DATA SHEET

Modernize the Network

with Telco Cloud Platform
Horizontal Infrastructure Optimized for Agility
At a Glance Driving Transformation with Flexibility and Efficiency
VMware® Telco Cloud Platform™ is The rollout of new 5G and telecommunications services will intensify the already
powered by field-proven compute, a fierce competition among communication service providers (CSPs). Rising
telco-grade Kubernetes distribution, and network costs, rigid resources, and unforeseen shifts in demand are putting
high-performance networking coupled margins under pressure, hampering innovation, and placing a premium on
with telecom-specific automation customer experience.
and service assurance. Telco Cloud
To capture more market share in such a highly competitive landscape, a CSP
Platform empowers you to modernize
must be able to cost-effectively roll out new services with agility and speed while
your network so you can rapidly deploy
maintaining telco-grade performance and reliability. A modern telco cloud
and efficiently operate multi-vendor
platform should furnish the architectural foundation to deliver operational
virtual network functions (VNFs) and
flexibility, cloud-smart automation to reduce operational complexities, and multi-
containerized network functions (CNFs).
layer assurance to maintain continuous service delivery.
Key Benefits The objectives of telecommunications companies have transformed from the
• Gain web-scale speed and agility initial need to virtualize infrastructure to being able to scale with technology,
to accelerate the rollout of 5G and driving continuous innovation, and deploying new services fast. However, the
telecommunication services transformation must address business growth now while paving the path toward
the future. In addition, CSPs need to deploy applications, services, and greater
• Deploy VNFs and CNFs on consistent
network intelligence across the network to deliver a higher quality of experience
horizontal infrastructure
(QoE) to their customers.
• Dynamically adjust the configuration of
To accelerate and achieve this transformation, CSPs must modernize their
underlying resources
existing silos of monolithic systems to be future-ready—an operating model that
• Automate lifecycle management of takes advantage of horizontal infrastructure to create agile and flexible networks.
infrastructure, Kubernetes clusters, Ultimately, the transformation must enable CSPs to succeed now and to continue
network functions, and services that success by enabling them to adopt the technologies of tomorrow without
disruption.
• Simplify NOC and SOC operations with
a centralized, cross-domain view There are, however, several challenges to the implementation of new
technologies. CSPs need to be able to support all their network functions,
• Use closed‑loop automation and
infrastructure components, and deployment sites while reducing operational
rapid remediation to reduce OpEx and
complexity with tightly coupled orchestration, automation, and assurance
optimize resources and workloads to
solutions that best suit both current and future requirements.
meet surges in demand

• Accelerate the deployment of network About Telco Cloud Platform

functions through the VMware Ready VMware Telco Cloud Platform is powered by field-proven compute, a telco-
for Telco Cloud program grade Kubernetes distribution, and high-performance networking, enabling you
to run both VNFs and CNFs on consistent horizontal infrastructure while
automating and assuring the deployment and management of your telco cloud.

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Modernize the Network with Telco Cloud Platform

Key Capabilities
• Architect the network for optimum
application response, scale, and service
availability

• Utilize microservices and optimize

resources with a telco-grade Kubernetes
distribution

• Gain repeatability across network

functions and services

• Onboard network functions using

standards-based templates

• Model network services based on

network functions from multiple vendors
FIGURE 1: Telco Cloud Platform combines consistent horizontal infrastructure with multi-layer
• Automate lifecycle management for automation and assurance as well as access to a broad ecosystem of certified network functions.

infrastructure, CaaS, and network

functions The platform expedites the innovation cycle, simplifies operations, and reduces
costs to modernize your network and accelerate the deployment of 5G and
• Obtain rapid insights with integrated
telecommunication services.
fault and performance management,
service management, root-cause Virtual Infrastructure Manager and Containers as a Service on
analysis, and impact assessment Horizontal Infrastructure
Telco Cloud Platform enables you to take the first step toward cloud
modernization by running a broad set of VNFs and CNFs on consistent
horizontal infrastructure. The VMware by Broadcom solution provides a virtual
infrastructure manager (VIM) to isolate virtual resources and tightly control
administrative access to VNFs while supplying containers as a service (CaaS) by
using Kubernetes to orchestrate CNFs and containerized services. The solution
supports deploying VNFs with virtual machines and CNFs with a microservices
architecture, establishing network resiliency, creating seamless cross-domain
network function continuity, and isolating multi-tenant services to address
business requirements and compliance regulations, such as high availability and
Reference Architecture
service-level agreements.
Telco Cloud Platform can be deployed
across telecom networks to meet Cloud-Smart Automation
target design and scalability objectives. As part of the platform, telco automation capabilities are tightly coupled with the
The VMware telco cloud reference infrastructure and the CaaS layer to automate and orchestrate the following
architecture provides guidance for aspects of the telco stack:
designing and creating an infrastructure
• Infrastructure layer
and automation solution. The reference
architecture describes the high-level • Containers as a service layer
design principles and considerations • Network functions layer
to implement the environment. It also
provides example scenarios to help • Network services layer
understand the solution's capabilities. • Network slicing layer

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Modernize the Network with Telco Cloud Platform

Automation Capabilities The multi-layer automation enables you to accelerate time-to-market for your
in Telco Cloud Platform network functions and services while igniting operational agility through unified
The automation capabilities in the lifecycle management across network domains.
platform vary by two packages: Essentials The cloud-smart approach of telco automation provisions the underlying
and Advanced. infrastructure at the time of network function instantiation based on the network
function’s resource requirements. Standards-driven modular components
Telco Cloud Platform Essentials
integrate with and extend an existing multi-vendor MANO architecture.
The Essentials package gives you a
quick, easy way to deploy infrastructure
and manage it with the following basic Key Capabilities and Benefits of Telco Cloud Platform
automation capabilities from VMware: Telco Cloud Platform establishes an open, vendor-agnostic ecosystem to
streamline communication service delivery from design to lifecycle management
• Registration of pre-deployed clouds as
automation while creating a unified, operator-friendly architecture with key
virtual infrastructure
capabilities for resource optimization, operational consistency, multi-layer
• CaaS Manager for lifecycle management
automation, and assurance for network functions from multiple vendors.
(LCM) of Kubernetes clusters
• CaaS Dynamic Infrastructure Policies High Performance IaaS and CaaS infrastructure
Integrator Telco Cloud Platform enables you to deploy both VNFs and CNFs on consistent
• Infrastructure Automation horizontal infrastructure while improving resource utilization. With the platform’s
• Network Function Automation (VNFM) enhanced data plane networking capabilities, the platform furnishes high
for VNFs only, not CNFs performance and scalable connectivity between network functions, with the
following functionality providing examples:
• Role-Based Access Control
• Multi-Tenancy • Support for conventional performance enhancement technologies, such as
DPDK and single-root input-output virtualization (SR-IOV) for data plane
• API Integration
acceleration
Telco Cloud Platform Advanced
• DPU-based acceleration optimizes CPU utilization by offloading telco-grade
The Advanced package includes all the networking from the compute host onto a SmartNIC, allowing you to focus on
automation capabilities in the Essentials running other critical assets, such as network functions, on the platform
package plus the following capabilities to
• A low-latency data plane through CPU pinning, fine-grained non-uniform
furnish a comprehensive automation and
memory access (NUMA) placement, and vertical NUMA alignment
orchestration solution:

• Network Function Automation, including

Virtual Infrastructure Manager and Telco-Grade Kubernetes
VNFs, CNFs, LCM, designer, catalog, The platform’s VIM capability enables seamless provisioning and consumption of
and Dynamic Infrastructure Policies as the underlying infrastructure resources across geographically dispersed
well as third-party VNFM support locations with an Application Programming Interface (API)-driven approach. Its
multi-tenant resource pooling capability helps create virtual data centers (VDCs)
• Network Service Automation (NFVO)
from centralized or distributed infrastructure to cater to various tenants’ needs,
• Workflow support, which runs pre- and
allowing you to host and serve multiple tenants from a single, centralized
post-instantiation workflows for network
interface that can stretch across physical servers in various locations.
functions and services
• Workflow Hub The CaaS functionality of Telco Cloud Platform simplifies the operation of
Kubernetes for CNF deployments, centralizing management and governance for
• Network Slicing
clusters. The platform provides telco-grade CaaS enhancements, such as:
• GitOps support for lifecycle
management of CNFs • Multus, Antrea, and Calico to attach multiple container networking interfaces
(CNIs) to Kubernetes pods through its plugins for performance enhancement
and isolation

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Modernize the Network with Telco Cloud Platform

• Topology Manager to optimally allocate CPU memory, and device resources on

the same NUMA node to support performance-sensitive applications
• Support for affinity and anti-affinity to specify servers for hosting Kubernetes
nodes so that VNFs and CNFs can continue running if a server host fails.

With these enhancements, you can take advantage of a VIM and a telco-grade
Kubernetes distribution to address emerging telecommunication use cases.

