SCOPE Alliance will be hosting a member workshop— “Cloud Computing in Telecom” May 5-6 at the IEEE Operations Center in Piscataway, New Jersey.  Fourteen presenters and a panel will examine the application of cloud computing technologies in telecom networks (workshop agenda and list of speakers).

Cloud computing is an emerging technology that is impacting future enterprise computing service implementations. Some new Internet telecom services like Vonage, Skype and MagicJack are emerging telecom services. However, it is not clear how cloud computing can be used to implement traditional telecom services.

“Cloud Computing in Telecom” will examine how applicable cloud computing is to telecom and how cloud computing can be used to implement telecom services.  Telecom encompasses a broad spectrum of services from POTS (Plain Old Telecom Service), conferencing, video-conferencing, PABX (Automatic Private Branch Exchange) and cellular in a broad set of network elements such as core network elements and RAN (Radio Access Network) network elements. The network elements can sit on the control side of the network, bearer side, or be responsible for both control and bearer. We will examine the impact of cloud computing on the network architecture.

The control side network elements are largely compute platforms with perhaps large data storage. With the exception of perhaps some telecom specific I/O, these network elements align closely with the hardware capabilities of cloud computing services. 

Conversely, the network elements in the bearer plane may need some additional hardware for telco interfaces and bearer processing. The network elements in the bearer plane may impose new hardware requirements onto the cloud computing service.

Currently telecom services are implemented on carrier grade platforms within private networks. Carrier grade platforms provide functionality that is not typically associated with cloud computing. We will examine some of the key carrier grade platform functionality and map it to cloud computing capability. In this exercise we will highlight both the benefits and perhaps gaps in cloud computing.

These cloud computing gaps can be resolved by either enhancing the cloud computing capabilities or the integration of carrier grade platforms into a cloud computing network. We will discuss these as well as perhaps other solution alternatives.

Cloud computing supports multiple service management models such as SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). We will discuss these cloud computing models and their applicability for telecom applications. We will also examine these models to determine if the telecom application requires additional model functionality.

Privacy in telecom communications and subscriber data is essential. Due to security and quality requirements, telecom networks are private. We need to examine if public or private clouds are more appropriate for telecom services implemented in cloud computing. We will examine the cloud computing security standards and capabilities and map them to Telecom requirements for Iaas, Paas, and Saas solutions. We will also discuss how telecom service requirements for carrier grade security can be achieved in a cloud computing implementation. Remaining security concerns will be identified as gaps in the solution.
   
Telecom systems have demanding SLAs (Service Level Agreements) which may impact the cloud computing requirements. Carrier grade networks have dedicate shared resources to handle specified call loads. Virtualization is supported by carrier grade platforms as well as in cloud computing. We will also examine if telecom services impose new requirements on cloud computing virtualization or resource management.

Virtualization is a key enabler for cloud computing. We will examine the impact of virtualization on telco services such as telecom network management, performance, and availability; as well as the network architecture. Cloud computing interworking for a federation of clouds will also be examined. We will map this capability to telecom requirements and determine if there are any gaps in the virtualization solutions for telecom.

“Cloud Computing in Telecom” registration is open to SCOPE Alliance members until Friday, April 30, 2010. Registration and membership information is available at www.SCOPE-Alliance.org.

About SCOPE Alliance
The SCOPE Alliance is an association of Network Equipment Providers aimed at accelerating the deployment of Carrier Grade Base Platforms for service provider applications. Its mission is to enable and promote the availability of open Carrier Grade Base Platforms for service provider applications. Its mission is to enable and promote the availability of open Carrier Grade Base Platforms based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software building blocks, and to promote interoperability to better serve Service Providers and consumers. For more information about the SCOPE Alliance, visit www.SCOPE-Alliance.org.