Leading New I T Building a B e tter Connect ed W orld ICT INSIGHTS Enterprise

08/2016 ISSUE 18

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Experience the Surprise of Every Digital Leading New ICT — Enabling a New Industrial Moment Page 1 >> Revolution Page 60 >>

CIOs are discovering that enterprises must integrate ICT into all their services. Page 6

The Enterprise Network of the Future 08/2016 ISSUE 18 AI-enabled Mobile Networks Etisalat — 2020 Landscape Scan for mobile reading Comment

Experience the Surprise of Every Digital Moment | By Swift Liu, President, Enterprise Network Product Line, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

n the next 10 to 20 years, only enterprises that provide premium user experience will excel. Innovative digitalization technologies keep emerging and developing rapidly: I the (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), Big Data, and smart devices, to name just a few. Enterprises that fail to grasp this technical trend and adapt new technologies to their businesses will be unable to effectively engage with their customers.

For businesses willing to embrace the power of digitalization, there are a number of core issues that must be carefully considered and effectively addressed.

The first is a ‘how to’ issue. In what ways will enterprises digitize their businesses? Enterprises aspiring to construct, optimize, and operate digitized platforms must make users the starting point of their efforts. Such platforms would be distinguished from con- ventional ones in terms of intelligence and efficiency.

Second, enterprises must be clear about which businesses are most important and choose the best steps to achieve a future-oriented transformation. ICT infrastructure plans are expected to produce forward-looking designs with high reliability, stable performance, and state-of-the-art security.

The third issue concerns user experience. It is not just Internet companies that care about user experience. All businesses must be user-centric and provide tailor-made experiences from transaction to use and after-sales service.

In view of the above, modern networks are undoubtedly a crucial enabler for enterprises pursuing digitalization. Without networks, there would be no platforms to support service delivery for businesses.

Networks are the only channel that allows enterprises to connect their internal and exter- nal businesses, operations, and management to their customers. Arguably, networks are the foundation and core enabler of digitalized user experience.

Enterprises that are quick to invest in future-oriented cloud architectures will be gener- ously rewarded because they will be the best equipped to reach the most users, respond quickly to user demands, and provide differentiated services.

Today, -Defined Networking (SDN) allows ICT infrastructures to become more intelligent and service-oriented by simplifying network construction and management, enabling easier network access and delivering richer user experiences.

Huawei has developed an Agile Network Solution to help global customers construct efficient, service-oriented networks that deliver high-quality user experiences. Our vision is to help enterprises create digital moments that bring surprise and enjoyment with every connection.▲

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Comment P39 The Future of IT is Hybrid Private and public clouds, combined with existing IT, will create dynamic P1 Experience the Surprise of Every Digital Moment IT solutions. >> P40 SDN Enters Campus Life News New network architectures are facilitating the convergence of data centers and campus networks. >> P4 Technology News Ecosystem Features P42 ICSA Labs — 25 Years of Product Assurance P6 SDN Drives Enterprise Transformation (Part 1 of 2) CIOs are discovering that enterprises must integrate ICT into all their services. >> P45 IoT Sparks a Lighting Revolution Analyst Corner P12 Simplifying O&M in the Cloud Era P56 Summary of the Total Economic Impact™ SDN architectures enable networks to keep pace with the rapid development of services of Huawei’s Cloud Fabric through modernized O&M systems. >> Success P48 Combining SDS with All-Flash Arrays P14 Education Campus Network Roundup Last Word Traditional university networks experience difficulties meeting contemporary network P50 China Unicom and Huawei Collaborate on SDN-ONOS demands of online courseware, social media platforms, or high-density coverage issues. >> P60 Leading New ICT — Enabling a New P16 Managing Congestion on Busy University Networks Industrial Revolution Core Competency Two years ago, Yan Lida returned to headquarters to lead Mobile access is a critical, but limited resource on modern college campuses. >> P51 Open Source Federated Clouds on the Horizon the operations of the Huawei Enterprise Business Group. P18 Addis Ababa University Builds a Modern Network Federated clouds create an opportunity for telecom carriers to build global In this ‘Last Word’ commentary, he reflects on his experi- P19 Agile Campus Comes to Lincoln University cloud services for competitive advantage. >> ence and offers a look into the future. >> P20 Mobile Broadband Drives ICT Transformation Open and collaborative ecosystems are critical for innovation and success. >>

P22 Managed ICT Transformations are a New Approach to Outsourcing Publisher: To read or download ICT Insights in electronic form, visit Telecom operators rely on Huawei’s support for service innovation, process optimization, ICT Insights Editorial Board, http://e.huawei.com/en/publications/global/ict_insights/ and reduction of operating costs. >> To subscribe to ICT Insights, contact the Editorial Board. Huawei Enterprise Email: [email protected] P24 The Enterprise Network of the Future Address: H2, Huawei Industrial Base, Bantian, Longgang, Shenzhen 518129, China Future-oriented enterprise networks must meet four requirements to ensure success. >> Tel: +86 (755) 28780808, +86 (010) 82882758 Yue B No. 13154 New ICT Copyright © Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. 2016. All rights reserved. P26 ‘Things’ are Revolutionizing Retail Editors: No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior The Internet of Things (IoT) is driving new opportunities in the retail industry by bringing Catherine Du Jeff Peng written consent of Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. every consumer, object, and activity into the digital realm. >> Andy Xu Lorra Liu NO WARRANTY P30 AI-enabled Mobile Networks Jason Ding Kiara Kang The contents of this magazine are for information purposes only, and provided "as is." Except as required Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will abstract data to make next-generation Jing Chen Scott Jamar by applicable laws, no warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to, communication breakthroughs come to life. >> John North Pauline Zhang Simon Locke David Castle the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, are made in relation to Karla Jo Ormsby Linda Hudson contents of this document. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no case shall Huawei Focus Gary Taylor Carolyn Austin Technologies Co., Ltd be liable for any special, incidental, indirect, or consequential damages, or lost profits, business, revenue, data, goodwill or anticipated savings arising out of or in connection with any P34 Etisalat — 2020 Landscape (Part 1 of 2) use of this document. A summary roadmap for implementing an SDN and NFV-based virtualized network trans- formation for speeding time to market. >> 2 3 News News

the enterprise, launched the Lattice Predictive Insight Platform today. It is the only enterprise-grade marketing platform that features real-time contact and account Technology scoring, rapid self-service modeling, and native applica- tions for Marketo, Eloqua, and Salesforce. With the release of this new predictive platform, News marketing teams of any skill level can easily create predictive segments and models based on data for | Source: PR Newswire both traditional and Account-Based Marketing (ABM) programs. Once deployed, the scoring of contacts and accounts occurs within seconds so marketing and sales teams can take immediate action. Sales reps are pro- Time (TAT) coupled with achieved-QoR has led customers like HiSilicon vided unprecedented insight into every Lattice-scored Cadence Announces DDR4 and LPDDR4 IP IBM and the University of Illinois to Pioneer Next- and Movidius to select IC Compiler II as their primary implementation account, including firmographic, technographic, intent, Achieve 3,200 Mbit/s on TSMC 16 nm FinFET Generation Cognitive Computing Systems tool for their next-generation performance-critical designs. and engagement data. Plus Process YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N.Y. and URBANA, Ill., April This latest production release raises the bar on achievable QoR through SAN JOSE, Calif., March 14, 2016 — Cadence Design 15, 2016 — IBM Research (NYSE: IBM) today announced the deployment of new technologies, including congestion-driven restruc- Microsoft and Facebook to build a new sub- Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS) today announced its plans for a multi-year collaboration with the University of turing, power-aware concurrent-clock-and-data optimizations, advanced sea cable across the Atlantic Ocean DDR4 and LPDDR4 IP products for TSMC’s 16 nm FinFET Illinois Urbana-Champaign to create the Center for Cognitive full-flow power optimization, and improvements in route-guided design Plus (16 FF+) process have completed TSMC9000 Silicon Computing Systems Research (C3SR), which will be housed closure. The combination of these capabilities delivers up to 15 percent MENLO PARK, Calif. and REDMOND, Wash., May Assessment. The Cadence® Denali® DDR controller IP, and within the College of Engineering on the Urbana campus. area, timing, and power improvements, enabling the highest levels in 26, 2016 — Microsoft and Facebook announced an agree- both the Denali DDR4 and LPDDR4 PHY IP, have dem- Opening in the summer of 2016, the C3SR will integrate and performance. With this release of IC Compiler II, Synopsys continues to ment to build a new, state-of-the-art subsea cable across onstrated operating speeds of up to 3,200 Mbit/s, and each advance scientific frontiers in both machine learning and strengthen its deployment momentum across the broad design community. the Atlantic. The new ‘MAREA’ cable will help meet are in production with several customers. Memory interface heterogeneous computing systems optimized for new cognitive Highlights: the growing customer demand for high speed, reliable performance is crucial for alleviating the key system bottle- computing workloads. • Technology advancements in the latest release deliver exceptional connections for cloud and online services for Microsoft, neck of memory access, which can overshadow increases in QoR across all key metrics: Up to 5 percent smaller area, 10 percent Facebook, and their customers. The parties have cleared processor performance. The high performance of Cadence’s lower power, and 5 percent better timing. conditions to go Contract-In-Force (CIF) with their plans, Chain and Global Financial Firms Unveil Open Denali DDR interface solutions supports the demanding data • 10x faster design planning, 5x faster implementation and 2x more and construction of the cable will commence in August Standard for Blockchain bandwidth requirements of various applications, including capacity continues to reshape the physical design landscape. 2016 with completion expected in October 2017. mobile, cloud computing, and networking. SAN FRANCISCO, May 2, 2016 — Chain, Inc., a leading • Driven by transformational benefits observed, HiSilicon and Movidius Microsoft and Facebook are collaborating on this provider of blockchain technology, today announced the public have standardized on IC Compiler II as their physical design platform for system to accelerate the development of the next- release of Chain Open Standard 1 (Chain OS 1), an open source next-generation SoCs. generation of Internet infrastructure and support the Huawei Announces Breakthrough in All-Optical blockchain protocol developed over the last 18 months through explosion of data consumption and rapid growth of Cross-Connect Field a unique collaboration between the Silicon Valley company and their respective cloud and online services. MAREA IDT’s FemtoClock Family Delivers Unparalleled Frequency ANAHEIM, Calif., March 23, 2016 — Huawei, a leading global financial services firms. will be the highest-capacity subsea cable to ever cross Flexibility for Complex Timing Networks global Information and Communications Technology (ICT) The Chain Open Standard is already powering several block- the Atlantic — eight fiber pairs and an initial estimated solutions provider, has today announced that it is releasing chain projects at leading financial companies, which drove the SAN JOSE, Calif., May 18, 2016 — Integrated Device Technology, Inc. design capacity of 160 Tbit/s. The new 6,600 km ultra-large port non-blocking wavelength adding/dropping requirements for the standard through deep partnerships with (IDT) (NASDAQ: IDTI) today introduced a uniquely flexible frequency submarine cable system (to be operated and managed technology (also known as ADWSS) and corresponding Chain that began as far back as 2014. The standard is being synthesizer that hands the system designer options to pre-configure the by Telxius, Telefónica’s new telecommunications optical node architecture. opened up to the wider financial community for the first time settings of the device or program them in the system, or a combination infrastructure company) will also be the first to con- The announcement was made at the Optical Fiber today. of both. With an industry-first eight fractional and two integer output nect the U.S. to southern Europe from the data hub in Communication Conference and Exhibition (OFC) 2016, dividers, the IDT® 8T49N1012 FemtoClock® NG synthesizer delivers a northern Virginia to Bilbao, Spain and then to network the largest such global conference and exposition. Huawei single-chip solution that aids design engineers in resolving complex tim- hubs in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Latest Synopsys IC Compiler II Release Boosts also showcased an 8-degree ADWSS prototype that sup- ing requirements while hitting important performance parameters. This route is south of other transatlantic cable systems, Quality-of-Results for Performance-Critical Designs ports wavelength adding and dropping on 128 ports, imple- thereby helping ensure more resilient and reliable con- menting the free optical cross-connection of 640 wave- MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 17, 2016 — Synopsys, Inc. nections for customers in the United States, Europe, Lattice Engines Announces Next-Generation Predictive lengths on these ports. This is a technical breakthrough in (NASDAQ: SNPS) today announced the immediate availability and beyond.▲ Insight Platform the all-optical cross-connect field and achieves dramatic of the 2016.03 release of its IC Compiler™ II place-and-route progress in developing all-optical cross-connections on solution, further bolstering its leadership in Quality-of-Results SAN MATEO, Calif., May 24, 2016 — Lattice Engines, the largest and All logos, products, and company names are trademarks transport networks. (QoR) across a diverse application base. Excellent Turnaround fastest growing provider of predictive marketing and sales applications to of their respective owners. 4 5 Features Features

SDN Drives Enterprise Transformation Swift Liu | By Swift Liu, President, Enterprise Network Product Line, Huawei Technologies, Co., Ltd.

e have stepped into the next digital era. This is an exciting process, as digital CIOs are enterprises use ‘bits’ to measure the operation and management of their core discovering businesses, including decision support, marketing and analysis, customer relations, that enterprises W procurement, supply chain, and human resources. Every service generates ‘data’ that in turn is must integrate measured with still more data. Enterprises expect that the end effect of digitalization is business ICT into all their growth. services. >> As enterprises digitally transform, CIOs must 1998. The average product lifecycle fell from explore their own transformational processes 15.5 months to six months, through which these and integrate ICT into every service they pro- ten manufacturers faced many quick responses vide. How should network architecture ― the and fast decisions. Indeed, the efficiency of foundation of enterprise ICT ― be transformed? decision making directly determines the fate of How can the network be a core pillar of digita- a company. lization rather than a bottleneck? The presence Today, we live in an era of digital transfor- and gradual deployment of Software-Defined mation and digitalized relationships. The inter- Networking (SDN) is the inevitable choice of actions and transactions that people have in the network architecture transformation. Here, we physical world are also increasingly connected explain how users building new network archi- by digital technology. tectures that use a converged IT applications and Huawei’s philosophy is that the digital trans- ICT infrastructure will have the advantage of an formation of an enterprise is a process of using accelerated digital transformation. various technologies, including mobile, cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and Embracing Digital Transformation Big Data to connect to the physical and virtual In 1992, Andrew S. Grove, then CEO of Intel worlds and create or transform the existing Corporation, wrote in the Annual Report, production and operation models. This process “There are only two kinds of companies: the enables enterprises to make the right decisions quick and the dead.” more quickly to maintain their advantages. In the same year, a professor from Stanford Due to the increasing cost of land and labor Graduate School of Business conducted an plus stronger environmental protections, the enterprise IQ test to measure the ability of traditional advantages of ‘low-cost’ industries companies to quickly process information to ― manual labor, low cost of goods, and mini- support high-value decisions. The subjects were mal operational costs ― have now dwindled ten PC companies with above average incomes and are losing their competitive edge. The and profits. By 1998, only five survived. Why long-term appreciation of the Chinese yuan has did the other five not survive? also diminished the cost advantage of export- The PC industry grew quickly from 1992 to oriented enterprises.

6 7 Features Features

contiguous perimeters. The new reality is that each opment. The list of issues that SDN solves when Digital must be its own secure end point. compared with traditional networks includes slow In the area of transformation The addition of large numbers of IoT terminals is response times to changes in demand, inability to enterprise campus of an enterprise compounding the complexities that operators face virtualize the networks, and high O&M expenses networks, the is a process of when managing a modern network. and device costs. introduction of using various Maximizing WAN bandwidth with dynamic Founded on the real needs of over 2,000 global mobility has technologies, scheduling tools is crucial to saving expenses and enterprises since its 2013 rollout, Huawei’s agile shattered the including mobile, upgrading user experiences both inside and outside network architecture is based on five customer- antiquated security cloud computing, of each campus network. facing features (see figure below). strategies that the Internet of In contrast, new Internet companies are not aspects of ICT investment planning, management, For example, Meituan, China’s largest eCom- assumed single, Things (IoT), burdened by feeling compelled to preserve or and operation. Agile Network Adding More Value merce platform for providing local life services contiguous and Big Data to protect a legacy business. They use a progression SDN was invented to decouple closed network now attracts up to 130 million active buyers an- perimeters. The new connect to the of ever-innovative technologies, such as the open At the Core architectures by separating the control plane from nually and over 1.6 million business partners. Its reality is that each physical and network itself, the explosion of endpoints from ICT is the fundamental architecture for enterprise the forwarding plane of each router and switching turnover in 2015 was approximately USD 15B. In mobile device must virtual worlds mobility, and now cloud computing and the IoT, digitalization. Forrester, a global market research appliance. SDN solutions create layered networks 2013, Meituan rolled out a concurrent-access pub- be its own secure and create to develop revolutionary business models that company, divides ICT into Information Technology able to meet rapidly changing business needs using lic cloud platform with 500 TB of daily network end point. >> or transform attract large numbers of users and capture market (IT) and Business Technology (BT). ‘IT’ refers to agile infrastructures to accelerate developments in traffic. the existing share. Legacy businesses have sometimes been the technologies, systems, and processes used to the system itself and the services that are offered Meituan adopted an SDN architecture and production and unprepared or otherwise slow to respond. The ICT gain, serve, and keep customers. ‘BT’ is primarily both internally and externally. collaborated with Huawei to build a commercial operation models. transformation is especially critical for traditional related to software that is usually deployed in the The lower, data-forwarding plane of an SDN cloud data center with automated provisioning >> businesses. cloud and accessed with mobile devices. network is populated with commodity switching of tenant networks and accelerated deployment CIOs understand the benefits of digitalization. Some Internet companies, such as Uber, Tencent, hardware. The upper plane allows centralized control of cloud services. This solution uses a Virtual First, it saves costs and improves efficiency. and Meituan, owe their superior user experiences to for automating the configuration, policy profiles, and Extensible Local-Area Network (VxLAN) to build Second, a revolution in enterprise management is powerful, agile ICT infrastructures and the highly service support for the lower level switches. multi-tenant networks that double the performance underway to enable and meet the need to use data efficient networks built onto them. Judging from SDN upgrades networks from static to dynamic of servers. With End-to-End (E2E) visibility and information from sources located both inside the current progress of digital transformation, net- by providing new opportunities for network devel- through the service paths, the SDN control console and outside of their organization. And third, for works have become critical elements for enterprises the benefit of future business, historical baselines to upgrade ICT infrastructure and connect users. and production and operations projections must be The ICT industry now offers technical solutions tracked visually. that replace the closed network architectures of old The transformation process is liberating for CIOs with new programmable platforms that are flexible because once the initial digitalization activity is com- and easily configured. plete, ICT architecture is no longer a mere business Traditional data center networks have large num- support system but is now tightly coupled with every bers of internal devices with complex features that possible business process. The CIOs that thrive are require manual configuration. As traffic, security, those who leverage the core competitive force that and performance requirements vary from tenant ICT infrastructures bring. IT departments with vision to tenant, the overhead of reconfiguring hundreds will invest heavily in service innovation. or thousands of point-to-point connections can be Therefore, in the current ICT digital transforma- overwhelming. The solution is the introduction of tion process, rather than focusing exclusively SDN, where all network appliances are addressable on Return-On-Investment (ROI), enterprises are from a single Operations & Maintenance (O&M) focused on boosting service efficiency, designing console. innovative products, and changing the relationship In the area of enterprise campus networks, with end users. This pattern of thinking is com- the introduction of mobility has shattered the pletely different from the past and is evident in all antiquated security strategies that assumed single, 8 9 Features Features

