By Geetha Ram
WW Business Development and Solution Sales, Telco & Media
HPE Converged Servers, Edge and IoT Systems
The arrival of 5G has brought about a sea change in how telecommunications businesses operate at the edge. At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, there will be an opportunity to see one of the most powerful new hardware platforms ever created for the telecommunications edge, the HPE Edgeline EL8000 Converged Edge System. As the newest member of HPE Edgeline Converged Edge Systems family, the EL8000 can not only help CSPs manage the transition from 4G to 5G, it can also offer new capabilities that can take wireless performance to the next level while enabling a new universe of applications and services.
Up until now, most telecommunications equipment at cell towers, utility closets, and remote facilities has consisted of proprietary designs, purpose-built for cell networks. Data for advanced applications and services typically has to be sent from edge sites back to the core – an expensive and latency-prone model that adds to costs and limits options for service providers.
CSPs see an opportunity in 5G to move beyond older wireless architectures. With a robust open-standard hardware infrastructure, 5G data can be securely captured and processed at the edge and virtual network functions (VNFs) typically performed at the core can now be pushed out at the edge. This significantly reduces latency and bandwidth costs, while boosting performance for standard services such as voice, mobile data, and streaming media, as well as exclusive 5G features like personalized levels of service for end users and enterprises.
This means that leveraging the telecommunications edge is not just about providing standard services to enterprise clients and end users. 5G and a robust hardware infrastructure enables new types of applications that were barely possible in the past, including:
- Video analytics to provide real-time security and event monitoring
- On-site AI and analytics for retail, industrial, and utility customers
- AR and VR applications for consumer and business users
- IoT data aggregation and sensor control
- Real-time services to support connected and autonomous machines
HPE Edgeline Converged Edge Systems have already proven themselves to be the only data-center grade compute systems that can live in all kinds of industrial environments, from petrochemical plants to wind farms. The new HPE Edgeline EL8000’s brings the same open standard x86 architecture and ruggedized construction as earlier models, as well as automated management software that makes the Edgeline platform easy to deploy and operate, especially in locations without dedicated IT staff.
But it’s the HPE Edgeline EL8000’s unique form factor, modularity, and flexibility that make it so attractive for 5G at the telecommunications edge. From a pure performance perspective, this system is powered by the Intel Xeon SP – a high-end processor with up to 28 CPU cores – and can support up to 1.5 TB of memory and 16 TB of storage, with extreme power consumption efficiency under 1,500 watts with a fully-loaded chassis.
Partnership with Samsung and Tech Mahindra
The power of the Edgeline Converged Edge System platform lies not just in its pioneering compute, connectivity, and control features, but also in the partnerships HPE has developed with leading vendors.
HPE has partnered with Samsung, known in the telecommunications industry for its state-of-the-art radio access network (RAN) software, to develop a virtual RAN solution built on the HPE Edgeline EL8000. Once provisioned at a customer site, this powerful hardware-software combination can accelerate the transition to 5G. Samsung, with decades of experience as a network equipment provider, come to assist with vRAN integration and ensure that RF tuning and other aspects of new 5G implementations meet the needs of CSPs and their end users.
MEC software provisioned in this system creates a local traffic breakout of the applications and keeps the data at the edge for processing, even while control remains at the core. The HPE-Tech Mahindra partnership allows CSPs to offer MEC based IOT applications in 4G while they smoothly transition to 5G in the coming years.
HPE Edgeline at Mobile World Congress 2019
HPE and its partners will highlight the many capabilities of Edgeline Converged Edge systems at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from February 25-28, 2019. The demonstrations include a retail simulation at booth 3E11 in Hall 3 that redefines how consumers can have a richer digital experience using AI-enabled smart mirrors, while store operators leverage 5G-enabled applications to manage inventory, equipment, and customer data in real time.
At the HPE and Samsung booths, the HPE Edgeline EL8000 will be on display for the first time ever. Experts will be on hand to answer technical questions about 5G, vRAN, MEC software, and other capabilities. HPE representatives will also be able to answer questions from business decision-makers who need to better understand how this system can fit into their 5G commercial rollouts, and how to plan for 5G deployments and 4G-to-5G transitions.
UPDATE:
Watch this video with Geetha Ram, explaining the importance of compute at the edge for CSPs and 5G.
Learn more:
Official HPE press release: HPE Edgeline EL8000.
HPE at MWC19: https://h41382.www4.hpe.com/mwc/
About the author:
Geetha’s responsibilities include setting the strategy, solution architecture and sales support – from concept to delivery of Intelligent Edge solutions for all of Telco and Media customers (Worldwide). Geetha’s leadership spans the management of the partner ecosystem for all vertical solutions as well as creation of inventive business models for customers.
