Converging to get the cloud computing cherry on the cake

The Indian telecommunications ecosystem is in the midst of an evolution, with changing market dynamics opening new and exciting revenue growth opportunities for service providers.

The digital transformation of enterprises across all industry verticals is leading to the emergence of new use cases for service providers. Businesses are rapidly adopting more and more cloud-based applications to boost productivity and operational efficiency while bringing down costs. To enhance the customer experience, Indian enterprises are modernising their networks and moving away from legacy infrastructure to cloud-based architectures. The Indian public cloud services market’s revenue touched $6.2 billion in 2022 and is likely to reach $17.6 billion by 2027, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.3 per cent for the 2022-27 period, according to International Data Corporation’s (IDC) July 2023 Worldwide Semi-annual Public Cloud Services Tracker.

Cloud computing is the cherry on the digital transformation cake, playing an outsize role in bandwidth demand. Cloud-based services and applications such as software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud storage are bandwidth intensive and require faster and higher-capacity connectivity.

On the other hand, in the consumer segment, the growing popularity of work-from-home and uptake of online gaming and e-learning are creating new growth opportunities for Indian service providers. This means that the traffic flows from the residential segment is evolving. Additionally, the launch of 5G services last year is enabling service providers to increase revenue potential by supporting exciting new immersive services, such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).

Challenges along with opportunities

In order to cope with these demands, service providers continue to invest in networks to make them faster, smarter, and cheaper. However, this is easier said than done. As our dependence on digital tools grows, end-users expect the best-in-class digital experience and extreme reliability. On top of this, market opportunities are driving traffic to the network edge as service providers work to ensure lower latency to improve the delivery of services.

To benefit from emerging market opportunities like 5G, internet of things (IoT) and enterprise edge, service providers are investing in internet protocol (IP)/optical convergence, to modernise their networks. This is in line with the global trend, where according to a Heavy Reading survey, nearly 87 per cent of service providers consider IP/optical convergence as crucial for their next-generation networks.

The issue of legacy networks

Legacy networks were not designed to support the expectations of new-age digital users and demanding service level agreements (SLAs). These traditional networks are not just capital-intensive but are also siloed and rigid. Typically, every network layer has its own control plane, which usually operates independently from other layers. This leads to network complexity and inefficiencies, which impact network utilisation and optimisation.

Now with changing usage patterns, service providers want to provide high-quality and consistent services to both residential and enterprise segments. However, legacy networks have become a bottleneck, limiting the ability to support next-generation distributed services and applications. New-age services and use cases demand high network agility, automation, and programmability, which is not typically supported by traditional network architecture.

Modernising with coherent routing

IP/optical convergence is required because traditional access, aggregation and metro networks are static in their design, and convergence helps in modernising and simplifying networking layers, including optical and IP layers.

Initial industry thinking around IP/optical convergence primarily focused on collapsing the IP and optical layers of the network—simply putting a coherent plug in a router. But successful IP/optical convergence requires more than that. It takes a comprehensive approach that is driven by multi-layer operations and includes an intelligent programmable optical layer. Without multi-layer visibility and automation, service providers are significantly limited in their ability to plan, troubleshoot, and dynamically move traffic flows in a converged architecture. The result is less than optimal network performance and a poor customer experience.

Taking a holistic approach to IP/iptical, service providers are considering coherent routing, which brings together purpose-built routing, leading coherent optics, and intelligent, flexible photonics – all driven by cutting-edge, multi-layer operations.

A common control plane and multi-layer optimisation, possible with coherent routing, help in network simplification and flexibility which helps in enhancing operational efficiency and bringing down the total cost of ownership (TCO) for service providers. Coherent routing also advises using automation, thus allowing service providers to improve reliability while reducing operational expenditure. A well-managed network enables service providers to improve network economics while helping them achieve scale and enhance network sustainability.

Indian service providers looking to have their cake and eat it too, are leveraging IP/optical convergence to achieve network automation, control, and transparency. This is key in providing exceptional levels of customer service, preventing subscriber churn and growing revenue by providing new and exciting use cases to customers. Coherent routing can help service providers simplify their networks to improve network performance and address the growing expectations of digital users in the cloud era.