Telco cloud: The time is now
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By Zhu Xingjian & Li Changwei
Cloud computing is radically changing the ICT industry. In a hyper-competitive
climate, how can traditional telco service providers position themselves, seize the
opportunities afforded by this historic change, and construct a telco cloud network for
internal use & external operation so that ICT transformation is both smooth &
successful? Should they consolidate data centers, migrate upper-layer telco IT
systems to the cloud, or actively explore public cloud services? We take you through
these options and provide stories from the front line for your reference.
Winds of change in telco
By Wang Haifeng
Cloud computing is undeniably the future. It is destined to fundamentally change the
ICT industry, including the operational methods and business models of its
participants (governments, service providers, and enterprises).
As the Internet has proliferated, there has been an increasing call for large-scale
computing, information storage, and processing. The cloud promises to meet these
needs for the foreseeable future, but interestingly enough, none of its vital
technologies (multi-core processing, five-nines networking, virtualization,
distributed file & data processing, parallel computing, cluster management) are
particularly new, but together they are changing the world. Low-cost big data
processing and storage are now available, thanks to off-the-shelf hardware and
distributed software. This would have been unthinkable in IBM’s heyday.
Cloud computing completely changes how enterprises spend on IT, as the model
moves from ownership to lease of both hardware and software. This certainly eases
the headaches involved with having in-house infrastructure, leaving enterprises free to
focus more on what they do best; however, cloud data is everywhere and nowhere, so
users (governments, service providers, enterprises, and the rest of us) need a partner
that they can trust. Telcos have the cache to be that partner but not the hipness, at
present. The questions for them are “how do we acquire it?” and then “how do we
leverage it?”
Only fluff without the network
Operator revenues from traditional voice and SMS services are either stagnant or
shrinking, thanks to OTT competition, while the rapid development of broadband
services has imposed considerable pressure on telco infrastructure. Consumer service
expectations are also rising, and operators are lagging behind Internet service
providers in terms of innovation. However, operators have a set of unique advantages
that will enable them to outshine Internet and IT providers in the short term.
First, without an operator’s network to transmit information, there is no cloud. Stable
network connections are key to facilitating successful cloud services. Over the years,
operators have invested huge amounts of time and money in telco infrastructure, and
have, as such, built a solid hedge against competition.
As an enormous service network and service mode, cloud involves highly complex
operation and maintenance in the areas of network management, device management,
security management, data processing, and billing. Operators are experienced in
organization & construction, process design, system tools, and human resource
management; this will enable them to quickly move their services to the cloud.
In the cloud era, users expect their stored data to be as safe as money in the bank.
They demand zero data loss or leakage, timely services, effective troubleshooting, and
future-proofing. A Johnny-come-lately cloud provider may not be able to deliver the
assurances that a decades-old incumbent can, and operators can exploit this in the
B2B, B2C, and B2B2C spheres. Operators should use their already wide customer
base to proactively transform networks, services, and organizational structures,
becoming network-centric cloud service providers in the process.
Bring a flashlight
Despite industry pressures to the contrary, the process of cloud computing
transformation should be gradual. Operators must consider reconstructing their IT
systems to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and accumulate cloud transformation
experience. They should also respond rapidly to individual and enterprise
requirements for various cloud services to strengthen their position in the cloud
service market. Operators can implement cloud computing in the following areas.
Data center consolidation
Data centers are the physical bearers of cloud services. As such, they must be secure,
reliable, and energy efficient. Traditional data centers suffer from outdated designs,
insufficient capacity, distributed workstations, high power usage effectiveness (PUE),
and no disaster recovery backup. Operators can address such issues by consolidating
existing data centers or constructing them on a larger scale to reduce their overall
number and improve operational efficiency. Power usage warrants reduction at
existing data centers, while disaster recovery (DR) centers must be established to
better protect against unforeseen events. Data centers shall also be virtualized so IT
resources can be pooled for more efficient utilization & expansion.
