SoftCOM: Road to Future Telecom Business Model Transition
and Network Evolution
Faster pace of industrial integration in the ICT era
With the advent of the digital information era, boundaries between industries are getting
increasingly blurry. Telecom carriers, Over-the-Top (OTT), and TV and radio stations
become ever closer because their businesses gradually converge. On the one hand, a
number of traditional industries are cast on network platforms and inevitably get involved
in the information trend. On the other hand, traditional industries are affecting the
information industry. For example, 3D printers enable physical objects to be transmitted
over the Internet. The development of human cranial nerve science makes it possible to
share human feelings over the Internet. In the future, we will be able to transmit and
receive feelings which include more than just hearing and seeing over the Internet. Ways
to connect things which seem impossible to be connected today will be discovered in the
future. Networks, similar to air, are untouchable but ubiquitous. They are going to
substantially change our lives in various aspects including productivity, living standard,
and commercial activities.
Facing such complex industrial trends, telecom carriers have to compete not only within
the industry but also with other rivaling industries. How to stay on top of the industrial
value chain in the next generation ICT era and avoid being marginalized by addressing
the challenges and seizing the opportunities is what telecom industry has to answer.
SoftCOM: A future telecom network architecture
SoftCOM is a future network architecture that Huawei proposes to address challenges
and opportunities telecom carriers will be facing in the future. It combines multiple latest
technologies and ideas including cloud application, SDN/NFV, and open architecture.
With SoftCOM, telecom carriers can consolidate network and IT resources and establish
an interconnected, innovative, and open industrial ecosystem to put together benefits
and value created by various industries. In addition, SoftCOM enables fast, simplified,
and customized service deployment, improving translation of network advantages into
tangible benefits and reducing maintenance and management costs.
SoftCOM contains four important concepts:
Internet-based business operation:
A truly user-centric business operation system is provided. Contrasting to the traditional
mode which is closed, inflexible, and sluggish, the new operation mode is Internet-based,
capable of supporting massive online users, and customizable on demand. A public API
is placed to keep the network open and allow users to develop a variety of applications
that integrate communication technology (CT) and IT capabilities. The operation system
is built on a distributed web architecture that turns big data into business intelligence and
provides end users with online self-services and useful suggestions.
Cloud-based architecture:
Traditional IT system infrastructure will be migrated to cloud platforms. IT systems of
carriers will no longer be internal support systems as they used to be. Instead, they will
be service-enabling systems that provide cloud computing, infrastructure as a service
(IaaS), and platform as a service (PaaS) to explore new service sectors. The systems
also provide larger capacity and higher performance at a lower cost through
technologies such as elastic computing, distributed storage, and parallel applications.
Cloud-based network control
The control network plane is separated from the forwarding network plane, so network
resources become abstract. The centralized network and global view management
provide better network resource configuration, higher efficiency, and simpler software
upgrade solutions. In addition, the network selects routes and controls traffic in a
centralized way for better network experience and higher resource utilization.
Cloud-based network functions
After the software and hardware are decoupled and functions become abstract, network
device functions are no longer provided by a single device. Instead, network elements
(NEs) share a uniform hardware platform that enables flexible resource sharing and
software-defined functions. A hardware storage pool is created to support hardware
expansion and efficient hardware deployment.
Final network architecture of SoftCOM
As shown in Figure 1, NEs on the control network plane will be based on a cloud
platform. They are deployed in different-sized data centers or Cloud in Boxes. On the
access side, remote access devices or terminals are virtualized. The control layer
functions of the devices and terminals converge on the network side, simplifying the
deployment and configuration of remote terminals. On the bearer network, centralized
control based on open network protocols such as OpenFlow schedules traffic and
resources in a global view. On the core network, each device is deployed on a unified
hardware platform that adopts virtualization technology, ensuring that resources are
dynamically scheduled and network functions are software-defined.
SoftCOM network contains three layers: the hardware layer, control layer, and service
layer. The bottom hardware layer includes access devices, core network devices, and
data center storage and service devices. It provides basic functions such as data
transfer, forwarding, and storage. Upper-layer applications can invoke programmable
interfaces from the hardware layer. On the middle control layer, control NEs which are
deployed on cloud operating systems dynamically share network and IT hardware
resources. The layer controls data transfer and forwarding of the bottom layer through a
southbound interface and connects to the upper layer through a northbound API. The
service layer on the top is where carriers use their management operation platforms
called Telco OS to connect their services with the SoftCOM network. In addition to being
able to carry out functions of traditional operation support system (OSS) and business
support system (BSS), Telco OS also provides big data analysis and vertical business
development. The operation platform must be capable of coordinating the whole network
in an end-to-end manner.
Fundamental platforms of SoftCOM
Driving innovation and boosting revenues
In the past, revenue streams of telecom carriers relied mainly on the growth of
subscribers. The subscription rate of telecom services in the world has now exceeded
90%, and in some countries it has reached 100%. Obviously, this subscription-based
revenue growth mode has reached its limit. To further boost revenues of the carriers,
SoftCOM carries out the following actions:
Explores new service domains. SoftCOM goes beyond traditional languages and
data and extends the telecom service boundary into areas like big data, Internet of
Things (IoT), and cloud computing. By utilizing its inherent advantages, telecom carriers
are able to compete with Internet giants in these areas.
Looks for new business models. SoftCOM provides an open and innovative platform
that supports service customization and personalization to generate greater industrial
value.
Boosts the ability to monetize network advantages. By centrally controlling and
managing network and IT resources, SoftCOM promotes network intelligence and
automation levels, increases QoS and quality of experience (QoE), and improves
customer satisfaction.
Further optimized TCO
As network coverage expands, new devices, technologies, protocols, and services keep
rolling out, complicating network structure. Higher network complexity leads to a higher
CAPEX and OPEX for telecom carriers. To reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO),
SoftCOM bases its network control mechanism and network functions on cloud platforms
to deliver the following advantages:
Higher resource utilization: Cloud-based network control separates open protocol–
based (such as OpenFlow) data control from data forwarding and enables the network to
globally schedule resources, raising network resource utilization. Cloud-based network
functions, on the other hand, allow all NEs to dynamically share hardware resources,
remarkably improving hardware resource utilization.
Reduced resource and time consumption for service deployment: Cloud-based
network functions enable on-demand function definition and separation of software and
hardware. Network function deployment is entirely based on software, shortening service
rollout time from a period of several months to only a few days or even hours.
Lower maintenance and management costs: SoftCOM network centralizes control
to make end-to-end network management more intelligent and automated, ensuring
robust network performance and fast fault recovery. Remote devices are hot-pluggable,
and their network configuration and new feature upgrade are completed remotely.
Summary
Huawei proposes SoftCOM backed up an abundance of experience and in-depth
understanding of telecom network. The idea applies up-to-date concepts and advanced
technologies such as cloud applications and SDN/NFV. Committed to helping telecom
carriers to complete future strategic transition and to guarantee commercial success,
SoftCOM provides an end-to-end network architecture that addresses future challenges.
SoftCOM will maximize the benefits and value of emerging technologies like SDN/NFV
and consolidate carrier network and IT resources, enabling carriers to gain the upper
hand in the value chain of the future ICT era overflowing with digital information.