The less bumpy way to ride e-commerce = Rakuten (Seite 261)

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Portfolio of Patents - Partha Seetala, Robin.io - Digital Anarchist

https://digitalanarchist.com/videos/interviews/portfolio-of-…

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Creating competitive differentiation in telcos through cloud-native

Creating competitive differentiation in telcos through cloud-native

July 8, 2022

Partha Seetala President, Unified Cloud Business Unit, Rakuten Symphony

It’s never too early or late to start talking about cloud-native.

By 2025, more than 95% of new workloads will be deployed on cloud-native platforms. Clearly, a lot of organizations are on their way to cloud-native adoption, among them some of the prominent telecom operators of our time. After all, the benefits of cloud-native are most pronounced in the telecom sector, where the need for scale, automation and predictable cost structure at optimal OPEX and CAPEX is more persistent than ever. With the advent of 5G, new use cases, applications, and services, the need for hyper-automation, low latency and efficiencies in handling complex AI/ML-type data-intensive applications at the edge is getting more prominence.

Cloud-native has been proven to improve the cost models of telcos dramatically. The very fact that even the vendors today are packaging their network functions (NFs) as cloud-native indicates that it is set to become the de-facto-standard service delivery platform for telecom operators. Greenfield operators have been quick to onboard cloud-native applications and NFs. As a partner of Rakuten Mobile throughout its 5G service delivery journey and now as a part of Rakuten Symphony, Robin.io can attest to the fact that cloud-native can produce agility and significant savings for any operator.
Rakuten Mobile was built as a cloud-native network from the get-go. This posed a clear set of benefits regarding efficiency, faster deployment, agility, cost savings, and more. Of course, when it comes to brownfield deployment, there is more need for definitive planning and standardization, as there’s a lot at stake. Operators are known to be cautious about the transition; nevertheless, the benefits of cloud-native apply just as much to brownfield use cases when the operator is embarking on top modernization of some of its infrastructure, like Open RAN, for example.

Cloud-native vs. virtualization

Before we take a close look at what it means for a brownfield operator to go down the cloud-native path, a couple of realities need to be considered. The telecom sector has been experiencing a pressing need to streamline operations and bring home efficiencies. One of the biggest challenges facing telcos today is how to bring different operational siloes together and optimize them. There is also a desperate need to manage customer experience and create market differentiation. Spread all of this across the multi-technology, a multi-vendor spectrum that most telcos operate in, and things become extremely complicated.

The virtualization model on the cloud, despite its many virtues, does not deliver the actual benefits of software-driven infrastructure in terms of operations and management. This is because virtualization does not force operators or vendors to follow a standard approach for application development. Hence, every vendor supplying NFs has its own way of developing, deploying, upgrading, scaling, lifecycle management, etc. This, in turn, inhibits complex, multi-vendor, and seamless software-driven operations.

On the other hand, cloud-native does all of this and more. As an opinionated stack, cloud-native forces vendors to build their applications in a certain way, which removes the challenges of deployment and scaling at the application layer.

Ultimately, this brings more control. For example, when building an application, the vendor does not need to worry about how to scale that application. That’s handled inherently and quite efficiently by cloud-native platforms (like Robin.io) as long as the application is built to certain specifications. The power then shifts back to the operator, who can take charge of this consistency even in a complex, multi-vendor environment. They can optimize it for their specific needs and, over time, achieve the tremendous cost benefits and simplicity that come with it.
Leveraging the benefits of cloud-native – what does it take?

The grand vision behind the openness or cloud-native movement is to democratize. In reality, large telco workloads have not been running effectively in a “cloudified” fashion without many overheads, and they do not allow operators absolute control over their lifecycles.

Why is this?

Contrary to popular belief, contemporary frameworks like agile development, DevOps implementation, and cloud-native architecture are all about discipline. The industry is not fully ready for them yet as not all vendors are on board with these new paradigms. This needs to change. For example, as the first step, telcos could start with a blueprint of their strategic or operational roadmap and ensure that all of their vendors adhere to it, rather than leaving it to the vendors’ discretion.

There is no denying that as things stand today, telcos have no choice but to cut overheads and streamline operations to sustain in the near future. There’s little or no room for innovation. Cloud-native technologies, such as Robin.io, are set to challenge this over the long haul. By unlocking superior operational discipline and efficiencies, telcos can shift their focus to the strategic side. Differentiation will eventually be delivered in value-added market offerings rather than the differentiation created through operational efficiencies. The cloud-native model is engineered to deliver on this promise.

Where are we headed?

Cloud-native is designed for more than just deployment. It addresses fundamental aspects like scalability, self-healing, lifecycle management, and so on – all integral parts of telco operations. But while this may work wonders for a single application, telecom networks are built on a complex and diverse set of apps and NFs. When evaluating the proper cloud-native orchestration and automation, the key things to consider are how the underlying platform works across these multi-vendor applications and functions and how intelligently it observes, corrects, and self-heals in the fastest way possible.
This is what Robin.io is all about. Robin.io is at the forefront of cloud-native innovation that allows operators to leverage the possibilities that technologies like 5G and Edge bring to the table. Having proven its expertise with cloud-native delivery of network services, Robin.io has created conversations centered on how to get the power of cloud-native to large-scale brownfield deployments.

