EdgePOD emerges from time to time
5G and edge computing complement each other. Edge computing is considered to be the most important architectural innovation of 5G, and 5G is one of the best technologies for edge computing.
And the current global 5G network construction is in full swing. GSMA released the latest report that as of March 2020, 381 operators in 123 countries and regions have announced investments in 5G. Among them, 70 operators in 40 countries and regions have launched one or more 5G services that support the 3GPP standard.
China Unicom is the earliest telecom operator in the field of edge computing among global operators, and the edge cloud is the core of China Unicom's 5G strategy. Wang Changling, chief architect of China Unicom’s core network, introduced that China Unicom’s 5G MEC’s target positioning is to combine the MEC edge cloud and leverage China Unicom’s integrated advantages of “cloud, management, and end-to-end industry”, and center on “edge business platform + industry applications”. Front-end market demand, product innovation, provincial and regional operations, and the entire chain of work will help China Unicom form a high-value industry cloud, and industry applications will flourish.
China Unicom has been intensively working in the MEC edge cloud field in recent years. It has not only actively developed its own MEC edge cloud platform, completed the docking of edge cloud and existing network systems, but also established an MEC edge cloud innovation business center to promote the development of industrial ecology. The EdgePOD edge cloud solution introduced by China Unicom and Intel and other industry partners is also aimed at accelerating the deployment of edge nodes and promoting the commercial landing of 5G innovative applications.
Although 5G has begun to be deployed on a large scale, the business model of 5G has been controversial. However, everyone agreed that vertical industry applications based on edge computing, such as autonomous driving, smart manufacturing, VR/AR and other business applications and application scenarios, will be the place where 5G will generate benefits in the future. The survey shows that nearly 90% of the interviewed companies believe that edge computing is an opportunity to generate revenue in the 5G era. At present, telecom operators, cloud service providers, numerous small ICT companies, cloud and edge technology companies, and vertical industries are targeting the concurrency market. Everyone is looking for opportunities for new edge services and solutions. The construction mode of
edge computing is still in the exploratory stage. For operators, rapid and efficient deployment of edge infrastructure, provision of corresponding network connections, and construction of a complete operation and maintenance system are the most important modes of MEC platform construction. In the long run, operators will develop the full-stack model of edge computing (connections, equipment, services, platform intelligent operation and maintenance), and become partners that comprehensively cover edge-related businesses of enterprise customers. Because having a leading edge computing platform means that operators can provide third parties with edge IaaS and edge PaaS solutions, as well as the required connection, billing, and operation and maintenance related services. This is the high value of edge computing in the future and will This is the most competitive area. China Unicom's EdgePOD solution has the integration capability of "edge network + computing power + open platform", which can be seen as China Unicom's early exploration and layout in the full-stack edge computing model.
EdgePOD showcases technological innovation
Among domestic operators, China Unicom is committed to leading edge computing technology innovation. The launch of the EdgePOD edge cloud solution is also a manifestation of this strategy. EdgePOD is an integrated solution for China Unicom's overall MEC edge computing. It can provide different customers with flexible deployment models, and can achieve on-demand customization and flexible deployment. According to Chen Dan, senior director of edge computing of China Unicom Group, China Unicom's EdgePOD edge cloud solution is oriented to the different business needs of different customers of ToB, ToI, and ToC, and has two deployment modes: shared and dedicated. The shared deployment method is that multiple customers share a resource pool through soft isolation and firewallSuch hardware isolation guarantees the security of enterprise data, which can not only meet business needs, but also reduce deployment costs for small and medium-sized enterprises; dedicated deployment refers to the integration of software and hardware equipment to provide high security requirements, Large parks or enterprises with large business needs.
China Unicom's EdgePOD edge cloud solution fully optimizes the hardware, software, and service ecosystem, making it more flexible, convenient and usable. In terms of hardware, EdgePOD is based on Intel's next-generation telecommunications machine room reference design, and integrates servers based on the second-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor, Intel Optane persistent memory, Intel Ethernet network adapters, etc., for NFVI, MANO, VNF, etc. The virtualization module provides effective bearing. At the same time, it is the first in the industry to integrate new generation network elements such as lightweight 5GC and UPF, which greatly reduces the deployment time of the solution compared with traditional edge data centers. In terms of software integration, EdgePOD includes edge IaaS, CaaS, aPaaS, edge value-added service capabilities, and 5G edge sandbox capabilities, and provides platform APIs, SDKs, and developer tool sets, allowing users to quickly implement applications at edge nodes. So as to realize the all-round docking of incubation, enabling, carrying and distribution.
Intel's Edge Software Suite OpenNESS can help MEC operators and developers realize the management and orchestration of edge services, achieve fast online service, efficient and accurate operation and maintenance, support mainstream virtualization technologies Docker, Kubernetes, Openstack, support 5G and enhance platform awareness deployment , Integrating Intel’s OpenVINO toolkit, video acceleration card and other public platform capabilities to help customers achieve rapid development and deployment of edge services. OpenNESS also supports the development and deployment of China Unicom EdgePOD. The key to the development of
is ecological
5G is the last opportunity for telecom operators to transform. For most major operators in the world, core mobile services and fixed services account for 80 to 90% of revenue, while non-traditional telecommunications services account for 10 to 20% of revenue. Judging from the recently released financial reports of the three major domestic operators, the operators’ traditional businesses have been sluggish in revenue growth and their profitability has declined across the board. It is critical to find 5G profit points as soon as possible. As a new technology of ICT convergence, edge computing will sink high-bandwidth, low-latency, and localized services to the edge of the network, providing a unified telecommunication infrastructure support for fixed-mobile convergence, which is crucial for operators' digital transformation and industrial structure upgrade. important. The birth and rise of an emerging technology and ecology requires strong support from the business model behind it. Facing the future, the industry has unlimited expectations and expectations for various application scenarios of edge service platforms. But for a good wish to become a reality, the joint efforts of the entire industry chain are needed. In the past two years, operators have paid more and more attention to the construction of 5G industrial ecology. Since the release of the 5Gn+ strategy, China Unicom has paid more attention to the ecological construction of edge cloud. In 2018, China Unicom carried out MEC-scale pilot projects in 15 provinces and cities across the country. In February 2019, it launched the MEC edge cloud commercial acceleration plan during the MWC. In June 2019, the "5Gn+ Edge Cloud Business Operation Center" was officially unveiled, and the "5Gn+ Edge Cloud Business Operation Center" was officially unveiled. 1+10+100+1000" edge strategy, comprehensively build a five-in-one service architecture of China Unicom's "cloud, management, edge, end, and industry", enabling 5G industries in a wide range of industries.
Currently, based on China Unicom's leading architecture design and supported by Intel's efficient software and hardware platforms, a variety of applications have been deployed on EdgePOD's edge platform, including AR repair, Cloud VR, telemedicine, video surveillance, etc. During the new crown epidemic, the platform played a big role in supporting telemedicine and remote VR education in schools.
5G changes everything, and seizing the 5G outlet is becoming the key to the transformation of operators. China Unicom’s continued efforts in MEC edge cloud obviously occupy a commanding height for its future development.
