in a virtual world what defines a network operator?

IN A VIRTUAL WORLD
WHAT DEFINES A
NETWORK OPERATOR?
Cambridge Wireless NFV SIG meeting
Simon Tonks
7th May 2015
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Network Operators Historically Did It All
A telecom network involves a lot of Capex
 Some intelligent bits
Access Control
& Signalling
 Some ‘dumb’ bits
Communication
Services
Transmission
Operating it involves a lot of Opex
Interconnects
 Staff
Routeing
 Licences & maintenance
Last Mile
OSS
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BSS
The Traditional ‘Top To Bottom’ Network Operator Model Is Already Breaking Up
eTOM (ITU-T M.3050)
(M)VNOs hold the customer relationship
Strategy, infrastructure
& product
Operations
Marketing & offer
management
Customer relationship
management
Service development &
management
Service management &
operations
Resource development
& management
Resource management
& operations
Supply chain
development &
management
Supplier/partner
relationship
management
Network and service provision are
separated
Outsourced and Shared RANs
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NFV and SDN Will Cause Further Fragmentation of the Operating Model
Virtual Core Network
Different companies can operate different
layers of the network
Orchestration
HLR/HSS
NFV detaches the network functions from
the hardware they run on
MME
NFV
S/P-GW
etc.
Virtual Machine
Management
SDN separates routeing into “white box”
router hardware and routeing tables
Routeing tables
SDN
RAN
Server hardware may be outsourced and
shared with other services
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GRX
Hardware
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Who Controls the Network?
Virtual Core Network
Managed services can give good benefits of
scale, especially for smaller operators
Orchestration
NFV gives the opportunity for managed
services in different layers of the core
network
VNFaaS
HLR/HSS
MME
 Three ETSI use cases are shown
 Can be extended to other parts of the
network e.g. RAN, CDN
etc.
Virtual Machine
Management
Fragmentation of the value chain is one
more sign of the telecom market maturing
NFVIaaS
Routeing tables
 The network operator keeps the
intelligent bits, outsources the dumb bits
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VNPaaS
S/P-GW
5
The Core Network Location Can Be Dynamic, including International
Imagine…
So…
 Router hardware in one country, routeing
tables generated in another
 Who issues the operator licences?
 Which data protection/privacy laws apply?
 Load balancing between server clusters
in different countries
 Failover to a different country
 Core networks serving more than one
country
Note - Not all dependant on NFV/SDN
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Back to the Question - What Defines a Network Operator?
Not the customer relationship – that’s often a (M)VNO
Not the communication services – some bigger MVNOs do that also
Not the RAN or Last Mile – they’re often a shared resource
Not the core network hardware / OS – that’s often outsourced
© PA Knowledge Limited 2015
7
Back to the Question - What Defines a Network Operator?
Not the customer relationship – that’s often a (M)VNO
Not the communication services – some bigger MVNOs do that also
Not the RAN or Last Mile – they’re often a shared resource
Not the core network hardware / OS – that’s often outsourced
Suggestion – The Network Operator is the entity that determines the signal path
 That means the organisation that configures the NFV orchestration (i.e. logical routeing)
 Possibly also the SDN routeing tables (i.e. physical routeing)
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Thank you for listening
Simon Tonks
PA Consulting Group
Cambridge Technology Centre
Melbourn
Herts SG8 6DP
01763 267 353
simon.tonks@paconsulting.com
www.paconsulting.com
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