based on IT application demand are automatically configured networks for each unique user, device, The next logical configured and managed to provide central- or service type that exists now or will exist in the The essential step in the ized control over selected network capabilities. future. benefits of agile evolution of SDN Virtualized on-demand overlays for tenant-based This is the current direction of SDN’s evolu- networks are technology is the networks with intelligent edge capabilities are tion. Huawei will continue to drive the develop- to save costs, deployment and matched to physical networks with maximum flex- ment of agile networks to extend SDN from data improve operational operation of the ibility to meet users’ network application needs. centers to more scenarios, such as WANs, campus efficiency, reduce service-oriented IT • Network Analyzers: Although automated networks, and branch offices. In general, we are risks, and support applications that network deployments have been well received, the committed to the progress required to better re- quick innovation are needed for the situation can be disastrous if the machine is not solve the common and specialized points of fric- of digital services. new generation proactively adjusting and optimizing the network tion in network operations that inhibit enterprise Agile networks Network-as- in the background. For this purpose, network ana- business growth. help enterprises a-Service lyzers feed Big Data systems to diagnose and catch The essential benefits of agile networks are to reduce CAPEX for architectures. >> small signal errors before they rise to become save costs, improve operational efficiency, reduce infrastructure that network faults. Large and small screen networks’ risks, and support quick innovation of digital can be rented not helps tenants monitor and optimize the O&M of the new generation Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) status visualization is an essential component to services. Agile networks help enterprises reduce owned and OPEX by their networks. architectures. NaaS platforms will continue to im- intelligent O&M. Capital Expenditures (CAPEX) for infrastructure virtue of simplified Meituan, in collaboration with Huawei, designed prove upon SDN connectivity, capacity, diversity, • Service-based Network Applications: Service that can be rented not owned and Operating O&M. >> its SDN-based cloud data center based on the most and scenario adaptation metrics. NaaS systems will operation and development are based on IT ap- Expenses (OPEX) by virtue of simplified O&M. open network architecture in the industry. Most be highly scalable and able to adapt seamlessly with plications, users, and data. The fifth core attribute The money saved is best invested in high-value importantly, this solution ensures an easy-to-access, data centers, WANs, network campuses, branch is to deploy IT applications that are built to support applications targeted to support the evolution of high-quality experience for the users. Absent SDN, offices, mobile Internet, and the IoT. the entire growing populations of differentiated our customers’ businesses and ultimately provide this advantage would not exist and would be diffi- The NaaS architecture consists of the following users and device types and to provide correctly brand-new digital experiences for their users.▲ cult for Meituan to deliver an equal user experience core components: at an equal cost with such high concurrent traffic. • Infrastructure Resources: Open-source network Links Built on common SDN components, Huawei’s services are now deployed dynamically. Software- Five Challenges to Current Networks agile network solutions embody our unique under- defined resource pools consist of switches, 1. Scaled and Heterogeneous Networks: Large cam- and offline device types requires installation, con- standing of and practice in SDN. We believe that bandwidth, virtual machines, storage arrays, and pus networks provide multiple services over tens of figuration, and upgrade support. A top issue for data the value of networks has transitioned from con- other physical components that support network thousands of heterogeneous network devices. The de- centers is the dynamic allocation and optimization of nections to services. The list of high-value services capabilities and the operational foundation for IT ployment of network global service policies remains a network resources to fulfill the real-time demand for immediately includes policy-oriented network applications. complex task. distributed IT resources. management and services processed at network • Virtual Networks and Edge Computing: Policy- 2. Resource Collaboration and Security Optimization: 4. Implementing a Focused ‘Applications and Us- edges to support network intelligence. based virtualized networks are built to realize Distributed resource scheduling within data centers is ers’ Strategy: In IT environments with increasing cloud-based multi-tenant networks. User services sometimes inefficient because heterogeneous edge pro- complexity, the growing number of user and device Core Attributes of Future Networks are integrated with Big Data analytics, the result of cesses do not interact with real-time, centralized O&M interactions requires careful and flexible control over The rapid growth of digital services is the core which is that massive amounts of data are uploaded platforms. For campus networks, change is happening network access to ensure that differentiated network value of SDN. Agile networks have introduced both to the cloud for in-depth analyses and processing. because of mobility, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), services are uniformly available. technological and service revolutions. The result is Edge computing remains a necessity in industrial and other multi-service threads. Static policies do not 5. Intelligent Service and Experience Upgrades on that deployment, O&M, and management have all markets that require intelligent control and real- meet the requirements for mobile network security. Edge Network Devices: Most vertical IoT services become simpler for CIOs. Secure and controllable, time handling scenarios that are only served with 3. Dynamic Construction, Deployment, and Man- require high real-time performance. Simultaneously, ICT network infrastructures support the rapid richer local intelligence based on a stable negative agement of Networks: Managing branch networks there are large numbers of external interactions growth of internal and external digital services. feedback system. accounts for 30 percent of network administration between gateways and background applications, an The next logical step in the evolution of SDN • Network Controllers: Unified management of time. The addition, deletion, and adjustment of branch environment that requires the edge network devices to technology is the deployment and operation of the distributed infrastructure resources is performed nodes, coupled with huge numbers of random online be intelligent. service-oriented IT applications that are needed for according to demand. Functionality and resources 10 11 Features Features

Simplifying O&M in the Cloud Era Yu Li | By Yu Li, General Manager, Data Center Network Domain, Enterprise Network Product Line, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ‘Accuracy’ implies making precise observations using User Datagram Protocol (UDP)-based based on the analysis of massive quantities of channels. Second, the greatest assurance for high- Huawei’s Fabric data, including: frequency collection is to upgrade the nodes to Insight is an oftware-Defined Networking (SDN) has become an obvious choice for enterprise CTOs because of its • intelligent, SDN Billing: Data sampling ratios must be highly dedicated components that are designed to allow having open interface protocols. Given the magnitude of the transformation, customers are naturally service-oriented architectures scalable, ranging from 8K:1 to 2K:1, and, oc- millisecond-level event capture for data center concerned about whether their existing Operations & Maintenance (O&M) systems could be used to management enable networks S casionally, 1:1. switches. supervise that new SDN technology. • solution that is built to keep pace Troubleshooting: Based on Big Data and real- • Detect to help customers with the rapid time analyses, incidental packet losses and traffic Observing the route quality of End-to-End (E2E) SDN O&M has been a critical target for Huawei complexity of devices to be managed and the number meet the challenge development of black holes can be quickly located and resolved. services requires sending real-time detection pack- research and development since the company first of failures to be resolved. In recent years, the number of implementing services through • Automated Repair and Optimization ets to ‘scan’ the network. Unlike earlier random embraced the technology. Huawei examined the of devices has increased by 50 times from physical O&M best modernized O&M Past O&M architectures have been unidirectional, scanning mechanisms, Huawei’s Fabric Insight O&M lifecycle based on new SDN features and built Network Elements (NEs) to logical NEs (vSwitches/ practices in SDN systems. >> issuing commands over a downlink channel and solution supports ‘directed scanning’ to sweep a closed-loop negative feedback system called Fabric vRouters), and, according to LinkedIn, the number of receiving feedback over a second, separate uplink. specific routes over each network topology to de- environments. >> Insight. faults increased by 18 times from 2010 to 2015. With limited communications between the admin- liver higher accuracy and network-wide coverage. istrators and the physical plant, this old-style pro- Administrators are no longer chasing problems Why Is SDN O&M Needed? What Is SDN O&M? cess was incapable of meeting today’s expectation and, instead, are receiving proactive analytics Compared with traditional networks, SDN-enabled To establish a dynamic, real-time, and scaled SDN ar- for automated rectification of network failures and that present a clear, up-to-the-minute picture of a networks have the following three features: chitecture, Huawei has proposed that the entire O&M automated network optimization. Modern O&M network’s status. • Dynamic O&M: Logical networks are built or system be updated based on the following criteria: platforms are closed-loop systems that include: • Measure deleted on the fly based on changes to application • Visible and Accurate • Postponed Repair: Detected failures are In certain circumstances, the network quality traffic. In legacy O&M processes, 50 percent of a ‘Visibility’ is crucial to efficient management and isolated to avoid disrupting active services. seems normal while the user experience with their customer’s workload can be spent supporting out- includes the following concepts: • Diagnostic Repair: Based on the results of applications is poor. The detecting mechanism of-date firewall policies, which leads to network • Visible Objects: Physical and logical targets are Big Data analytics, the automated O&M function cannot resolve the issue. The solution lies in the slackness and fragmentation. monitored, including NE-Level nodes and interfaces, performs repairs or provides repair options. measurement of live service flows to detect packet • Real-Time Response: Traditional networks rely Network-Level links, logical routes, and application • Network Optimization: Abnormal conditions, loss or delay. At what points in the system are the on manual intervention based on slow, decades-old throughput statistics. such as unbalanced traffic or potential congestion packet losses occurring? If a long delay exists, Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). • Real-Time Observation: Millisecond-level that are observed using the closed-loop system, what is the cause? This low-speed mechanism, with a message lifetime phenomena are displayed, traffic bursts and low- will automatically invoke targeted adjustments in Diagnosis -4 • of five minutes, has become a point of criticism. frequency (<10 ) packet losses are tracked, and mice response. After the monitoring, detection, and measure- • Large Scale: Scale involves the number and and elephant flows are identified. ment modules have performed their duties, the How Is SDN O&M Achieved? diagnostics module seeks to determine the root Huawei’s research led to Fabric Insight, a closed- cause of each problem. Involving loop and packet looped, new-generation O&M solution for SDN loss analytics, each tool is designed to resolve a architectures. This system consists of four mod- specific issue. Further, Huawei has opened the ules that perform the following functions: O&M Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) • Monitor so customers are able to develop their own collec- Traffic monitoring solutions must improve their tions of diagnostic tools. capacity to display large amounts of data in real time in two ways. First, the data collection proto- Intelligent Management cols must be changed to achieve greater efficiency. Huawei’s Fabric Insight is an intelligent, service- For medium-scale data capture, SNMP needs to oriented management solution that is built to help be replaced with gRPC, an open source HTTP/2 customers meet the challenge of implementing Remote Procedure Call framework introduced by O&M best practices in SDN environments. This Google in 2015. The best results for large-scale implementation helps promote the further com- reporting of data plane status will be achieved mercialization of SDN architectures.▲ 12 13 Features Features

Education Campus Network Roundup

n a world that moves lightning fast, people on college and university campuses need a way to access information anytime, anywhere using Traditional I their mobile devices. Today, students and faculty can access online university classes, libraries, video and voice conferences, and education forums at their networks convenience. However, all this online activity creates challenges if the networks commonly have not been designed to handle such traffic. experience While online learning, video conferencing, and social media platforms difficulties are convenient and effective, they present complications for legacy network meeting campuses. Traditional university networks commonly experience difficulties contemporary meeting the contemporary network demands of online courseware, social media network platforms, or high-density coverage issues. demands For Addis Ababa University, Huawei specified an ICT network architecture of online that upgraded the core, aggregation, and access layers specifically to resolve courseware, issues like frame freezing in HD video conferences. social media New Zealand’s Lincoln University chose to deploy Huawei’s Agile Campus platforms, or Network to address the escalation of Operation and Maintenance (O&M) issues high-density that arose from limited wireless coverage, severe interference, and complicated coverage issues. network policies. >> Based on Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technologies, Huawei’s Agile Campus Network solution guarantees consistent security control and user ser- vice experience, enabling more services for campus networks. SDN technologies accelerate the delivery of new services by dynamically optimizing the utilization of compute and storage resources, and enable users to deploy services many times faster than ever before possible. Performance across all data, voice, video, and multimedia services has improved; and network O&M costs have dropped dramatically. Huawei is committed to supporting the global education industry with innova- tive network solutions that improve resource and service sharing for the benefit of students, teachers, and staff.

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Managing Congestion on Busy University Networks | By Zhou Mingfeng, Marketing Manager, Enterprise Network Marketing, Enterprise Business Group, Zhou Mingfeng Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. in dormitories, however, need not be re- for interference control, air interface ef- strained by this policy. Teachers can access From Newcastle University ficiency, user dispatch, and load balancing. both Intranets and the Internet anytime, in the U.K. to Southern Cross In addition, Huawei supports the latest s colleges and universities develop campus networks to support their online education activities, University in Australia, and Mobile access anywhere, and be allocated a larger slice Multi-User, Multi-Input, and Multi-Output they find themselves competing with users who spend valuable bandwidth resources playing online dozens of campuses in is a critical, of bandwidth than what is assigned to (MU-MIMO) 802.11ac standard that allows games and downloading videos. Traditional university networks are ill-equipped to handle the between, Huawei’s precision but limited A students. devices to simultaneously transmit multiple bandwidth demands of online courseware and social media platforms. To tackle this problem, school campuses • wireless application control resource on Refined Service Management for Next- data streams over different paths. need precision network control with role-based rights management, fast resource access, and easy information and high-density coverage modern college Generation Firewalls: Huawei’s next- sharing as well as high-density coverage. technologies provide campuses. >> generation firewalls are built to operate Simplified Operations on protocols and applications from Layer university students with high- The Huawei Agile Education Campus Huawei’s Agile Education Campus Network APs. Outdated network management systems are an 3 to Layer 7. This enables user-, device-, quality connectivity anytime, Network solution converges wired and solution helps universities provide increased wire- impediment to efficient O&M and fault diagnostics. and region-based traffic analysis. Based anywhere. >> wireless networks. FMC techniques are less learning opportunities through innovative For example, older tools are unable to determine if on service requirements, administrators used to reduce the number of devices and ICT technologies, such as intelligent application a problem is being caused by a faulty AP or interfer- can configure policies, such as restricting simplify their configuration and manage- control, high-density coverage, and Fixed Mobile ence from other wireless devices. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) traffic and intercepting ment workloads. Agile switches support Convergence (FMC). The virtualization technolo- Precision management is particularly important specific websites. delivery, Huawei leverages the industry’s on-board AC by having the wireless gies used in Huawei’s solution are able to prioritize for wireless campus networks. Huawei’s Software- most extensive product lines to offer controllers integrated onto the wired net- and dynamically reassign high-capacity network Designed Networking (SDN)-based mobile service Seamless, High-Density Access solution-level network design services, im- work boards. Virtualization functionality resources to specific users or groups based on user system uses an Agile Controller for centralized As the number of mobile broadband users proving customers’ Return On Investment combines the linked switches and APs with service requirements such as time of day or campus network management and control based on users and continues to grow, campus classrooms, (ROI). With Huawei’s professional plan- the service boards and ports, which turn location. services. The Agile Controller provides the following labs, libraries, academic halls, conference ning tools, meticulous onsite surveys, and the entire network into an easily managed, benefits: rooms, and other locations will face the advanced interference detection methods, agile switch. • Network Management Intensive User Management: The system speci- pressure for additional wireless access re- the resulting wireless network is assured to Using SDN, devices are coordinated to Campus-wide wireless coverage involves thousands fies management and control policies based on users, sources. Traditional networks with limited have stable and seamless signal coverage, complete command translations, message of Access Points (APs), and traditional networks access locations, and time points. For example, bandwidth and coverage were never built to and better performance. synchronization, and policy distributions. with limited bandwidth and coverage often lack so- students can be limited to accessing campus intranets accommodate this rate of expanding traffic. • Agile, Distributed Wi-Fi: The Huawei Administrators use a unified Graphical phisticated management tools to troubleshoot faulty from 8 am to 9 pm in classroom buildings. Students For example, high-density areas, such as solution employs the industry’s first three- User Interface (GUI) to configure and man- cafeterias and auditoriums, often provide layer architecture (AC + Central AP + age operating modes, service scenarios, and little additional coverage; thick dormitory Remote RF Unit), and each central AP user access rights. walls can block radio transmission; and supports 48 Radio Frequency (RF) units. blind spots in open areas can disrupt mobile Indoor deployment of these RF units Agile Campus Transformation connectivity. provides a central AP with high-quality As a world-leading product and solution Campuses have diverse access require- wireless coverage for up to 48 buildings, provider, Huawei is actively contributing ments, with some areas having a high significantly reducing the number of re- to ICT-based innovations for the education requirement for concurrent access. Without quired APs and cutting configuration work- market around the globe. From Newcastle high-density access design, wireless con- loads by more than 90 percent. The reduced University in the U.K. to Southern Cross nectivity in these locations suffers low per- numbers of APs also lowers the number of University in Australia, and dozens of cam- formance and frequent disconnects. Huawei configuration nodes. For instance, a college puses in between, Huawei’s precision wire- provides the following technologies and can use 200 nodes to provide wireless ac- less application control and high-density services to ensure complete coverage in all cess for more than 100,000 rooms. coverage technologies provide university scenarios: • High-Density Optimization: With students with high-quality connectivity • Professional Planning and Support: extensive experience in the deployment anytime, anywhere. Huawei mobile campus Dedicated teams offer professional, high- of high-density access scenarios, Huawei networks are the foundation for the trans- quality factory services throughout product R&D has produced a number of high- formation in education to personalized, lifecycles. In End-to-End (E2E) project density access optimization technologies student-centric learning services.▲ 16 17 Features Features

