Appledore Research has released a major survey and market analysis covering the state of virtualization in telecom. This report consolidates input from major service providers, NEPs/Suppliers, disruptive suppliers, and major “WebScale” players to distill objectives and best practices in our collective journey to cloud-native networks and operations.
Our findings illuminate the substantial gap between objectives and reality. As part of this report we go back to first principles – both basic network / SP economics, the original NFV white paper/charter, and service providers’ own business goals. Not only are we not there yet, but we can see actions and tactical objectives that conflict with our industry’s ultimate success.
This document provides a set of best practices, learnings from the WebScale players, and a set of industry recommendations to help us all define and focus on success. We emphasize and clarify the difference between merely “virtualizing” (which is insufficient and merely adds complexity and potentially cost), as compared to “cloud native” implementations. Cloud Native operations are a business necessity since they deliver far greater agility, lower cost, higher levels of automation, and — maybe surprisingly — lower complexity and therefore risk.
This report is essential reading for a wide range of industry professionals including service providers, software suppliers, from technical professionals to those tasked with financial success and efficient operation of the business. Finally, Appledore Research plans to follow up with insights on essential components of cloud native, including DevOps, “intent” and other important but often ill-understood topics.
The full document is available here:
https://appledoreresearch.com/report/cloud-native-in-telecom-appledore-market-outlook-0418/