What is a Telecommunications Cloud?

A Telecommunications Cloud, or telco cloud, marks a revolutionary advancement in network architecture, blending software-defined networking, network functions virtualization (NFV), and cloud-native technology within a distributed computing network. This innovative approach decentralizes both network and computing resources across various sites and clouds, necessitating sophisticated automation and orchestration.

At its core, the telco cloud represents a paradigm shift towards a virtualized and programmable network infrastructure. This infrastructure harnesses the power of automation and artificial intelligence, facilitating the deployment of network functions in a disaggregated manner, detached from dedicated hardware. Each function operates as a virtual network function (VNF) or a cloud-native network function on a horizontal platform. These functions, ranging from load balancing to firewalls, contribute to the creation of a common virtualized infrastructure crucial for delivering communication services.

Functioning as a software-defined, highly resilient cloud infrastructure, the telco cloud empowers telecommunication service providers to enhance service agility, respond promptly to changing network demands, and optimize the utilization of central and decentralized resources. This technological evolution, integral to successful digital transformation, originally applied virtualization concepts from data centers to networks. With the advent of 5G, the telco cloud expanded its scope beyond NFV, embracing cutting-edge technologies such as containers, microservices, and hybrid cloud architectures.

Complexities in Migration to Telecommunications Cloud

Shifting voice services to the cloud is a smart decision for voice service providers. Nevertheless, the migration process introduces complexities, especially in reevaluating the monitoring strategy for voice services. The transition involves replacing on-premises equipment with a new cloud-based system, presenting an opportunity for significant enhancements in visibility and monitoring capabilities.

Traditional monitoring systems offer comprehensive data on call signaling but tend to overlook network performance and in-call quality. Metrics crucial for the in-call user experience, such as MOS, jitter, loss, and others, are frequently presented as averages of calls with varying durations. This method primarily highlights measurable impacts, typically observed in severe network failures. Access to dependable, precise, and actionable data becomes essential for preserving service quality and ensuring a user experience that meets customer expectations.

Utilizing comprehensive data on both the control and media plane empowers communication service providers to holistically monitor performance, promptly pinpoint the origins of issues, and enhance the user experience. Actionable voice monitoring data provides in-depth insights and valuable information derived from data, resulting in tangible outcomes like a reduction in mean time to repair (MTTR). Consequently, this improves service quality, streamlines service management, and boosts operational efficiency, potentially leading to cost savings.

Advantages of Telecommunications Cloud

Cloud computing has emerged as a transformative force within the telecommunications sector, delivering a multitude of benefits that reshape the industry landscape. Here are key advantages that the Telecommunications Cloud, or telco cloud, offers to operators:

1. Cost efficiency: Telcos benefit from a pay-as-you-go pricing model, eliminating heavy upfront investments in hardware. This approach optimizes resource utilization, significantly reducing operational expenses and providing substantial cost savings.
2. Flexibility and scalability: Cloud computing allows telcos to scale resources dynamically based on demand. This flexibility enables operators to handle fluctuating customer requirements, adapt to market changes, and stay nimble in an ever-evolving landscape.
3. Security and reliability: Reputable cloud service providers maintain robust data centers with stringent security measures. Telcos leveraging cloud infrastructure ensure data security and business continuity, offering peace of mind as they store and process sensitive customer information.
4. Innovation and speed to market: Telco cloud empowers rapid innovation and experimentation with new services. Reduced time and effort for infrastructure setup enable telcos to bring innovative offerings to market faster, gaining a competitive edge.
5. Customer satisfaction and business agility: Telco cloud enhances customer satisfaction by enabling the quick integration of cloud-based applications and features targeted to specific customer segments. Cloud-native architecture and methodologies such as agile and DevSecOps reduce time-to-deploy and improve time-to-revenue.

There are many benefits to moving voice services to the cloud. In order to leverage these benefits without compromising the user experience, however, a high level of visibility is required.

The Importance of a High-Level Visibility

CSPs enjoy the benefits of moving their voice services to the Cloud but also need to stay in full control of call quality:

• Ensure service quality matches user expectations
• Relevant and actionable data on in-call quality as well as user experience
• Identify and troubleshoot issues quickly and without the need for expert knowledge
• Reduce the cost of service management and operations

In essence, they need to make sure they have an end-to-end visibility on signaling and in-call quality. Most tools focus on signaling, but full user experience info needs in-call quality as well.

Signaling Monitoring to Control Connectivity

1. Call details: 

• Measurement of call signaling at multiple points in the network
• Automatic detection of signaling issues
• Correlation of all call-related measurements to xDRs and CDRs for an end-to-end view

2. Statistics and KPIs:

• Aggregation of signaling data for SIP Trunks, Numbering Plans and Probes
• Calculation of standard IETF 6076 KPIs, e.g. SEER, ISA, SDT and SRD
• Proprietary KPIs such as dropped call ratio, redial ratio, short call ratio, and many more

Media Monitoring to Control In-Call User Experience

1. Call details: 

• Packet-by-packet measurement of RTP media transmission at multiple points in the network
• Automatic detection of RTP issues
• Quality summaries for every 5-second RTP segment, incl. MOS 
• Multi-tier correlation to call signaling

2. Statistics and KPIs:

• Aggregation of media data for Trunks, Numbering Plans and Probes
• Calculation of standard ETSI time-slicing media KPIs, e.g. GMR, CMR
• KPIs based on the aggregation of automatic root cause indicators

This dual visibility ensures data-based insights through 360-degree voice-quality information, which is the only way to provide superior insights into the real user experience.

Future Outlook

Communication service providers can leverage the benefits of implementing cloud-based voice services using tools like Qrystal for Google Cloud and Qrystal for AWS. These tools ensure comprehensive visibility and the delivery of top-notch service quality. This facilitates rapid, secure, and flexible deployments of cloud voice services, aligning with customer expectations for an outstanding user experience.

In a tight partnership, cloud providers and Voipfuture guarantee that service providers transitioning to the telco cloud can maximize operational efficiency and flexibility without sacrificing visibility. On the contrary, by reevaluating the monitoring strategy and placing a stronger emphasis on in-call quality, user satisfaction can be significantly enhanced.