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Research and Analysis

AvidThink 2023 July Newsletter

July was quiet on the travel front. The biggest news for AvidThink was the launch of our SASE, SDWAN, Enterprise Edge, and Cloud Networking Resource Site with our partner, Converge Digest.

New Resource Site and Report: SASE, SSE, SD-WAN, MCN, ZTNA, NaaS

The whole alphabet soup of acronyms covering categories of enterprise edge and cloud networking solutions can be confusing to enterprises and service providers. In our SASE and SD-WAN report update, we cover the latest on those, plus multiple-cloud networking, zero-trust network access, and the nebulous network-as-a-service (NaaS). Can an outside player like Hashicorp Boundary make a dent with ZTNA? Is single-vendor SASE the best? Or integrating best of breed? What’s going on with the market? Download the report and watch the videos: Alkira, Cato Networks, Cisco, IBM, Nile, Dell’Oro Group, Orange Business, Apcela, MEF, Versa. Plus, we have brand new video from Pankaj Patel, CEO of Nile, sharing Nile’s vision for NaaS — they just announced a $175M Series C round ($300M total raised to date)!

ICYMI: Recent Events and NextGenInfra Reports

Upcoming reports we’re working on for Fall/Winter include Private Wireless, Data Center Infrastructure Acceleration (including SmartNICs and AI Fabrics), and Network Automation. If interested, you can reach us at [email protected]. Now, on to July’s hottest news!

5G

Dell says operators want cloud native 5G features

Dell Technologies SVP of Telecom Systems, Dennis Hoffman, stated that wireless operators seek to leverage 5 G’s cloud-native features for cost reduction, faster deployments, and expanded services. Dell has witnessed “engagement” from operators globally, including Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 providers. Some of Dell’s operator customers include Dish Network, Vodafone, NTT DoCoMo, and KDDI.

Dish will sell its postpaid service through Amazon

Dish Network plans to sell its Boost Infinite postpaid service through Amazon, where Amazon Prime members will be pre-qualified for the service. The offering includes unlimited talk, text, and data up to 30 GB for $25/mo. Dish’s 5G network is in development, and meanwhile, it uses MVNO agreements with AT&T and T-Mobile for wireless service.

AT&T CEO says Internet Air FWA service is performing well

AT&T’s Q2 results show the addition of 326,000 postpaid phone subscribers and 123,000 net prepaid phone customers. Internet Air, AT&T’s FWA service, is performing well and will retain broadband customers during copper infrastructure decommissioning and for rural areas with government subsidies.

Verizon’s mobility business makes progress in Q2

Verizon’s mobility business reported net postpaid phone additions of 8,000 in Q2 (a slight turnaround from before). CEO Hans Vestberg credited the company’s new MyPlan pricing structure for the improvements. The fixed wireless access (FWA) business gained momentum with 384,000 new customers in Q2, reaching 2.26 million FWA subscribers. The majority, or 1.39 million, are residential customers.

T-Mobile adds 760K postpaid phone subs in Q2, announces new 5G plan

T-Mobile added 760,000 postpaid phone customers in Q2 and introduced the Go5G Plus ($90/mo) plan to attract customers from long-term contracts with rivals AT&T and Verizon. T-Mobile said about 60% of new customers select the Go5G Plus plan. The company also gained 509,000 fixed wireless access (FWA) customers in the quarter, slightly down from Q1 when it added 523,000 net FWA customers.

Operators are pulling back on 5G spending

U.S. wireless operators are cutting back on 5G spending, with AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Dish Network spending 50% less than expected on their 5G networks, impacting Crown Castle’s revenues. As a result, Crown Castle cut $90 million in expected service revenues in its full 2023 yearly forecast.

Ampere is working with HPE to develop Arm-based RAN servers

Ampere Computing, backed by Oracle, collaborates with HPE to develop Arm-based radio access network (RAN) servers, offering a range of CPUs from 32-core to 192-core to support diverse scenarios.

Nokia offloads 5G core products to Red Hat

Nokia transfers its cloud-focused 5G core products, including Cloudband, to Red Hat and 350-plus employees. The move aligns with market demand for horizontal platforms that support multiple applications.

Orange Business uses 5G SA for hybrid private network

Orange Business deploys a 5G standalone (SA) hybrid private network in Arcueil, France, using network slicing to ensure the benefits of a private network while connecting to the public WAN. Orange uses a router from Cradlepoint (owned by Ericsson) to connect both networks and assigns data flows to the appropriate network based on the use case and the application. The router supports 5G SA and network slicing.

Dish restructures networks team

After meeting the FCC-mandated buildout requirement of covering 70% of the U.S. population with 5G, Dish Network’s high-profile networking executive, Dave Mayo, is retiring and transitioning to a strategic advisory position. Marc Rouanne, EVP and chief network officer will move to EVP of global partnerships. Eben Albertyn of VodafoneZiggo will become EVP and CTO of Dish’s wireless network.

Samsung says virtualization is critical to cloud-native future

Samsung Networks focuses on virtualized RAN and cloud-native networking, driving energy efficiency and performance with vRAN software supporting dynamic network slicing. Verizon plans to deploy 20,000 vRAN sites by 2025 using Samsung’s solutions.

