The telco industry is getting a much-needed push further into digitization with AWS’s newest offering. The company is significantly expanding its telco-focused offerings with the introduction of AWS Outposts racks and servers designed specifically for the unique demands of the telecommunications industry. These new offerings extend AWS infrastructure and services to the edge of the network, enabling telcos to modernize their infrastructure and accelerate the deployment of virtualized and cloud-based networks.

AWS Outposts Racks: Powering High-Throughput Network Functions

AWS Outposts racks are engineered to handle the demanding requirements of high-throughput, network-intensive workloads, such as 5G Core User Plane Function (UPF) and RAN Central Unit (CU). These racks provide a cost-efficient solution for scaling traffic and meeting the increasing throughput demands of 5G networks.

By deploying AWS Outposts racks, telcos gain the flexibility to place workloads at different locations based on latency, throughput, and traffic aggregation requirements. This enables them to optimize network performance and support advanced 5G use cases.

Key Features:

• Support for high-throughput, network-intensive workloads: The racks leverage EC2 bare metal instances and a bare metal network fabric that can scale to meet increasing performance requirements.
• Enhanced security with AWS Nitro System: The new Amazon EC2 bare metal instances on the AWS Outposts racks are built on the same AWS Nitro System that powers modern Amazon EC2 instances in the AWS Regions.
• Automated deployment and scaling: The racks support pre-validated Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) add-ons required to automate the deployment, management, and scaling of microservices-based 5G network functions.
• Integration with regional AWS services: Telcos can run some AWS services locally and connect to a broad range of services available in the parent AWS Region.

AWS Outposts Servers: Enabling Cloud RAN Deployments

AWS Outposts servers are designed from the ground up for Cloud RAN workloads, meeting the stringent requirements of RAN DU workloads at the edge of the network, such as RAN cell towers. These servers enable telcos to leverage cloud infrastructure and services to deploy virtualized RAN solutions, accelerating 5G adoption and enabling new revenue-generating services.

Key Features:

• Reduced operational complexity: The servers come with pre-integrated L1 acceleration card, hardware, operating system, and Container as a Service (CaaS).
• Accelerated innovation: Telcos can seamlessly take advantage of over 200 AWS services in AWS Regions to develop new revenue-generating services.
• High performance with AWS Graviton3 processors: The servers are powered by AWS Graviton3-based EC2 instances, delivering high compute performance and capacity as well as additional compute options for Cloud RAN and AI inference at the edge.
• Pre-integrated with RAN vendors: AWS is working with RAN vendors to integrate their accelerator cards as future options.

Impact on the Telco Industry

The new AWS Outposts offerings are poised to have a significant impact on the telco industry. By extending AWS infrastructure and services to the edge of the network, telcos can modernize their networks and accelerate the deployment of virtualized and cloud-based infrastructure. This empowers them to offer new and innovative services to their customers, improve operational efficiency, and reduce costs. The ability to run demanding workloads with low latency and high throughput at the network edge opens up new possibilities for 5G use cases and service offerings. The enhanced security and automation capabilities further contribute to improved operational efficiency and cost optimization. Ultimately, these AWS Outposts offerings equip telcos with the tools and infrastructure needed to embrace the agility and scalability of the cloud, driving innovation and enabling them to thrive in the rapidly evolving telecommunications landscape.