Lightning Talk: Introducing O-Cloud, or How 5G Leverages Kubernetes

Summary

• The modernization of networking started with software defined networking and virtualization of hardware resources.
• Cloud native technologies have created a new wave of networking virtualization that allows for scalable applications and closely coupled systems.
• The Open RAN Alliance was created in 2018 to standardize the logical architecture of the Radio Access Network and decouple software from underlying hardware platforms.
• The platform that hosts the software and hardware to implement the Open RAN architecture is called O-Cloud, which leverages Kubernetes.
• O-Cloud can host several on-premise Kubernetes clusters and public cloud-managed Kubernetes clusters as well as other types of workloads.
• The adoption of cloud native principles brings flexibility to the infrastructure and allows for a tremendous change in the way it is managed and operated.
• Challenges still exist, such as networking challenges and accessing accelerators, but the development of technology within the Open RAN Alliance has a serious impact on the rest of the cloud native community.

Abstract