Is telco cloud a Rube Golberg machine nobody can operate?
Telcos who use multiple clouds risk creating a complex system that nobody in the company understands, warned a keynote speaker at a conference on cloud networking for enterprises.
Before addressing a webinar on Multi Cloud and Cloud Native Networking, speaker Bryan Ashley, VP of solutions management and marketing at cloud networking specialist Aviatrix, warned Mobile Europe that the telco cloud could be a fatal complexity multiplier. “One of the biggest challenges [telco] customers face is trying to normalise between multiple clouds,” said Ashley.
Customers will often follow the best practices for each respective cloud but the ‘constructs, functions and limitations’ vary across all the many different types of communications service provider. “The result is often a Rube Golberg machine (aka Heath Robinson) that only a few architects understand,” said Ashley.
In an attempt to ‘normalise’ this developing crisis, customers often try and reduce this complexity through automation but multiple providers are needed. This results in what Ashley describes as “pets not cattle” syndrome as the telco cloud multiplies, a situation where ‘server huggers’ are unable to take decisive action over their pet projects. As a result, automation is obstructed because “our operations teams struggle in troubleshooting a script,” said Ashley
Some telco customers are finding success with the telco cloud because they heed the adage to buy what you can and build what you must, according to Ashley. Platforms, like Aviatrix, that provide an abstraction layer across multiple communications service providers give telco the best chance of being true ‘cloud natives’, said Ashley. If telcos can harmonise operations across multiple cloud providers and address the skills gap across the business, then they could expedite the systematic changes they need to make by using cloud technology.