs of the readiness for rapid yet stable deployment within the Dell Telecom Infrastructure Block for Red Hat. The benefits of this pre-certification include:
- Accelerated 5G deployments and ultimately, revenue growth: Quicker deployment and integration of critical Amdocs PCC functions on the Dell Telecom Infrastructure Blocks for Red Hat, speeds time to market for innovative 5G services.
- Delivery of collaborative innovation and differentiation: Utilizing Amdocs PCC functions on the Dell Telecom Infrastructure Block for Red Hat enables rapid development of new revenue-generating services.
- Confidence at a lower cost: Certified Amdocs PCC functions running on DTIB for Red Hat reduces the risk of errors, failures, and vulnerabilities, supported by scalable, cloud-based capabilities.
- Reassurance of Best-in-Class and Future-Proofed Capabilities: The strategic alliance between Dell, Red Hat, and Amdocs delivers future-proof, best-in-class capabilities for 5G and beyond, and are trusted by leading CSPs worldwide.
While the journey of deploying 5G has indeed been challenging, the strategic alliance between Dell, Red Hat, and Amdocs not only addresses these challenges, but also positions CSPs to capitalize on opportunities for innovation and growth. This collaboration highlights a commitment to building a collaborative, flexible, and efficient 5G ecosystem, giving CSPs the tools they need to thrive in a rapidly evolving market.
For more information about the combined Amdocs and DELL PCC solution, contact your Amdocs or Dell Technologies representative.
This article originally appeared in the latest edition of the CEO Guide by Vanilla Plus
