Ericsson and Turkcell successfully trial 5G Core automation on Red Hat OpenShift
- By integrating a set of Ericsson 5G Core software tools, Ericsson and Turkcell achieved, in a test environment, the automation of cloud-native network functions, as part of Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core.
- The test shows how Turkcell can benefit from more efficient network operations, improved network quality, and faster time-to-market for new features and functionalities.
Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) and Turkcell (NYSE:TKC; BIST: TCELL) have demonstrated success with automation of a range of functions within the Ericsson dual-mode 5G Core solution in a test environment hosted on Red Hat OpenShift, a hybrid cloud application platform powered by Kubernetes.
The milestone paves the way for more efficient network operation with automation in Turkcell’s network operations, improved network quality, and faster time-to-market for the latest features and functionality releases. The test follows the successful live deployment of Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core solution on Turkcell’s network to serve new use cases.
The Turkcell test environment is jointly used by Ericsson and Red Hat - making use of Red Hat OpenShift’s existing validation on the relevant Ericsson solutions, Ericsson automation toolsets, and Ericsson Evolved Virtual Network Function Manager for onboarding and hosting of Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core solution.
The demonstration shows how Ericsson and Turkcell can deliver software changes to Turkcell’s CI/CD environment, and deploy (CI/CD automation) such as automatic software ingestion, preparation, upgrade, verification, and validation from Ericsson’s product portfolio and illustrate tangibly how Turkcell can benefit from this advanced capability. Turkcell and Ericsson have previously successfully achieved 5G SA use cases and demonstrations in this test environment.
As part of this trial, Turkcell has also tested automation capabilities of Ericsson automation toolsets, such as Evolved Virtual Network Function Manager (EVNFM), Automated Acceptance Tests (AAT), and Core Network Operations Manager (CNOM), which complete tailored test and validation requirements in the CI/CD pipelines. These Ericsson automation toolsets will oversee the lifecycle management of 5G SA network.
Prof. Dr. Vehbi Çağrı Güngör, Chief Network Technologies Officer at Turkcell says: “We believe in the transforming power of CI/CD automation in Telco networks. As well as our existing capabilities, the cloud native network functions are promising more automation in the life cycle management of networks. The 5G Core testing with Ericsson network functions and Red Hat OpenShift in our lab environment, has been a fruitful collaboration proving our strategy to further accelerate Turkcell’s network transformation. We will be continuously enhancing our network automation capabilities by utilizing cutting-edge cloud native technologies.”
Işıl Yalçın, Vice President and Head of Ericsson Türkiye at Ericsson Middle East and Africa, says: “Communications service providers today are looking for added agility as they deploy 5G services to their customer base. By choosing to implement our dual-mode 5G Core with automation capabilities, Turkcell will be able to reap the ultimate benefits of seamlessly adding differentiation to their 5G services and value for their customers. As Türkiye moves towards fulfilling its digital transformation vision, we remain committed to providing Turkcell with the latest technologies to enable connectivity transformation.”
Honoré LaBourdette, Acting senior vice president, Global Telco, vice president, Telco Partner Ecosystem, Red Hat says: ”Flexibility and openness in infrastructure and ecosystem powers advanced 5G use cases and services. Red Hat OpenShift provides a unified foundation across the hybrid cloud with full-stack automated operations, enabling service providers to build, run, deploy, and scale containerized applications in any location more easily and consistently. We are pleased to collaborate with Ericsson and Turkcell for Ericsson 5G Core automation to help unlock greater operational efficiencies, improved network quality, and faster time-to-market to introduce new features and use cases in Türkiye.”
Red Hat is part of Ericsson’s ecosystem of cloud platform partners validated for onboarding and hosting of Ericsson’s telco functions and applications across cloud core, cloud communication, OSS, BSS and Cloud RAN.