SK Telecom today introduced an all-in-one box for enterprise customers packed with a Dell Technologies server and VMware’s cloud-native software stack and network automation services.

OneBox MEC is designed for enterprises that want a pre-integrated system for private 5G and access to SK Telecom’s edge computing network. It includes the Dell EMC PowerEdge XE2420 server coupled with VMware’s 5G Telco Cloud Platform.

Other software vendors, systems integrators, network functions providers can extend the capabilities of OneBox MEC to improve latency, reliability, or security of IT systems, according to Dell Technologies.

The single box offering is exclusive to SK Telecom enterprise customers that want to gain access to the South Korean operator’s mobile edge compute service. The operator inked a wide-ranging agreement with Microsoft in May 2019 to collaborate on 5G, artificial intelligence, and cloud services to expand the capabilities of IoT.

It also, at the end of 2020, deployed 5G mobile edge computing capabilities with Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) Wavelength offering, which embeds AWS compute and storage at the edge of mobile networks. 

Every 5G operator is seeking opportunities to broaden their business by adding private 5G services and they largely intend to do that by taking advantage of the shift that is underway to move more workloads to the edge, David Trigg, VP of market development at Dell Technologies, told SDxCentral. 

Dell Technologies is discussing similar opportunities with many network operators, but commercialized outcomes with other carriers won’t all necessarily follow the approach that SK Telecom is taking with a pre-integrated kit that includes the hardware and software, he explained. 

“One of Dell Technologies’ fundamental philosophies is driving choice and enabling choice,” Trigg said. Those choices, as they materialize for operators, are lowering costs and driving out some of the vendor lock-in or siloed approaches to architecture, but it also opens up a lot of complexity and potential risks around security and the speed of deployment, he added.

“We think we can address a lot of those concerns by taking this approach and having an integration solution,” Trigg said.