In today's digital economy era, it has become the consensus of enterprises to accelerate business innovation and upgrading with the help of cloud computing, edge computing, Internet of Things and AI. To this end, enterprises must build  modern networks to deliver applications, data, and services to the edge of any location in a more efficient, secure, and reliable manner, which places higher requirements on telecom operators.

 In order to meet the changing needs of telecom operators (CSPs) and enterprises, VMware released many innovations at this year's MWC 2023, and announced innovations and expanded partnerships in its service provider and edge product portfolio. Conference, Stephen Spellicy, vice president of VMware service provider marketing, support and business development, and Karl Brown, senior director of VMware SASE and Edge product marketing, shared in detail VMware's main strategies for telecom operators and key products and solutions. 

Stephen Spellicy said that VMware maintains a highly consistent strategy with telecom operators, and has launched four major solutions through a series of innovations to help telecom operators upgrade their modern networks and help them better operate in a diversified Ad op environment. in .

Stephen Spellicy, Vice President of Marketing, Support and Business Development, VMware Service Provider

 Build a Modern Network with the VMware Telco Cloud Platform

Transforming and upgrading the network of telecom operators, using a consistent infrastructure to achieve unified operations, and automation of multi-cloud environments are important tasks for telecom operators to achieve network modernization. To this end, VMware demonstrated the deployment of the VMware Telco Cloud Platform, along with product improvements and an expanding partner ecosystem.

 First, VMware released its vision for its Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) framework, which follows the O-RAN Alliance's approach to simplify, optimize, and automate the RAN and related VMware Tanzu complements VMware ESXi by running disaggregated and virtualized RAN functions directly on bare metal servers.

 Second, VMware is providing next-generation networking in the VMware Telco Cloud Platform, providing carrier-grade intelligent networking and horizontal security capabilities through VMware NSX. With recent advancements such as DPU-based acceleration announced last August, VMware is delivering accelerated networking and security performance to VNFs and CNFs while enhancing network observability and increasing host resources available to applications. VMware also announced the launch of DPU-based acceleration of horizontal security functions, such as distributed firewalls and distributed intrusion detection and prevention, as well as energy efficiency solutions for 4G/5G core load balancing requirements.

 Again, VMware has released the Telco Cloud Automation (TCA) automation solution to help telecom operators obtain cloud intelligent automation capabilities, quickly deploy various functions in the network, and be able to perform full life cycle operations in any cloud environment. management.

 Finally, in order to make the network certification function more convenient, VMware launched Continuous On-boarding and Validation (COV for short), which provides COV through the cloud portal to help partners more easily validate their solutions. It is understood that COV not only covers the first-tier telecom equipment suppliers, but also includes some disruptors and innovators who have newly joined the RAN field. In addition, VMware also provides telecom operators and service providers with new platforms and capabilities through the Intelligent Controller (RIC), and helps start-ups cooperate with a technology ecosystem composed of mature companies to continuously improve the performance of RAN networks. Network programmability.

 Stephen Spellicy said that VMware has the largest xAPP and rAPP systems in the entire field, which can be developed in conjunction with VMware's RIC and RAN intelligent controllers. The powerful ecosystem can help telecom operators run on their RAN networks, making telecom operators The service quality and performance of the operator's RAN network have been further improved. At the same time, it can also allow them to better use data from RAN, find and launch new functions for 5G and future networks, so as to obtain more revenue.

 In this communication meeting, Stephen Spellicy also introduced a large number of cooperative customers and successful cases. According to reports, currently Vodafone, Samsung and Softbank have obtained powerful capabilities through the use of VMware solutions and achieved successful digital transformation.

"VMware's telecom cloud operation ecosystem is one of the largest in the industry. So far, more than 300 certified telecom workloads have been implemented, including virtualized network functions and containerized network functions." Stephen Spellicy emphasized, VMware maintains an average cooperative relationship with its ecosystem partners for more than 5 years. A strong partner ecosystem enables telecom operators and service providers to quickly and confidently deploy any new network service on the VMware platform and obtain sufficient flexibility and confidence.

 At this exhibition, VMware also released the SMO strategy, which serves the management orchestration framework and integrates a series of VMware's industry-leading solutions to form a suite, including VMware's multi-cloud environment management and orchestration solutions, as well as Including GCA, TSA, RAK, in order to better help telecom operators obtain a higher degree of automation and service assurance.

 At the same time, VMware also launched a new project called Project Kauai, which provides telecom operators with rich options and paths in deploying modern and disaggregated RAN networks. In the solution, customers can still use VMware ESXI as the underlying architecture. On top of this, Kauai helps telecom operators deploy the decomposed virtualized RAN network functions directly on bare metal servers with VMware Tanzu products to support hybrid environments. applications, thereby achieving higher capabilities and flexibility for telecom operators.

 VMware SD-WAN Client Accelerates Intelligent Edge Connectivity

In addition to promoting the upgrade and transformation of telecom operators' networks, VMware also officially released the VMware SD-WAN Client for scenarios such as edge applications, so as to accelerate the construction of edge networks and promote the popularization of edge applications.

 According to Karl Brown, VMware SD-WAN Client is a powerful supplement to SD-WAN client solutions, mainly used for remote SD-WAN users. With the help of VMware SD-WAN Client, remote users can implement hardware-based SD-WAN settings to access whether they are traveling around the world or in a home environment.

Karl Brown, Senior Director, SASE and Edge Product Marketing, VMware

 According to reports, in the application scenarios of branch offices, SD-WAN Client can help individual users build more powerful intelligent connections in laptops, Internet of Things (IoT) terminals and other devices, and realize secure fault-tolerant and optimized links. In order to make it easier for users to use SD-WAN, VMware also adopts a unified management interface and a unified management interface, which can be implemented as a cloud-delivered service or as an enterprise on-site deployment method. And it supports Windows, Android, IOS and Linux at the same time.

 Karl Brown said that through the enhancement of SD-WAN, VMware can greatly improve the user experience in the process of using LTE, 5G and satellite connections. Publicly available data shows that VMware SD-WAN can improve the QoE of voice and video applications by more than 40% in actual real-world tests when using satellite and cellular phones. In addition to delivering higher application quality, the platform improves network utilization through adaptive thresholds designed based on the more than 100,000 cellular and satellite connections VMware customers currently use.

 In addition, VMware launched the VMware Certified Professional Education Program and Certificate for VMware SD-WAN and SASE to help partners and customers identify professionals with the skills and expertise needed to effectively deploy and manage VMware SD-WAN solutions personnel.

 "The design idea of ​​SD-WAN data flow first emphasizes that SD-WAN is neutral to the specific underlying transmission, that is to say, whether it is using multi-protocol label switching (MPLS), or dedicated Internet access, broadband , LTE, VMware can support satellite transmission, etc.” At the end of the interview, Karl Brown emphasized that as a solution, VMware SD-WAN Client will measure the network performance of links in the network environment used by customers, and add The The highest-priority application or workload in the customer's environment is placed on one or more links with the best performance, so as to greatly improve the user experience.