7 Layers: Working Group Two Tackles 5G Core Cloudification

Mobile telecom operators continue to ramp their 5G core deployments with many of those efforts based on running vital core operations in a cloud environment. This is an effort that Working Group Two CEO Erlend Prestgard said is critical for operators to monetize their next-generation 5G deployments. “We’re trying to steal the business model back from the tech giants and bring them back to telecom,” Prestgard said in an interview with SDxCentral. Working Group Two’s efforts in this scheme are by offering a cloud-based 5G core to operators that they can then plug their 5G radio access network (RAN) and support systems into. That core sits on Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) cloud infrastructure that operators can tap into through an as-a-service model. Working Group Two was started in late 2017 after Cisco struck a deal with Norway-based telecommunications provider Telenor on a new venture to offer cloud solutions for mobile operators. Working Group Two was tasked with helping mobile operators use cloud-based platforms to launch new services. Telenor provided the platform’s technology, which is an open source, cloud-native, multi-tenancy, full stack mobile core network delivered as a service. The software behind the platform is a single code base built on multiple radio networks. Cisco provided a virtualized version of its evolved packet core (vEPC) and APIs into that packet core that are available to the Working Group Two platform. Cisco also provided go-to-market support for bringing those services to enterprise, commercial, IoT, and mass-market customers. Working Group Two today counts deals with operators in Sweden and its native Norway, with a significant customer in CK Hutchison. Prestgard explained that operators realize the importance and need for a cloud-native core but are now trying to tackle integration complexity. “Integrating with the outside world, that still takes time,” Prestgard said. “So, spinning up, I think we've sold that part of the equation. I think now we're working to simplify, automate, externalize as much configuration, integration work as possible, which is also a long journey.” Check out our latest SDxCentral 7 Layers Podcast to get more insight from Prestgard on market opportunities and challenges. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices