Kubernetes is changing the way telcos deliver software and Deutsche Telekom (DT) aims to get ahead of this trend thanks a cloud-native collaboration with software vendor Weaveworks.

Weaveworks, which recently found itself on the receiving end of a $36 million investment from DT and others, worked with the network operator to accelerate its migration to a containerized architecture using Kubernetes, Weaveworks COO Steve George told SDxCentral.

The collaboration led Weaveworks to the develop Weave GitOps Enterprise, a commercial version of its open source GitOps Core platform, which the company says targets organizations looking to improve the operational performance of their Kubernetes clusters.

"As soon as we empowered our internal Kubernetes platform team to move forward with Weaveworks’ support, they shipped a working system into production in a matter of months and onto 5G in 2021," DT SVP of Technology Abdu Mudesir said.

Because Kubernetes can be deployed at the edge, in the data center, or in the cloud, it's become an attractive option for telecoms as they explore ways to improve cost efficiency and resource management, George explained. "There'll be different infrastructure being used in the backend, but from the subscriber's perspective, it'll be the same experience... . That's the real advantage of these kinds of software-defined deployment methods."

Using Kubernetes to deploy 5G is a "completely different way of working" that presents its fair share of challenges, George explained. "There are all sorts of different constraints that you have to think through, so [it's] a new world."

Many of these challenges stem from DT's legacy infrastructure and initial concerns about using Kubernetes. Telecom infrastructure environments have complex and unique needs, and although "[Weave GitOps] is all cloud native, it needs to work with the existing investments on the network side," he said. "It's a brownfield situation, so you really have to figure out how to integrate with various pieces."

Another challenge is observability and management, especially for enterprises operating at DT's scale, George said, adding that Weave GitOps addresses this with complete lifecycle management for applications. This means that if there is a resiliency issue, the management framework can generate alerts that are pushed into DT's existing reporting systems.