Chinese operators join GSMA’s Open Gateway 5G initiative

China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom join GSMA’s Open Gateway 5G Initiative, which aims to create standardized APIs to support various applications. There are now 29 operators that are part of the GSMA initiative, an increase from 21 when the organization made its debut last February. The group has issued eight standardized APIs under the Linux Foundation’s CAMARA open-source project.

Open RAN

Dell’Oro Group revises its open RAN forecast

Analyst firm Dell’Oro Group downgrades its forecast for open RAN equipment, predicting it to represent more than 15% (previously 20%) of the global RAN market by 2027 due to hesitancy among operators about deploying next-generation architectures.

Ericsson and O2 Telefónica deploy 5G Cloud RAN proof of concept

Ericsson and O2 Telefónica successfully tested a 5G cloud RAN proof of concept in Germany, validating its application for fixed wireless access, industrial, and enterprise use cases with end-to-end speeds of 4 Gbps.

Security

AT&T, Lumen, Verizon form Network Resilience Coalition

AT&T, Lumen Technology, Verizon, and other service providers team up with vendors Broadcom, Juniper Networks, Intel, Fortinet, VMware, and Palo Alto Networks to form the Network Resilience Coalition, aiming to improve data and network security and counter growing cyber threats.

Analysts warn that 5G SA exposes potential network security issues

Standalone 5G (SA) networks may expand the attack surface for wireless networks, requiring adaptation of security solutions due to the software-based architecture and cloud-native functions of 5G SA.

U.S. government warns of network slicing security threat

The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warn about security threats in 5G standalone network slicing, providing recommendations to address potential issues, including creating cloud tenant separation.

Gartner says nearly half of cybersecurity leaders will change jobs by 2025

Gartner research indicates that nearly half of cybersecurity leaders will change jobs by 2025 due to work-related stress and challenges in combating evolving threats. About 25% are expected to leave the field.

Edge

Comcast is working with Vapor IO on the edge

Comcast collaborates with Vapor IO on two edge computing pilots in Atlanta and Chicago, aiming to host data and applications for third-party edge service providers, including computer vision, video security, private 5G, and smart cities.

Dell’Oro is downgrading growth in the mobile core network

Dell’Oro Group revised the mobile core network market growth forecast, lowering the projected annual growth rate from 2% to 1% for the next five years. Factors like slower subscriber growth, inflation concerns, and a possible recession prompted mobile network operators to be cautious about capital expenditures.

Vodafone expands AWS-enabled edge to Spain

Vodafone expands edge computing capabilities in southern Spain with Amazon Web Services (AWS) Wavelength nodes. This is the latest move for Vodafone, which first embedded Wavelength nodes in its UK network in 2021 and now has Wavelength zones in London and Manchester and areas of Germany. The nodes enable low-latency services over 4G and 5G, with trials involving over 30 companies. The Spanish deployment covers Malaga, Granada, Cordoba, Jaen, Almeria, and parts of Seville.

Cloud

New Verizon MVNO claims to be a cloud-native contender

MobileX, a new Verizon MVNO, leverages cloud-native capabilities to offer dynamic, hyper-personalized experiences using AI and AI-based usage estimates to save customers money. MobileX uses a telecom-as-a-service provider called OXIO to tie it to Verizon’s legacy operations. Still, its operations are routed into the cloud, using web-based vendors for payments, customer support, and web-based management.

High costs, complexity make the multi-cloud transition difficult

Enterprises transitioning to multi-cloud environments using Kubernetes face challenges due to unexpectedly high costs, according to a Pepperdata survey of 800 C-level executives and senior IT professionals.

Extreme Networks may be a new challenger to Cisco

Extreme Networks’ strides in enterprise-edge cloud computing and artificial intelligence position the company as a potential challenger to Cisco Systems. Its stock is riding high after Oppenheimer gave the company an “outperform” rating. Extreme has acquired key assets over the last five years, including Ipanema, the SD-WAN division of Infovista, Aerohive Networks, Brocade’s data center networking assets, and Avaya’s network business. Analysts are praising Extreme for its integration of all these different acquisitions.

Broadcom’s planned $61B acquisition of VMware moves closer to reality

Broadcom’s $61 billion acquisition of VMware gained approval from the European Union and the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority, with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s approval still pending.

Switching

Arrcus raised $15M in Series D

Arrcus, a virtualized routing and switching company, secures an additional $15 million in Series D funding from investors, bringing its total funding to $65 million. The company, which provides routing and switching services for the transport layer, competes with incumbents like Cisco, Juniper, and Arista. The company’s latest round of funding comes from investors such as Hitachi Ventures, Prosperity7, Liberty Global, General Catalyst, Clear Ventures, and Lightspeed.

AI

Telcos need realistic expectations when it comes to AI

Telcos’ adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) requires realistic expectations, as the complexity of networks and variations among operators necessitate standard interfaces for integration.

Wrapping Up

And it’s a wrap! See you in early September as our fall conference travel season kicks off. And don’t forget to download our latest report on SASE, SD-WAN, MCN, ZTNA — the alphabet soup of enterprise edge and cloud networking.

The AvidThink team