- Verizon decided long ago not to put network functions in the public cloud
- It built its own cloud to run network core and security applications for wireless, wireline and security
- The Tier 1's SVP told Fierce that AI could help boost its existing automation levels
The cloud powerhouse behind Verizon’s sprawling fixed and mobile networks isn’t Amazon. It isn’t Google or Microsoft or any of the other big names you might think of either. No, it’s actually…Verizon. And a decade or so into its cloud journey, the operator is still a believer in its own private cloud.
All of Verizon’s wireless, wireline and security functions run on the Verizon Cloud Platform (VCP). VCP, in turn, is an open cloud platform built using OpenStack, OpenShift and WindRiver software, according to Adam Koeppe, the operator’s SVP of Technology Planning, Capital and Maintenance Engineering.
For at least the past several years, the core software running in VCP has been webscale-enabled. Webscale just means that capabilities within a software package can be independently tweaked or grown as needs change, Koeppe explained. This enables added programmability and flexibility to Verizon’s systems, he added.
In terms of GPUs, Koeppe said while Verizon works closely with Nvidia, “We don’t necessarily have a deployment use case for GPUs at this point in time.” That said, Verizon does have the networking, space and power needed to deploy GPUs should they become necessary.
Verizon Cloud Platform: The origin story
The decision to go it alone was — and still is — about control, Koeppe told Fierce.
“We had a really important ground rule from the beginning, which was ‘we’re going to operate this cloud on our premises…we own it, we operate it, we’re in charge of the customer experience,’” he said. “That decision for us was very straightforward for us very early in the process.”
For what it’s worth, many other major operators — including Vodafone, Orange, Deutsche Telekom and more — have also opted to build their own private cloud infrastructure, often for similar reasons (though data sovereignty is another consideration for European players in particular).
Vodafone Group CTO Scott Petty said during a July 2024 presentation that 70% of its network core runs in the private cloud. By 2027, he said that figure will climb to 90%. Petty said the only reason it won’t be 100% is because the operator still runs 2G and there’s not a good economic case for refactoring its 2G platforms for the cloud.
At the time, Petty echoed Koeppe’s reasoning on why it opted for a DIY private cloud over hyperscale offerings. “We can manage the core network better and more effectively on private cloud in our environments and control the latency and performance that we want,” he said.
But back to Verizon.
Koeppe noted getting suppliers on board with a move from hardware to software-focused infrastructure hasn’t been a walk in the park.
“In the very early days of the cloud, we saw some suppliers that could not make the transition. They were stuck in the physical world and could not recreate themselves as a software company for telecom functions in a cloud environment. In most cases their share declined,” he said.
One bright spot among suppliers was Samsung, he added. “We’ve been very public about the success we’ve had with Samsung and V-RAN…that’s a big chunk of our 5G radio access network today.”
But that doesn’t mean Verizon cut out its old partners entirely. Koeppe said that Verizon was able to negotiate “performance, contract terms, flexibility, even programmability” with some of the suppliers it had who couldn’t make the leap to the cloud right away. Though not ideal on Verizon’s end, that was enough to make the old physical equipment compatible with Verizon’s more advanced automation and orchestration capabilities and gave the suppliers a little breathing room to make the transition.
Automation and AI
Speaking of automation, Fierce asked Koeppe when Verizon might achieve the (seemingly mythical) Level 5 automation in its networks. His response?
“There are elements of the network today that are fully autonomous," he said. "The network has enough intelligence to know when a new site is built, what are the neighbors that have to be built for that site so that a customer call or data session can hand off properly."
Koeppe added that while Verizon's network and cloud platform already use elements of AI, the operator is actively working to use AI to create new automation and orchestration capabilities that it can't do today.
What this all means in terms of the formal numerical scale of autonomous networks, Koeppe said he's not sure. But his point was clear. "We know today that we've got a level of autonomy within the network that positions us extremely well for new capabilities that should emerge with AI," he concluded.
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