From the practice of operators, see why "intelligent connected multi-cloud"

If the symbol of the second industrial revolution is "power on", the symbol of the fourth industrial revolution we are ushering in is "cloud". The well-known consulting company Deloitte mentioned in its "Success Path and Practice for Enterprises to Go to the Cloud" that the cloud uses online public services to make computing power and artificial intelligence become inclusive technology, becoming the carrier of digital transformation of enterprises, and even the digitalization of the entire society. The basis of development.

Driven by endogenous business reform demands and the external pressure of the new crown epidemic, it has become inevitable for enterprises to go to the cloud, especially the “cloud”, and the process has been greatly accelerated. According to IDC statistics, by the end of 2021, 80% of the surveyed companies will double the pace of cloud migration.

"The nine-story platform rises from the soil", the cloud is the base of digitization, and the network is the foundation of the cloud. As companies move to the cloud and enter the deep water zone, the protagonist has shifted from Internet native companies to traditional industry companies. Cloud technology gradually penetrates core systems, organizational processes, and ecological data, and puts forward higher requirements for cloud-connected and cloud-enabled networks. For operators, cloud-network convergence has become the basic form of providing digital services, and it will also be the key to the future development of the entire industry.

So, in the face of the general trend of Haohao Tangtang, how should operators grasp the "cloudification" revolution window period, build B2B business competitiveness, and realize the business cycle? Embracing "intelligent multi-cloud" will be the only way.

Operators can develop cloud services in the future

Regardless of whether the digital economy stands out in the face of economic downward pressure, or more than 50 countries adopt digitalization as a national strategy, it is enough to prove that "embrace digitalization" is a major theme in today's world. Specific to the ICT industry, the digital transformation of the industry will bring huge market opportunities. A third-party industry consulting report shows that it is estimated that there will be a market space of US$15 trillion by 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 17.5%.

The dividend of industrial digitalization is the main source of future B2B growth for operators; and cloud has become the base of industrial digitalization. Without cloud, there would be no digitalization. Because of this, the cloud business will be the core for operators to seize the opportunities of the times and obtain the dividends of the times.

In fact, many leading operators have also realized this. Combining industry analysis reports and operators' related financial reports, we can see that with European and Asia-Pacific operators as typical representatives, cloud services have achieved good growth. The common feature behind them is to take "cloudification" as a future development strategy and clarify the strategic direction.

For example, China Mobile proposed a "cloud reform" strategy and entered the first camp of China's cloud service providers in three years. It has achieved a 350% growth rate in 2020, and its cloud service revenue has exceeded US$1.4 billion. Similarly, benefiting from the "cloud first" strategy and the "cloud integration" strategy, the cloud services of Deutsche Telekom and NTT of Japan have both achieved substantial growth in 2020.

From another perspective, operators have the conditions to achieve "one-line multi-cloud", while OTT can only achieve "one-cloud multi-line". A senior industry expert pointed out to C114 that no cloud service provider can meet all the application needs of enterprises. According to the trend of enterprises going to the cloud, the multi-cloud access methods of public cloud, private cloud and hybrid cloud have increasingly become the mainstream choice. It is believed that there will be a better return on investment. In other words, the operator’s "first-line multi-cloud" is more in line with future development requirements and is a key advantage. In addition, operators also have resource advantages such as differentiated private line access services, localized system integration capabilities, deterministic network experience, Overlay+Underlay coordination mechanism, and edge computer rooms.

This shows that the development of cloud services by operators can be expected in the future.

Create a target network with "intelligent connected multi-cloud" as a typical feature

The saying "good cloud matches good network, good network promotes good cloud" has become popular-the value of the cloud must be played with high quality, and it depends on the high-performance network; the development of the operator's cloud business is also inseparable from the top-level design of the target network And strategic planning. Focusing on supporting enterprises' "good access to the cloud" and building future target networks with the typical characteristics of "intelligent connected multi-cloud" will be the key to the success of the operator's cloudification strategy.

The so-called "intelligent connected multi-cloud" has two elements. One is to have a multi-cloud infrastructure, including edge cloud, public cloud, private cloud, etc., to realize the number one cloud access and self-service order; the second is to have a multi-cloud aggregation network to realize the enterprise Differentiated access, end-to-end automation, jump into the cloud and multi-cloud convergence, etc.

What do those leading operators do? Take China Telecom as an example. According to public information, in 2020, it proposed cloud-network convergence 2030, which clarified the four positioning of cloud-network convergence, namely, "network is the foundation, cloud is the core, The network moves with the cloud and the cloud network is integrated"; and changed the organizational structure, such as renamed the original planning and construction department "Network Development Department" to "Cloud Network Development Department", and merged the Enterprise Information Department with the Network Operation and Maintenance Department The "Cloud Network Operations Department" was established. Ke Ruiwen, chairman of China Telecom, also clearly mentioned in public that the essential connotation and core structure of the new information infrastructure is "cloud-network integration."

In order to implement the cloud network integration strategy, China Telecom proposed the "2+4+31+X+O" cloud network planning layout. 2 refers to two central data centers, 4 refers to data centers in 4 key areas, 31 refers to 31 provincial data centers, X refers to edge nodes, and O refers to overseas nodes. China Telecom uses large bandwidth to connect these data centers to form a cluster of distributed clouds. It is both a network and a cloud, and when you enter the network, you enter the cloud.

For another example, a provincial-level operator has built a multi-cloud on-demand dedicated line network based on public cloud. The solution has three key points. The first is the multi-cloud convergence network, which realizes the interconnection between multiple public clouds (including its own public cloud) through the SRv6+E virtual network, and connects the operator’s own traditional private line to the multi-cloud through the multi-cloud convergence network; the second is the cloud network aggregation platform , Open the network capabilities to the cloud network aggregation platform through the SDN controller, and the cloud network aggregation platform connects with the third-party cloud management platform through the API interface, thereby mastering the B2B entrance and portal; the third is the system integration service on the end user side , Empowered by building a business ecosystem.

Another provincial-level operator has aggregated multiple clouds with government-enterprise private networks to create an integrated cloud network security service. In this government-enterprise private network, it has enabled private lines and SRv6 to realize the connection with its own public cloud and government cloud. The current access methods that can be provided include 5G and virtual networks; on this basis, it is sliced ​​by industry , Including medical slice private network, education slice private network and police slice private network, to ensure large bandwidth, high reliability and safe isolation. In addition, four kinds of dispatching capabilities of cloud-network integration have been created, including cloud-adjusted network (opened in minutes), network-adjusted cloud (one jump into the cloud), network-adjusted network, and cloud-adjusted cloud.

Operators' promotion of cloud-network integration not only serves the national strategy, but is also a necessity to promote the digital transformation of the industry, as well as a strategic opportunity to achieve sustainable business development. From the above cases, we can see that the strategic layout and the construction of cloud networks around “intelligent connected multi-cloud” have become the major direction, which will help operators transform from differentiated cloud access service providers to multi-cloud management service providers, and realize The new business situation of "Net Belt Cloud and Cloud Promoting the Internet".

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