Huawei Launches Platform to Power Wireless Carriers' Digital Transformation

Wireless carriers worldwide have a huge challenge: How to manage the machinery of legacy systems, 5G, marketing, network operations and customer care demands. Enter Huawei, which has developed a new digital transformation platform it says can provide the core engine for that machine, creating a more intelligent, agile operation in the process.

Debuted in late February at Mobile World Congress in Shanghai, Huawei's General Digital Engine (GDE) platform is based on a "1+4+N" architecture: "1" represents its open cloud-native underpinnings, "4" is tied to its core quartet of data sharing, intelligent production flow, capability sharing and integrated low-code self-development features; and "N" refers to its ability to manage multiple application scenarios, including planning, construction, maintenance, optimization and operations.

In a launch presentation, Bill Tang, Huawei's president of global technical services, said the GDE platform helps wireless carriers take advantage of the digital transformation trend now sweeping the enterprise market. In a recent survey, 80% of CEOs in China said digital transformation is their top priority. About 80% of enterprises surveyed say they will increase their investment in digitalization technology, while 65% predict their companies will evolve into information and data enterprises. Those companies that do make the transition see a 15% profit increase, Tang said.

Figure 1: Bill Tang, Huawei's president of global technical services

Wireless carriers, in turn, face new challenges when it comes to their own digital transformation efforts. A chronic stumbling block is that their organizations are often information-siloed, with data isolated in network operations, business management and customer care divisions. 5G services increasingly require a carrier's marketing and network planning departments to share data and collaborate meet service objectives and satisfy customers, but often "it's essentially impossible, because for them to select a group of sites that are value-oriented, it involves more than four departments and seven-plus IT systems," Tang said. "The content description of one site exists across five systems – five sets of data."

Operations and Management (O&M) also can be a challenge. On Huawei's network, there is an average of 3,000 complaint tickets daily, but as more businesses moved to cloud data platforms, that number is going to grow exponentially, Tang said. Moreover, in carrier networks today, simple system alarms don't tell technicians anything about the customer experience or provide any insights as to customer retention or churn.

"We need alarms of experience," Tang said. "These are not managed properly, and we heavily rely on manual work process. We have consolidated our NOC over the past years, and we've realized through that experience that there is an urgent need for adopting automation and intelligence."

DGE supplies that automation and intelligence, and its low-code platform makes the digital transformation learning curve easier.

Tang noted that about 65% of a carrier's personnel will need to acquire new skills to work in a digitally-driven workplace, so "they need to acquire a better understanding of digital technology, to learn applications development capabilities. In the past, we weren't used to using APIs to develop capabilities. That is why we bring to you the GDE platform today. We want this platform to be the platform to support digital transformation and upgrade of carrier operators."

GDE is cloud-native, tapping the latest in software development technologies to create modules, including data governance and intelligence. Using these modules, carriers can harness available knowledge and assets as inputs for learning or prediction. So, for example, when one team succeeds, their strategy should be made available to other teams to use.

"That is why we need a transaction and sharing center for APIs," Tang said. "And to support digital transformation, we must have a local development platform."

Huawei also is practicing what it preaches, adopting DGE for its own company operations. The platform is already gaining traction, serving more than 400 carriers in more than 170 countries across 12 regions worldwide. It has 310,000 registered users supports more than 21,000 developers, of which 3,000 are now DGE-certified.

"We rely on an intelligent O&M platform which is also digital," Tang said. "That supports orchestration, and it is also ready to support network-as-a-service in the future."

GDE also is an open system, to encourage a diverse ecosystem of partners and carrier customers. Tang added that Huawei is working with standards bodies to encourage machine intelligence and enterprise digitalization via the GDE platform.

"The long journey only starts when we take the first step," he observed. "If we don't start looking for the drivers of digital transformation, and how we can start this journey, the future will be very challenging. We must rely on data for decision-making and consolidate data models as well as assets."

This content is sponsored by Huawei.

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd