SUSE introduced an edge computing platform built specifically for telecom operators that takes advantage of "the benefits of reuse in the cloud-native world" and poses a modular alternative to Red Hat OpenShift and VMware Tanzu.

The Adaptive Telco Infrastructure Platform (ATIP) is based on an open infrastructure of modules that integrate through open APIs like the Kubernetes and Cluster API. This theme of reuse exists at "various layers of the platform" to create "a standard, yet super flexible telco infrastructure," Keith Basil, edge GM at SUSE, told SDxCentral.

ATIP was developed in collaboration with operators like Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica, and Telecom Italia, which shaped the platform to address the requirements of modern telecom workloads. Basil cited ATIP's integration with hardware accelerators, high packet throughput, Kubernetes topology awareness, and real-time OS as characteristics particularly suited for telecom operators.

Basil expects telco needs will evolve as time goes on, and while it's not entirely feasible to be steps ahead of those changes, "we’ve built ATIP to allow us to easily add and integrate new requirements," he explained. The platform can also adapt to core or edge deployments using the same framework and offer a "coherent management experience" across workloads, cluster locations, and environments.

In terms of adoption rates, SUSE is currently in negotiations with customers and plans to ink initial deals with telcos this year. The operators that collaborated on the platform's development are currently using ATIP modules in production, "but outside the ATIP branding," Basil noted.

ATIP "competes most directly" with Red Hat OpenShift, VMware Tanzu, and Wind River Studio, but ATIP's modularity lets operators "make more granular decisions about how their environment looks if they wish. It also supports a broader range of deployment scenarios, such as multi-node edge clusters, and managing clusters on a diversity of infrastructure providers," Basil explained.

That modularity is what sets SUSE's platform apart from Red Hat and VMware. It applies to type of OS, specialized Kubernetes distributions for the far edge and larger sites, and the platform's "broad range of telco edge use cases, not just [radio access network] scenarios." ATIP's management solution, he added, "treats public cloud Kubernetes as a first-class citizen."

Basil said he sees more telecommunication operators realizing the benefits of cloud-native technologies and infrastructure for its agility boost and ability to run compute anywhere and everywhere.

"We’re [continuing] to see an increasing rate of modernization and shifts to cloud native. To date this has been focused on proof of concept and trial deployments along with [business-to-business] offerings," he noted. And ATIP is uniquely positioned with its "path from early exploration to production grade solutions for telco operators."

Basil expects to see more 5G core production deployments this year, which should continue driving the cloud-native shift. "As [open RAN] continues to mature, it will also drive the shift to cloud native deployments," he added.