Addis Ababa University Agile Campus Comes to Builds a Modern Network Lincoln University Chen Heng | By Chen Heng, Switch Marketing Support, Enterprise Network Product Line, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | By Gao Jun, Switch Marketing Support, Enterprise Network Product Line, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. Gao Jun

The Ethiopian ith the campus size and number of teachers and students increasing year after year at Addis Ababa n the face of ever-changing ICT technologies, such as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), cloud New Zealand’s university looks University (AAU), network ports and bandwidth became insufficient. By 2012, the network was computing, and Big Data, Lincoln University near Christchurch, New Zealand, needed a modern campus Lincoln to lead in the W no longer able to meet expected service requirements. I network to better serve teachers and students. After careful study and a comparison of multiple vendors, University development the university chose to deploy Huawei’s agile campus network. has adopted of IT-based The university, which built its first campus network to overcome worst-case issues, such as frame freez- Huawei’s agile education in 2007, has an enrollment of nearly 50,000 students ing in HD conferences. Upgraded from 100 Mbit/s to With roots in agriculture and environmental en- Huawei S12700 comes pre-integrated with native campus network throughout and is the largest state university in Ethiopia. With 17 1,000 Mbit/s, AAU’s unified network simplifies the gineering, the university last upgraded it’s network ACs that use Huawei’s programmable Ethernet Network to accommodate Africa. >> branch campuses across the country and projections data forwarding process and improves network ef- system in 2004 when the school’s legacy network Processor (ENP) to enable AC functionality. The S12700 teaching, for continuing growth, AAU committed to building a ficiency within and between buildings, libraries, labs, had become outdated. Though relatively modern, achieves unified wired and wireless traffic forwarding, research, and modern campus ICT network that would establish a offices, and dormitories. it lacked the bandwidth and functionality to handle service management, and user authentication. More st management new national benchmark. Built around Huawei Ethernet Network Processor 21 century operating requirements due in large part importantly, the S12700 eliminates bottlenecks and sim- services. >> (ENP) chips, the S12712 Agile Switches to limited wireless coverage, severe interfer- plifies device management by sharing wired and High Capacity Requirements are designed to support bursty applica- ence, and complicated network policies wireless bandwidth resources to centrally As the demand for mobile education tions traffic. ENP chips support low that created a difficult O&M environ- control network traffic. and High-Definition (HD) video latency and large cache sizes for ment. In addition, Huawei’s campus conferencing increased, bandwidth lossless packet forwarding, which solution capitalizes on its Super bottlenecks with freezing video are necessary to support high Campus Network Reliability Virtual Fabric (SVF) technology, streams and slow download data rate HD and VoD services. Network reliability is vital to which contributes to effective speeds became frequent annoy- online teaching, mobile educa- network management by enabling ances. Agile Network Expansion tion, and High-Definition (HD) operators to easily locate and rectify To meet the requirements for In traditional campus networks, video services. Moreover, the faults. SVF is a vertical virtualization stable, real-time HD Video-on- separate wired and wireless reliability at the core layer is a top technology that allows low-cost fixed- Demand (VoD) and Voice-over-Internet networks result in heavy operating priority because core switches perform configuration switches to act as remote Protocol (VoIP) services, AAU required an workloads for management and mainte- wired and wireless user authentication and interface cards for a parent switch. This upgraded, highly reliable campus network. nance personnel. Fault location, in particular, is policy control. The Huawei S12700 series of high- technology turns APs into ‘super devices’ by increasing predictably time consuming. capacity core switches is built specifically to support the port density of the parent switch and facilitating AAU Turns to Huawei The S12712, with native Access Control (AC), next-generation campus networks. Delivering 4 μs centralized switch management. After conducting an in-depth analysis of AAU’s re- addresses these problems by supporting converged inter-chassis transmission latency — the lowest in quirements, Huawei specified a network solution that wired and wireless deployments. The native AC the industry — to smooth traffic transmission, the Mobile Service Experience provides high bandwidth and room for expansion. feature enables the unified management of wired S12700 employs proprietary Cluster Switch System Huawei’s campus network solution is particularly To support redundancy across multiple campuses, and wireless network planes and increases network Generation 2 (CSS2) and 1+N Main Processing Unit focused on mobile network availability. Are teachers Huawei S12700 Agile Switches were deployed at O&M efficiency by at least 50 percent while reducing (MPU) backup technologies for improved reliability. and students who are working and studying remotely the core layer, including the use of Cluster Switch maintenance costs. By design, the S12712 prepares able to experience the same level of service as those System Generation 2 (CSS2) for 1+N MPU backup. end-users for future growth by providing a scalable Convergence using wired networks? With the Huawei solution, The 1+N MPU method guarantees that multi-chassis campus network solution that supports End-to-End Wired and wireless devices were deployed separately the answer is yes. Huawei helped Lincoln University services will run as specified so long as at least one (E2E) network expansion. in Lincoln’s legacy network. Legacy devices using deploy optimized Wi-Fi solutions for classrooms, Main Processing Unit (MPU) in each chassis is run- Cloud computing, Big Data analytics, and mobile the 802.11b standard delivered only 11 Mbit/s of lecture halls, offices, and dormitories that improved ning normally. connectivity are gaining popularity in the education bandwidth and slowed down the wireless network. wireless coverage by 95 percent. Based on the inte- industry. Huawei helped AAU build a smart educa- Independent Access Controllers (ACs) create wire- gration of agile switches and ACs, the Huawei cam- Increasing Access Rate tion campus network that has increased the access less traffic bottlenecks that consume significant pus network solution provides Lincoln University Huawei constructed the AAU network architecture at bandwidth by ten times for teachers and students and amounts of maintenance and troubleshooting time users with a consistent, high-quality experience the core, aggregation, and access layers specifically reduced the maintenance workload by 40 percent.▲ by network managers and technicians. regardless of location or device.▲ 18 19 Features Features

Mobile Broadband Drives ICT Transformation | By William Zhaowei, Senior Marketing Manager, Packet Core Marketing Support, Carrier Business William Zhaowei Group, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. networks, this new architecture must improve NFV and cloud computing achieve the decou- throughput, security, reliability, latency, and power pling of hardware and software at the NE level. A comprehensive, consumption. It must be open, flexible, efficient, Enhanced resource elasticity and service flexibility healthy ecosystem is critical to any Open and Driving Network Transformation that used to see the consumer market as their end- automated, scalable, and deliver optimal and per- lay the foundation for expanding services. • successful network collaborative In addition to the rapid growth in mar- users and primary source of revenue are having to sonalized user experiences. To achieve these goals, Service-Oriented Core (SOC): Existing transformation. As ecosystems kets in recent years, innovative technologies such develop new segments across a wide number of the target network architecture must incorporate network functionality is restructured to support telecommunications are critical as Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), enterprise and public sector verticals, including the following characteristics: network slicing for the delivery of multi-service • carriers deploy for effective and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) have emerged. Finance, Transportation, Energy, and Safe Cities. To Separation of Hardware and Software: Unified experiences. Network functionality currently pro- more ICT innovation and Component-level breakthroughs in chips, Micro- adapt, carriers must evolve their mobile networks hardware infrastructures will support multiple vided by the Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN), technologies to continuous Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), and low- toward a target architecture that meets the diverse logical networks. Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN), Mobility • transform their success. >> power electronics are also continuing and, not least, requirements of multiple vertical industries based on Separation of the Control Plane from the Management Entity (MME), PDN Gateway the development of large-scale integrated systems, capabilities that support enhanced network agility Presentation Layer: Network functionality is (P-GW), and Serving Gateway (S-GW) will be re- networks, the such as distributed cloud computing involving Big and openness. deployed flexibly and on demand. placed with new control, service, and management boundary between Data analytics, have also matured. • Data-Driven Open Network: Services are functionality to support business innovations and the core network In this context, mobile telecommunications busi- Target Network Architecture delivered quickly and optimized in real time. improve operating efficiency. and OTT service nesses are expanding aggressively from traditional The target for a future-proof network architecture • Service-Oriented Network Architecture: providers and voice and data services to new areas, such as the must accommodate an increasing variety of mobile Network slicing supports multi-service experience. Building Cross-Industry Ecosystems industry verticals Internet of Things (IoT) and Internet of Vehicles Internet applications, including the coming explo- A comprehensive, healthy ecosystem is critical will be continuously (IoV). Consequently, telecommunications carriers sion of IoT gateways and endpoints. Unlike existing Key Technologies to any successful network transformation. As blurred. >> The following technologies are key to the design telecommunications carriers deploy more ICT and construction of the target architecture for next- technologies to transform their networks, the generation networks: boundary between the core network and Over-The- • Network Functions Virtualization (NFV): Top (OTT) service providers and industry verticals Network Elements (NEs) are independent ap- will be continuously blurred. The convergence plications deployed flexibly on unified platforms of the telecommunications industry with other built using standard servers, switches, and storage commercial and private networks will accelerate. devices; software and hardware are decoupled, Cross-industry ecosystems that feature openness and network functionality is no longer hosted by a and collaboration will form. single device. An example of the natural collaboration between • Software-Defined Networking (SDN): Based telecom carriers and service providers is the on programmable network equipment and central- creation of a joint NFV Innovation lab by Huawei ized control planes, SDN supports flexible deploy- and Tencent — announced February, 2015 — to ments of network functionality. provide a service for acceleration to • Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): This al- the Guangdong Branch of China Mobile. Also, in lows separate services to combine the functionality June 2014, Huawei collaborated with market re- of large software applications as SOA principles search company GFK to provide a Big Data-based are independent of vendors, products, and tech- location service for the Shanghai Branch of China nologies. Unicom. Cross-industry collaborations create the opportunity to innovate services and facilitate the Transformation Phases exploration of new business models. Consequently, The core network plays a pivotal role in network as more applications that are specific to the needs architecture evolution. Before the target network of various industries become available over the architecture can be achieved, the core network network, increased demand drives growth in the must complete the following transition: types of business opportunities that have a pro- • CloudEdge: Enabling technologies such as found impact on people’s lives.▲ 20 21 Features Features

Managed ICT Transformations are a New Approach to Outsourcing Zhong Qihong | By Zhong Qihong, ITO Marketing Representative, Carrier Business Group, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. Under pressure to focus on customers, egacy telecom operators face disruptive changes due to the emergence of ICT technologies such as Telecom markets, virtualization, software-defined ‘X,’ cloud computing, and Big Data. IT-minded service vendors are operators rely on and service taking customers from traditional telecom operators by extracting increasing amounts of value from Huawei’s support L development, upper-layer-level applications. Telecom operators face great pressure from surging traffic on their networks but when selecting an outsourcing service provider.” telecom operators optimize their organizations for service telecom operators are not seeing the expected growth in revenue. Where previous outsourcing programs empha- and processes, build unified service platforms, and innovation, are collaborating process sized cost reduction, increasingly the requirements improve digital service efficiency by implementing Telecom operators are having to adapt to increas- Under pressure to focus on customers, markets, for engagement are reform driven. The companies multiple-vendor management protocols for ICT with strategic optimization, outsourcing and reduction of ingly complex operating environments that combine and service development, telecom operators are col- who are brave enough to change are not only utilization. network and IT platforms. Equally important is the laborating with strategic outsourcing partners in new updating their ICT infrastructure, but must also Over the past two years, Huawei’s managed solu- partners in operating costs. new ways for >> use of new technology to evaluate customer needs ways for multiple-vendor management and the imple- transform their processes for more organizational tion has helped several European telecom operators and create new business opportunities through quick mentation of their transformation plans. Experienced efficiency. The result is that managed transforma- — TDC, KPN, Orange Spain, and Virgin Media — multiple-vendor innovation. telecom operators accustomed to outsourcing are tions are emerging as the primary outsourcing accelerate their ICT transformations. In the Middle management and The large telecom carriers that are actively trans- being overwhelmed by the management challenge requirement for speeding service innovation in East, Zain and VIVA have tried Huawei’s unified the implementation forming their businesses to the cloud include AT&T of multiple-vendor outsourcing and coordination ways that minimize cost and risk. ICT operation solution ahead of others and reaped of their whose employees have been told: ‘Adapt or Else.’ programs at the levels necessary to assure that the benefits. In Africa, Huawei’s outsourcing service transformation plans. >> A China Mobile branch has reformed its Network interests of each stakeholder are met. Solutions and Value Proposition has helped Etisalat and MTN meet the challenges Management Service (NMS) by adding staff and Small- and medium-sized operators are also taking Huawei’s Managed IT Transformation solution they faced to adopt new services. training to adapt to the challenges of digital services. advantage of the same best practice methods provided helps telecom operators adopt new ICT technolo- A recent example of Huawei’s managed trans- Similarly, the Telefónica IT department is fully by large external service organizations to reduce the gies by providing best practices in skills develop- formation service is its cooperation with Qatar- engaged in support of that company’s transformation. cost of transformation and minimize risk. Overall, the ment, organization optimization, and process based Ooredoo. In addition to commercializing number of examples in which telecom operators are reconstruction. a unified NFV and cloud ecosystem to deliver New Requirements for Operators outsourcing the operation of their telecom networks First, the Managed IT Transformation solution public services through an agile ICT platform, Operators have their own roadmap that includes and IT systems continues to increase. uses three approaches to help telecom operators the Ooredoo UNIFY strategy intends to integrate support from trustworthy partners who share the same A Middle East operator revealed the logic behind manage the complexity of ICT transformations: internal processes and streamline the organization. strategic vision and provide key technologies. this trend: “We are a telecommunications service • Optimize Existing IT Environments: Establish The development of Huawei’s managed For instance, Network Functions Virtualization provider, not a software company. This is why we standardized service delivery processes that reduce transformation solutions is based on supporting (NFV) involves services on both telecom networks made the decision to outsource the operation of our operating costs and ensure service quality of plat- 150 telecom networks worldwide, including and IT-derived data center platforms. Huawei helps IT systems and network infrastructure.” As software- forms and people; consolidate data centers, improve the construction of 400 data centers. Regarding new NFV users outsource the necessary technical defined infrastructures continue to proliferate, hardware utilization, and rationalize software licenses. delivery resources, Huawei has four global competence quickly through Build-Operate-Transfer informed telecom operators focused on the business • Technology Transformation: Improve infra- service centers and three remote service delivery (BOT) programs. innovations that best serve their end users are choos- structure use and reduce deployment time for new centers. For technology innovation, Huawei uses NFV, however, is not an all-in-one solution. ing to outsource the operation of their public and services using a dynamic architecture. the Operation Web Service (OWS) platform — After the completion of an NFV integration project, private data centers to professional service providers. • Application Transformation: Improve business a cloud-based delivery platform that supports telecom operators remain concerned about operating Although a key motive for outsourcing, the reduc- agility by enabling a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) quick, policy-driven service deployments, elastic and maintaining the new system and reconstructing tion of operating costs accounts for a relatively small environment and facilitate business application expansion, and API-based customization — to existing processes and organizations. percentage of revenue. A Gartner research report transformation using Software-as-a-Service (SaaS); gradually realize the potential of software-defined One cautionary tale of an NFV deployment has an entitled IT Spending: How Do You Stack Up? found build a bimodal (one mode focused on stability, the operations. operator at odds with the NFV service provider about that telecom operators are more concerned about IT other on agility) DevOps-enabled infrastructure. According to a senior executive in charge of the the division of operating responsibilities. A second innovation than reducing costs. Facing pressure to Second, the Managed NFV/Cloud Operation BOT company’s managed services, “When Huawei says operator, having struggled an entire year to manage the transform the ICT infrastructure of her company, the solution helps telecom operators deploy new services that future operations will be software-defined, company public cloud, came to Huawei for support to IT director of a Latin America operator said, “For by integrating technology and business processes. our claim is backed by large investments and deep establish a suitable cloud-service operating model. me, business innovation is the biggest consideration Third, the Managed ICT Operation solution helps experience in building this brighter future.”▲ 22 23 Features Features

