Google and Casa Systems are partnering to create a cloud-native 5G Core and also a strategy for multi-access edge computing (MEC). The service/offering will be available to network operators (telcos, cable companies) and also to enterprises who want private 5G. To say that this raises some interesting questions is an understatement, so let’s dig in to address those questions and hopefully offer some answers.
The “Why now?” question surely tops the list. After all, it’s not like 5G Core has been on the lips of users of 5G services. In fact, most users can’t even name a feature of 5G that depends on 5G Core. Network operators have generally supported the implementation of 5G Core, but not necessarily with a high priority. About half of operators tell me their top reason for planning a 5G Core deployment is competitive; they’re afraid that even network users who don’t know what 5G Core is will still be sensitive to a marketing tale from a competing operator who offers it.
The answer to the question is also more “competitive-reasons” than anything else. Public cloud providers know that larger network operators are unlikely to be prepared to host 5G functions on their own edge facilities across the full geography where they provide service. Some don’t want to host them at all, and so any cloud provider needs to be able to respond or they risk losing what could be a significant amount of business.
OK, that wasn’t too difficult. Next question: Why offer 5G Core to enterprises? Any enterprise application of 5G is rare, but the great majority of them would be focusing on 5G NR, the new-radio component that offers support for 5G devices and higher per-cell and per-device capacity. 5G Core implies a distributed 5G footprint, which most enterprises would not have or need.
Two answers here: Competition and government. What public cloud provider with a 5G strategy isn’t including enterprise or “private” 5G in their story? ‘Nuff said. As for government, that’s the community of 5G adopters who might actually be 1) real and 2) consumers of 5G Core services. Perhaps large city governments, but more likely state/province or national governments, especially the military.
Government deals might be the early 5G Core adopters, in fact. Network slicing end to end is surely useful in government applications, not only military and security but also public works. First responder network services could be offered by 5G operators using slicing, but also by the governments themselves.
Next question: Why a partner deal rather than a player going it alone? Casa and Google Cloud had previously partnered for 5G Standalone (SA), which includes 5G Core, with Casa providing the software and Google (obviously) the cloud and cloud integration expertise. The two companies needed each other for this, and in fact had a history of cooperation with what was essentially the same technology set.
Casa also did a deal with Verizon to provide 5G Core technology to support Verizon’s MEC deployment, and that is the bridge between those questions dealing with the announcement itself and the questions that relate to the implications of the deal overall. Recall that the Casa announcement of its deal with Google Cloud includes MEC.
MEC is one of those evolving concepts, which all too often means that the market has an elastic definition for what it is. Originally, MEC was the name given to the local-to-the-base-station hosting resources called for in the 3GPP 5G spec. More recently, the term has been generalized to mean what the Casa release on its Verizon deal says: “Mobile Edge Compute (MEC) technology moves computing resources onto cloud servers at the network edge – as close as possible to places where data is generated.” Not necessarily all the way to the base station, where the resources would offer limited economies of scale for other applications. That raises the question that matters in this announcement; is Google Cloud and Casa proposing a model for more generalized edge computing under the cover of MEC?
Edge computing is the superset of MEC, and the definition in Casa’s announcement that I quoted above is really IMHO an edge computing definition. Edge computing is a kind of hybrid of the cloud and on-premises distributed computing, because “the edge” and “as close as possible” include situations where proximity can be optimized only by putting the computing resources in the same facilities as the devices that use them. This is the almost-classic IoT model, where a production line or warehouse has its own edge server(s). However, all edge resources wouldn’t necessarily be on premises. The sweet spot for shared (public) edge services, and for network operator edge services related to adding value to basic connectivity, would be the metro center. Public cloud facilities in specific geographic areas would also be able to provide edge hosting, and the optimum location would depend on latency and cost requirements.
Creating logic that could be moved easily across a range of hosting locations likely starts with containers and container orchestration, meaning Kubernetes. It may be coincidence, but Google sponsored an open-source initiative, Nephio, whose mission is “to deliver carrier-grade, simple, open, Kubernetes-based cloud native intent automation and common automation templates that materially simplify the deployment and management of multi-vendor cloud infrastructure and network functions across large scale edge deployments.” This statement seems to hit the same buttons as the Casa/Google Cloud announcement and Casa’s work with Verizon.
If Google Cloud and Casa are really framing out a strategy for edge computing that would also serve as the framework for carrier function hosting, which is that Nephio could be, then it could be that Google is seeing edge computing as its opportunity to stand out from other public cloud services. Given that Amazon seems to be focused on the OTTs and Microsoft on enterprise cloud, Google could focus on “carrier cloud” and perhaps gain some market share. Carrier cloud is a geekier market, too, which plays to Google’s strength.
The big questions with this are 1) whether Google/Casa can gain traction at this point, given that there is still no clear business case for 5G Core and that a slow-roll deployment would afford others plenty of time to stake out competing positions, and 2) whether traction in carrier cloud can translate to edge computing, given that carriers don’t seem to have any real edge ambitions beyond 5G.
I think Casa has enough credibility with the Verizon deal to hold a position in the market, which would answer the first question. But Casa is operator-focused and they can’t make the operator-horse drink at the edge-waterhole. Google has the smarts to come up with a great edge computing model, but they’ve been consistently weak in marketing/positioning for their cloud offering. Thus, we can’t answer the second question with any decisive positive. That means that the venture, with all its promise at the operator level, is still at risk.