Affirmed UnityCloud

Bringing 5G and Webscale Technology to Mobile Networks

The enterprise market for 5G services isn’t simply big, it’s G-normous. Smart factories, drone deliveries, connected cities, virtual reality gaming, autonomous vehicles and remote real-time medicine are just some of the services that expect to leverage 5G’s high speeds, low latencies and flexible agility. For mobile network operators (MNOs), 5G
is the revenue opportunity of a lifetime, driven by a growing enterprise market that analysts expect will soon overshadow consumer services in terms of revenue share. The question is no longer whether the 5G opportunity is there, but whether your network will be ready to support new revenue opportunities.

While the majority of MNOs have embraced virtualization on the road to 4G, they need a cloud-native architecture to support 5G Core (5GC) services. This new architecture will need to provide several key characteristics:

• Fine-grained network slicing capabilities that can support customized 5G services based on unique requirements for latency, security, scalability, etc.
• A microservices-based environment that allows MNOs to quickly innovate, create and deploy new 5G services in weeks or days without impacting their existing network services;
• A distributed architecture that can support high-bandwidth, low latency applications anywhere they’re needed: in the core, at the edge, or in a public/private/hybrid cloud environment;
• Agile and DevOps models that enable MNOs to compete with the big cloud providers and over-the-top (OTT) competitors by adopting the same flexible, fail-fast approach to innovation.

How do MNOs get to the cloud-native, webscale network they need to effectively deliver 5G services? Affirmed’s UnityCloud solution has been designed from the ground up to provide these capabilities and help MNO’s get ready to deliver 5G services.

Affirmed UnityCloud: Bringing Together 5G & Webscale Technology to Drive Digital Transformation

Affirmed UnityCloud is the industry’s first cloud-native solution built on an open, web-scale architecture, which allows MNOs to build the most innovative 5GC network, converge multiple networks into one unified network without being locked into a proprietary platform, and monetize on revenue-generating services.

Affirmed’s UnityCloud includes a unique Platform as a Service (PaaS) approach that ensures MNOs have a robust, open-source architecture featuring best-of-breed cloud ecosystem of applications to address everything from container lifecycle management (Kubernetes, Helm) and database services (MongoDB) to network monitoring (Envoy, Jaeger, Prometheus). It also consists of a cloud-native operations and policy manager (OPM) that automates, creates policies and launches dashboards providing operators complete control of their network.

UnityCloud supports a seamless transition to 5G by integrating legacy network services—including wireline services—into an advanced, open 5GC architecture that leverages leading cloud-based technologies alongside Affirmed’s industry-leading NFVi platform and microservices-based, cloud-native functions (CNFs). Read More...