Dynamic Infrastructure Policies for Customizing Nodes

The platform automatically adjusts the underpinning infrastructure resources to
accommodate the requirements of each network function so you can architect a
telco cloud for optimum application response, scale, and service availability.
Dynamic Infrastructure Policies let you manage the lifecycle of CNFs by using
GitOps, which speeds up the onboarding, deployment, and scaling of CNFs.

The automated customization of various items empowers you to fulfill network

function requirements with speed, consistency, and efficiency. The
customizations for Linux and for the CaaS packages include the following items:
• Real-time Linux kernel versions
White Paper: Improving Network • Kernel arguments like Huge Pages
Performance with DPU Offloading
• Custom Linux package installations
VMware by Broadcom, 6WIND, and
• Configuration for the tuned daemon
NVIDIA jointly tested a 6WIND network
function to show the performance • SR-IOV CNI installation and configuration
advantages of Telco Cloud Platform and
The hardware customizations include the following items:
NVIDIA BlueField DPU. Offloading frees
up CPU resources on the host, which • Network adapters
can then be used to run larger, less • NUMA alignment
latency-sensitive workloads separately
• DPDK binding for SR-IOV interfaces
from the performance-intensive network
processing tasks performed by the • Passthrough devices for PTP
DPU. A white paper demonstrates these
• GRUB config
performance improvements.
The result prevents the overprovisioning of hardware resources and significantly
shortens the times for pre-deployment configuration and validation.

Tailored Design and Automated Onboarding

Telco Cloud Platform provides a visual blueprint composer that allows network
and equipment providers to easily create and optimize network function and
service templates. Since the platform is vendor-neutral, you can onboard these
functions and services with descriptors and packages compliant with ETSI
SOL001/004 standards. Network services can also be designed with a
combination of network functions from multiple vendors and formats (VNF and
CNF). The onboarded elements are then available in centralized catalogs to
maximize reusability.

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 Modernize the Network with Telco Cloud Platform

FIGURE 2: Workflow Hub builds and executes end-to-end workflows to automate infrastructure provisioning, instantiation, and configuration.

Speeding Up Time to Market for Services with Workflow Hub

Workflow Hub represents the next evolution of centralized operations and
operating expense reduction. Workflow Hub is an umbrella orchestrator that
unifies not only the platform’s existing telco automation capabilities, but also
extends to VMware Bare Metal Automation and multi-vendor service assurance
as well as third-party testing tools.

Workflow Hub enables you to easily define automated, repeatable workflows

that minimize manual errors, save time, and reduce operating expenses.

By using pre-built templates as building blocks in a simple drag-and-drop GUI,

Workflow Hub lets you quickly stitch together processes that address various
use cases. Here are some examples of what you can do with Workflow Hub:
• Create a pipeline that application teams can use to bring up virtual
infrastructure or a Kubernetes cluster for network function version testing,
obtain the results, and terminate the environment.
• Link deployment steps that take place outside the telecom automation of Telco
Cloud Platform, such as setting up an external network, with the deployment of
a network function.
• Automatically link several steps to manage the different components of your
software-defined data center, such as provisioning a bare-metal server or
performing lifecycle management for a VIM.
• Save a predefined workflow as code so that an operations team can execute
and repeat it later after customizing it to fit its environment.

Telco Cloud Platform also provides APIs to act as a single point of integration to
your DevOps practices and continuous integration and continuous deployment
(CI/CD) tools.

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Modernize the Network with Telco Cloud Platform

Assurance Capabilities in the Telco Streamlined Deployment and Maintenance

Cloud Platform Advanced Package Because Telco Cloud Platform couples the automation with the underlying cloud
The assurance capabilities in the infrastructure, it transforms integration-intensive projects into efficient product
advanced package of Telco Cloud deployments. It accelerates service deployment, simplifies future upgrades, and
Platform monitors, analyzes, and pro- reduces overall costs while eliminating error-prone manual configurations.
actively manages multi‑vendor physical
The integration between the automation and infrastructure components from
and virtual environments in a single
VMware also furnishes continuous knowledge of the telco cloud state, optimized
platform.
placements, VIM and cluster configurations auto‑discovery, and continuous
Key Capabilities and Benefits synchronization across the components of the telco cloud.
• Simplify NOC and SOC operations with
Service Assurance and Automation
a centralized, cross-domain view.
The service assurance capabilities of the Telco Cloud Platform Advanced
• Gain rapid insights with integrated fault package can be used with the package’s telco automation capabilities to provide
and performance management, service visibility and collect fault and performance indicators of registered clouds and
management, root-cause analysis, and instantiated software. When this information is coupled with automated Day 1
impact assessment. and Day 2 operations like healing and scaling, it delivers closed-loop remediation
• Reduce costs and complexity through for issues. Integrating automation with the service assurance capabilities delivers
automation and optimization for end-to-end root-cause analysis and applies custom resolution workflows.
assurance across layers and domains. Automated Root-Cause and Service-Impact Analysis
• Use closed‑loop automation and The root-cause and service-impact analysis capabilities rapidly resolve problems
rapid remediation to reduce OpEx and by correlating symptoms from the following layers of the infrastructure stack and
optimize resources and workloads to pinpointing the problem’s root cause:
meet surges in demand.
• Physical and virtual
• Use AI‑based analytics to increase • IaaS, CaaS, and Kubernetes clusters
operational efficiency with rapid
problem isolation, automatic • VNFs and CNFs
suppression of extraneous alarms, and • Services and applications
automated rule updates.
Automated Closed‑Loop Remediation
The results of business impact analysis drive closed‑loop remediation through
integration with resource, service and lifecycle management orchestrators that
are based on SOL API standards, such as the telecom automation capabilities in
Telco Cloud Platform. The platform’s remediation policy framework automates
the processes and procedures for common NOC faults that can be handled
without human involvement.
• Define policies to allow automatic remediation actions when infrastructure
faults occur that affect service.
• Take different automated remediation actions based on a problem’s duration.