Upper-layer IT system migration
Telco IT systems can be divided into service systems, such as VAS systems, support
systems (such as BSS and OSS), and management support systems. Operators should
plan the migration of upper-layer applications based on industry maturation and
application dimensions such as responsiveness (real-time or not) and importance
(critical or not), as well as bottom-layer platform differences. The complexity of
upper-layer applications requires operators to cooperate with solutions providers who
are familiar with telco services, possess strong IT capabilities, and have long-term
operator partnerships already in place; all are vital to ensuring the smooth
reconstruction of operator IT systems.
Initial gov’t & industrial use
Government and enterprise customers have long been key revenue sources for
operators, accounting for 20 to 40 percent of their total revenues, while the annual
rates of increase for service revenue from these customers are above average.
However, typical services in this area have been voice and data only. In the cloud
context, operators need to leverage this transformation opportunity to fully exploit
their advantages in terms of networks, O&M, and services, to cooperate with
manufacturers in the development of customized solutions for IT system construction,
IT equipment hosting, and IT service outsourcing. Operators can bundle IT services
and innovative communication services such as unified communications, integrated
conferencing, and enterprise VPN, into packages to provide one-stop enterprise ICT
solutions.
Public cloud services
Operators should actively explore the standardized public cloud services (such as IT
hosting, elastic hosting, cloud storage, and SaaS) that can be provided for individual
users, small-and-medium businesses (SMBs), and Internet customers. Operators
should also consider retail packaging of public cloud services with their own basic
telecommunication services. As industry chain integrators, they will create an open
service aggregation platform with IT device manufacturers, introducing application
development companies at the upper layer and attracting users, especially SMBs, with
online applications. And in the meantime, operators can act as service brokers,
providing SMBs with both software as a service and billing services, within industry
alliances.
The transformation of operators from CT to ICT is a long, complex process. To
succeed, operators need strong partnerships that complement their technologies,
experience, and capabilities.
Huawei telco cloud
As a leading telco solutions provider, Huawei has ample experience in the IT domain,
having developed servers from as early as 2002. In 2012, Huawei bought out Huawei
Symantec, which greatly enhanced our capabilities in the storage domain. Currently,
we are one of the few companies that can provide complete end-to-end IT
infrastructure solutions, covering facilities, IT infrastructure, and IT management
software.
As a proactive force in the drive towards telco cloud computing, Huawei has
accumulated abundant project experience, including the migration of operators’ data
centers and telco IT systems to cloud infrastructure, as well as the deployment of
public cloud services. Through our solutions, costs are reduced, efficiency is
improved, and revenue is increased.
Huawei’s commitment to meeting operators’ business needs and demands, as well as
our competitive end-to-end product & service solutions, will help you succeed in your
own CT-to-ICT transformation.
China Mobile: A new horizon
With the first phase of its International Information Harbor now in operation, China
Mobile is starting a new chapter in its ICT transformation journey, with great
expectations as it moves forward from its previous 2G/3G foundations.
By Wang Shishun
At the 2012 China National People’s Congress, telco industry restructuring and ICT
development were hot topics. Wang Jianzhou, former President of China Mobile,
proposed that the nation build centralized large-scale cloud data centers in areas that
have access to abundant power supply resources so that secure, reliable, and scalable
IT infrastructure and services such as website development, operation, and hosting,
can be delivered, thus driving the vertical application of recent IT advancements.
Grand ambitions
Data centers are indispensable hubs in the connected world, but what they enable is
shifting from mere resources to valued-added services, and from basic web hosting to
cloud service.
In recent years, China Mobile has been endeavoring to consolidate and enable cloud
services across the board. As part of their efforts to accelerate this transformation and
achieve economies of scale, the operator has constructed both a core data center in
Guangzhou (its southern base) and the International Information Harbor (IIH) in
Beijing; both are state-of-the-art centers that support China Mobile’s operations, and
are surrounded by a network of provincial data centers. Positioned as the hub for
China Mobile’s future international operations, the Beijing center will also serve as a
showcase for R&D innovation and information services, to satisfy not only the
traditional hosting needs for government agencies and enterprises, but also provide
access to Internet content and cloud services to the public. In other words, this center
demonstrates China Mobile’s commitment to being far more than a dumb pipe.
