As discussed in last week’s blog – https://www.vamsitalkstech.com/5g/dish-networks-5g-reference-architecture-on-aws-1-3/, DISH Networks is pioneering the deployment of a greenfield 5G network. This implementation uses O-RAN standards and consists of a Radio Unit(RU) deployed on cell towers and a Distributed Unit (DU) as well as a centralized unit (CU) which is deployed in an AWS local zone. While these components combine to provide a full RAN solution that handles radio level control and subscriber data traffic, let us consider the key architecture lessons from this first blog.
We have covered the myriad requirements (https://www.vamsitalkstech.com/5g/the-final-post-of-2021-telco-optimized-kubernetes/) that Kubernetes distributions need to incorporate before they can help CSPs (Communication Service Providers) transition their workloads away from 4G LTE to 5G. A lot of these apply to the use case highlighted in the Dish blog.
- Whether 5G Core and Radio workloads run on a hyperscaler datacenter or on-premise, these are all cloud-native workloads composed of microservices. Thus, the telco industry and leading adopters such as DISH will transition over from VNFs (Virtual Network Functions) to CNFs (Cloud Native Functions) exclusively as they migrate over from brownfield 4G LTE or to build greenfield 5G deployments.
- 5G NSA (Non standalone networks) will run a Service-based architecture that enables disaggregation of both hardware and functions that run on the hardware (whether vRAN or OpenRAN).
- The 5G Core Network will be deployed in a Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) manner as discussed here – https://www.vamsitalkstech.com/5g/deep-dive-into-5g-core-architecture-in-the-cloud/
- Container orchestration becomes an essential and key need for carriers and other 5G vendors alike, thus Kubernetes is an integral component for these platforms.
- While there exist other platforms for containerization, Kubernetes and implementations based on it such as Amazon EKS will dominate this space. Hence the DISH architecture maxim – “maximize the use of cloud infrastructure and services”. The goal is to leverage the cloud provider for as much of the heavy lifting as possible while deploying 5G Core and RAN services while ensuring that developers can focus on building business functionality.
- While CI/CD Model, Continuous monitoring and integrated orchestration will enable the use of 5G components for services in multiple target environments (Dev/Test/Production/Enterprise) with full automation.
The next blogpost will focus on the Part ⅔ of the DISH implementation.
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