AI/ML-Driven Fault and Performance Management

Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, Telco Cloud Platform
automatically establishes dynamic performance baselines and calculates
real‑time performance metrics. It identifies anomalies or performance
degradations, and alerts you when anomalous behavior is detected.

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 Modernize the Network with Telco Cloud Platform

FIGURE 3: The path to cloud-native networks is paved with integration, automation, optimization, consolidation, and assurance.

VMware Ready for Telco Cloud Certification Program

VMware further enhances interoperability by certifying partners’ network
functions through the VMware Ready for Telco Cloud program. With simplified
and certified interoperability of functions, you can select the best solutions for
your use cases while reducing the risks associated with the complexity of
onboarding various network functions.

This award-winning program ensures interoperability and operational readiness

between Telco Cloud Platform and the network functions of VMware partners,
enabling you to rapidly onboard and deploy the functions.

With close collaboration with partners, VMware creates an ETSI-compliant

descriptor, workflow, resource, and artifacts for a validated and tested Cloud
Service Archive (CSAR).

The program removes time-consuming, difficult integration work so you can

focus on innovation and accelerate the deployment of 5G and other
telecommunication services. The objective of the program is to create a multi-
vendor ecosystem consisting of numerous network functions.
VMware Ready for Telco Cloud
at a Glance
The VMware Ready for Telco Cloud Following Standards for Interoperability
program helps you identify VMware While many vendor solutions inherently restrict interoperability, Telco Cloud
partner network functions that have Platform follows the ETSI and CNCF guidelines. The Infrastructure, G-VNFM,
been validated to work with VMware and NFVO are designed to interface with ETSI SOL-compliant components of
technology. More than 350 VNFs and the MANO framework, such as OSS, BSS, EMS, and VNFM. And the solution’s
CNFs have been validated to meet network function composer, coupled with the VMware Ready for Telco Cloud
VMware standards for integration and program, bolsters innovation and interoperability — providing ready access to
interoperability. new capabilities.

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Modernize the Network with Telco Cloud Platform

Achieve Cloud Modernization

Gain web-scale speed and agility to
accelerate the innovation cycle and
deliver new services to the market
faster while maintaining telco-grade
performance, reliability, and quality.

FIGURE 4: Telco Cloud Platform optimizes power with a four-point process.

The VMware Approach To Network Modernization

VMware Telco Cloud Platform solidify numerous capabilities into a powerful
platform that gives you the flexibility to modernize your telecommunications
network as you see fit and to tap the automation and assurance capabilities you
need as you make progress toward your modernization objectives.
• Telco Cloud Platform Essentials provides a quick, simple way to start
modernizing your network with foundational capabilities that can be rapidly
implemented.
• Telco Cloud Platform Advanced delivers advanced telco-grade features to
enhance the platform’s capabilities with unified automation, orchestration, and
multi-domain assurance.

Optional Components
VMware Bare Metal Automation is an add-on component that performs initial
zero-touch provisioning of physical servers to speed up the deployment of telco
cloud sites. Bare Metal Automation functions as a bare-metal provisioning tool to
the point of installing the VMware hypervisor—bootstrapping the server and
installing the software and firmware that the automation capabilities of Telco
Cloud Platform require to start its CaaS automation processes.

Learn MORE
For more information about Telco Cloud
Platform, call 1-877-VMWARE (outside
North America, dial +1-650-427-5000) or
visit https://www.vmware.com/telco

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