Making best use of data at the network's edge

Moshe Shadmon has always been interested in data, the type that is spread out and requires scrutiny.  

Moshe Shadmon

He read law at university but was also fascinated by maths and computers.

By the time Shadmon graduated with a law degree, he had set up a software company. He never practised law. 

"I think that part [not having an engineering degree] has always allowed me to look at things differently," he says.

More recently, Shadmon's interest in data has focussed on the network edge. Here, the data is typically across locations and too plentiful to fit within one machine. 

"If the data needs to be managed across many machines, it is a problem," says Shadmon. "Suddenly, solutions become complicated and expensive."

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Will white boxes predominate in telecom networks?

Will future operator networks be built using software, servers and white boxes or will traditional systems vendors with years of network integration and differentiation expertise continue to be needed? 

AT&T’s announcement that it will deploy 60,000 white boxes as part of its rollout of 5G in the U.S. is a clear move to break away from the operator pack.

The service provider has long championed network transformation, moving from proprietary hardware and software to a software-controlled network based on virtual network functions running on servers and software-defined networking (SDN) for the control switches and routers.

Glenn WellbrockNow, AT&T is going a stage further by embracing open hardware platforms - white boxes - to replace traditional telecom hardware used for data-path tasks that are beyond the capabilities of software on servers.       

For the 5G deployment, AT&T will, over several years, replace traditional routers at cell and tower sites with white boxes, built using open standards and merchant silicon.

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