The adoption of hybrid cloud by service providers marks a game-changing shift when it comes to 5G services. Why? Well, compute resources and data are no longer confined to traditional core data centers; instead, they are distributed across various locations including the core, edge and cloud infrastructure. This decentralization of resources is essential for delivering low-latency, high-bandwidth services demanded by emerging technologies such as IoT, AR and autonomous vehicles.

However, this decentralization introduces new challenges, particularly in managing and securing workloads across diverse environments. The complexity associated with orchestrating resources across the hybrid cloud infrastructure can hinder operational efficiency and increase the risk of security breaches. Service providers recognize the need for solutions that streamline management processes and fortify security measures to safeguard sensitive data and ensure uninterrupted service delivery.

To address these challenges, service providers explore innovative approaches to minimize complexity and enhance security in hybrid cloud environments. This is where companies like Red Hat (News - Alert) and Tech Mahindra come into play; the two recently entered a collaboration to make it easier for telecommunications service providers to accelerate and manage 5G adoption and deployments across the hybrid cloud.

Red Hat uses community collaboration to provide reliable Linux, cloud, and container technologies. They help businesses integrate applications, develop for the cloud and manage complex IT environments. Tech Mahindra helps businesses transform using next-gen tech like AI and blockchain. They focus on creating a sustainable future and a better work experience.

In tandem, Tech Mahindra’s Multi-mode Companion Cloud with Red Hat OpenShift running on AWS supports multiple network use cases, spanning RAN, edge computing, transport and 5G core, to extend capabilities across hybrid cloud environments with integrated automation and orchestration capabilities.

"As we embrace the era of artificial intelligence, telecom networks are on the brink of a significant evolution,” said Manish Mangal, Global Business Head, Network Services and 5G, Tech Mahindra. “Our Multi-mode Companion Cloud solution, seamlessly integrated with Red Hat OpenShift, is poised to revolutionize the landscape.”

Tech Mahindra’s Multi-mode Companion Cloud offering helps service providers more seamlessly off-load on-premises workloads to hybrid cloud environments, that includes Red Hat OpenShift on-premises and on AWS. This helps to increase scalability, speed cloud migrations and make managing 5G services easier via a centralized orchestrator and integrated automation capabilities.

Red Hat OpenShift provides a more consistent infrastructure and application layer to support operations at scale across any cloud environment, with Tech Mahindra’s netOps.ai offering a single-pane-of-glass view to manage infrastructure and automate applications with zero touch provisioning.

Additionally, Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes automates Day 0 and Day 1 configurations while orchestrating workloads across Red Hat OpenShift clusters on-premises and on AWS.

This collaborative approach delivers comprehensive automation capabilities across the hybrid cloud, encompassing core data centers, the edge and AWS. This translates to a more seamless cloud lifecycle management, intelligent workload placement and reduced manual tasks.

Here are several key benefits for service providers:

• Increased flexibility: Streamlined network provisioning and simplified updates across cloud infrastructure.
• Reduced costs: Optimizes existing cloud budgets and committed spending with leading public cloud providers like AWS.
• Greater elasticity: Enables pay-as-you-use and pay-as-you-grow models through the power of AWS.
• Improved network resiliency: Rapidly provisions additional compute power on demand in AWS to meet fluctuating network traffic.

“By combining the power of Red Hat OpenShift as a trusted foundation for hybrid cloud applications with Tech Mahindra’s leading services and cloud orchestration tooling, service providers will be able to more quickly and easily support a full spectrum of network use cases on combinations of on-premises, private and public cloud scenarios,” said Honoré LaBourdette, Acting Senior Vice President, Global Telco, and Vice President, Telco, Media and Entertainment Partner Ecosystem, Red Hat.

To further enhance the offering, Tech Mahindra and Red Hat partnered with i2i systems and Rebaca:

i2i systems with its 5G Core Network on Tech Mahindra's Multi-mode Companion Cloud with Red Hat OpenShift on AWS can create a redundant 5G core network, driving high-speed, low-latency connectivity.

Rebaca and ABot, its cloud-native continuous test assurance and analysis solution, executes 3GPP-compliant test scenarios and analyzes real-time KPIs from different network layers, enabling optimized verification and workload right-sizing on various platforms.

No doubt with this move, service providers are offered a more comprehensive solution for managing and simplifying their hybrid cloud environments to help them facilitate the efficient deployment and delivery of next-generation network services.