Dell fast-tracks opportunities on the edge as 5G rollouts in Singapore and SEA gain momentum

The Singapore government recently announced that 5G in Singapore will be available across the entire island by 2025. The government is currently running trials on 5G applications on various use cases with communication service provider (CSP) Singtel and other tech companies to deliver high-quality solutions.

For CSPs like Singtel, to support the massive growth of data expected from 5G applications and services, moving to compute infrastructure to the edge and looking to integrate a broad ecosystem of software vendors to capture new revenue opportunities is key.

New technologies like Open RAN (ORAN) are giving CSPs a broader set of options for deploying network infrastructure to support future growth. However, this trend is leading to a large, geographically distributed, open compute deployment that can be difficult to deploy and manage.

In Malaysia, the country is expected to see approximately 80% of the populated areas with 5G network coverage as part of the Government’s measures to address the near-term efforts to place the country’s reopening on a stronger footing. Phase 1 with 10% 5G coverage will be in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, and Cyberjaya by the end of 2021. Malaysian CSPs are also looking to accelerate their open, cloud-native network deployments and create new revenue opportunities at the edge.

To help CSPs achieve this, Dell Technologies have unveiled new telecom offerings that automate the deployment and management of open, cloud-native network infrastructure to fast-track opportunities at the edge.

“As server technology proliferates through increasingly open telecom networks, the industry sees an immediate and growing need for remote lifecycle management of a highly distributed compute fabric,” said Dennis Hoffman, senior vice president, and general manager, Dell Technologies Telecom Systems Business.

Creating new opportunities on the Edge with 5G in Singapore and the region

Dell Technologies Bare Metal Orchestrator telecom software offers the breadth and scale to automate the deployment and management of hundreds of thousands of servers across geographic locations to support ORAN and 5G deployments.

The company’s first software to come from its Project Metalweaver initiative, Bare Metal Orchestrator gives CSPs the tools to discover and inventory servers, bring them online, and deploy software, regardless of where they reside in the network.

With declarative automation, Bare Metal Orchestrator tells the targeted server what to do, so that tasks and workflows – such as deploying software stacks and workloads – can be completed quickly and efficiently without human intervention. The software combines open standards technology with Dell Technologies’ intellectual property.

With Bare Metal Orchestrator, CSPs can eliminate days or weeks of configuration and provisioning to bring network hardware into a workload-ready state. This reduces the time it takes for an open network to deliver differentiated, profitable services at scale.

Over time, the software can reduce operational costs by orchestrating server lifecycle management and minimizing errors and reliance on IT expertise. ACG Research estimates up to 57% OpEx savings for CSPs deploying Bare Metal Orchestrator in their networks.

“Singapore is working towards island-wide 5G coverage by 2025. As we prepare for this future, local CSPs are seeking ideas and solutions to support 5G innovation, while reducing the risks and complexities in evolving their network infrastructure,” said Andy Sim, vice president, and managing director, Singapore, Dell Technologies.

For Caroline Chappell, Research Director, Analysys Mason, the industry is making progress toward Open RAN networks, but network operators are challenged with how to operate them cost-effectively at a massive scale.

“To keep pace with innovation, telecom operators require more agile ways to deploy and manage their network infrastructure. Bare metal orchestrators, such as Dell Technologies’ software, will be key to the flexible and efficient automation of the heterogeneous bare-metal environments operators tell us they need to underpin cloud-native open RAN functions.”

With the rollouts accelerating in the region, the possibilities for opportunities on the edge will only enable CSPs to provide the best solutions and services to enterprises, especially in perfecting the 5G use cases they plan to leverage in the future.

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