8 Working at the edge and the telco world

 

Giovanni Galloro

This chapter covers

  • Evolution of telco network functions toward cloud native network functions
  • Edge application use cases
  • Anthos-specific capabilities for supporting telco and edge workloads
  • Google Distributed Cloud Edge

This chapter is about using Anthos as an enabling platform for edge and telco workloads, which fall into the following two categories:

  • Cloud native network functions —An evolution of telecom network functions, either already virtualized or still deployed as physical appliances, toward containerized workloads to reach greater efficiency, performance, and ease of management. This evolution will be driven also by new 5G-related network functions.
  • New edge applications—Workloads to be deployed in edge locations, near the end customer, to reduce latency and enable new types of applications such as autonomous driving, smart cities, smart video surveillance, augmented reality, virtual reality, and remote healthcare/surgery. Often this type of application will benefit and be powered by 5G networks and, in large part, will be deployed as containerized workloads.

8.1 Evolution of telecom applications

In this section, you will find a recap of the evolution of telecom network functions toward network functions virtualization and cloud native network functions.

8.1.1 Introduction to network functions virtualization

8.1.2 NFV use cases

8.1.3 Evolution to cloud native network functions

8.2 New edge applications

8.2.1 5G as the enabler of new edge applications

8.2.2 Edge computing

8.2.3 Edge application examples

8.3 Anthos as a platform for edge and telco workloads

8.3.1 Google Distributed Cloud Edge

8.3.2 Anthos capabilities for telco and edge workloads

8.3.3 Solution architecture example: Smart retail