Addressing ESG: Carriers Discuss Different Approaches at the Huawei Better World Summit

Summary Bullets:

D. Kehoe

• The telecom industry has ambitious targets to lower carbon footprint. Environment and social governance (ESG) is becoming inextricably linked to overall corporate strategy and will be reported in financial results.

• Strategies differ by operator, but metrics like network carbon intensity (NCI) will help carriers to better understand, report, and improve energy consumption.

The Internet played a significant role in improving social cohesion and mental health during the pandemic. It has helped keep schools and hospitals open, and allowed for the high-street stores to move online. However, there is also an equally tall task of maintaining the health, welfare, and sustainability of the planet. The shift from offline to online has dramatically increased traffic on carrier networks and operating models for virtually all businesses. While the network is bringing many positive societal gains, spikes in network traffic upwards of 40-60% in 2020 alone is also increasing greenhouse gases (GHGs). With dramatic traffic increases, so does the need to reduce energy costs. Recently Huawei hosted the Better World Summit in Dubai to bring operators from the industry to discuss their sustainability goals. ESG is becoming as important to corporate strategy financial performance. The two are becoming inextricably linked.

Connected Technology and Data Are Part of the Solution for Environmental Sustainability

D. Kehoe

Summary Bullets:

• ICT contributes to a carbon footprint, but stats alone do not provide the full picture.
• The industry is setting its own goals, but also enabling so many other sectors to be greener.
• In the past two years, technology really kept us connected in the most challenging times.

GlobalData’s thematic research shows sustainability is one of the most important themes discussed in corporate boardrooms.  While previous decades have witnessed environmental movements, the current wave is unprecedented.  Each headline-grabbing event reinforces public opinion that companies must become more sustainable.  Sustainability is being reported in annual reports and established into corporate strategy.  Over the coming decade, the issue will further transform the way that business is conducted and extend across the supply chain.  Companies that take sustainability seriously now will be better placed to succeed, and technology will be part of the solution.

Fireside Chat: What Are the Practical Opportunities for 5G and Edge Cloud?

D. Kehoe

Summary Bullets:

• Edge redefines cloud by functionality, not location, as the old model of consumption economics moves from a centralized to a distributed model.
• Telco exchanges, central offices, and street-side cabinets are prime edge/cloud locations and will create a special role for operators.

GlobalData, together with Infosys, HPE, and Spark New Zealand, hosted a global webinar recently to discuss 5G and edge compute.  This session attracted a cross-section of delegates, especially telecom providers across different regions.  The webinar included a presentation, a fireside chat, and direct questions from the audience to the panelists. 

Huawei Analyst Day 2019: Addressing the 5G Challenge for Middle East CSPs

D. Kehoe

Summary Bullets:

• Middle East telcos are taking a proactive approach in their 5G deployments, and Huawei is an active player in the region.
• While standards are shaping up and roadmaps evolving, partner selection is happening now.

5G is an emerging technology that transforms underlying architecture in core networks and promotes virtualization, AI and automation. It changes the possibilities of networks, applications and underlying IT systems. It introduces several new technologies that are different from any previous technology, some of which include:

• Ultra-low latency – opens up new possibilities to converge the performance of network and apps, as well as entirely new use cases for cloud-based AR/VR. The health sector, for example, highlights possibilities in areas such as remote surgery.
• Network slicing – allows users to set their own QoS/CoS parameters around virtual networks; advances SD-WAN; addresses security differently and opens new possibilities in IT/OT security.
• Massive bandwidth – an ability to support 10 Gbps potentially, offering a lot of capacity to the last mile and resolving many bottlenecks we have today.

Telstra Vantage: An Industry First Achieved by Connecting Software Defined Platforms to Cloud Exchanges through APIs and Automation

D. Kehoe

Summary Bullets:

• Telstra has greatly enhanced the value proposition of its TPN by offering access to many more clouds through the interconnection with Equinix Cloud Exchange.

• Telstra has created a strong differentiator by building its SD-platform from the core, embracing open source and going down the path of building own ‘IP’ and lines of code.

• Partnership with Equinix opens a lot of potential opportunities

Telstra has become the first telco to interconnect its flagship software-defined platform, Telstra Programmable Networks (TPN) directly to the Equinix Cloud Exchange (ECX) and expose clouds services to a TPN GUI. This gives 400+ TPN subscribers the ability to connect to any range of third-party clouds for SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS in an Equinix carrier-neutral facility. The tight API automation with user interfaces replaces an older era of negotiating direct connects on a case by case basis with cloud partners. Telstra has connected customers to Azure, IBM, and AWS, to support the customers’ cloud requirements. Now other environments, such as Oracle, Salesforce, RightScale, and Google are all within reach. In places where one of the 38 TPN POPs overlays an Equinix facility, there are additional advantages for being on-net. Since the launch of ECX back in December 2017, the plan for Equinix is to make this platform available globally supporting many operators. The plan for Telstra with the TPN integration is to offer this to 63 clouds in eight markets in phase one, before extending up to 200 clouds in 52 markets. This appears to be a win for both parties for a number of reasons:

Telstra Vantage 2017: Redefining Managed Security

D. Kehoe

Summary Bullets:

• Service providers are starting to build their own IP and open source capabilities to provider better interoperability, richer features, faster rollout and market differentiation within their product capabilities.
• The market is changing from a defensive posture to one that can address security before, during and after an attack.

While 2017 has seen its fair share of security announcements across Asia-Pacific, with everything from the launch of a new SOC in one city (BT) to another portfolio refresh (CenturyLink), there have also been a few operators (e.g., NTT Group, Singtel and Vodafone) looking to consolidate and globalize their security capabilities. Some operators see a future not so much around filling out a portfolio with more and more products, but shifting focus from reselling to building their own ‘IP’ and using more open source at an accelerated pace. Two SPs with similar products leave little room for differentiation. Many businesses want to avoid vendor lock-in and demand interoperability. Providers, too, need better margins, as well as the ability to offer differentiation and wield more influence on roadmaps. Vendor roadmaps never seem to be fast enough in an era of DevOps.