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'Survival' Drives AT&T's TransformationMuch has been written about the role of AT&T as an aggressive proponent of network virtualization, a role that has many of its peers regarding it as the market leader in building out a next-generation communications networking infrastructure. But of course it's not just about the network, as John Donovan, chief strategy officer and group president of AT&T Technology and Operations, pointed out earlier this week in Barcelona. AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is aiming to have 30% of its network virtualized this year and 70% by 2020. That's quite the timeline. So Light Reading CEO Steve Saunders, at the very beginning of an exclusive, on-stage interview at the pre-MWC Digital Operations Transformation Summit in Barcelona, asked the AT&T man -- "Why so aggressive?" "Survival," was Donovan's immediate answer, noting that it isn't just advantageous to be pursuing a virtualization strategy seemingly so quickly -- it's "absolutely necessary," he added.
But Donovan was very quick to add that those percentages only relate to AT&T's physical network infrastructure. "Let me remind you that's just the WAN [wide area network]… In our traditional IT environment, which we don't have any more, in our target architecture there, we are already 60% in the cloud and at the end of the year we will be at 80%. So we are marching into the cloud in every dimension in everything we do, as quickly as we can." That's a quite astonishing statistic and suggests that AT&T has finally been able to tackle something it's been trying to deal with for many years -- the complexity of the back office support IT systems and software that underpin the operations and business processes of every communications service provider. That AT&T is now making swift progress with the transformation of its network -- a process that involves the adoption of cloud architectures and operations, the virtualization of its network functions, followed by the introduction of white box networking -- must surely be attributable in part to the initial process of running and managing those supporting IT functions in the cloud. (See AT&T's Donovan Touts White Box Networking and White Box Is the 'Big Prize' – AT&T's Donovan.) That's a major lesson from which every CSP can learn. Check out Donovan's interview -- it will be 30 minutes well spent, believe me. (See CEO Chat With AT&T's John Donovan.) — Ray Le Maistre, , Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading |
The latest 5G standard included specifications for next-generation core platforms, so expect to hear plenty about service-based architecture in the coming months.
Ciena announces the proposed acquisition of automated IP network optimization and analytics specialist Packet Design amid disappointing results statement.
Latest release of Telefónica-backed management and orchestration system boasts multiple enhancements, and a 'lessons learned' paper, that highlight 'real progress,' notes industry analyst. But not everyone's convinced.
Latest release of Telefónica-backed management and orchestration system boasts multiple enhancements, and a 'lessons learned' paper, that highlight 'real progress,' notes industry analyst. But not everyone's convinced.
The role of open source in the telecom sector still divides opinion – and that's why we're debating it at BCE in Austin.
On-the-Air Thursdays Digital Audio
ARCHIVED | December 7, 2017, 12pm EST
Orange has been one of the leading proponents of SDN and NFV. In this Telco Transformation radio show, Orange's John Isch provides some perspective on his company's NFV/SDN journey.
Special Huawei Video
Huawei Network Transformation Seminar The adoption of virtualization technology and cloud architectures by telecom network operators is now well underway but there is still a long way to go before the transition to an era of Network Functions Cloudification (NFC) is complete. |
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