Ericsson is layering its virtualized 5G core on Google Cloud’s public infrastructure in an integrated effort to support commercial mobile deployments across the hyperscaler’s global footprint in a pay-as-you-go manner.

Eric Parsons, VP head of emerging segments and cloud software and services at Ericsson, explained that the package includes everything needed to run a 5G core, including the network control units. These run as cloud-native functions running within Google’s Kubernetes Engine (GKE) platform.

“What we're talking about here is bringing not only the control plane of the mobile core, but the user plan as well,” Parsons said.

The integration can support the “sub-second convergence” requirements needed for mobile telecom networks.

“One of the aspects that mobile traffic is very sensitive to is interruptions in the traffic flows, Parsons said. “Radio resources are very precious so you want to do everything you can to protect the radio network by making sure that your core network is operating without interruption, and so that ability to respond to elasticity, responding to different events that are happening in the network with sub-second convergence is critical to ensuring that the mobile network itself is operating in the best possible way and ultimately serving the customers in the mobile customers in the way that they expect.”

The package is being managed by Ericsson and offered through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. Muninder Singh Sambi, VP and GM of networking and security at Google Cloud, noted this means a 5G core network can be set up in minutes anywhere across Google Cloud’s infrastructure footprint.

“You can think of CSPs launching this service in minutes,” Sambi said. “You can scale capacity instantly and only pay for what they use for Google Cloud.”

Ericsson’s part of the platform does differ from what the vendor has been doing to run its virtualized 5G core in on-premises environments like it has done with Broadcom’s VMware and IBM’s Red Hat.

“We're taking the core business logic but really investing in the networking layer to really be native to Google,” Parsons explained. “While you have a certain way to be multicloud on the [on-premises]-type stacks, you know, VMware, Red Hat and so on, this is really about finding a way that we can really leverage the total strength of what you get when you're running in the public cloud, and the elasticity that comes with it.”

The new Ericsson On-Demand service also climbs on previous virtualized telecom efforts with Google Cloud. This includes 5G radio access network (RAN) integration work. They two have also partnered on an API-focused joint venture designed to help telecom operators drive application revenue from their network resources.

Who is the target?

Parsons said this service is being targeted at CSPs. This includes already established players that are looking to either simplify their already established network operations, expand that footprint more easily into different geographies, or for smaller operators looking to start their 5G journey.

While many established brownfield operators have moved their 5G core infrastructure into virtualized environments, some continue to run those networks on-premises in private clouds. For example, Adam Koeppe, SVP of technology planning at Verizon, recently reiterated to SDxCentral that the operator’s cloud-based network moves are fully internal.

“Our key difference [is] we have our own internal cloud, the hyperscalers are not in this equation for us,” Koeppe said. “Our goal in the beginning when we started down our virtualization path was to ensure that we had control over the customer experience on top of our own internal cloud. We have a whole series of tools for optimization, service delivery, pushing software orchestration and automation, all the bells and whistles, but our goal is always have control over that customer experience.”

This mantra was echoed by rival AT&T executive Igal Elbaz, who told SDxCentral in a previous interview that “AT&T’s 5G mobility core runs on AT&T hardware in the AT&T data centers and operated by AT&T.”

However, both executives did note there was a place for public cloud to also be mixed into specific environments.

“We’ll probably see scenarios where a multicloud environment comes into the picture and pretty much almost always tied to an enterprise need,” Koeppe said. “If you’ve got an enterprise customer that is trying to manage some of their applications or workloads on a private network, on a public network, whatever the case might be, we can facilitate that type of architecture as well.”

AT&T’s Elbaz said these architectures also allow operators to better take advantage of tools and automation developed by hyperscalers.

“At the heart of this is how can we take advantage of the hyperscaler investment in tools, automation and cloud capabilities, because that’s their business and they are really good at it,” Elbaz said. “And knowing that this is how we are going to run the network going forward so why not take advantage of this.”

Parsons acknowledged that some operators are likely to maintain this private network arrangement, though he did add that the Ericsson offering could still be used to augment capacity.

“Why continue to build burst capacity on existing data centers when you could consume burst capacity on demand as you need it,” Parsons said.

Google Cloud’s telecom journey

Muninder said the Ericsson deal plays into Google Cloud’s fundamental efforts in not wanting “to define the journey for the customer.” This has been highlighted by the hyperscaler’s work with operators such as Bell Canada, Verizon, and Telus.

“We want to meet their journey into the cloud and meeting their journey of the cloud there might be customers who will want to consume this all as-a-service, which is Ericsson On- Demand, getting the full 5G capabilities from control, data plane, and associated apps,” Muninder said. “But there might be customers who might have a very different journey. They've highly invested in [on-premises]. Yes, they can use Ericsson On-Demand for DR or for burst use cases … but then there are a set of customers who have an infrastructure and want to only run control plane functions while integrating with their [on-premises] assets.”

Google Cloud rivals Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft have themselves made varying moves into the telecom space.

AWS, for instance, has scored deals to use its public cloud assets in support of 5G core networks from operators like Comcast, Boost Mobile, and O2 Telefónica. Microsoft, on the other hand, has been a bit more sporadic in its telecom efforts, changing what was a much broader focus early on to a more cloud-focused supporting role.

Analysts do expect these efforts to progress. A report from Dell’Oro Group forecast that hyperscalers like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) would be hosting 9% of 5G standalone (SA) workloads in their public cloud environments by 2027.