The Enterprise Network of the Future Chang Yue | By Chang Yue, Chief Architect, Enterprise Network Product Line, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. companies will be able to support changing rout- ing network resources for optimized resource ing protocols and facilitate complex data process- Future enterprise allocation, enabling faster deployments and ing without degrading network availability. network architecture troubleshooting across networks, services, and will be designed and Future-oriented ompanies are adopting cloud, Big Data analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), and mobility solutions In addition, enterprises will move toward applications. built on a Network- enterprise to drive the business efficiencies that are necessary to meet evolving customer demands. As they move enhanced network virtualization capabilities so • Creating Advanced Network Security as-a-Service model, networks must to these new IT models, however, many companies are challenged by the rigidity and complexity of network resources can be deployed and managed With the fast evolution of Advanced Persistent C on demand without physical access to switches or which will deliver Threat (APT) attacks and changes in network and meet four their enterprise networks, which limit performance and time-to-market for applications and services. network services requirements to routers. security architectures, network security manage- virtually, either ensure success. Rather than offering a competitive advantage, legacy Four fundamental requirements for building the Network virtualization can accelerate agility for ment has become increasingly complex; yet, through subscription >> network architectures are an impediment to innovation network of the future are: enterprises while simultaneously reduce the cost security is vital to protecting business, with no and business growth. Companies must rethink their • Flexibility Is Key to Future Networks of managing network resources. This will ensure or a ‘pay-as-you-use’ room for compromise. enterprise networks to support growth, deliver high Networks were traditionally designed for speed over availability of business-critical applications and service model. >> Today’s enterprise must build a system that can service levels, reduce costs, and mitigate risk. flexibility, but that will no longer suffice now that improve user experience. monitor and respond to network security threats flexible cloud-based services have become the norm. • Scalability to Meet New Business Demands in real time to thwart increasingly sophisticated Future-Oriented Network Challenges To gain greater agility and flexibility, companies A future-oriented network puts user experience at attacks and intrusions. Building a future-oriented enterprise network need to transform from traditional, static, equipment- the heart of the network by building and imple- To tackle these evolving threats, more advanced requires that several critical challenges be addressed. centric network planning, deployment, and manage- menting user- and application-aware network and comprehensive network security approaches Performance must meet expanding user data de- ment to a dynamic, on-demand approach. This move management policies to overcome congestion and and technologies will be required, such as the fol- mands, and companies must integrate and manage will enable them to rapidly expand or change services performance issues. lowing: disparate technical resources into comprehensive to meet business demands. Future-ready enterprise networks must allow • Sandbox-based APT detection and efficient heterogeneous networks. In addition to Enterprise networks will need to dynamically rapid deployment of IT services and applications • Unknown threat analysis, leveraging Big Data delivering high performance and minimizing costs, respond to user demands for high-performance ap- to support business needs. At the same time, users analytics future enterprise networks must be flexible, scalable, plications and rich media content on any device. By want to connect to network resources from both • DDoS-based attack mode sharing simple to manage, and secure. leveraging programmable switching/computing chips, wired and wireless devices. To address these needs, the enterprise network An NaaS Future must be able to scale efficiently to accommodate Future enterprise network architecture will be de- capacity needs within data centers, wide-area signed and built on a Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) networks, campus networks, mobile Internet, the model, which will deliver network services virtu- IoT, and other networks. ally, either through subscription or a ‘pay-as-you- • Simple, Efficient Network Management use’ service model. Using NaaS, businesses can With the increasing convergence of enterprise dynamically adapt to off-peak and peak demands. networks, mobile Internet, and IoT networks, NaaS can be achieved through agile network companies need to enhance intelligence at the management, control, and policies. Technologies network’s edge. This will optimize data traffic such as Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and flow and policy enforcement without compromis- Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) are the ing security or Quality of Service (QoS) and primary virtualization-enabling network technolo- driving up costs. gies of the future. With workloads constantly shifting, managing This flexible acquisition model will allow the entire enterprise network to ensure continuous companies to add and allocate network resources availability of services and applications for the on demand and respond rapidly and securely to business requires intelligent solutions that enable evolving needs. In addition to significant cost ad- real-time decision making while simplifying vantages, NaaS will enhance network scalability, network management. elasticity, simplicity, and security — shifting the Agile network controllers will play a key role enterprise network from a hindrance to an enabler in simplifying network management by unify- of business growth and innovation.▲ 24 25 New ICT New ICT

‘Things’ are Revolutionizing Retail Jonathan Gregory | By Jonathan Gregory, Managing Director, Accenture Strategy The Industrial Internet describes how companies The Internet onnected devices aren’t just changing the way consumers live, work, and play — they are leverage cloud, of Things (IoT) dramatically reshaping entire industries. Adding intelligence and connectivity to everything from mobile, Big Data, and is driving new utility meters to home thermostats produces enormous amounts of data that companies can leverage C other technologies to opportunities in to improve their operations, better serve customers, and create new ways of doing business. improve operational the retail industry efficiencies and by bringing The proliferation of connected devices coupled The smartphone is the hub for these interactions, so foster innovation. every consumer, with improved, less-expensive technology platforms instead of fearing smartphone-toting shoppers who The combination of object, and and the adoption of common standards will only ‘showroom’ (browse products in-store and then pur- the Industrial Internet activity into the increase the rapid growth of IoT-enabled capabilities chase online — often from competitors), retailers are and IoT devices digital realm. >> across industries. now exploring ways to connect with them to enhance The IoT is expected to be particularly disruptive to the in-store experience. distribution process. platforms afford retailers with another direct could add more than the retail industry. Currently, retailers are experiment- One way is via location-based beacon technology, Managers using Internet-enabled smart tags channel to customers — generating household USD 14 trillion to the ing with ways to use intelligent, connected devices to which retailers can use to interact directly with could lower prices on promotional or low-turnover information, from utility usage to consumption global economy by offer new services and reshape experiences, as well customers as they enter the store. Department store items or increase prices on higher-demand items. trends — helping them drive more targeted offers 2030. >> as develop better supply chains and new channels and brands, such as Lord & Taylor and Hudson’s Bay To verify that prices are consistent between online and services, such as automated product replace- revenue streams. While the IoT may seem like sci- are already using Apple’s iBeacon technology and a and brick-and-mortar stores, a fully integrated ment based on expiration dates or customer ence fiction, it is becoming reality faster than most of mobile marketing platform called ‘Swirl’ to deliver pricing system would improve synchronization of consumption. us can comprehend. Retailers that hesitate to develop personalized promotions to customers who download prices between the shelves and registers. and execute an IoT strategy are opening the door for branded Apps. Making the IoT a Reality current and new competitors to swoop in and capture Using sensors to track customers’ paths through New Channels and Revenue Streams Leadership teams may be hard-pressed to ac- early market share for the IoT. a store can help managers improve store layout and Household appliances, home security, and health commodate entirely new classes of devices into merchandise placement strategies. The German and wellness products are all becoming part of the their already complex IT infrastructures, but it’s Improving Customer Experience fashion house Hugo Boss has already deployed heat IoT ecosystem. Home improvement and consumer important for them to consider taking steps now to Nowadays, every experience is digital, as ordinary sensors in its clothing stores to track customer move- electronics not only drive sales of these connected lay a foundation for IoT support later. Specifically, ‘things’ become intelligent devices. These experi- ments to help managers place premium products in devices but also tap into the data they obtain to they’ll need to think about building a new culture ences are coalescing into what some are calling the high-traffic areas. extend into customers’ homes. and management strategy: ‘Internet of Me,’ which describes an interconnected Some retailers are taking further advantage of • Culture environment in which businesses are building Optimizing Operations the array of connected products by becoming an • Confirm that IoT-enabled solutions are consis- products and services to be specifically designed and The Industrial Internet describes how companies integration ‘platform’ to make it easier for cus- tent with the business strategy created for the individual. leverage cloud, mobile, Big Data, and other technolo- tomers to make all of their in-home devices talk to • Prioritize the impact and potential benefits of Consumer adoption of IoT devices is expected to gies to improve operational efficiencies and foster one another. IoT investments on customer needs rise quickly. The ‘State of the Internet of Things’ innovation. The combination of the Industrial Internet Lowe’s, for example, has launched the Iris plat- • Align IT, operations, and other business stake- study from Accenture Interactive, a leading pro- and IoT devices could add more than USD 14 trillion form, a ‘smart home hub’ that communicates with holders to confirm that IoT-enabled solutions are vider of digital transformation capabilities, found to the global economy by 2030. any device using networking technologies like implemented with business needs in mind that nearly two-thirds of consumers intend to Connected devices and products help retailers Wi-Fi, ZigBee, or Z-Wave. The hub has an open • Test to find the right mix of solutions and capa- purchase a connected home device by 2019, while optimize operations. Radio-Frequency Identification interface so manufacturers can integrate their bilities ownership of wearable technology is expected to (RFID) technologies, for example, improve the products. Iris directly competes with telecommu- • Governance double in 2016. precision of inventory tracking. Data visualization nication providers like AT&T and Verizon, while • Build cross-functional project teams comprising The IoT provides retailers with an opportunity to technologies make it easier for employees to track providing opportunities to join with manufacturers IT, marketing, operations, and supply chain to re- develop an ecosystem that connects the physical and products across the supply chain and could even be to integrate their products with Iris. duce silos between IoT business and IT initiatives digital worlds, allowing bi-directional, real-time in- extended to customers by allowing them to track Other retail sectors, such as grocery, could also • Reduce internal competition for resources and teraction with consumers inside and outside the store. the location of a custom order in the production and build or partner with these platforms. Connected experience 26 27 New ICT New ICT

• Prioritize IoT revenue enhancement versus cost such as Big Data analytics, in-store technology infra- • Middleware solutions and data interchanges that • Applications It’s important reduction opportunities; for example, use cost structures, and internal and customer-facing applica- optimize speed of queries for real-time analytics • Web services and APIs that define how devices The IoT will be a for retailers to reduction benefits to fund revenue enhancement tions, to take advantage of the data generated by IoT • In-memory computing send, receive, and process information disruptive force in consider taking initiatives devices, while ensuring that the proper connectivity • Infrastructure • API management strategy to provide the business retail operations. steps now to lay • Adopt agile development techniques to and security foundations are in place to support IoT- • LE Beacons that identify and send with API monitoring and visibility capabilities As companies a foundation for improve deployment times for new IoT-related enabled initiatives. messages to registered consumers and unregistered • App factories begin to form an IoT support later. functions • Big Data Analytics devices that respond when the customer enters a • Development and debugging tools IoT strategy, one Specifically, they’ll • Create new privacy policies to accommodate the • Compatibility and use of existing data warehouses store • Embedded operating systems question must be need to think new relationships that businesses will have with and database solutions for IoT applications • RFID for inventory management at the forefront: about building consumers • On-premise and proprietary data management • Network security policies and services to ensure IoT State of Mind Do you want to be new capabilities IT teams must build off key technology areas, versus cloud solutions to support IoT analytics customer data is secure across the entire supply chain The IoT is still in the very early stages of imple- the disrupter or in two key areas: mentation but is likely to mirror the proliferation the disrupted? organization and of other recent digital technology revolutions, such >> technology. >> as the Internet and the rapid-fire rise of mobile, eCommerce, and social media. Changing customer expectations and industry competition may require retailers to look at the IoT more aggressively. Waiting is not an option for retailers that want to protect market share and position themselves for future growth. Below is a strategy worth consider- ing. • 60-day Plan • Identify an executive sponsor and key business and technology stakeholders • Pinpoint existing products and channels that can easily be connected to IoT platforms or devices • Develop a short- and long-term IoT strategy and business case for garnering organizational support • Evaluate the existing organization, culture, and technology • Investigate and understand associated privacy and customer data security implications • Build and execute a plan to prototype two or three key opportunities that can be piloted in a limited footprint of stores Retailers that take the lead in this space stand to gain an important advantage in an already competi- tive environment. Early adopters will be positioned to more quickly deliver IoT-enabled capabilities that can increase revenue, reduce costs, and drive a differentiated brand experience. The IoT will be a disruptive force in retail operations. As companies begin to form an IoT strategy, one question must be at the forefront: Do you want to be the disrupter or the disrupted?▲ 28 29 New ICT New ICT

AI-enabled Mobile Networks | By Yang Jin, Director, Network Data Analytics Research, and Miguel Dajer, Vice President, Wireless Yang Jin Access Department, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. • Intelligent Decision Making to Manage cost of operation with limited, basic toolsets. The Complicated Resources and Dynamic Traffic AI is a candidate situation was feasible for the voice-centric network In early voice-centric networks, the basic resource platform for of the past but not for today, as network behavior and the kinds of reakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), including deep neural structure unit was the time slot; the model was very performance factors are much more dynamic and innovation that networks and probability models, are creating paths for computing technology to perform tasks that predictable radio traffic. The complexity needed unpredictable. For example, spikes in social media are attractive for once seemed out of reach. Taken for granted today, speech recognition and instant translation once to manage traffic demand was quite low relative to activity that affect network behavior can strike at any B today’s standards. designing new time. Additionally, user experiences are becoming the appeared intractable, and the board game ‘Go’ had long been regarded as an edge case for the limits of AI. products for use With the recent win of Google’s ‘AlphaGo’ machine over world champion Lee Sedol — a solution considered Smartphone usage has significantly changed this focus of network operation and optimization, rather in large-scale by some experts to be at least a decade further away — was achieved using a ML-based process trained both profile, since radio traffic models today necessarily than network performance. Traditional methodolo- commercial from human and computer play. Self-driving cars are another example of a domain long considered unrealistic include multiple dimensions and granularities. First, gies and toolsets lag behind the times, and changes in networks. >> Miguel Dajer even just a few years ago — and now this technology is among the most active in terms of investment networks are increasingly heterogeneous, and user technology are required to support different network and expected success. Each of these advances is a demonstration of the coming wave of as-yet-unrealized devices are often equipped to be served by one or use models. capabilities. As one of the world’s largest manufacturers in the communications technology industry, Huawei more technologies — such as 2G, 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi, • Digital Transformation and On-demand Service et cetera. Within each technical domain, operators Provisioning Artificial is obliged to explore the implications and opportunities that these AI breakthroughs offer across our lines of have the option to combine multiple layers of cells, Operators worldwide are transforming their networks Intelligence business. and various radio beams can be organized to better to increase their use and the number of services and Machine The wireless communications system is one of serve expected use patterns. Additionally, cells can they can transport. As a result, carrier networks are Learning will Why AI? the most complex inventions in history yet has had With over 30 years of commercial history and many be turned on or off dynamically to manage loading evolving closer to typical data center cloud service abstract data a deep and impactful effect on the daily lives of more needed to understand information theory, the or interference or to save power. offerings in the way they are used, provisioned, and to make next- users around our planet. We who are scientists and wireless communications industry is unquestionably There are large numbers of application types that orchestrated. Today’s focus is on leveraging cloud generation engineers in the telecommunications industry are a mature business. And yet, unrealized capabilities affect the characteristics and interactions of user technologies and network virtualization to offer communication continuously planning new features to enhance the encourage our imaginations. By what means and traffic in unique ways and, therefore, require a range these services, while reducing capital and operat- breakthroughs performance and capacity of the global network, in what territories are we most likely to find the of specific treatments. Given even this very brief ing expenditures and achieving significant levels come to life. >> including the tools and services necessary for opera- breakthroughs needed to realize these next levels of description, it is possible to see the magnitude of of automation. Data analytics-enabled capabilities tors to manage and optimize their technical facilities. expression? AI is a candidate platform for the kinds complexity required by policy control systems to will provide superior End-to-End (E2E) system vis- Huawei has been especially successful in meeting of innovations that are attractive for designing new apply multi-variant decision trees at different op- ibility, quantification of resources and performance customer needs and delivering high-value, low-cost products for use in large-scale commercial networks. erational levels. These decision trees ensure optimal modeling, automated system monitoring, and self- products. As referenced above, recent developments The fundamental changes driving the incorpora- user experiences under diverse traffic demands and corrective, proactive actions. These tasks are critical in AI foretell many new opportunities for improving tion of AI into wireless communications systems radio conditions. The coming era of 5G communica- to the future success of the wireless industry. the operating performance of wireless networks. include: tions will further increase the number of use cases that must be managed. In the example of Network How will AI Help? Functions Virtualization (NFV), computational • Data Analytics and Machine Learning resources will be dynamically assigned with the goal Data analytics is the science of collecting, organiz- of having core decision-making algorithms automati- ing, and analyzing large data sets to identify patterns cally adapt to current radio, user, and traffic condi- and draw conclusions. There are four types of tions. We believe that ML and other AI technologies analytics that can be applied for wireless pipe design, are the best candidates to enhance the capabilities operation, and optimization: of complex decision making for advanced wireless • Descriptive Analytics examines and analyzes past systems. performance by mining historical data to discover the • Automation to Improve Efficiency and Reduce reasons behind past successes and failures. Management Cost reports such as sales, marketing, operations, and finance Operating increasingly complicated networks effi- use this type of post-mortem analysis. ciently and at a low cost is a challenge for operators. • Diagnostic Analytics focuses on determining Many of them must manage at least two to three what factors and events contributed to and explain networks while maintaining, or even reducing, the the outcome. It is all about making ‘why’ statements. 30 31 New ICT New ICT

