The ICT industry has been evolving rapidly, and the telecom sector is no exception. In a joint exclusive interview with Telecom Review, Kayahara Masayuki, general manager, service provider solutions department, NEC – Global, and Tamer Bdran, vice president, ICT & public safety, NEC – Middle East, shared their views on the trends that are shaping the future of ICT in the telecom industry, among other insightful topics.
5G/Private 5G Technology: 5G technology is revolutionizing the way we communicate and interact with each other. Its enhanced data speeds with higher capacity, low latency and network slicing capabilities pave the way for innovative services like autonomous vehicles (V2X), metaverse and digital twins. As 5G leverages millimeter waves with small cells, resulting in the possibility of denser and more complex networks, operational simplification through automation and even AI becomes essential to guaranteeing the end-user experience.
Additionally, in the 5G era, the proliferation of smart devices, including IoT, creates a larger attack surface. Cyberattacks on the infrastructure could result in severe damage to brand image and market position, and effective security management is essential to prevent significant business impacts for operators.
Artificial Intelligence: Artificial intelligence (AI) is another important trend. AI can unlock numerous possibilities in the telecom industry with a wide range of use cases such as marketing, customer service, software development and network optimization to improve ROI, as well as create new services with never-before-seen experience. This means operators can leverage AI competently, which plays a crucial role in enhancing their competitiveness in the forthcoming market.
Additionally, AI serves as a vital component for sustainability. By employing AI to optimize energy consumption, network performance and transportation, operators can reduce carbon footprints and effectively achieve their sustainable goals.
Edge Cloud: In the telecom sector, open and disaggregated technologies such as cloud technology have been used not only to improve network efficiency, reduce costs and improve customer service but also to provide Enterprise services with a faster service launch.
As the cloud extends to the edge and far edge, most cloud deployments today incorporate a mix of private and public clouds in partnership with hyperscalers. Achieving an effective solution that can seamlessly orchestrate diverse workloads across these clouds under a single umbrella orchestrator leads to what we can refer to as an “Open Hybrid Cloud.”
Growing Importance of System Integration and Its Challenges
In the telecom industry, systems integration is essential to ensure that different components of the network, including those from different vendors, work together seamlessly and add extra value to the sum of all of them. With open collaboration now gaining ground for innovations, systems integration capabilities are critical for telecom operators to provide high-quality services to their customers and greatly reduce their operation costs. However, systems integration is a complex process, and the following are some of the challenges that telecom companies face:
- CAPEX/OPEX Optimization: In system integration, inefficient activities such as siloed approaches and excessive customizations without following industry standards can lead to increased costs and time required to complete the work.
- Lifecycle Management: Release cycles and update mechanisms may vary across subsystems, especially in the DevOps era with flexible release cycles, making compatibility assurance challenging.
- Legacy System Integration: Many telecom companies still use legacy systems that are not compatible with new technologies. This makes it challenging to integrate new technologies into their existing systems, as well as complicated migration strategies.
- Security: Systems integration can pose security risks if not planned and executed properly. It is essential for telecom companies to ensure that their systems are secure and protected from cyber threats and governance mistakes, as well as policies and compliance risks.
- Shortage of Skilled Engineers: The entire ICT sector is grappling with a shortage of engineers, which makes it difficult and costly to find skilled professionals in the market.
In conclusion, due to these challenges, more and more operators have started to consider partnering with System Integrators to enhance their system integration capabilities with a better RoI in the open 5G era. By having a strong systems integrator, telecom companies can provide better services to their customers with agility, reduce their operating costs and stay ahead of the competition based on best industry practices.
NEC is positioning itself as the Global Systems Integrator of choice for all the telecom companies in the region.
NEC’s Global Service Capabilities for Transport Networks
NEC’s xHaul Transformation Services leverage years of experience in transport networks in over 150 countries. From planning to operations, NEC's advanced service capabilities for multi-vendor, multi-domain technologies offer comprehensive lifecycle management, ensuring interoperability and security among diverse systems. This approach enables the swift resolution of CSPs’ specific challenges and optimizes profits and time to market while delivering top-notch service and enhancing user satisfaction in the 5G era.
The uniqueness of this transformation service lies in the comprehensive transport network solutions, known as the Value Added xHaul Solution Suite, and NEC’s professional engineering capabilities provided by the Global Center of Excellence.
The NEC Value Added xHaul Solution Suite offers a comprehensive approach to the transport network by dismantling conventional silos in multiple technology domains like IP, Optical, Edge Datacenter, Network Security and AI/Automation. It comprises best-of-breed solutions from NEC’s Open xHaul Ecosystem, formed through award-winning alliances with global vendors. These partners, recognized as designed and implemented for the world’s largest Tier 1 operators, contribute to the suite's excellence.
The other uniqueness is the NEC Global Transport Network Center of Excellence (CoE), which accumulates global expertise as a central hub collaborating with NEC’s local customer attendance teams. With global best practices, NEC CoE navigates operators’ transformation journeys, encompassing the latest technologies and ensuring the seamless adoption of cutting-edge technologies while incorporating legacy systems. Furthermore, the CoE labs facilitate solution development and validation, allowing for demonstrations, proof of concepts and training.
By combining these unique aspects of NEC's xHaul transformation service with customer-centric values, NEC empowers operators to build a future-oriented transport network that embodies increased agility, flexibility and sustainability, facilitating 5G monetization with enhanced profitability. The future of transport networks lies in open collaboration and open technologies.
Truly Open, Truly Trusted — That is NEC.
