Two worlds that must collide
So why, given the scale of this opportunity and the potential value of the network assets they already own, has this been difficult for CSPs to do?
The answer lies in the differences between CSPs and cloud service providers – be they hyperscalers or smaller companies. One issue is about what CSPs know and what they need to learn. Telecoms companies have traditionally been very good at explaining and selling network products. But their ability to build and sell services that sit on their networks is less compelling.
This is made harder by how disconnected CSPs are from the developer community responsible for creating these services. Whereas hyperscalers, like AWS or Google, have invested heavily in engaging this community, speak their language, and have developed products which are lucrative for developers and support their work. CSPs have either not yet built these bridges or are only in the early stages of doing so, and the complexity of the CSP world - from standards to technologies - continues to make life difficult for developers.
Another problem is how CSPs deliver these services once they are implemented. They manage their networks through a combination of heavy orchestration, strict data monitoring, and low technology flexibility. In contrast, cloud service providers - particularly those selling to enterprise organizations - understand that their customers want lightweight approaches to service integration, management, and connectivity, and the ability to tailor solutions to reflect their existing technology stack.
Most already have multiple network and computing technologies embedded in their day-to-day systems. Solutions which take this into account are likely to be well received. Solutions that require significant changes to an enterprise’s existing setup or need intricate management might not do so well. CSPs must undertake a learning curve before they truly understand the enterprise challenge and how to sell edge services to this community.
Geographic perspective is also an issue. CSPs tend to have a regional view of their networks - whereas cloud services, by definition, are designed to be entirely global and technology agnostic. That regional/global dichotomy is a problem for CSPs that want to offer services that transcend geographic boundaries, when they currently rely on different regional infrastructure around the world. A system that can ‘federate’ application services across operator networks in different regions would help address this dichotomy.