• Predictive Analytics turns data into action- cellular traffic mix, while user experiences depend We believe ML able information. Predictive analytics use data heavily on optimized parameters like data through- Service has the potential to determine the probable future outcomes or put and delay. ML and predictive modeling enhance providers are for a broad range the likelihood of any particular event to occur. network planning tools so that the network is more exploring new of applications Predictive analytics employs statistical techniques likely to meet not only the coverage target but also business models that can improve that include ML, modeling, data mining, and game the user experience requirements of all customers. to continue cellular network theory to assess current and historical facts to • Active Security Protection: The ICT industry to increase design, operation, predict future events. master in the game of Go. The system utilized lular environment. For root cause analysis, we rely on is facing an ever-increasing number of security business and optimization. • Prescriptive Analytics automatically synthe- DL along with reinforced learning as its core knowledge-based engineering troubleshooting guides, incidents; this, in turn, drives substantial business opportunities >> sizes Big Data, business rules, and ML to suggest technology. Investments in ML, and especially DL, although there are clear limitations to this approach. issues, including outages and loss of revenue and and to drive decision/action options to take advantage of the are growing rapidly, and companies like Google First, because engineers often propose one-size-fits-all credibility. We believe that ML is essential for strong toward further predictions. Prescriptive analytics continually have begun to ‘open source’ their DL platforms to guidelines, the rules may be inaccurate or need to be security defenses at different layers of the network. successes. AI and automatically processes new data to improve encourage innovation. adapted to a different market. This clearly is no longer Behavioral analytics that leverage ML make a dif- technology plays an important prediction accuracy and provide better decision • Machine Learning-enabled Wireless Pipe acceptable. Second, and more importantly, these ference in detecting attacks, automatically analyzing options. Design, Operation, and Optimization troubleshooting guidelines are limited by engineering varied data from multiple perspectives, and identify- role. >> ML techniques and statistical models support the We believe ML has the potential for a broad range knowledge and are useful only for ‘known’ issues. But ing the relationships between disparate actions. different types of analytics mentioned above. ML of applications that can improve cellular network what of new and unexpected troubles? It is common In the past, we carried out a series of projects to ex- and all its siblings comprise a key foundational design, operation, and optimization. The following knowledge that new issues occur for many reasons plore ML technologies and their applications for pipe technology for many advanced algorithms used scenarios illustrate the potential power of ML and that require experienced engineers to investigate design and operation. For example, cell-level anomaly in wireless communications, from optimization related technologies: and formulate solutions. This can take a long time to detection and root-cause analysis have been tested to OSI Layer 1 processing. Extracting hidden • Self-Learning and Adaptive Networks: A resolve, making customers unhappy. This gap in time in real network environments and have gained very information from vast amounts of data created by fundamental challenge in wireless system design also can increase the cost of operation. In a world of positive feedback from operators. Our self-learning/ wireless communications algorithms is the chal- is to manage and allocate resources to meet traffic instant gratification, this approach is insufficient. By adjusting solution for coverage and capacity optimiza- lenge that U.S. companies are undertaking as part demands under difficult constraints. Problems applying diagnostic analytics, we can quickly and ac- tion is now part of Huawei’s Self-Organizing Network of their wireless research and development efforts. traditionally are resolved by applying sets of rules curately perform root cause analysis to detect network (SON) solution. We are continuing the journey by We believe that success in this space will yield derived from system analysis and simulation with problems and resolve them, even before they occur. exploring the latest advances in AI and ML, especially significant advantages to our products. prior domain knowledge and experience. The • Automated and Closed-Loop Optimization: in the areas of deep and reinforcement learning. We Deep Learning (DL) — known as deep struc- level of intelligence is determined in the design Today, optimization relies on engineering knowledge believe this will enhance our capability to capture and tured learning, hierarchical learning, and deep phase, and the system behaves according to pre- and manual processing and analysis. However, the abstract underlying data structures to achieve further machine learning — is a branch of ML based on programmed rules. However, this method faces growing complexity of network technologies and benefits from the large amount of data that networks algorithms that model high-level data abstrac- increasing challenges due to today’s dynamic and cost-saving pressures call for more automated and generate. tions using multiple processing layers, complex diverse traffic, and the complexity of network scalable solutions. The key capabilities that allow structures, and/or non-linear transformations. architectures and resource structures. Our vision automated and closed-loop optimization are root Business Roadmap Much of the research in this area attempts to make is that future networks will be self-learning and cause and/or specific scenario incidents that trigger Wireless communication systems are greatly trans- better representations and create models to learn adaptive to the needs of its user devices, radio optimization engines or agents. The engine or agent formative. Therefore, the underlying technology these representations from large-scale, unlabeled conditions, and characteristics of application-based combines domain knowledge and data-driven search must evolve to support larger demands beyond per- data. Some of the representations are inspired by traffic. Decision quality will continue to grow by settings. sonal communication and into the Internet of Things advances in neuroscience and are loosely based learning from past behaviors and outputs, and also • User Experience-Driven Network Planning: (IoT). Service providers are exploring new business on the interpretation of information processing from similar entities in the same or other networks. Network planning is the first and most critical step models to continue to increase business opportunities and communication patterns in a nervous system, • Proactive Network Monitoring and Root for any network rollout. The quality of planning and drive toward further successes. AI technology such as neural coding that attempts to define a re- Cause Analysis: Network monitoring and main- determines, to a large extent, user experiences and plays an important role in this journey by enabling lationship between various stimuli and associated tenance are critical tasks in network operations. Return On Investment (ROI). Traditional network intelligent decision making at the core of system de- neuronal responses in the brain. Today, we rely on alarms for monitoring; however, planning tools focus on the coverage capacity for sign, automated operation, and optimization. These Today, DL has almost taken on a life of its own. static alarm thresholds at the cell level lead to many voice services that is relatively simple to predict. key elements provide the necessary insights for new Google’s DeepMind DL platform beat a 9-dan missed alarms due to the dynamic nature of the cel- Today, data traffic (including video) dominates the business models.▲ 32 33 Focus Focus

Part 1 of 2

Etisalat — 2020 Landscape Hatem Bamatraf | By Hatem Bamatraf, Chief Technology Officer, Etisalat Group Etisalat’s goal is to achieve a 60 percent Huawei and wo major disruptive technology innovations are shaping the future of telecommunications — Software- virtualization Etisalat Defined Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). Further, emerging of network collaborated services based on super-rich content and the Internet of Things (IoT) have stringent requirements for Figure 1: Overview of 2020 Goals T functions and on a summary ultra-low latency, high bandwidth, seamless mobility, and personalized subscription efficiency. Each of these launch of new services is another critical design cri- 70 percent roadmap to imperatives has shaped the ‘cloud’ as the de-facto technology for future telecom networks. 2020 Services Outlook Future services will be bundled into three primary teria. Traditional infrastructures have gradually trans- reduction in implement an categories: formed to become adaptive ‘agile core’ infrastructures time-to-market SDN and NFV- Fundamental changes in future networks will ware decoupling are mandatory, and virtualization will • Communication Services: Exponential growth in in order to quickly respond to customer demands for lifecycles for based virtualized coincide with a tailored, road-mapped formulation enable shorter deployments and faster times to market. bandwidth and connected devices will remain a major new services, as illustrated below. all product network of SDN/NFV deployments that can help achieve the Transforming the End-to-End (E2E) network factor in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. and service transformation following objectives: architecture will require an agile and cloud-centric • Content+: The core of future digital services and developments for speeding time • Exceptional Customer Experience: The provi- approach. Three Pillars business models includes rich content. Three key pillars of our future network architecture by 2020. >> to market. >> sion of online, on-demand, and real-time experiences The ambitious virtualization of existing network across various channels and touch points for all new functions is essential — whatever can be virtualized • IoT Services: Etisalat will bring pre-packaged emerge from this concept: 1) Software-driven, data- and legacy services will be virtualized. Though certain access network innovations to a wide range of industry segments. center-based platform; 2) virtualized network func- • Efficient Operations: 1) Simplified, agile opera- functions may remain ‘physical’ or take longer to be In all scenarios, the focus is on the development of tions and applications; and 3) agile and orchestrated tions for reducing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO); virtualized, future networks must be open, agile, and new partnerships that leverage revenue from emerging operations. 2) faster deployments and improved scalability flexible enough to adapt to any new network access ecosystems while deploying state-of-the-art technol- • Platform • New Revenue Streams: 1) Monetize new medium that may be deployed in the last mile. ogy for delivering best-case customer experiences. Carriers of the future must be able to easily increase architecture with open APIs; 2) use virtualization as capacity, efficiency, and agility, cut TCO, and mandate a tool to offer customers new products and services; 2020 Network Concept Network Service Prerequisites an automated, scalable, virtualized, and open plat- and 3) reach new customers and markets through the Etisalat’s goal is to achieve a 60 percent virtualization The popularity of Internet-enabled smart devices form. The platform will focus on the synergy of three cloud of network functions and 70 percent reduction in challenges telecom providers to eliminate network primary areas: 1) A connectivity architecture, where A distributed Data Center (DC) architecture will be at time-to-market lifecycles for all product and service inefficiencies and offer agile, on-demand, cloud-based underlying IP and optical networks enable delivery of the core of the future network, and the SDN and NFV- developments by 2020. This strategy is driven by the Internet services. This network concept will eventu- future services; 2) the full potential use of SDN and driven transformation will eventually affect all key rise in customer growth requirements in emerging ally allow Etisalat to extend its portfolio beyond con- NFV technologies; and 3) initial focus on deployment aspects of networks and operations. Software and hard- business markets. nectivity to become a key player throughout the ICT of a scalable, open, cloud infrastructure. value chain. • Connectivity Reference Architecture • Bandwidth Shifts The evolution of the connectivity layer towards Enhancements in access technologies will result in a cloudification and virtualization requires understand- shift in the ratio of access, aggregation, and core band- ing the evolving roles of each domain in the hierarchy widths. The aggregation layer will become bulkier of a carrier infrastructure. due to increased bandwidth and new ultra-low latency • Agile Core technologies, the result of which will be important Agile technologies add flexibility and speed to the shifts in content localization by 2020. core network. Regional Points of Presence (PoPs) and User experience will also play a major role in central offices are becoming the Cloud Edge. Regional enhancing end-user bandwidth. The entire network PoPs are converted to a DC-based infrastructure architecture must be carefully planned to: with the dedicated hardware appliances and network • Increase aggregation and core bandwidth functions formerly located in central offices that are • Reduce the number of hops to reach the content now virtualized. Agile Core is the key enabler for the • Reduce the latency of access to key services scalability necessary to interconnect external clouds • Adopting IT Technologies so that vertical solutions can be seamlessly integrated The adoption of IT technologies to enable the rapid for E2E services. 34 35 Focus Focus

• Cloud Core vide both better service quality and user experience. Three key pillars The Cloud Core can host Virtual Network Services Traditional bandwidth availability at the aggregation of Etisalat’s (VNS), such as the Value Added Services (VAS), layer ranges from 1 to 10 Gbit/s. By 2020, the band- future network Orchestrator, Operations Support System (OSS), width requirement at this layer will range from 100 architecture Business Support System (BSS), and analytical to 400 Gbit/s due to the rapid growth in connected emerge from management networks. Interconnecting the Cloud devices and the flattening of traditional telco layers. this concept: 1) Core with the Cloud Edge is the Connectivity Layer, • Agile Core Layer Software-driven, which consists of the IP and optical environments. Bandwidth availability at the core layer has tradition- data-center-based Etisalat will intelligently leverage IP and optical ally been provisioned in multiples of 10 Gbit/s. Due Figure 3: SDN Maturity is Predicted to Occur in Three Phases platform; bandwidth with SDN and NFV applications that in- to centralized and virtualized network functions, of congestion. Traditionally, the probability engineering, flow-based load balancing, ments is that these same functions will 2) virtualized crease efficiency without compromising redundancy bandwidth-intensive applications and content require- of congestion was higher in the access layer discriminated traffic steering, bandwidth be controlled centrally while remaining network functions or quality. ments will surge to reach a range from 400 Gbit/s to and the edge network. Advanced access on demand, bandwidth calendaring, and activated at the edges — a methodology and applications; Cloud Edge 1 Tbit/s by 2020. architectures based on SDN and NFV are others. that can be expected to lower OPEX. and 3) agile and • The Cloud Edge layer, hosting most Virtual For Over-The-Top (OTT) providers, content being designed to aggregate multi-gigabit Challenges in Emerging Markets In addition to reductions in capitalization orchestrated • Network Functions (VNFs), will include multiple localization will save significant bandwidth; how- circuits to better offload the choke points The development of automated provision- and operating costs are the benefits in the operations. >> access technologies that terminate on a Virtual Edge ever, external OTT providers using telco backbone into the core networks. ing platforms for multi-vendor systems is security domain following the transition to platform on which numerous other functions will infrastructure will require three times more core SDN will provide automated control and hindered by the lack of involvement by the a SDN/NFV platform, which will include also be virtualized. bandwidth. a proactive capacity planning approach international standards bodies. improved operational efficiency, enhanced • Agile Access Layer Etisalat expects the evolution of SDN- and NFV- to improve backbone efficiency and This SDN-driven transition may be the policy enforcement, and the availability of The traditional access network is becoming an Agile based technologies to reach the efficiency necessary productivity, though it is unlikely that any only way to achieve true service agility value-added services that were previously Access Layer able to virtualize many types of high- to manage performance, security, and agility at this software technology will fully virtualize as it affords a unique opportunity for cost prohibitive or not feasible. speed physical technologies such as Gigabit Passive massive scale. the core network. vendors and telco carriers to work together Among the challenges for network Optical Network (GPON) and copper-based G.fast. • Evolving Choke Points • SDN-enabled Network Domains to develop a dependable orchestrator for security in the SDN/NFV world will be • Agile Metro Aggregation Layer Despite growth in core network and Internet back- Though centralized resources are known to automated provisioning. the collection of telemetry data for foren- The Metro Network will also become agile to pro- bone traffic, the access layer is perceived as a source reduce financial and operational overhead, With the evolution of current MPLS net- sics purposes provided by Deep Packet reducing latency in carrier environments works due to NFV, the boundary between Inspection (DPI) from many points in the requires that domain-specific controllers be networks and compute functions is fading. network. deployed in a distributed fashion. In fact, someday, virtual Provider Edge Carrier Grade KPIs: One of the primary SDN deployments will use distributed (PE) functions, such as those required for challenges slowing the adoption of SDN controllers hosted at the Cloud Edge to keep multi-tenancy, segmentation, or regulatory and NFV technologies by telcos is the with the general architectural goals for bal- compliance, may run on Commercial Off- limited performance of general-purpose ancing economic and technical constraints, the-Shelf (COTS) hardware. Information Technology (IT) systems overcoming scaling issues, and eliminating The power of SDN includes the opportu- when compared to the performance of complex east-west cross-controller com- nity to narrow or eliminate the bridge sepa- dedicated Communications Technology munications between domains. rating networks and applications, as found (CT) hardware. Operators require carrier- • SDN in MPLS Networks in traditional hop-by-hop, Quality-of- grade systems in terms of availability, The SDN controller will compute control Service (QoS) deployments. Applications performance, and security. For example, plane information and program individual need a clear view of the network and which millisecond latencies are necessary for network elements using flow rules, and path is best to ensure QoS, and networks delivering acceptable levels of service for centralization of the control plane on the need a clear understanding of the resource many carrier applications, per contracted SDN controller will eliminate MPLS rout- requirements for each running application. Service-Level Agreements. ing protocols. Security features have traditionally been • Realistic Expectations about SDN and The SDN controller abstracts the net- deployed in layers with varying degrees of NFV work for use by the orchestrator and other complexity. The implication of the security In addition to bringing true agility, pro- Figure 2: Etisalat Planned Cloud Services Ecosystem upper-layer applications such as traffic architecture in SDN and NFV environ- grammability, and efficiency to telecom- 36 37 Focus Focus

The Future of IT is Hybrid | By Jörn Kellermann, Senior Vice President, Global IT Operations, T-Systems, Deutsche Telekom AG Jörn Kellermann munication networks, there is no doubt that SDN Complex orchestration and automation create will introduce new types of complexity. Beyond About Etisalat the potential for single failures in one network the hype, it is necessary that a careful, pragmatic component to initiate a succession of failures to approach is required that details objectives and Headquartered in Abu cascade throughout subsystems or service chains -Systems, the large account unit of Deutsche Telekom, has more than 10 years of experience in cloud Private and expectations. Dhabi, Etisalat provides in ways that are hard to control or troubleshoot. To computing. The T-Systems Dynamic Services division has become the European market leader for public clouds, Realistically, the minimal use of purpose-built innovative telecommu- avoid such problems, operators must implement private cloud services, thanks to its ability to provide companies with systems and services from the combined with equipment in favor of adopting COTS hardware nications solutions and rigorous quality control protocols, deployment T cloud at short notice to meet their needs for high availability, low cost maximum security online resources. existing IT, will will dramatically shorten equipment lifecycles — services to 167 million tests, and verification processes, especially early However, there is growing demand in the public cloud sector as well. That’s why T-Systems and its partner, create dynamic IT and while this could be viewed as a drawback, subscribers in 18 coun- in the transition. Huawei, are now focusing on the public cloud market in Europe. solutions. >> Etisalat accepts that technology is evolving ever tries across the Middle Shifts from traditional telco Communications quickly and that our access to future services East, Asia, and Africa. Technology (CT) to enterprise-style Information Agile IT is the pre-requisite for innovations, new For example, European data centers that process depends on following the trend. This white paper is pre- Technology (IT) architectures: The need for a car- business models, and fast time to market. With the cloud data must be located in Europe and comply • Cloud Infrastructure Reference Architecture pared in collaboration rier infrastructure that combines CT features and necessary flexibility to ensure agility, public cloud with European data protection and privacy standards. Elasticity is a main feature of the cloud. Data with Huawei. For more levels of reliability with the flexibility of IT-based models are causing demand to skyrocket: IDC Being a German enterprise, T-Systems fully satisfies center resources are optimally allocated and information, please write systems has never been greater. projects that the market for public cloud computing such criteria. Equipped with the very latest security assigned to particular services or tenants from a to egwhitepaper@eti- As this transformation grows and matures will be worth USD 127.5 billion in 2018, with USD technology and comprehensive access controls, the pool of compute, storage, and network resources. salat.ae over the coming years, traditional enterprise IT 24.6 billion coming from Infrastructure-as-a-Service T-Systems TwinCore Data Center in Biere, Germany, For multiple-cloud DCs, enterprise administrators Copyright 2015 © Eti- platforms will not be expected to cope with the (IaaS). What’s more, the public cloud is becoming is a ‘Fort Knox’ for data. And, to ensure the highest have traditionally moved workloads manually, salat. All Rights Reserved rigorous service delivery requirements of the a viable sourcing alternative for European CIOs levels of resilience and outage prevention are upheld, from highly utilized clusters to under-utilized telecom carriers. The anticipated result is that when it comes to the fast adoption of new ideas or all data and systems are mirrored in a second data pools. In carrier network environments, however, telcos transitioning to ICT architectures will face the enhancement of existing capacities. The trend: center in Magdeburg. T-Systems is well aware of the manual workload portability is impractical, so many refreshes and build iterations and customi- hybrid IT environments in which private and public enormous demand for cloud solutions, which is why today, carriers are moving toward automating zations to blend, scale, and adapt existing service clouds, along with existing IT, are combined to build the capacity of its cloud data center will be expanded the allocation of multi-cloud DC resources to delivery platforms based on their new IT tools truly dynamic IT concepts and solutions. by 150 percent over the next two years. optimize their distributed architectures. and technologies. Broad-guage technical expertise • Evolving Industry Challenges for the Cloud and solid project management skills are strong Data Security is the Top Priority T-Systems is Banking on the European Transitioning from the traditional model to an prerequisites for proceeding. Today, key European regulations are impacting this Public Cloud NFV Infrastructure (NFVI) has many advantages • Benefits of Cloud Technology in Telco trend, especially when it comes to public clouds. At the same time, T-Systems is building a cloud and also many challenges: Networking ecosystem in collaboration with other leading Network simplicity (or not): NFVI poses The benefits of cloud technology in the data center providers. Huawei and the Open Telekom are architectural challenges, especially in multi- space are especially obvious for carrier networks. important contributors to this partnership. The public vendor environments. The interoperability of The SDN/NFV revolution will require a near-total cloud offering is based on the OpenStack standard, VNFs developed by different vendors may cause replacement of all traditional networking devices which is an excellent open source model for col- integration difficulties, performance challenges, to accommodate the new technology, and past laboration: Huawei supplies software and hardware, and intermittent failures. upgrades are susceptible to unused spare capacity while T-Systems manages data centers in Biere and Mitigating risks requires: 1) A clear certifica- upon tapering demand. Deployment times, budgets, Magdeburg for markets throughout Europe. Data tion process; 2) a complete map of services to and customer experience will all be negatively protection complies with German and European legal be provisioned, including hardware components, affected absent a comprehensive plan. Completed standards. Both partners are poised to claim a sub- underlying architecture, sets of VNFs to be de- virtualization solutions are organized to tightly stantial share of the European market with a unique, ployed, and integration points between each VNF; couple the ability to scale cloud infrastructures up simple, secure, and affordable solution. T-Systems and 3) a thorough verification and testing process or down based on real-time demand.▲ is the first major European player to offer a genuine prior to any service deployment. alternative to solutions originating in the U.S., and Cascading effect: The growth of virtualiza- (In Part 2, we will explore how the move to vir- will be a trusted partner for those European business tion, service density, and operational efficiency tualization will translate to network functions and enterprises looking for a secure way to build hybrid also risks an increase in workflow complexity. operations. ) IT clouds.▲ 38 39 Focus Focus

SDN Enters Campus Life Wang Shihong | By Wang Shihong, General Manager, Switch Domain, Enterprise Network Product Line, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. SDN enables campus networks to address a New network oftware-Defined Networking (SDN) technologies first emerged and have been used most actively in number of critical architectures the field of data centers. New concepts and solutions, such as overlay, policy orchestration, and open pain points, are facilitating networks, continue to dominate research efforts, while major vendors compete to provide the market S including service the convergence with the widest possible selection of equipment and solutions. deployment, of data centers network O&M, and campus Expect Fast Change this dynamic technology reduces the workload for (OPEX). A wide variety of normal tasks are inter- Third-party Systems and Complex interworking networks. >> Campus network conflicts are brewing between network configuration and maintenance, and deploys rupted by urgent situations that require expensive Customization the forces of supply and demand. The movement up to 80 percent more efficiently than traditional, IP troubleshooting, and everyday situations may include In the current market for campus network compo- with third- towards all-wireless environments and the popularity address-based Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) complaints by WLAN users about disconnections, nents, customers have a choice of products from party systems, of mobile offices have created numerous security and Access Control Lists (ACLs). access failures, or QoS issues such as frame loss dur- many vendors. At the solution level, however, and complex challenges. Simultaneously, the global economy ing video services. Preventive measures are neces- interworking remains a major challenge as con- customization. >> requires companies to always be ready to deploy ad- From Months to Days sary to ensure optimal network performance and user tinuous service innovations and the demand for ditional network nodes and attend to the difficulty of The disadvantages of traditional networks include experience, such as optimizing devices before they customization are putting pressure on vendors to maintaining network policies as those node numbers slow service response, complex configurations, and are overloaded and adjusting resource configurations offer open interfaces. increase. In these matters and many others, SDN is high Operations & Maintenance (O&M) costs. The based on daily and weekly traffic flows. Two open source organizations are particularly bringing dramatic changes to campus networks. burden on organizations has been the need to build Visualized O&M solutions based on SDN relevant. Open Networking Foundation (ONF) As the construction of enterprise wireless networks and maintain large teams of highly trained experts controller platforms supported by Big Data analyt- promotes the OpenFlow protocol to decouple gains momentum and remote access technologies, such to address every configuration, provisioning, and ics are emerging to help users stay on top of their the control plane from the forwarding plane of as Virtual Private Network (VPN), grow in maturity, operations detail, including emergency service calls. networks through automation. network switching equipment; and OpenDayLight the borders of enterprise campus networks have During the development and construction of tradi- • Application Visibility provides an SDN controller that extends the func- disappeared, and the choice of office locations is more tional networks, qualified engineers are expected to Application visibility enables users to have a tions of conventional configuration management flexible than ever. For enterprises, enhanced mobility complete the following without a flaw: graphical understanding and comprehensive control interfaces, such as the Network Configuration creates both higher productivity and more complicated • Network Designs deliver requirements and of their networks. Troubleshooting efficiency is Protocol (NETCONF) and Simple Network network management and security schemes that re- specification documents, configuration templates, and improved: Management Protocol (SNMP) for compatibility quire updates to the traditional management of access service requirement parameters. Configuration tem- • Accurate fault location and real-time display of with legacy equipment on existing networks. rights and Quality-of-Service (QoS) standards. plates generally consist of command line instructions quality indicators, such as delay and packet loss Customers are requiring open interfaces at each that typically involve over 500 lines of software code • Real-time display of CPU/memory/cache re- network layer, including: Control Plane Abstraction for each core node. sources, with alarms and optimization suggestions • Forwarding Layer for customizing network Service orchestration is an important characteristic • Network Deployments require command line • Display of network paths, including loops and encryption abilities and services of SDN architectures that provides the ability to configuration of individual network devices and large abnormal congestion, with automatic troubleshoot- • Management Layer for interworking with decouple service policies from IP addresses. SDN amounts of repetitive work that is prone to error. ing analysis third-party controllers, including OpenFlow, controllers abstract the details of the physical network Configuration orchestration, like policy orchestra- • User Visibility SNMP, and NETCONF interfaces and each individual appliance. The result allows net- tion, is based on the separation of service policies from User visibility helps in building Big Data platforms • Control Layer for interworking with third- work administrators to adopt IT-based management networks. The traditional complexity of converting to support business analysis, including: party devices and upper-layer applications approaches that require less configuration time and service requirements to network configurations is now • Recording user service operations SDN enables campus networks to address a greater opportunities for innovation. handled by the SDN controller. The result for a 5,000- • Tracing user service routes number of critical pain points, including service In the area of policy orchestration, administrators user campus network is a planning and deployment • Recording user access, connections, and life- deployment, O&M, interworking with third-party can easily place users and resources into separate cycle that is reduced from months to days. cycle characteristics of applications systems, and complex customization. SDN is security based on ‘Who, What, Where, When, Why, Visibility into users helps operators obtain ag- an innovative architecture positioned to create a and How’ conditions. This approach ensures a con- Visualized O&M gregated user information on which deep data ana- wave of transformations by offering customers the sistent experience for mobile office users from any Routine O&M accounts for more than 50 percent of lytics are performed to determine optimal resource chance to unleash the full potential of their campus location and from any device. For network managers, the workload measured by the Operating Expense configurations. networks.▲ 40 41 Ecosystem Ecosystem

Part 1 of 2 ICSA Labs — 25 Years of Product Assurance George Japak | By George Japak, Managing Director, ICSA Labs, an Independent Division of Verizon • IPSec Gateways since 2004. Its commitment is evident in the George Japak heads • Network Firewalls quality of their products and ultimately to Over the last decade, up ICSA Labs, an • Network Intrusion Prevention Systems the satisfaction of their customers. Obtaining Huawei products have independent division CSA Labs’ mission is to provide credible, independent, third-party assurance to end users through (IPS) certification requires significant dedication, been successfully tested of Verizon, where rigorous security product testing and certification. For the last 25 years, ICSA Labs has tested hundreds • SSL-TLS Virtual Private Networks discipline, and resources to not only navigate and certified in the he oversees vendor- of the world’s commercial computers and network security products against measureable sets of industry- • Web Application Firewalls (WAF) through ICSA Labs’ rigorous security testing following ICSA programs: neutral testing and I Enterprises rely on these security tech- to attain certification but also to continue the Network Firewall, Network vetted requirements. Products that successfully attain ICSA Labs Certification serve as the foundation for certification of enterprise security product selection and provide a necessary level of integrity to an organization’s security risk nologies to protect their networks, assets, and efforts required to maintain it. Intrusion Prevention systems, and products management program. critical data from the persistent threat of cyber Over the last decade, Huawei products (IPS), and SSL-TLS. >> and services, as well breaches. have been successfully tested and certified in as manages consortia “Huawei and ICSA Labs have shared a mutually Overview One of the mandatory requirements of ICSA ICSA’s Network Firewall, Network Intrusion organized around beneficial, long-term collaboration that has served ICSA Labs’ ISO accredited certification testing can Labs’ certification programs is that products Prevention (IPS), and SSL-TLS. Huawei cur- technology and market the joint vision of delivering secure and reliable substantially reduce an enterprise’s risk by verifying must remain continuously deployed in the test rently has an AV solution under test in ICSA segments. products,” said Ajay Gupta, Director, Global Product that products meet objective criteria, thereby increas- lab in order to maintain the certification. The Labs’ Anti-Virus program. Marketing for Huawei’s Enterprise Business Unit. ing security, trust, and usability. ICSA Labs tests continuous deployment of products allows In March 2015, Huawei became China’s first “As an independent certification laboratory, ICSA security solutions in the following technologies: ICSA Labs to perform recurring testing and IPS-certified security vendor by passing the ICSA provides provides the extra level of trust and confidence that is • Anti-Spyware conduct ‘fire drills’ when new threats affect ICSA Labs Network IPS testing, with Huawei’s third-party, ISO/ required to meet the expectations of our customers.” • Anti-Virus (AV) for Desktops/Servers/Gateways much of the Internet or a particular class of entire NGFW series receiving the ICSA Labs IEC-backed security products. Ongoing surveillance of firewall certification. That same year, Huawei certification certified products helps keep the certification received an Excellence in Information Security for Huawei’s meaningful. Testing (EIST) Award issued by ICSA Labs for enterprise ICSA Labs earned ISO/IEC 17025:2005 10 years of continuous testing, demonstrating security accreditation in 2009 and was the first com- Huawei’s dedication to maintaining the quality solutions. >> mercial information security test lab to be of their security products year after year. awarded this designation. ICSA Labs is also Huawei solutions that are currently ICSA ISO 9001:2015 certified for its quality manage- Labs certified include: ment system, which includes a commitment to • IPSec: Huawei USG Series, Eudemon continual improvement and stakeholder satis- Series, and NIP Series faction. These accreditations demonstrate the • SSL-TLS VPN: Huawei USG Series, quality and proficiency of the organization and Eudemon Series, and NIP Series differentiate ICSA Labs from other testing labs • Network IPS: Huawei USG Series, and the services that they provide. Much the Eudemon-N Series, and NIP Series same as the certification requirements we place • Network Firewalls: USG Series and on products that we test, ICSA Labs undergoes Eudemon-N/X Series mandatory internal and external audits. ICSA Labs continues to grow its current Significance of ICSA Labs Certification certification programs to keep pace with new Evidence suggests that when enterprises de- technology and the ever-present threats that mand features from security product vendors, enterprises face. Testing was recently expanded those same vendors may struggle to provide to include technologies in mobile, advanced high-quality security protection. However, threats, health IT, and the Internet of Things security products that are consistently held to (IoT). a high standard, such as Huawei’s ICSA Labs Certified solutions, are shown to be more reli- Huawei and ICSA: 10+ Years able than products that are not tested. While Huawei has participated in ICSA Labs testing many vendors may implement a software 42 43 Ecosystem Ecosystem

IoT Sparks a Lighting Revolution | By Wang Denghui, Senior Manager, Network Marketing, Enterprise Business Group, Huawei Wang Denghui development lifecycle process and go certification mark for evidence to support Technologies Co., Ltd. through the series of alpha, beta, and As technology relevant requirements when making sourc- internal quality assurance testing, there is continues to evolve, ing or purchasing decisions. These vendors a lot of variability in these processes. In products tested and rely on and trust ICSA Labs certified solu- Lighting some cases, these processes may not be certified by ICSA Labs tions because they have attained specific controllers work rigorously followed or mandated. provide organizations levels of functionality and security and are with IoT gateways Huawei has committed to having its that are not positioned continuously held to a high standard by a to connect tens products undergo third-party certifica- to do the proper due competent, third-party lab. of thousands of tion through ICSA Labs to subject their diligence with a high street lamps to products to rigorous testing against a set of level of assurance when New Program Development form the ‘Internet standard requirements. ICSA Labs certified building security into While ICSA Labs’ existing testing programs of Lights.’ >> products can, in turn, be relied upon by their networks. >> continue to serve enterprises and vendors, those who look to a higher level of due ICSA Labs develops testing programs in diligence in the procurement process or as order to stay current with the latest threats part of their ongoing cyber security risk and technologies. New technologies include management strategy. mobile, advanced threats, and health IT. Huawei’s ICSA Labs certified products ICSA Labs has recently entered the IoT exhibit an independent mark that signifies space with a new testing and certification that the organization has successfully com- program. pleted rigorous, ISO-accredited, third-party In the quickly escalating realm of the IoT, testing, which is proof of their commitment most devices are moving from hard-wired to due diligence. closed systems to interconnected systems Attaining ICSA Labs certification can with communications through traditional IP serve as a competitive differentiator for networks, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and wireless Huawei by providing customers with proof connectivity. of its commitment to security. Additionally, Many devices are not designed to connect the continuous nature of ICSA Labs’ inde- to the Internet. Device functionality and ease pendent testing is an important validation of access tend to be top priorities, whereas step in the product development lifecycle security and privacy are often overlooked. n 1879, Newcastle-upon-Tyne was the first city to be illuminated by incandescent light. Today, there of Huawei’s certified solutions. ICSA Labs’ IoT program tests and certifies are approximately 304 million electric street lamps in operation around the world, and that number is Implementing and maintaining a robust IoT connected devices and sensors using I expected to rise to 352 million by 2025, according to The Climate Group, an international non-profit security program across an enterprise is a the ICSA Labs Device Requirements organization that promotes the expansion of clean technology markets. critical task. Properly vetting the technol- Framework, which serves as the basis to ogy solutions is also important because formulate test requirements for any IoT Understandably, there has been a progression of that are preset to turn lamps on and off on a fixed it’s that underlying system that serves device. Security and privacy-related tests are urban lighting control technologies over the last 140 schedule. Because the timing is not flexible, nor are as the foundation for the technology. then mapped to those criteria requirements, years, with more big changes on the way. individual units addressable, operators have little Unfortunately, many organizations don’t helping reduce risks to the supply chain and situational awareness or real-time feedback. perform much due diligence beyond a customers — leading to better protected Moving toward Central Control Due to the absence of comprehensive monitoring product demonstration or a response to a businesses and homes. Initially, each street lamp was installed with a knife systems, unit failures are often only discovered dur- Request for Proposal (RFP). As technology continues to evolve, prod- switch that had to be manually turned on or off. ing physical inspections or by citizen reports. For vendors, ICSA Labs certified prod- ucts tested and certified by ICSA Labs pro- Later, in a method used until the 1950s, several ucts provide a critical component to their vide organizations that are not positioned street lamps were ganged together to share a single ‘Internet of Lights’ selection process. Organizations and supply to do the proper due diligence with a high switch. What happens when street lamps are connected to chain management look for products with level of assurance when building security Today, many street lamps are controlled by decen- Internet of Things (IoT) networks? Huawei’s IoT the internationally recognized ICSA Labs into their networks.▲ tralized timers installed in power distribution boxes Lighting solution provides the answer. Through link- 44 45 Ecosystem Ecosystem

ing hundreds of millions (and soon billions) of ing status of each lamp on every street, enabling terminals, the IoT digital communication network The Huawei IoT precise on-off and brightness control of individual Lighting towers are is poised to change the way we live. One example Lighting solution lamps. This type of on-demand lighting control being used to attach an among many is the revolution in routine driving equips each street is able to reduce energy consumption by up to 80 increasing variety of habits with the advent of cars connected to urban lamp with a controller percent. Smart City interfaces. infrastructure that includes centrally controlled that includes a Huawei’s IoT Lighting solution eliminates the Mounted high, low, street lighting systems: the ‘Internet of Vehicles’ built-in wireless barriers that have hindered the development of and everywhere in meets the ‘Internet of Lights.’ communication connected public lighting systems. between, the array The Huawei IoT Lighting solution equips each module that interacts • Smart Energy Conservation: Precise of equipment can street lamp with a controller that includes a built- with IoT gateways. >> Calculation + Intelligent Awareness be configured to in wireless communication module that interacts Smart lighting policies are programmed to en- collect basic data for with IoT gateways. hance the performance of street lamps: discrete services and The controllers collect street lamp operating • Automatic calculation of illumination dura- aggregated to support parameters and send the data to the cloud in tions based on local longitude, latitude, season, built-in brightness sensors with third-party interfaces across all layers. The silicon control- more comprehensive real time. A visualized, GIS-based management month, and day vehicle and pedestrian sensors ler is optimized to support LiteOS, which perspectives about system keeps city officials informed of the operat- • Dynamic brightness adjustments by linking • Efficient Management: Visualized Monitoring is Huawei’s open-source, self-configuring our city streets and + Preventive Maintenance embedded for IoT sensors and highways. >> A GIS-based management system is employed terminals. LiteOS is built to make standards- for displaying comprehensive information about based connections quickly and efficiently with street lamps: third-party devices. • Unit inventory for each street segment, in- • Agile gateways can support a virtualized cluding history and current status of each fixture network architecture that opens the way for • System faults generating alarms and notify- partner companies to develop and install custom ing maintenance personnel by mobile text mes- applications. sage with location and incident summary • Agile controllers can provide a standard • Using collected operating data, the system northbound interface to third-party application predicts potential faults and schedules preventive systems to better integrate all available service maintenance using collected operating data components. • Multi-level Smart Control: Cloud + Local In addition to illuminating the night, lighting Smart controls are segmented first at the cloud towers are being used to attach an increasing level, and second, for control at the local level: variety of Smart City interfaces. Mounted high, • Multi-level smart controls greatly improve low, and everywhere in between, the array of lighting control reliability equipment includes video cameras, environmen- • Contemporary street lighting systems are tal monitors, traffic sensors, radio transceivers, controlled centrally, which leaves individual charging piles for electric vehicles, and trash neighborhoods beyond operator control during bin sensors — all of which can be configured network outages to collect basic data for discrete services and • Lamp controllers continue to operate offline aggregated to support more comprehensive and independently downstream of the agile perspectives about our city streets and highways. gateways during cloud level failures The ‘Internet of Lights’ is just one of an end- less number of IoT examples whose eventual Smart Lighting success requires the participation of vendors and From the underlying chipsets to the upper-layer partners across all industry and government sec- applications, Huawei’s Lighting IoT solution tors to convert opportunity to real-life effects for Huawei’s Lighting IoT Solution uses an open architecture that provides open people in all walks of life.▲ 46 47 Success Success

Combining SDS with All-Flash Arrays | By Jimmie Chang, Director of Asia Marketing and John Yang, Vice President and General Manager, Asia, Jimmie Chang FalconStor Software, Inc. The combination of SDS and flash multiplies the advantages that each oftware-Defined Storage (SDS) leader FalconStor Software® Inc. offers a converged data services brings to the data center. software platform that is hardware agnostic. Our open, integrated flagship solution, FreeStor®, reduces FalconStor predicts that vendor lock-in and allows our customers to choose the best applications and components for their S these two technologies business. FalconStor’s mission is to maximize data availability and ensure nonstop system uptime while will accelerate the simplifying data management to reduce operational costs. Our award-winning solutions are available and adoption of the other supported worldwide by manufacturers as well as leading service providers, system integrators, and resellers. and together will soon John Yang FreeStor’s storage architecture simplifies the • Risky and Labor-Intensive disrupt the strategy for intelligent delivery of data services across cloud, To minimize the risk of moving mission-critical data by dynamically allocating fast flash arrays Administrators manually configure selected data center storage. >> hybrid/cloud, SDS, and Flash storage environments, across different storage systems, IT managers today to the applications with the highest loads. applications, resulting in easy data movement permits IT managers to maximize storage utilization, engage external professional services at great cost. Additional optimization levels are achieved by between high-performance flash arrays and Software-Defined reduces costs, and gains insight into operational The FreeStor solution is designed to solve the de-duplication and the use of high-performance lower-cost disk arrays. Storage creates efficiencies without being forced to replace older major problems preventing further adoption of all- caches that improve storage performance on • Flash Cache a policy-driven technology. FreeStor uses groundbreaking Intelligent flash arrays. solid-state and hard disk media. The administrator will configure the flash array virtual control Abstraction® technology that works across storage • Data Migration as a cache pool and the disk arrays as a storage layer for managing infrastructures — regardless of platform, type, or SDS and Flash: Destined to be Together Mobility enablement is a primary reason users pool. FreeStor’s HotZone and SafeCache tech- heterogeneous vendor — all at a single price. SDS is the answer for allocating flash storage are choosing FreeStor. Regardless of platform, nologies automatically read and write data to the storage devices. >> resources in highly dynamic business environments. storage media, protocol, or location, FreeStor’s high-performance cache pool regardless of ap- Array Challenges SDS is decoupled from the underlying hardware, migration is quick, non-disruptive, easy to use, plication. This results in accelerated storage I/O All-flash arrays — a hot topic in data center storage permitting SDS virtualization platforms to connect and requires no software license for individual for all applications and human error elimination. — are strengthening the market position of storage servers and storage components, including all-flash disk or flash arrays. • Data Protection vendors invested heavily in this technology. Yet, all- and disk arrays. FreeStor SDS-plus-flash helps data centers Data protection for all-flash arrays is a mission- flash arrays still remain a niche in the data center FalconStor’s FreeStor resolves the pain points of meet hybrid cloud requirements. SDS enables critical issue for storage administrators. SDS market because companies are wary about switching all-flash arrays as follows: hybrid clouds by virtualizing all storage solves flash-array product failures by offering from traditional rotating disk-drive storage systems. • Management resources regardless of device type. In hybrid data protection features like snapshots, mirror- Discussions with many CIOs uncovered the follow- FreeStor’s virtualized intelligent abstraction layer cloud environments, critical data is stored on ing replication, and clustering that are equal to ing barriers to all-flash arrays: creates a resource pool of unified data services optimized flash storage platforms, and lower- those provided by disk arrays. Because SDS • Difficult to Manage regardless of platform, storage type, or media. The priority storage resources are used for new cost- supports heterogeneous storage, less expensive All-flash arrays often lack enterprise-grade management result is a comprehensive management capability for effective storage tiers. hard drives are well-suited, technically and right out of the box. They do not provide a central mixed technology storage arrays. The independent economically, to support the full range of data management console to monitor, provision, and collect set of FreeStor management tools uses a broad, Implementation protection services. analytics. Other flash arrays do not include snapshot, powerful view of the conditions within the disk array • Integration replication, or other basic features. Without a suitable and its sub-systems, including data migration status, The most common SDS-plus-flash implementa- Going Forward management system, new flash arrays would be isolated availability, optimization, and predictive analytics for tion integrates flash and disk arrays to create a Both SDS and flash are surging in the market. from the existing management infrastructure. protection and recovery management. unified management layer for moving data across SDS solutions allow system integrators to • Expensive to Operate • Cost storage systems without disrupting service. include flash in their business value calculations. Over 90 percent of the data in many data centers is Cost optimization automatically and intelligently The FreeStor SDS application runs on The combination of SDS and flash multiplies the not performance sensitive. In optimal environments, puts the right data onto the right media. FreeStor standard x86 hardware and creates a virtualized advantages that each brings to the data center. users move performance-sensitive data back and forth uses ‘HotZone’ and ‘SafeCache’ technologies to layer of unified, common data services between FalconStor predicts that these two technologies between flash arrays and rotating media. Although the maximize cache performance and manage cost. The application servers and storage arrays. Higher will accelerate the adoption of the other and majority of data remains ‘at rest,’ the data ‘in motion’ unified FreeStor manager improves the resource availability SDS services are achieved by install- together will soon disrupt data center storage is often managed manually. allocation of all connected server and storage devices ing the FreeStor application on multiple servers. strategies.▲ 48 49 Core Success Competency

China Unicom and Huawei Open Source Federated Collaborate on SDN-ONOS Clouds on the Horizon Huang Haifeng | By Huang Haifeng, Senior Reporter, Communications World Weekly, Xinhua News Agency | By Deepak Vij, PaaS Research, Central Software Institute, Huawei Technologies, Co., Ltd. Deepak Vij

ONOS n January 2016, telecom operator China Unicom reached a commercial milestone with the debut of loud computing has emerged as a model for providing access to large amounts of data and compute Federated architecture the world’s first leased-line service in Tianjin built on the Open Network Operating System (ONOS) resources by using seamless interfaces independent of where and how the services are hosted. Ease clouds create an and SDN-based I architecture and a Software-Defined Networking (SDN)-based IP-Radio Access Network (IP-RAN). C of management, resource configuration, and low-cost maintenance have helped the widespread opportunity for IP RAN set the deployment of cloud architectures worldwide. telecom carriers stage for network Founding ONOS member Huawei has supported works to update to the new cloud data center-oriented to build global Due to the huge uptick in new cloud services Isolated clouds affect providers and customers services on China Unicom throughout, using legacy Commercial- architecture. Installed SDN and NFV technologies will Platform-as-a- being offered by cloud service providers, it is alike: demand. >> Off-The-Shelf (COTS) platform components and continue to provide on-demand cloud services. Service (PaaS) becoming very hard to find a single provider to • Provider lock-in requirements enforce cloud SDN- and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV)- solutions for offer all services needed by end users in one place. boundaries. based products for the construction of fixed, mobile, Planning, Promotion, and Execution competitive We are witnessing the emergence of federations of • Multiple geographic locations: 1) No one and public cloud-based services. China Unicom and Huawei worked together to advantage. >> ONOS — the first open-source SDN control plat- explore different platform, service, and network con- clouds designed to satisfy complex user needs across provider is able to establish data centers in all pos- form designed for carriers — was launched by Palo struction models. Using an existing network to open multiple cloud environments. sible locations; 2) customers cannot determine in Alto, CA-based ON.Lab in 2014. This new relation- an L2VPN leased-line service between two Tianjin advance the best location for hosting their services ship between carriers and open-source technology is central offices, China Unicom created an SDN-based Cloud Computing Today because they may not know the origin of all end a major trend in the ICT industry. ‘eCommerce-oriented,’ premier leased line. Private clouds for enterprises have grown strongly users; 3) unable to meet Quality-of-Service (QoS) First, an IP-based data center resource pool in the last few years, and in particular, the telecom- expectations between providers; and 4) regulatory Key Role was isolated from pre-existing public- munications industry is evaluating cloud computing details are expected to differ by country and region. Legacy telecommunication carriers switched telephone networks; then, an virtualization models as part of the migration • Inflexible resource utilization: No seamless welcome the opportunities presented by SDN and NFV management platform towards Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and mechanisms exist for scaling hosted services across SDN, NFV, and ONOS to ‘transform’ was used to orchestrate the resource Network Function Virtualization (NFV) initiatives. multiple, geographically distributed data centers. their legacy systems to Internet- pool. The result was that the SDN/ Contemporary cloud computing platforms remain oriented, advanced IT solutions. NFV management platform unified the predominantly locked in application and data silos, Business Value ONOS has attracted the support of a transport of conventional telephony and where interoperability and portability simply do not Much like the challenges faced by a growing Internet, number of the largest carriers in the world, Over-The-Top (OTT) Internet services over the exist. This lack of extensibility across different cloud the evolution of cloud technologies has created the including AT&T, NTT Communications, and SK upgraded network. The next steps set up application environments creates roadblocks to the extraction of need to federate protocols. The benefits of cloud Telecom. Additional support includes telecom ven- portals for launching new services. business value from previously untapped sources of federation include: dors Ericsson, Huawei, and Ciena; Internet providers The benefits to China Unicom include: revenue. • Expanding Geographical Footprint: Leading Internet2, CNIT, and CREATE-NET; and partners • Rapid deployment and release of IP-RAN leased- Our understanding of the challenges is not new. In cloud service providers are establishing data centers like Stanford Research Institute (SRI) and Infoblox. line services 2009, Vinton Cerf, Google Vice President and Chief worldwide, but they are not likely to do so in order ONOS has also won the support of the Open Network • Policy-based, real-time bandwidth allocation Internet Evangelist, was quoted by ReadWrite.com as to meet each countries regulatory requirement for Foundation (ONF), Open Network Service (ONS), • Ability to adjust user permissions as needed saying, “I am seeing a possibility of inter-cloud prob- local storage. Federated-application developers will and Open Networking Research Center (ONRC). • Highly competitive enterprise leased-line services lems mirroring the Internet problems we had thirty create the tools needed to manage the fine-grained China Unicom’s conventional leased-line services • Solid foundation for additional value-added or forty years ago.” While companies are competing control of resource allocation and policy detail. Only usually involve long-term contracts with limited services to make a bigger, better, larger cloud service, fewer by utilizing multiple clouds will customers gain ac- changes that often take weeks to deploy. people are concerned with the basic mechanics of the cess to such high performing, widely distributed, and In September 2015, China Unicom released its Impact inter-cloud and how we can ensure that it all works ef- legally compliant services to clients. CUBE-Net 2.0, SDN/NFV/cloud-based network archi- This joint innovation in SDN was an important ficiently, reliably, and securely. Said Cerf, “You build • Better Application Resilience: Several cases of tecture to counteract this problem. CUBE-Transport achievement for China Unicom, Huawei, and the these clouds and they know about themselves and cloud service outages during the past several years, and CUBE-VPN programs are used to develop ONOS- ONOS open-source community. All three parties will they know about their own resources, but they don’t including those of major vendors, have disrupted based VPN services for the enterprise ICT market continue to work together to replicate and expand know about any other cloud. So the question is: How business. Among the post-mortem recommendations using the CUBE-Net 2.0 framework. The company their experience with SDN/NFV referral sites to do you say ‘send this information to this cloud over is the advice that customers configure their applica- says CUBE-Net 2.0 will force local broadband net- establish their leadership worldwide.▲ here’ if there isn’t any way to call it?” tions to use multiple data centers for fault tolerance. 50 51 Core Core Competency Competency

Customers now want to be independent of hosted cluster. Other customers may prefer to • Expand on Demand: By offloading to other mission-critical applications to the cloud. Herein Cloud federation any single data center and immune to cloud default to the cloud but divert privacy-sensitive clouds, providers can scale resources much like Huawei is leading lies an opportunity for telecom carriers to create a environments enable availability-zone outages by spreading services workloads to run locally. cloud-hosted applications do within a cloud. A the design and global, federated cloud service to rival entrenched cloud customers across multiple cloud providers. Experts point to Cloud federation environments enable cloud cloud can maintain enough resources in a ready- development incumbents. to diversify their the unavailability of service as the number one customers to diversify their infrastructure to-use state to meet expected loads and a buffer for of key Mesos In the grand scheme of big technology shifts, infrastructure portfolio inhibitor to the adoption of cloud computing. portfolio in terms of both vendor and location. typical load deviations. When workloads increase and Ubernetes cloud computing is still new. Carriers have time in terms of both vendor Besides fault tolerance, using resources from Customers can alter or expand their business beyond these limits, resources from other clouds Federation to get their ecosystems in order and collaborate to and location. Customers different providers acts as an insurance policy practices based on location-specific vendor can be invoked automatically by prior arrange- projects build a competitive service. On the vendor side of can alter or expand their against a cloud provider becoming hamstrung policies or regulatory regimes. ment. including close the equation, Cisco has recently announced that the business practices based for regulatory or legal reasons. The big idea for cloud computing is that a • Better SLAs to Customers: In worst-case collaborations ‘Intercloud Fabric’ is the centerpiece of the next on location-specific • Avoiding Vendor Lock-in: Customers who cloud service deliver constant availability, elas- scenarios like resource shortages or data center with the generation of cloud computing and is aligned with vendor policies or are able to freely transit running workloads ticity, and scalability to meet contracted cus- outages, incoming workloads can be moved to other Mesosphere Data their position on the ‘Internet of Everything (IoE).’ regulatory regimes. >> across multiple clouds have the advantage over tomer requirements. A cloud provider should clouds. This means that cloud providers can offer Center Operating A federated cloud-computing environment creates providers who have no incentive to limit policy ensure adequate resources, but how much is better Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to their System (DCOS) large resource efficiencies that open opportunities or pricing decisions that negatively affect their enough in a market where over provisioning customers. and Google for next-generation telecom revenue growth, includ- clients. resources to meet spikes in customer workload Kubernetes teams. ing: • Greater Flexibility: Many customers will requirements is common? To mitigate these Game Changer >> • Efficiency of NFV-related intra-domain run workloads in on-premise clusters with au- issues, federated clouds offer the following The telecom industry is reaching a saturation point. resources within Engineering, Procurement, and tomatic overflow capacity assigned to a cloud- benefits to the cloud service providers: At the same time that capital investment is growing Construction (EPC) environments toward future due to increasing data use and the cost of 4G/LTE cloud federations, which will also apply to optimiz- deployment, Average Revenue Per Unit (ARPU) is ing base-station computing stagnant or declining because of increased competi- • Allowing virtual storage and compute frame- tion from Over-The-Top (OTT) players such as works to be integrated with MPLS/VPN service Skype, Facebook, Google, and Netflix. The OTT offerings; remote resources made available in the industry is driving data revenues to unprecedented requester’s address space through Virtual Private levels at the expense of traditional core services like Cloud (VPC) mechanisms will leverage MPLS- voice and Short Message Service (SMS). based SDN protocols Eroding margins as a result of shrinking voice service revenues coupled with competition from Cloud Federation Projects pure-play cloud computing providers like Amazon Huawei is leading the design and development Web Services (AWS) bring the telecom carriers’ of key Mesos and Ubernetes Federation projects precarious strategic position into very sharp focus. including close collaborations with the Mesosphere With a long and successful history of embracing Data Center Operating System (DCOS) and Google new technologies such as IP wireless, SMS, and Kubernetes teams. MMS by collaborating globally but competing lo- The distinction between the two initiatives is that cally, carriers are uniquely prepared to embrace the Mesos federations allow for heterogeneous clusters interoperability standards necessary for a global, across the entire datacenter applications landscape federated cloud solution. — including combinations of Cloud Foundry, Decades of cooperation within the telecom Hadoop, Spark, Kubernetes, and others — whereas, industry is a sharp contrast to today’s cloud service Ubernetes environments are limited to homo- providers who routinely create proprietary ‘walled geneous federations of independent Kubernetes gardens.’ The absence of a federated cloud mecha- clusters. nism keeps customers preoccupied with locked-in It is important to highlight that the Mesos price pressures to maintain expected SLAs. New Federation complements the Kubernetes Federation customers are understandably unwilling to move in cases where the underlying, independent 52 53 Core Core Competency Competency

