Microsoft expands telecom portfolio with Azure private MEC

A large and growing number of companies from all sectors of the telecom and technology industry currently offer products and services for edge computing and private wireless networking. However, a new product in the space from one of the world's largest hyperscalers is worth acknowledging.

And when that company is Microsoft – fresh from its blockbuster acquisitions last year of Affirmed Networks and Metaswitch Networks – it's even more noteworthy.

Tad Brockway, head of Microsoft's new Azure for Operators effort, announced the company's Azure private multi-access edge compute (MEC) product in a post to Microsoft's website. The product is an "evolution" of Microsoft's previous offering in the area, Private Edge Zones, and represents a melding of the company's cloud computing technology with the assets it acquired from Affirmed and Metaswitch.

Specifically, Microsoft said customers that purchase its new Azure private MEC can also add in the "Metaswitch Fusion Core," which the company said supports 4G and 5G network functions, open RAN hardware, Azure AI and other features and functions. Customers can also add the Affirmed Private Network Service (APNS), which Microsoft said is a "fully managed and configurable private cellular network offering" for private 4G and 5G networks.

Overall, Microsoft said its new Azure private MEC helps to "simplify the consumption of secure and private 5G networks and to easily deliver ultra-low-latency networking, applications, and services at the enterprise edge." The company said the offering is targeted at customers in sectors ranging from manufacturing to healthcare to transportation.

Partners are key

Importantly, Microsoft's Brockway made it clear that partners, including mobile network operators, shouldn't view Azure private MEC as an attempt by the hyperscaler to cut into their business. "Our partners are critical for Azure private MEC to span the ecosystem of hardware, application, and the network. This enables operators and systems integrators who are building on top of our platform to create solutions that drive new innovations and enterprise digital transformation," he wrote.

Network operators mentioned by Microsoft as supporting the new product include AT&T Business, Vodafone Business, Lumen Technologies, Telstra and Telefonica Tech.

Nonetheless, Microsoft's latest announcement helps to further crystalize the company's moves into the telecom industry, highlighted by its acquisitions of Affirmed and Metaswitch. More broadly, it also helps to underscore the growing role that cloud computing providers like Google, Amazon and Microsoft want to play in the telecom sector.

A big reason such hyperscale companies are investing in areas like edge computing and private wireless networking is because enterprises across a wide variety of sectors are increasingly looking to build their own private wireless networks. Such networks can help companies connect employees and objects that might lie outside the coverage area of a public wireless network, or can support dedicated services that might not run on a public network.

Such networks also play to the strengths of cloud computing companies like Microsoft because enterprises have increasingly been shuttling their computing operations into the cloud. However, some also want the ability to run a portion of their computing functions at a physical location, often due to security concerns. Thus, Microsoft said its new Azure private MEC is "deployable in space- and power-constrained scenarios in a performant, scalable manner starting with (and incrementing in) 1U form factor server."

Such factors are increasingly pushing network operators into the arms of cloud computing companies. For example, Verizon is offering a public edge computing service through Amazon, while AT&T has been working with Microsoft on a number of public and private edge computing services. T-Mobile, meantime, recently inked its own edge computing agreement with Lumen.

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— Mike Dano, Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies, Light Reading | @mikeddano