With a total construction area of 1.3 million square meters, the northern base will be
the largest of its kind in the world upon completion, and so far there are no similar
achievements to emulate. For the first-phase (65,000 square meters), all the racks and
rooms had to be configured and integrated to allow for flexible expansion as per
business needs, as well as maximum energy conservation.
“SAFE” guarantee
Huawei made extensive advanced preparations, including overall planning, solution
design, construction benchmarks, project management, which impressed China
Mobile enough for the vendor to win the bid to be integrator for the first phase of
construction.
Huawei put forward an innovative concept dubbed SAFE (smart, available, flexible,
efficient) for the planning & design and incorporated it into the construction process.
Smart – This element had to be demonstrated in four primary areas, with the first
being the interfaces themselves, which encompassed both the man-machine interface
and the 3D simulations of the data center machine rooms, where clicking of any
module on the interface reveals its configuration. The second area was performance;
this meant that all machine rooms had to be managed in an integrated manner. The
third was utilization; this involved support of an access control hierarchy by account
as well as real-time monitoring & reporting. The last area was the overall system, as
the entire O&M process had to be as smooth and automated as possible, without the
hassle of stovepiped systems, while the built-in desktop cloud system enables
centralized server maintenance that is less strenuous and more real-time. According to
China Mobile statistics, this “smartness” helped slash their manpower costs by 80%
and server maintenance costs by 90%.
Availability – According to the TIA-942 Telecommunications Infrastructure
Standards for Data Centers, there are four availability tiers, with a higher rating
meaning greater reliability. The Beijing center is designed to meet Tier III+
requirements, as its overall site availability exceeds the Tier III criteria of 99.982%.
As per Huawei simulations, China Mobile can accurately analyze data center
operational anomalies and readjust configurations accordingly. With dual cooling
distribution paths in place, real-time checking and control against water leakage can
be done, without shutting down system operation.
Flexibility – A modular approach was taken during construction that accommodates
future scaling needs for rack power density from the existing options of 5.3kW and
7.5kW, all the way up to 30kW per rack.
Efficiency – The two primary energy hogs, the power supply and cooling systems,
were specially designed to be ecofriendly. Specifically, the UPS is designed to remain
stable under heavy load, thus improving the overall power usage efficiency (PUE),
while group control technology improves the efficiency of air conditioning and other
cooling methods target the relevant equipment as opposed to the ambient environment,
with the load self-adjusting as needed to guarantee an optimal PUE.
A new start
As of July 2012, Huawei had participated in the construction of data centers for China
Mobile in fifteen provinces, but none could be compared to the Beijing International
Information Harbor, in China or anywhere else. Upon full completion, it will form the
heart of China Mobile’s centralized operational support system, and also work in
tandem with the southern hub in Guangzhou to help propel the development of time
division communication technologies, mobile Internet business integration, and
general socioeconomic development.
With the first phase of the International Information Harbor now in operation, China
Mobile is starting a new chapter in its ICT transformation journey, with great
expectations as they move forward from their previous 2G/3G foundations. Huawei,
as always, is a partner in its road to success, and yours.
StarHub steps into the cloud
StarHub in Singapore is proving to be a model of how public policy and private
initiative can synergize for the benefit of all, as the operator has taken the lead among
its global competitors in terms of telco cloud services, both in the private sector and
the public.
By Shi Zhunjiang
In an effort to both reinforce its position as an e-commerce hub in Asia and further
ICT development in general, the Singapore government, a longtime advocate in this
field, started its national broadband initiative in 2006 and is implementing its G-Cloud
plan in 2012, the first large-scale private cloud for all government agencies in the
city-state. Capitalizing on the industry shake-up brought by cloud computing, StarHub
is taking the lead in public cloud, marking a new stage in its transformation efforts.
