AT&T teamed with Dell Technologies and VMware to provide an enterprise-focused 5G mobile edge compute (MEC) package that can power on-premises private wireless services. The combo is the latest push by the ecosystem to jumpstart the slowly evolving private network space.

The trio will combine their respective areas of expertise to the new offering, dubbed AT&T MEC with Dell Apex. AT&T will provide its cellular and 5G connectivity; Dell its edge processing and physical infrastructure offered through its Apex as-a-service model; and VMware with its telco-focused virtualization platform.

Doug Lieberman, senior director for global solutions and co-creation services at Dell’s Telecom Systems Business, noted specifically that Dell’s Apex portion “is a cloud in a box” that can be deployed in edge locations.

AT&T’s bit is adding its MEC software to handle routing functions and workload identification similar to a 5G user-plane function (UFC) and providing the optional private mobility service using the carrier’s licensed spectrum.

VMware provides the capability for those customers to more easily package their applications to run and manage those applications.

Lieberman explained the combination is targeted at enterprise edge solutions operating outside of a core data center.

“Things such as a really rock-solid IT stack to make sure that your business workloads are running effectively and efficiently and always up with the ability to direct traffic where it needs to go and to integrate with an optional private mobility or private 5G infrastructure that may be there as well,” Lieberman said. “Really combining those pieces and ensuring that the data is being processed right at the edge where it needs to be processed. Integrating with other solutions and other workloads that are in the cloud or in a core data center is really the key piece of what this brings together.”

The system also includes security controls and supports multi-cloud deployments. The Apex model also shortens deployment time and reduces complexity, with Lieberman noting customers can have the system up and running in an edge environment within weeks.

Lieberman said the partnership’s depth is targeted at helping enterprises see the value in what a MEC system can provide. This includes the capability to run revenue-generating applications and services.

“We know that enterprises are looking for outcomes and really aren't focused on science experiments anymore,” Lieberman said. “They really are looking for a kind of top-down, bottom solution that they're able to build on top of and drive their enterprise business solutions on.”

He added that this package in support of those solutions is important because the edge “isn’t simply a mini data center.”

“There's a lot of different characteristics that go into what a true edge is, whether that’s the far edge, near edge, telco edge or enterprise edge,” Lieberman said. “But the point is that if you want to run a business outcome at your edge, there's a reason why you need to do it there, whether that’s volume, velocity or variety. There’s all of that really big data or data that needs to be processed immediately.”

Those MEC use cases have so far been slow to mature.

AT&T COO Jeff McElfresh explained during an investor conference earlier this year that the carrier expects its slow roll into the private 5G network and MEC space will begin to pay dividends, though it remains cautious on the near-term impact.

“As we start to see more 5G chipsets getting embedded in edge equipment – not just devices that we use with our hands – I think you’re gonna begin to see a larger, growing revenue stream from the 5G spectrum deployed in the enterprise space with those basic services,” McElfresh said. “[It] doesn’t require a lot of really high science and private networking, for example, to achieve that monetization. I’m encouraged because that’s the trend that I am seeing in the discussions with our largest enterprise accounts.”

Lieberman said the market has definitely started to pick up due to the increased capabilities inherent in the 5G technology specification.

“It has evolved in a way that is both understandable ways in terms of where it’s first being deployed and in unpredictable ways that it turned out to be ideal for scenarios like mining,” Lieberman noted. “It’s combining to be a continuing evolving story about how to really not look at 5G as just the next generation of the previous technology or simply a ‘Wi-Fi’ replacement, because that's not what it is. … But as we go we see the market developing, we see people taking a chance and really evolving the kinds of workloads that they're running. And as they do that we're seeing new ways in which it can be highly beneficial to them over other infrastructures that are possibly there today.”