CSPs: Avoiding the Pitfalls Before Falling Off the Edge Achieving Early Success in "Edge" Deployments
Evan Kirstel
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by Evan Kirstel (Linkedin) & @evankirstel (Twitter)
When I first heard about it, I was taken aback by the idea that communications service providers (CSPs) are failing to design and deploy new solutions and products. Upon further reading, I learned about the underlying issues at hand and found myself intrigued enough to write about the subject. As the Ericsson paper points out, "with the advent of 5G and IoT, the ‘network edge has become the new battleground for CSPs, cloud providers and enterprise application developers.’" I would add that enterprise customers are also confronted with this conundrum — getting their arms around 5G and IoT and all the different flavors such as industrial (IIot), medical (IoMT), and so on. There is no one kind of IoT or one size that fits all. Let's start with the Top Five Pitfalls Service Providers Must Avoid:
Pitfall #1: Repeating the cloud debacle
Pitfall #2: Naivete — build it and they will come
Pitfall #3: Ignoring use cases and focusing on technology
Pitfall #4: Not evolving business and technology simultaneously
Pitfall #5: Ignoring security until later
I am not going to address all of these pitfalls in this one-minute read, nor do I think all of them are worth worrying about. You should study them for yourself and come to your own conclusions. However, I will discuss a few of them in this series of articles.
First, "Naivete: build it and they will come" is akin to the chicken or egg. Decades ago, when integrated services digital network (ISDN) or primary rate interface (PRI) arrived in the marketplace, I was asked to write an in-depth research report on the topic. ISDN was significant because it involved digital networking and, like today with 5G and IoT, all sorts of people were curious. Without expanding on all the issues in my research report, here's is a key point. New technologies often requires businesses to rethink what they are doing, how they are doing it, and whether they might be willing to change. Might is the operative word as many businesses and people don't like change.
Next, providers don't ask customers what they "must have" versus what is "nice to have." Providers think their "new toy" is a must-have, while businesses "must have" what they already have because it took them a long time to get what they have working the way they need it to work now. Again, businesses buy technology, then spend a lot more time and money with a lot of people trying to get that technology to work without them losing their jobs. This is known as a resume generating event (RGE). The report I wrote on ISDN concluded with studies of providers asking what customers wanted and customers asking what providers were offering. No one was looking at what was needed by both parties. This "chicken-egg" situation applies to many technologies.
Summary: Since we are at the one-minute read, I’ll stop. Next time, I’ll explore more of the pitfalls and opportunities. I would like to thank Ericsson for the opportunity to share some ideas and insights on this critically important subject and for taking the initiative to be the thought leader in this exciting technological realm.
References:
https://www.ericsson.com/en/reports-and-papers/white-papers/private-5g-networks
https://www.ericsson.com/assets/local/5g/documents/serving-the-5g-powered-business-report.pdf