The operator (which trades as O2) says it is the first in Germany to build its 5G core to support new industiral solutions in the cloud.
The rationale is that these new solutions can be developed faster, production and logistics processes can be more automated and applications implemented in real-time through edge computing. Cost savings could be up to 20%.
Proof of concept
Telefónica Germany will use Amazon Web Services (AWS) to virtualise its 5G core for a proof of concept in an industrial use case, and plans to move to commercial deployment in 2021.
The operator will also use 5G core and orchestration components from Ericsson.
“With the virtualisation of our 5G core network, we are laying the foundation for the digital transformation of the German economy. This collaboration with AWS is an important part of our strategy for building industrial 5G networks”, says Markus Haas, CEO of Telefónica Germany.
Data protection
The operator said it is, “investing a double-digit” millions of euros in the virtualisation of the network and stressed that data protection is a top priority and that all its data will remains on AWS servers in Germany.
Part of the proof of concept process is to ensure compliance with all applicable data protection guidelines and certifying them according to relevant industry standards.
Mallik Rao, CTIO at Telefónica Germany, said, “We are shifting essential functionalities of our 5G core network to the cloud. This turns hardware-centric technology into an extensive software solution.
“Based on Ericsson’s modern cloud-native software architecture as a link to the AWS cloud solution, we can easily, quickly and flexibly integrate new 5G industry applications into our network and offer them to our customers with our 5G cloud.”