Kubernetes environment is already federated via holding snapshots of each other’s state. Each The goal for the Ubernetes. Mesos master in the federation cooperates, and Kubernetes operates Mesos federation each coordinates the work and allows compute on the same principles project is to enable Apache Mesos Federation frameworks to schedule jobs according to their that allow Google to run fine-grained elastic Apache Mesos is an open-source cluster man- preferences for different cloud environments and billions of containers resource allocation ager developed at the University of California, the geographical locations of the clouds. a week, which means across multiple Berkeley, that abstracts CPU, memory, storage, Key benefits of enabling the federated Mesos that Kubernetes can cloud environments and other compute resources from physical or environment include: scale without having to using federated virtual machines to enable fault-tolerant and • Scalability: Cloud-bursting to accommodate increase the size of the Mesos as the elastic distributed systems to be easily built and peak demand operations team. >> underlying resource run effectively. • Collaboration: Sharing of infrastructure management layer. A common Mesos resource management layer between partner data centers >> is the most indispensable component of the clus- • Multi-Site Deployments: Infrastructure ag- ter-level infrastructure layer. Much like an operat- gregation across distributed data centers ing system layer is needed to manage resources • Reliability: Fault tolerance architectures across and provide basic services in a single computer, sites a system composed of thousands of computers, • Performance: Service deployment closer to Kubernetes operates on the same principles (also called K8S for K-eight characters-S) networking, and storage requires a layer of end users that allow Google to run billions of containers is used for large workloads or public PaaS software that provides analogous functionality — • Cost: Dynamic placement to reduce overall a week, which means that Kubernetes can infrastructures. The goal is to separate different but at a much larger scale. This layer is typically infrastructure cost scale without having to increase the size of the tenants to different clusters (presently), plus referred to as the cluster-level infrastructure. The design includes: operations team. add a unified view (in development). Mesos essentially controls the mapping of user • Master communication using a distributed Ubernetes is a nascent technology that The functionality requirements derived from tasks to hardware resources, enforces priorities systems protocol (i.e., gossip protocol) connects multiple self-contained Kubernetes the use cases in this article include: and quotas, and provides basic task management • Changes to the Mesos language bindings so clusters for sharing and managing jobs across • Clients able to register and de-register services. they are capable of connecting and talking to different environments, even across clouds. clusters. Today’s Mesos cluster environment is more of a multiple masters; for example, changing ‘mesos- Key reasons for federating a Kubernetes • Workloads that spread to different clusters monolithic architecture in which a single instance go’ so changes to the framework developed using environment include: according to workload distribution policies. of the Mesos control plane manages a single ‘mesos-go’ need not change • High Availability: Customers want to be • Pods running on different clusters that are logical cluster composed of nodes in multiple • Enabling masters to understand centralized immune to outages originating from a single able to discover and communicate with each availability zones and cloud providers. In a large distributed policy stores like HashiCorp’s Consul availability zone, region, or cloud provider. other. Mesos installation, the operator might want to to agree on who should send the offers and to • Sensitive Workloads: Certain workloads are • Traffic to pods that is load balanced among ensure that even if the Mesos masters are inacces- which framework assigned to run on a particular cluster and can- clusters. sible or failed, new tasks can still be scheduled • Prevention of single points of failure in the not be scheduled or migrated to other clusters. • A control plane that tracks cluster status across multiple different frameworks. The current data center • Capacity Overflow: Customers typically and migrates the workload accordingly. Mesos High-Availability (HA) multi-masters prefer to run workloads on a primary cluster, • Clients that have a unified view and central approach provides only a partial active-passive Ubernetes Project for Kubernetes Clusters with overflows distributed to other clusters control point for all these activities. solution. Federation automatically. The goal for the Mesos federation project is GitHub informally defines Ubernetes as a federa- • Avoiding Vendor Lock-in: Customers want Global Telecom Federation to enable fine-grained elastic resource allocation tion of Kubernetes clusters. In turn, Wikipedia to distribute workloads proportionally across Cloud-computing federations have great poten- across multiple cloud environments using feder- describes Kubernetes as “an open source container cloud providers. tial to usher in an environment of large resource ated Mesos as the underlying resource manage- cluster manager originally designed by Google • Cluster Size Enhancement: Currently, efficiencies. Although much work remains to ment layer. Our approach extends the current and donated to the Cloud Native Computing Kubernetes cluster size is limited. The com- move this technology forward, telecommunica- Mesos environment with multiple Mesos masters, Foundation that aims to provide a ‘platform for munity is actively working to improve these tions companies can seize the opportunities that each controlling and accounting for the resources automating deployment, scaling, and operations of constraints because experts predict that a small federated and hybrid clouds present for generat- of one cluster in the cloud while independently application containers across clusters of hosts.’” cluster size will be problematic if Kubernetes ing new business and higher profits.▲ 54 55 Analyst Analyst Corner Corner

Summary of the Total Economic Impact™ of Huawei’s Cloud Fabric Gary Taylor | By Gary Taylor, Marketing Editor, Enterprise Business Group, Huawei Technologies, Co., Ltd. Cloud Fabric with a current vendor, the client data centers used as research laboratories. The selected Huawei based on pricing, technical customer stressed the importance of scalability, Voice of Customer expertise, and customer support. Huawei provides quality, and reliability. After implementation, A high-level brief orrester Consulting has built a Total Economic Impact (TEI) framework for clients considering the quicker, more direct access to senior staff for tier maintenance efficiency improved by an esti- “We were able to optimize of Forrester’s Huawei Cloud Fabric Solution. Based on interviews with five Huawei Cloud Fabric customers, the 2 and tier 3 support, and solves issues in 2 to 4 mated 200 percent. Incident rates are 10 to 20 and utilize our network by Total Economic objective is to help these organizations understand how to gain specific benefits, reduce costs, and hours compared to 8 to 24 hours with the previous percent lower, while incident resolution is 1 to 2 20 percent more, effectively F vendor. The Huawei solution is one-third the cost. days shorter. More important, the service life of reducing the cost of band- Impact™ improve the overall business goals of attracting, serving, and retaining customers. Study as • Midsize Australian Consulting, Managed- Huawei’s Cloud Fabric equipment is expected width.” commissioned The Cloud Fabric Data Center solution enables • Interviewed Huawei Cloud Fabric marketing, Cloud, and Infrastructure Service Provider to last 8 years — 60 percent longer than the — Networking Director, by Huawei. >> customers to build simple, elastic, and open cloud sales, and consulting personnel, along with Forrester (1,000+ Staff and USD 140 Million Annual useful lifespan of the previous equipment. midsize Chinese managed data center networks for sustainable cloud service analysts, to gather and analyze data Revenue): The primary purpose of the solution network services provider development. The Cloud Fabric uses Huawei’s high- • Interviewed five organizations currently using was to connect two Australian data centers. The Key Takeaways performance CloudEngine (CE) data center switches Huawei’s Cloud Fabric solution to obtain cost, ben- previous solution had security vulnerabilities, Customer interviews revealed the following: and its Agile Controller to uniformly control and efit, and risk data Virtual Private Networking (VPN) challenges, • Solution Cost Savings and IT Administration schedule ICT resources and quickly deploy cloud • Created a composite organization that represents and unmet Disaster Recovery (DR) requirements. Efficiency: Huawei’s Cloud Fabric optimizes services. The solution is intended for Internet compa- feedback from the five interviewees The Huawei solution was about 20 percent less network resource usage and provides scalability and nies, financial services organizations, governments, • Built a composite financial model using TEI expensive than the incumbent vendor’s proposal. cost-savings on incremental hardware purchases. energy providers, large enterprises, and carriers. methodology Huawei local staff deployed a custom installation. Customers are getting more out of their current Four fundamental TEI elements were used to • Risk-adjusted the financial model based on issues With the Cloud Fabric solution, the customer hardware investments and offsetting their next model Huawei’s Cloud Fabric service: benefits, costs, identified in the interviews anticipates an incremental revenue opportunity of investments by an additional three to five years. flexibility, and risks. Using a sophisticated Return- USD 25 million due to new service offerings. • Solution Suitability, Cost Advantages, and On-Investment (ROI) analysis related to IT invest- Five Unique Points of View • Midsize Chinese-Managed Network Service Support: Huawei was selected for ments, Forrester’s goal was to build a complete pic- Forrester interviewed five customers, each with its Services Provider (USD 400+ Million Annual cost advantages and better customer service. ture of the total economic impact of each customer’s own unique challenges and requirements: Revenue): This customer works with clients One customer reported a 66.7 percent lower purchasing decisions, individually and as a group. • Midsize U.S.-Managed Hosting Services from large enterprises and new startups. Huawei investment for their solution compared to other Provider (35+ Staff and USD 20 Million Annual was chosen based on market presence, technol- vendors. Approach Revenue): This customer provides managed hosting ogy maturity, and local support. The custom • Scalability: Customers chose the Cloud Forrester used a multi-step approach to evaluate the services and specializes in Chinese market entry for solution achieved a 20 percent higher resource Fabric based on scalability and the built-in ca- Huawei solution’s potential value: non-Chinese companies. After comparing Huawei’s utilization rate by reducing network maintenance pability for the Huawei solution to dynamically through unified configurations, automation, and optimize network resources to match business real-time monitoring. cycles. • Large Chinese Telecommunications Service Provider (10,000+ Staff and USD 1.5 Billion Composite Organization: Laud Global Annual Revenue): The rapid growth of 4G Solutions users was projected to cause increased data and Based on the interviews, Forrester created a infrastructure growth and strain this provider’s composite organization named ‘Laud Global network. Huawei was selected based on pricing, Solutions’ to represent the aggregated feedback local in-house support, scalability, and the ability and quantified experiences. This hypothetical to provide SDN-based hardware, software, and organization is a U.S. technology consulting, services. Operational efficiency has increased by application development, and hosting company about 10 to 30 percent, and maintenance man- with the following characteristics: power has been reduced by 50 percent. • USD 250 million in annual revenue and a • Large Chinese Oil and Gas Company staff of 1,200 (500,000+ Staff and USD 350 Billion Annual • 25 data centers; 10 based in China Revenue): This company wanted to link two • 20 percent managed hosting business 56 57 Analyst Analyst Corner Corner

Prior to engaging Huawei, Laud Global to reduce costs and improve hardware and labor tributes 10 percent of the credit to the Huawei with this analysis: ‘implementation risk’ and Voice of Customer Solutions had discussed but not deployed an efficiency. Cloud Fabric. ‘impact risk.’ Implementation risk means that a Financial Summary SDN platform. They lacked the hardware to • Introduce increased infrastructure utilization • The three-year risk-adjusted benefit value proposed investment in Huawei’s Cloud Fabric “We’ve seen a 10 to 20 percent create a ‘fabric’ and were using four-year- and capacity. is projected here to be USD 2,648,000. may deviate from the original or expected The financial results calculated reduction in power and main- old switches. When the company decided to • Benefits requirements, resulting in higher costs. Impact in the Benefits and Costs sections tenance costs and a 50 percent update hardware and buy new network archi- Laud Global Solutions realized three main [Total Benefits]: Over three years, Laud Global risk refers to the risk that the business needs can be used to determine the reduction in labor due to unified tecture, it issued a proposal request to several benefits: Solutions expects risk-adjusted total benefits to of the organization may not be met by the ROI, NPV, and payback period configuration, automation, and network solutions companies. 1) Solution Cost-Effectiveness: Huawei engi- be a Present Value (PV) of USD 4,030,077. investment in Huawei’s Cloud Fabric, which for Laud Global Solutions’ invest- pooling.” After a two-week comparison, Huawei was neers helped Laud Global Solutions customize could result in lower total benefits. The greater ment in Huawei Cloud Fabric. — Network Manager, large the most responsive. They designed a solution a solution and investment plan that included: • Costs the uncertainty, the wider the potential range of These values are determined by Chinese oil and gas company based on the use case, existing environment, and • Aggregation layer switches, routers, and Laud Global Solutions experienced two pri- outcomes for cost and benefit estimates. applying risk-adjustment values desired future state. Even after a delay of several Top-Of-Rack (TOR) switches for which mary costs: Quantitatively capturing implementation to the unadjusted cost and benefit days, the other vendors provided only minimal Huawei’s aggregation switch pricing is 66.7 • Huawei’s Cloud Fabric Solution: The solu- and impact risk by directly adjusting financial results. customization. These vendors were also signifi- percent lower than the alternative solution and tion includes ten aggregation layer switches estimates provides a more accurate projection cantly more expensive and did not showcase a 10 percent lower for all other hardware. (CE12800 series), twenty routers (NE40E se- of the ROI. In general, risks affect costs by strong customer support structure. In contrast, • A total risk-adjusted initial value of USD ries), and 150 TOR switches (CE6800/CE5800 raising the original estimates and affect benefits Huawei allowed Laud Global Solutions to speak 1,092,500. series). by reducing the original estimates. Risk- with senior staff and engineers to answer ques- 2) Operational Efficiency: Laud Global • Internal Labor and Implementation: The adjusted numbers should be taken as ‘realistic’ tions and further customize the solution. The achieved the following savings from improved company also dedicated five resources (80 expectations, since they represent the expected, company’s director was impressed. operational efficiency: percent of their time) to deploy the solution risk-weighted values. Laud Global Solutions engaged Huawei’s • Maintenance cost was estimated at a recur- over four months. These five resources will The following impact risks are identified as Cloud Fabric with the following high-level ring 20 percent based on the initial investment continue to maintain and operate the solution part of the analysis: goals: of USD 1.85 million. Huawei’s more efficient going forward. • Reduced discount due to smaller volume • Lay the foundation for an elastic, agile, and smaller equipment will reduce the estimated investments and scalable SDN architecture to leverage old maintenance cost by an additional 20 percent [Total Benefits]: Over three years, the organiza- • Continuing to staff large maintenance and new hardware, with an eye on expansion. through savings in power, cooling, and issue tion expects risk-adjusted total costs to be a PV teams after achieving operational efficiencies • Work with the most cost-effective vendor avoidance. of USD 2,880,350. and reducing maintenance • The adoption of unified configuration • Running a business ‘as is’ without extend- through aggregation layer switches, automated • Flexibility ing capabilities or service offerings that the tasks, and pooled resources reduced manual Flexibility represents an investment in addi- business can sell to clients monitoring tasks. Half of these resources were tional capacity or capability that could become The following implementation risks are allocated to new projects. a future business benefit. This provides the identified as part of the analysis: • The three-year risk-adjusted benefit value is ability to engage in planning for such initia- • Increased scope or environment size calculated to be USD 917,683. tives but without the obligation to commit. A • Lack of internal expertise, requiring profes- 3) Enabled Business Capabilities: With customer implementing Huawei’s Cloud Fabric sional services improved infrastructure utilization and less might later realize additional uses and business • Training and language support network congestion, especially during peak opportunities. Laud Global Solutions used values ranging hours and seasons, Laud Global Solutions With the SDN foundation laid, Laud Global from 5 to 20 percent to adjust for risk and was suitably equipped to present a new, better Solutions can take on more business with larger uncertainty in their cost and benefit estimates. service offering with its Cloud Fabric-based clients and also better manage incremental in- Readers should apply risk ranges based on cloud host. A future private-public cloud in- vestments going forward. Future plans include their own degree of confidence in their cost and terlink would allow clients to source and share providing the connections necessary to unify benefit estimates.▲ resources and content with different providers private and public clouds in one location. Financial Summary for Laud and capture an incremental USD 10 million • Risks See final report: http://enterprise.huawei.com/ Global Solutions of which the organization conservatively at- Forrester defines two types of risk associated topic/Cloud_Fabric_TEI_en/ 58 59 Last Last Word Word

Leading New ICT — Enabling a New Industrial Revolution Yan Lida | By Yan Lida, President, Enterprise Business Group, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. cannot drive digital transformation by themselves. Huawei’s mission. To fulfill this mission, Huawei Digital transformation in multiple industries is needs the involvement of third-party security spe- Huawei believes driven by a combination of technologies, with the cialists and application developers. Through joint these innovative technologies are Staying Customer-Centric Business-Driven ICT Infrastructure (BDII). I men- IoT being only one of them. Such transformation efforts, we will ensure system and network security Two years the foundation The concept of ‘the 4Ps of marketing’ was put tion BDII because we have offered many different depends on a very powerful physical network to at many levels. ago, Yan Lida of this round forward by marketer E. Jerome McCarthy in 1960 — hardware boxes without a deep understanding of connect massive amounts of data to the Internet. returned to of digital product, price, place, and promotion are essential to each customer’s business operations. As a result, the Processing tremendous quantities of cloud comput- Opportunity Favors the Prepared headquarters transformation, business success. boxes don’t always match customer needs, begging ing data in real time would be impossible without In April 2016, Global Equities analyst Trip Chowdhry to lead the and they The ‘Product’ must be marketable for branding and the questions: Who are we in the eyes of our custom- cloud computing platforms. Without Big Data predicted that the technology manufacturing sector operations of constitute a promotion, while place or distribution (physical and ers? What brand image has EBG built? Are we just a technology, data analysis and mining would not would layoff 369,000 employees over the next 12 the Huawei distinctive virtual) is equally as important to marketing as chan- bunch of box makers? be available and data value could not be realized. months. The predicted layoffs are attributed to the Enterprise characteristic nels are to sales. If the Huawei Enterprise Business Digital transformation has created significant Huawei believes these innovative technologies are operational efficiencies gained by themselves and Business of ICT Group (EBG) adopts the ‘integrated’ strategy, we changes in different industries in recent years. For the foundation of this round of digital transforma- their customers due to cloud computing and native Group. In this transformation. >> ‘Last Word’ must first ensure that the quality of our products example, various user and industry surveillance tion, and they constitute a distinctive characteristic mobile applications. And, while companies like commentary, he matches the heights of our language. Marketing is devices, such as smart electric meters, serve to of ICT transformation. Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are very successful reflects on his impossible if any of the 4Ps is missing. However, convert physical information into digital data. The in cloud computing, other companies are in a tough experience and good products alone cannot work either; price also data is then transmitted through networks to data From Technology and Open Platform to spot. Therefore, first and second tier technology firms offers a look into matters as does branding. Customers should be the centers. During the entire data production process, Ecosystems are expected to take the initiative by transforming the future. >> focus of our business. We should stay customer- the Big Data platform analyzes the data a second When we first discussed the connotation of ‘Leading themselves at the cost of jobs. centric and not be obsessed with integrated strategies time, performs data mining, and generates new data. New ICT,’ we realized that it should not only feature Digital transformation poses serious questions: and go-to-market processes. Digital transformation requires ICT restructuring, technology and a platform but also an ecosystem. • What can Huawei learn from the transformation which means we must break out of IT system silos. Huawei’s expertise is in the IoT, cloud computing, of these technology companies? BDII and Why ‘Leading New ICT’ is Important This typical cloud-pipe-device architecture is one of and Big Data. To fully leverage these advantages, • Is it possible that these companies will leave the Huawei’s 2015 Annual Report stated that the Huawei’s core strengths. we must build an open, flexible, elastic, and secure hardware market following the completion of their company has officially recognized the concept of Technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) platform. Based on this platform, we must then build transformations? an ecosystem, which includes developers, partners, • Does Huawei need to follow these companies to and standards. We have opened our platform to third- transform itself? party developers through eSDK, so now, third-party • If so, how should Huawei differentiate itself developers — whether they have two employees or from these other companies during their transforma- 2,000 employees — can develop corresponding indus- tions? try applications. • Who are Huawei’s target customers and what The future points to hybrid cloud services to strategy should be adopted after their transforma- provide elasticity. For example, if a customer uses tions? Huawei OpenStack-based clouds — either public or • Should Huawei take the opposite approach and private — we must enable data migration between focus on the hardware market instead? them. Elasticity means that, when resources on a • If we are to focus on hardware, how should we private cloud are not sufficient to compute data dur- address the challenges imposed by the white box ing peak hours, auto-scaling switches will redirect trend? the workload to a public cloud. When the peak hours The 2016 revenue goal for the Huawei EBG is have passed, the system automatically switches back USD 6 billion. Personally, I think our goal should to the private cloud. This is what cloud elasticity is go beyond USD 10 billion. Over the past two years, all about. EBG has made stable, solid, and unremitting efforts The last feature of the platform is security, which to push our business forward. If we can correctly involves firmware, networks, and applications. answer the questions I have raised, we will truly be Building secure End-to-End (E2E) platforms is leading new ICT.▲ 60 61 Message

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