Global telecommunication networks took a conceptual step toward reality as Deutsche Telekom, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and VMware managed to stitch together disparate private 5G network systems using hardware and software that could be managed from a single interface.
The complex proof of concept (PoC) used Deutsche Telekom’s private 5G wireless platform, AWS services and infrastructure, VMware’s Telco Cloud Platform, Mavenir radio access network (RAN) and core functions, and was based on Open Grid Alliance architecture running on Dell Technologies equipment.
The 5G standalone (SA)-based private networks were in Prague, the Czech Republic, and Seattle, which is home to Deutsche Telekom’s U.S. subsidiary T-Mobile US. These were connected to a Mavenir 5G core function hosted on AWS infrastructure in Bonn, Germany, and using the hyperscaler’s Integrated Private Wireless on AWS platform it unveiled earlier this year.
The U.S. location’s 5G SA private network hosted user plane function (UPF) and RAN running on VMware’s Telco Cloud Platform. That platform also used VMware’s service management and orchestration (SMO) to serve as the global orchestrator for operating and managing the RAN, core and applications running in a multicloud environment.
This amalgamation connected video cameras running on private networks in Prague and Seattle to a video analytics application that allowed for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze the video content. It also used the Open Grid Alliance architecture for distributed edge AI networking running on the Dell hardware to connect the Prague and Bonn locations.
Kaniz Mahdi, group chief architect and SVP for technology architecture and innovation at Deutsche Telekom, noted in a statement that the PoC targets a growing need by international enterprises to connect and manage disparate data and networks.
“Multinational enterprises are seeking trusted and sovereign compute and connectivity constructs that underpin an equitable and seamless access,” Mahdi stated.
The PoC marks ongoing progress by all involved to kickstart a quiet private 5G market.
Deutsche Telekom last month launched commercial availability of a full-stack private 5G network service riding on Microsoft’s Azure private multi-access edge compute (MEC) platform. The Campus Network Smart service is designed to focus on campus environments and complements the carrier’s already-established private network work targeted at industrial applications.
AWS has also been aggressive in targeting private networking. In addition to its Integrated Private Wireless on AWS platform being used in the latest PoC, the hyperscaler also offers its Private 5G platform that integrates small cell radio units, AWS Outposts servers, a 5G core, and RAN software running on AWS-managed hardware.
The other PoC support vendors – VMware, Mavenir and Dell – are also attempting to gain a foothold in the still-evolving market.
IDC predicts the market will surge from $1.9 billion in revenues last year to $5.2 billion in revenues by the end of 2027, growing at a robust 21% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over that term. However, that end figure is short of the $8.3 billion in worldwide private LTE/5G wireless infrastructure revenues IDC had previously predicted would be generated by 2026.
Patrick Filkins, research manager for IoT and telecom network infrastructure at IDC, noted “the private cellular networks market continues to show promise, as both LTE and 5G are being rolled out to address enterprise and industrial challenges.”