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Built for Speed and Simplicity: Dell Technologies’ AI-Ready Infrastructure and Automation Tools

The telecom industry is undergoing a significant transformation, shifting from proprietary, vertically integrated stacks to cloud-native infrastructure. This transformation brings numerous benefits, such as scalability, agility, and service innovation, but it also introduces complexity in deployment, interoperability, and lifecycle management. The challenges in deploying and managing cloud-native networks are numerous. CSPs must navigate the complexity of multiple software stacks, hardware vendors, and deployment methodologies. However, this complexity can be mitigated with the right infrastructure and automation tools. Dell Technologies, in partnership with Red Hat, has developed a flexible and engineered solution to help CSPs streamline the deployment of open, cloud-native networks. This solution, Dell Telecom Infrastructure Blocks for Red Hat, is designed to reduce the time to market and simplify the deployment process. At the heart of Dell Telecom Infrastructure Blocks for Red Hat is a fully integrated, validated infrastructure, automation, and cloud software stack. This architecture includes:

  1. Infrastructure layer: telco-grade Dell PowerEdge servers and verified Dell PowerSwitch network switches
  2. Domain manager: the Dell Telecom Infrastructure Automation Suite, which provides hardware automation and lifecycle management
  3. Cloud platform: Red Hat OpenShift, delivering a production-grade container-as-a-service (CaaS) platform

This horizontal cloud architecture allows CSPs to pool resources and deploy containerized workloads, including OSS and BSS, 5G Core, edge, and RAN, on a unified, scalable foundation. The use of Red Hat OpenShift provides a flexible and scalable platform for CSPs to deploy containerized applications, without the need for extensive on-premises infrastructure. Big picture, the benefits of using Dell Telecom Infrastructure Blocks for Red Hat are clear. As Anjali Bhatia, principal engineer in technical marketing at Dell Technologies, explained, “You are not wasting your resources…it is cost efficient.”
The solution can power a wide variety of deployment environments and compute needs, including core workloads on PowerEdge R660, R760, R6615, and R7615 servers; edge and RAN workloads on ruggedized PowerEdge XR5610, XR8000, XR8610t, and XR8602t servers; and networking via the Dell PowerSwitch Z9432-ON and S5232-ON switches. This flexibility makes it easy for operators to extend consistent cloud-native infrastructure from the core to the edge to RAN, while tailoring hardware to workload-specific requirements. The deployment lifecycle is simplified into three stages:

  1. Day 0: Technology onboarding and pre-production
  2. Day 1: Production
  3. Day 2+: Operations and support

During the Day 0 stage, Dell handles pre-integration, validation, and factory pre-loading to eliminate manual setup. This first step, as Bhatia explained, often “literally kills the time to market…We are doing that pre-integration, pre-testing, pre-validation, so you don’t have to spend the time in that aspect.”
During the Day 1 stage, fully configured systems are delivered to CSPs ready to deploy. “It’s like a box that’s ready,” Bhatia said. The Day 2+ stage involves operations and support, where Dell provides CI/CD tools to integrate with the CSP’s environment plus unified support across Dell hardware, infrastructure automation software, and the Red Hat software. “Whether it’s a hardware or software issue, it’s already supported by Dell.”
With its fourth release, Dell Telecom Infrastructure Blocks for Red Hat is now AI-ready, providing CSPs with a foundation for not just cloud-native network functions but also emerging AI use cases. Bhatia highlighted high-value AI-enabled use cases like edge inferencing, chatbots, and video analytics. To help CSPs onboard workloads faster and with confidence, Dell has a certification program for Dell Telecom Infrastructure Blocks for Red Hat that leverages its Open Telecom Ecosystem Lab (OTEL) as-a-Service, enabling seamless onboarding of containerized network functions (CNFs). “We will provide you with seamless test cases to do successful onboarding,” Bhatia said. This ecosystem of certified partners already includes solutions from 6D Technologies, Amdocs, Axyom.Core, Ciena, Compax Digital, Expeto, Ericsson, FNT, Matrixx Software, NEC, and ng-voice.

Dell Technologies and Red Hat Partnership
Red Hat OpenShift
Dell Telecom Infrastructure Blocks for Red Hat

“The telecom industry has taken massive transformation from a proprietary, vertically-integrated architecture to a cloud-native disaggregated architecture,” said Anjali Bhatia, principal engineer in technical marketing at Dell Technologies. “This is why Dell partnered with Red Hat on a solution, Dell Telecom Infrastructure Blocks for Red Hat.”

Key Benefits:

  • Cost efficiency
  • Simplified deployment and lifecycle management
  • Flexibility and scalability
  • Unified infrastructure and automation tools
  • Support for emerging AI use cases
A cloud-native architecture provides a flexible, scalable, and efficient way to deploy and manage network functions, applications, and services in the cloud.
Container-as-a-service (CaaS) provides a flexible and scalable platform for deploying containerized applications, without the need for extensive on-premises infrastructure.
Disaggregated architecture refers to a cloud-native architecture where the network functions, applications, and services are decoupled from the underlying infrastructure.
Edge computing refers to the processing of data closer to where it is generated, reducing latency and improving real-time decision-making.
Artificial intelligence (AI) enables machines to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as learning, problem-solving, and decision-making.

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