For 5G, HPE focused on enabling virtualization, edge services
While 5G certainly led most conversations during the recent Mobile World Congress, next in line were supporting technology sets like virtualization and edge computing. At a high level, to successfully build out 5G, operators will need to take a more IT-centric approach using general purpose compute hardware to virtually run a wide variety of network functions. And to deliver on latency-sensitive applications 5G will enable, that same type of compute power needs to be distributed throughout the network.
As 5G continues to take shape and operators articulate capex plans, there’s a big opportunity for IT-focused companies like HPE, Dell and others. The same infrastructure that goes into large centralized data centers can be used to create the telco clouds that will underly flexible, dynamic and more affordable future telecom networks.
HPE’s VP and GM of Converged Servers, Edge and IoT Systems Tom Bradicich, in a blog post about the company’s Edgeline EL8000 Converged Edge System, wrote that 5G will deliver “perpetual connectivity, pervasive computing, and precision control,” all of which generate massive amounts of data.
“Pent up in all that data is a massive opportunity,” Bradicich wrote. “To turn edge data into intelligence and action, we must process so much of it right where it’s created, and frequently take action – right at the edge. Many times it’s too slow, costly, unreliable, or not secure enough to send all the data to a distant cloud or data center.”
Through a collaboration with Samsung, which is providing network infrastructure for major U.S. deployments, including with Verizon and Sprint, HPE will integrate its Edgeline System with Samsung’s virtualized Radio Access Network gear. The companies will also work together on 5G core solutions combining Samsung’s Packet Core software and HPE’s Shared Data Environment. Product availability is expected in the second half of the year.