It is no coincidence that StarHub is taking the first swipe, as the operator already has
its own data centers and network infrastructure, the cornerstones for any cloud. It also
has idle power & cooling facilities and machine rooms ready for reutilization.
As the operating company (OpCo) for Singapore’s next-generation national
broadband network, StarHub has seen this network pass 20,000 buildings, giving it a
free hand in serving SMBs (small & medium businesses).
StarHub’s pre-emptive strike in this new marketplace, which is equal for both IT and
CT players, not only benefits its branding equity in this emerging market, but also its
role in the G-Cloud plan.
Overall, it is an opportunity that StarHub cannot miss, and the operator highly values
this opportunity to enter the SMB market via public cloud.
Partnership with Huawei
Globally, there are few telco public cloud models for StarHub to emulate. In the face
of a small window of opportunity, StarHub needs a partner who can help with public
cloud operation, while keeping the TTM tight; in other words, a partner capable of
timely integration and delivery, but with the legs to support for the long term. Huawei
proved to be that partner.
The first phase of StarHub’s public cloud platform is focused on IaaS. Leveraging
StarHub’s existing machine rooms, power supply, and cooling facilities, together with
Huawei’s servers, networking hardware, storage & security equipment, and
proprietary Galax-series cloud operating system, both sides quickly set up a public
cloud capable of providing high-performance virtual resources on a large scale.
A great many innovations have been made, especially in terms of system security.
Cloud hosts typically allow users to create no more than twenty virtual servers to
avoid transient system overloads of malicious origin. However, for users who demand
a multitude of smaller virtuals, this solution lacks flexibility.
After much discussion, StarHub and Huawei decided upon a new rule that regulates
the creation of virtual servers across three dimensions – core, memory, and disk
capacity. Any creation that exceeds the mandated upper limits of any of these three
dimensions will not be allowed; this guarantees system security while accommodating
potential users who have these sorts of demands.
StarHub and Huawei also worked out a way to make the former’s business model
more flexible. Instead of the normal one-month trial, StarHub can now give key
accounts longer trial periods, as well as more resources, without compromising the
experience for other users.
Pricing is also flexible enough now to accommodate different types of users, such as
retailers, VIPs, and subscribers to other packages, all of whom can now change their
package upon trial completion, both for their own convenience and StarHub’s as well
(as resource value is maximized).
Service scale-up
StarHub IaaS is now a mature commercial solution, having attracted numerous VIP
users such as Accenture and the Singapore government, making it a role model for
telco cloud.
A large number of SMB customers are now expressing great interest in leasing virtual
resources as well, laying a solid foundation for StarHub plans for mass-scale
operation and profitability.
And yet, IaaS alone cannot bring any operator very far without a strong software
application platform that is flexible, economical, and scalable to back it up. In other
words, they need SaaS, a fairly well developed service in the North American and
European marketplaces, but still relatively unknown in Singapore.
As of the end of 2011, there were 180,000 enterprises in Singapore, 99% were SMBs,
who face challenges in terms of capital and attracting & retaining IT talent. They also
badly need to lower their OPEX and enhance their competitiveness, without taking on
a lot of overhead.
SaaS can help, as enterprises are able to select whatever software applications they
need and change their subscriptions as required, giving them benefits in terms of
scalability, flexibility, and professionalism.
Huawei has an SaaS offering that is capable of virtual resource and software
application management, and already has a large number of ISVs (independent
software vendors) on board, giving operators’ SMB customers access to a wide
variety of applications. Moreover, Huawei can accommodate the customization needs
of different carriers, which will benefit their SMB customers’ long-term development
needs.
StarHub’s endeavor in IaaS is providing a strong impetus for the Singapore
government’s interest in ICT transformation and SMB growth. It is also clearly
demonstrating that no single enterprise can be all things to all people. In the rarefied
air of cloud computing, a cooperative ecosystem that is mutually beneficial is a must.
Huawei has the confidence to provide the same high-quality SaaS offering for any
operator and also looks forward to taking these first steps with other telcos into the
realm of cloud computing; as in Singapore, it should work to the benefit of all.
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