Huawei unveils CloudMetro for telco cloud transformation

Huawei has released during Mobile World Congress its CloudMetro solution, which it says can help operators accelerate their digital transformation and business success.

CloudMetro allows metro networks to utilize cloud technology to enable resource pooling, service agility, operation automation and open platforms.

With the rapid introduction of heavy applications like 4K and VR, enterprise cloud interconnect, and the increasing service diversity brought by 5G , together with the new services we can’t yet predict, metro networks must remain at the forefront of business innovation and constantly explore ways to enhance the user experience.

Wei Feng, CMO of Huawei’s network product line said “only a metro area network capable of rapid integration, efficient operations, and network capability openness can meet the commercial needs of the new services.

“To exhibit these features, a metro network must use a cloud-based architecture,” he noted.

The CloudMetro solution, based on cloud-native architecture, comprises two parts: upper-layer network cloud engine (NCE) and underlying E2E slicing-capable bearer network. It separates the functional modules, cloud operating system, and underlying physical devices into different layers, and moves management and service functions to the NCE to provide an on-demand LEGO-style service provisioning capability.

By introducing service function chains to allow for on-demand service function selection and deployment, the CloudMetro solution can lower trial costs, shorten service time to market from months to days and automate O&M for greater efficiency gains, Wei said.

The resource pooling function, for example, improves network utilization by 100%, while automated operation improves efficiency by 10 times, the executive added.

Wei said China Unicom has deployed CloudMetro solution to provide commercial SD-UTN (software-defined unified transport network) smart government and enterprise leased line services in Guangzhou.

Huawei has also opened the standard northbound interfaces to third parties, allowing more applications to be supported. The company provides a lab for remote online integration verification, marking a departure from independent development to joint development with partners.

The company said unified service management, centralized resource control, and flexible resource scheduling across layers, domains, and vendors allow for online self-service service subscription, one-touch service provisioning, cloud-based service upgrades, and visualized O&M, improving O&M efficiency tenfold.

Wei said Huawei has also released what it called is the industry’s first network slicing router for operators to construct an E2E slicing-capable network. At MWC, Huawei and DT are conducting a joint demonstration on 5G network slicing.