Deutsche Telekom shows off globe-spanning enterprise network

German incumbent Deutsche Telekom has combined hyperscale cloud infrastructure with private 5G to enable centralised control of multinational enterprise networks.

It’s a proof-of-concept (PoC) at this point, one that was carried out in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), VMware, Mavenir, and the Open Grid Alliance (OGA).

They took two private 5G standalone (SA) networks – one in Prague, Czechia, the other in Seattle, US – and connected them via AWS’ backbone infrastructure to a Mavenir 5G core hosted on an AWS cloud in Frankfurt.

The Seattle 5G network runs on VMware’s Telco Cloud Platform, while its Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) solution – also hosted in Seattle – serves as the orchestrator for the global network.

An OGA grid node was deployed on Dell servers in Bonn, Germany to enable seamless connectivity between the European locations. OGA is an industry-wide effort to enable the intelligent, automated coordination of edge compute and storage resources. Its ambition is to re-engineer the Internet into a widely-distributed grid network, where as much data as possible is processed and stored at the edge.

The result of all this heavy lifting is a single interface for ordering, deploying and managing carrier-grade connectivity and cloud services in multiple locations.

This presumably holds appeal for large multinationals keen to monitor or even automate operations and processes across more than one country. By extension, it represents a potentially lucrative opportunity for companies – be they telcos, cloud, IT service providers, or systems integrators – that have the requisite capabilities to offer these kind of services.

To demonstrate what’s possible with this architecture, DT and its partners deployed an AI-enabled video analytics application, using cameras installed in both Seattle and Prague, and connected to the global enterprise network. Once up and running, the application was able to analyse the camera feeds concurrently, in real time.

DT said its global enterprise network could also be used for autonomous vehicles and robotics.

“As AI gets engrained deeper in the ecosystem of our lives, it necessitates equitable access to compute and connectivity for everyone, everywhere across the globe. Multinational enterprises are seeking trusted and sovereign compute and connectivity constructs that underpin an equitable and seamless access,” said Kaniz Mahdi, group chief architect and SVP of technology architecture and innovation at Deutsche Telekom.

Or to put it another, slightly more succinct way: the world – including enterprises – demands better global connectivity.

“Deutsche Telekom is excited to partner with the OGA ecosystem for co-creation on these essential constructs and the enablement of the Distributed Edge AI Networking applications of the future,” Mahdi said.

“VMware is proud to support this proof of concept – contributing know-how and a modern and scalable platform that aims to offer the agility required in distributed environments. VMware Telco Cloud Platform is suited to deliver the compute resources on-demand wherever critical customer workloads are needed,” added Stephen Spellicy, vice president of service provider marketing, enablement and business development at VMware. “As a founding member of the Open Grid Alliance, VMware embraces both the principles of this initiative and the opportunity to collaborate more deeply with fellow alliance members AWS and Deutsche Telekom to help meet the evolving needs of global enterprise customers.”

Given this is a PoC, there is probably a long way to go before services like this become a commercial reality. Nonetheless, it provides an interesting glimpse of a more joined-up future for enterprise networking.

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