Industry recognition for Rakuten’s 5G Reimagined Network - Leading Lights Awards

Congratulation to Rakuten Mobile, arguably one of the industry’s most innovative service providers, for winning not one, but two Leading Light Awards last night. Rakuten won for the “Most Innovative Telco Cloud Strategy by an operator” and “Most Innovative Automation Strategy by an operator”. These are both well earned and well deserved.

Back in April of 2018 Rakuten and Cisco met to discuss their vision of a completely reimagined mobile network. This network was to embrace all the 5G software-defined innovations that the industry had been discussing for the last few years.

The Rakuten Software-Defined Telco Platform is fully virtualized (save the actual cellular antennas which must be physical devices).  Working with Cisco, their Customer Experience (CX) team and some of our Open vRAN eco-system partners, together we reimagined the 5G network. Multi-Access Edge Compute (MEC) was redesigned to support two different workload models.  The first, known as the “Far-edge” compute was designed to deliver a cost-effective virtual RAN.  The second, known as “Edge” was designed to support network services like video streaming and other applications that benefit from being located closer to the end user.  In the core, Rakuten Mobile uses the Cisco Ultra Packet Core and Policy Suite – the industry leading cloud native core and policy for 4G and 5G.  The Telco Cloud Platform uses Cisco’s Intent-based networking for end to end IP transport and takes advantage of its design that disaggregates software from hardware for a more agile and resilient network.  The Rakuten Telco Cloud Platform is not 100% Cisco.  Indeed, the Cisco 5G architecture is modeled to be an open, multi-vendor architecture supporting converged access.  Altiostar provides the virtualized RAN and Intel, Red Hat and others are also important partners in this software-defined platform.

An open, multi-vendor, software-defined end-to-end architecture can be a complex thing to manage, and that brings us to the second award that Rakuten received – Most innovative Automation Strategy by an operator.  Once again, Rakuten and Cisco teamed to reimagine how advanced automation should perform in a 5G network.  The Rakuten network uses Cisco CX Matrix graphic user interface (GUI) system as a single pane of glass for management and orchestration for the network.  CX Matrix is customizable to provide Rakuten with the look, feel, and nomenclature they want to run their network.  Behind CX Matrix are Cisco Network Services Orchestrator (NSO), Elastic Services Controller (ESC) and automation systems from other partners like Innoeye OSS and Alitostar.  With this advanced automation, Rakuten was able to bring up their entire network with the push of a button in a few hours – not days.

The result of these most innovative telco cloud and automation strategies include a nation-wide network built in less than a year. Reduced cost to deploy and operate. And network that will run 4G LTE ate first and the 2020 planned upgrade to 5G will be only a matter of new physical antenna and RAN software.  The network is truly 5G enabled.

Cisco Showcases Networking Leadership at SCTE Cable-Tec Expo:

The service provider marketplace is evolving rapidly to support 5G, multicloud, IoT, smart cities and multi-Gigabit-speed bandwidth demand. Cable operators, in particular, are navigating this new landscape by capitalizing on new revenue opportunities through virtualization, software-defined networking, faster DOCSIS speeds and more. As a global leader in networking, security and cloud, Cisco is focused on helping its cable operator customers automate, simplify and monetize their networks for the age of connected everything. The company is announcing a number of industry firsts this week at SCTE Cable-Tec Expo in Atlanta.

Full Duplex DOCSIS Ready Node 

Many cable operators are upgrading their systems to support higher bandwidth and streamlined workflows to maintain their high-speed data market share. Full Duplex DOCSIS (FDX) has emerged to enable cable operators deliver symmetrical services over their existing cable access networks. Cisco is announcing the GS7000 FDXi, the industry’s first ‘FDX-ready’ node. It is an intelligent, remotely programmable, Remote PHY node, with the capability to turn on Full Duplex DOCSIS services when needed.

Cloud Native Broadband Router Live with Midco

Midco, an innovator in cable and wireless systems, is using the recently launched Cisco Cloud Native Broadband Router (cnBR) CCAP solution in trials to deliver Gigabit services to Mobridge, South Dakota. “Cisco’s open standards design using micro services and software containers will greatly simplify our development and deployment of new functions while reducing our time to market with new services,” said Jon Pederson, chief technology officer, Midco. “Its ability to economically scale for big and small customer regions, as well as its high-level performance, are true differentiators.” The Cisco cnBR will soon be available in two versions: high-availability and lab-evaluation configuration. Each will come complete with routing, Ethernet switching, servers, Remote PHY nodes and shelves and management software.

Cogeco Connexion Gains Flexibility with Infinite Broadband Unlocked Licensing Plan

Cisco also announced its first cable customer for the Infinite Broadband Unlocked (IBU), the industry’s first DOCSIS license plan that is designed to scale license costs to cable operator business success. As the number of customers per service group shrinks to accommodate demand for bandwidth and speed, traditional DOCSIS licensing plans based on a license per channel or license per service group has exploded. Cogeco Connexion in Montreal, Canada, is the first large cable operator to implement Cisco’s Infinite Broadband Unlocked (IBU) licensing across their entire cable footprint. With IBU, Cogeco has the freedom to make changes, migrate and optimize its network without incurring significant costs for increasing data speeds and adding service groups. “Infinite Broadband Unlocked allows us to upgrade our current broadband network to enable the majority of Cogeco Connexion’s footprint to be 1 Gig ready,” said Michel Blais, vice president, Engineering and Operations, Cogeco Connexion. “With Infinite Broadband Unlocked, we remain committed to keeping pace with our customers’ needs by focusing on their true requirements in terms of having the right bandwidth speed and equipment, wireless technology and services to optimize their online enjoyment.”

Cisco Demos at SCTE Cable-Tec Expo

The Cisco booth will take customers on a journey of network transformation, helping them extend the value of their greatest assets; the HFC plant and core infrastructure. Cisco has been a leading force behind major industry shifts, including analog to IP, centralized to distributed architecture with Remote PHY, and hardware to software. Customers can visit Cisco to explore affordable options for these transitions, and explore new market opportunities such as managed services, mobile backhaul over DOCSIS, Full Duplex DOCSIS and more. “Cisco is proud to demonstrate our leadership and cable innovation here at SCTE together with customers,” said Sean Welch, vice president and general manager, Cisco Cable Access Business. “Throughout our booth, we are showcasing how we’re advancing cable networks for a new era of networking - bringing together SDN, cloud and virtualization - and making it all work for cable with new and flexible licensing options that scale to our customers’ needs.” Cisco is leading the disruption in the industry with its technology innovations in routing, 5G, subscriber experience (mobile, cable, fixed), automation, optical and optics.  Together with its portfolio of professional services, Cisco enables service providers, media and web companies to reduce cost and complexity, helps scale and secure their networks, and grow their revenue.

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