The Core Appeal of Dell Telecom Infrastructure Blocks

Building a 5G core is a big deal with a lot of little, moving parts: access and mobility management functions (AMFs), session management functions (SMFs), proxy-call session control functions (P-CSCFs), charging functions (CHFs) – and the list goes on. Add the fact that 5G cores require a completely new kind of network architecture based on the cloud, and it’s easy to understand how communications service providers (CSPs) can be overwhelmed by the idea of moving their vendor-locked legacy architecture to an open, multi-vendor, best-of-breed 5G cloud architecture.

Taking the “overwhelm” out of 5G network transformation is the core appeal of Dell Telecom Infrastructure Blocks. By pre-loading, pre-integrating and pre-validating cloud platform software on Dell hardware and delivering it as a 5G-ready system, Telecom Infrastructure Blocks allow CSPs to easily build their 5G networks, block by block. There’s no agonizing about what works with what or even who to call when something goes wrong. It’s one procurement source, one unified architecture and one number to call for support.

Telecom Infrastructure Blocks for Red Hat

At Dell, we believe Infrastructure Blocks are how telecom networks should be built for the future. To that end, we’re working with the leading cloud platform software providers for telecom to create customized Infrastructure Blocks for 5G core networks, 5G RANs and beyond. Last year, we announced Infrastructure Blocks for virtualized/Open RAN (vRAN/O-RAN) networks with Wind River. Today, we are announcing our latest addition to the Infrastructure Blocks family, Dell Telecom Infrastructure Blocks for Red Hat.

Dell Technologies and Red Hat co-engineered Dell Telecom Infrastructure Blocks for Red Hat to provide the cloud foundation for 5G Core workloads running Red Hat OpenShift on bare metal. All hardware and software are tested, validated and integrated in Dell’s factories to deliver a turnkey, engineered system.

With Telecom Infrastructure Blocks for Red Hat, CSPs utilize automation that allows them to pool infrastructure resources and quickly reconfigure hardware and software to meet changing workload requirements. Dell also introduced today new lab services that can validate the operation and performance of 5G Core workloads on Telecom Infrastructure Blocks. Currently, most mobile core networks are built on software stacks defined by the network function provider. These vertical network architectures reduce infrastructure utilization rates leading to higher infrastructure costs and increased power consumption. With Telecom Infrastructure Blocks for Red Hat and our new lab services, CSPs can quickly and easily migrate their existing “vertical” network architectures into a single, unified, horizontal cloud architecture with one management interface to improve infrastructure utilization rates, reduce costs and lower power consumption. According to ACG Research, CSPs can expect to see approximately a 15% improvement in infrastructure utilization rates by moving to a horizontal cloud architecture.

Validate, Automate, Integrate – Telecom Infrastructure Blocks Do It All

The primary benefits of Infrastructure Blocks can be summed up in three words: validate, automate and integrate. First, Dell and Red Hat work together to validate the full hardware and software stack for each Infrastructure Block, providing out-of-the-box operability. Next, we provide automation tools, such as Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes and Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, that can integrate with the cloud platform software to enable CSPs to easily deploy, configure and upgrade servers across their network with just a few keystrokes. Finally, we work with Red Hat to continuously integrate new software features to maintain the solution’s reliability and reduce the amount of ongoing integration testing the CSP needs to perform to support new patches and upgrades as they are released.

As Infrastructure Blocks are added to the 5G network, whether in the core or in the RAN, Dell Technologies remains the single service and support point of contact for CSPs. Dell services the full cloud stack, hardware and software, with 24/7 technical support that meets carrier-grade service level agreements (SLAs). There’s no finger-pointing as CSPs troubleshoot the system to see which vendor is responsible; within minutes, Dell service professionals are on the phone and working to help you resolve any issues.

Deploying 5G networks can be complicated and messy – but it doesn’t have to be. Dell’s Telecom Infrastructure Blocks for Red Hat make it easier than ever before to build, deploy, manage and maintain 5G networks based on an open ecosystem of suppliers. Validation means you can count on telco-grade reliability. Automation means you can manage the entire lifecycle of your 5G solutions from a single screen with a few simple commands. And continuous integration and support from Dell means you can finally embrace open-source technology without fear of being left out in the cold.

Source: dell.com