The name Azure of Operators doesn't sound exciting, but it represents a way for carriers to partner with a cloud provider that has been quite serious about putting communications and the cloud together.

Phil Harvey, Editor-in-Chief

September 28, 2020

1 Min Read
Microsoft's pitch to telcos for 5G and beyond

The new offer – Azure for Operators – is said to "provide operators with the agility they need to rapidly innovate and experiment with new 5G services on a programmable network."

There are a lot of moving parts here and the story will evolve, so we'll keep covering it. But first, let's go back and see what helped nudge Microsoft from enterprise cloud specialist to credible telco cloud leader in the eyes of network operators. The company's cloud and IT competitors all want a piece of the ongoing 5G buildout and the IoT explosion that some are expecting to follow shortly thereafter. In the last year, Microsoft hasn't been shy about putting its money where its mouth is:

Phil Harvey, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

About the Author(s)

Phil Harvey

Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

Phil Harvey has been a Light Reading writer and editor for more than 18 years combined. He began his second tour as the site's chief editor in April 2020.

His interest in speed and scale means he often covers optical networking and the foundational technologies powering the modern Internet.

Harvey covered networking, Internet infrastructure and dot-com mania in the late 90s for Silicon Valley magazines like UPSIDE and Red Herring before joining Light Reading (for the first time) in late 2000.

After moving to the Republic of Texas, Harvey spent eight years as a contributing tech writer for D CEO magazine, producing columns about tech advances in everything from supercomputing to cellphone recycling.

Harvey is an avid photographer and camera collector – if you accept that compulsive shopping and "collecting" are the same.

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