The cloud-native revolution has already begun. Accelerating it is the only question that we’re faced with today.

Let’s learn together how to make it work.

https://www.robin.io/featured-blog/creating-competitive-diff…

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Dell is partnering with Robin.io acquired by Rakuten on its cloud-native orchestration and storage platform

June 29, 2022

Enterprises need solutions that unify data management with analytics and AI to unlock speed, and scalability. Robin Cloud Native Platform is an integral part of the new Dell Validated Design for Analytics – Data Lakehouse, which is built for this purpose, and supports BI, analytics, real-time data applications, data science and ML, all in one platform.

https://www.robin.io/featured-news/dell-is-partnering-with-r…

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The After Show Day 2 - Open RAN Summit 2022

July 4, 2022

[Kev0816]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 71.960.776 von FlankerStan am 12.07.22 08:45:17

Hi, ich habe jetzt den Artikel nochmal gelesen und finde ihn sehr interessant.

Nur eine Aussage ist meiner Meinung nach falsch. Das Ziel für die Operating Income Margin von 20% in 2030 beinhaltet doch auch das Mobile Segment, richtig? Er schreibt es wurde von Mickey raus genommen... In der CEO Präsentation der Q1 Zahlen ist Mobile allerdings für 2030 explizit mit drin. Liege ich mit der Annahme richtig?

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Strong decrease of the costs of Rakuten Mobile

With population coverage hitting 97% in April, the rollout of the 4G network is nearly done, allowing Rakuten to wind down its expensive roaming arrangement to piggyback on KDDI's network. "In June, 94% of the traffic will be on our own network," said Tareq Amin, Rakuten Mobile's CEO, on a call with Light Reading.

Ditching KDDI's roaming service should ultimately save Rakuten between JPY120 billion and JPY140 billion ($1.1 billion) annually.

The only big investment job still ahead of Rakuten involves sprinkling 5G basestations across Japan, according to Amin. Everything else is in place. "What remains to be done is not as costly or expensive as what we have done before," he said.

https://www.lightreading.com/5g/rakuten-mobile-hits-peak-los…

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Supporting the efficient installation of base stations and reducing capital investment

July 1, 2022

Rakuten Mobile and TEPCO Power Grid establish new company for base station construction solutions

Accelerating the construction of base stations using electric power assets; Contributing to the provision of a stable communications environment

Tokyo, July 1, 2022 - Rakuten Mobile, Inc. and TEPCO Power Grid, Inc. today announced the establishment of "Rakuten Mobile Infra Solution, Inc.," a new company to provide construction solutions for base stations. The new company has started business today, July 1, 2022.

n the construction of its network, Rakuten Mobile is already utilizing some power assets*1 to enable rapid network construction. This has contributed to Rakuten Mobile achieving its target for 4G population coverage on its network about four years ahead of schedule*2. With the establishment of the new company, Rakuten Mobile will further expand its 4G and 5G coverage, increase the densification of its base stations and strengthen the development of communications infrastructure to provide a stable service. In addition, utilizing existing power assets will improve the cost efficiency of base station construction.

https://corp.mobile.rakuten.co.jp/english/news/press/2022/07…

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4755 Stock Overview

Rakuten Group, Inc. offers internet services in Japan and internationally.

About the company

REWARDS

Trading at 92.6% below our estimate of its fair value

RISK ANALYSIS

No risks detected for 4755 from our risk checks.

https://simplywall.st/stocks/jp/retail/tse-4755/rakuten-grou…

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Altiostar is a subsidiary of Rakuten Symphony

Virtualized Radio Access Network(vRAN) Market SWOT Analysis By 2028 | Alcatel-Lucent (Nokia), NEC, Altiostar, Wind River, Amdocs, Dell EMC, ASOCS, Dali Wireless

Freya Davies July 11, 2022

Prominent Key players of the Virtualized Radio Access Network(vRAN) market survey report:
Alcatel-Lucent (Nokia), NEC, Altiostar, Wind River, Amdocs, Dell EMC, ASOCS, Dali Wireless
https://www.designerwomen.co.uk/virtualized-radio-access-net…

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Japanese tech titans looking for Indian solution to talent crunch

July 9, 2022 (Mainichi Japan)

E-commerce giant Rakuten Group Inc. also employs many Indians. An official said that of the 20 percent foreign staff at its Japan offices, around 1,000 hail from India.

After opening its first office in Bengaluru in 2014, the company has established research and development centers in the city of Indore in central India and the capital Delhi following the announcement of the launch of Rakuten Mobile in 2018 and Rakuten Symphony, its cloud-based business-to-business offering, in 2021.

"India is a vibrant growth market and a great source of top talent and ideas...We continue to invest in our operations in India to attract top IT professionals" to drive the development of mobile, internet, fintech and e-commerce services, Yasufumi Hirai, group executive vice president and chief information officer at Rakuten told Kyodo News.

A dire need for software engineers, however, is not the only reason why Japan has become an attractive lure for such talent.

The flexible nature of Japan's tech industry, which has fewer entry barriers such as language, along with progressive human resource policies compared to non-IT companies, makes it attractive, Bhatkar said.

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220708/p2g/00m/0na/06…