The COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 has brought many uncertainties to the global economy, and people’s original lives have been completely changed. Over the past year, the traditional network construction mode in the communications industry has also undergone severe conflicts between crisis and transformation. So, while the COVID-19 pandemic still remains severe, how can ZTE quickly and efficiently complete communication network construction projects for overseas operators? How to break through the pandemic blockade and continue to provide high-quality products and efficient services for global customers?
Zhang Jian, Vice President of ZTE Corporation, will share ZTE's innovations and breakthroughs in meeting the challenges of network delivery and accelerating the digital transformation.
Could you first introduce what the cloud-based network service solution is?
Since the beginning of 2020, based on its digital network deployment system, ZTE has provided an excellent remote delivery solution for network services during the pandemic.
To cope with this situation, ZTE has specifically enhanced its existing cloud-based network services by combining the digital network deployment technology, end-to-end automatic intelligent tools and remote delivery management system. ZTE’s Cloud-Based Network Service Solution offers global customers the full-process network services covering network planning, construction, optimization, maintenance and operation. Under this mode, remote experts can quickly complete delivery activities in “zero-touch” and “on-demand” remote office mode.
So, compared with the traditional delivery mode, what are the advantages of the cloud-based network service solution?
With the large-scale commercial use of 5G, both network operators and service providers are facing the huge challenge of rapid and high-quality project delivery. Compared with the traditional delivery mode, ZTE's cloud-based network service solution uses a large number of digital network deployment technologies to implement automatic operation processes and intelligent operation management, thus achieving efficient network construction and maintenance and supporting precise management decision making. Meanwhile, the essence of the cloud-based network service solution is to simplify complexities, that is, to continuously reduce the difficulty in network deployment and improve deployment efficiency. In the future, the cloud-based network service mode will combine with the traditional mode to adapt to different delivery scenarios, thus achieving Simple Network Deployment and Super User Experience.
Under the current COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, what benefits can the cloud-based network service solution bring to customers?
- In terms of health and safety, ZTE’s remote experts can complete network delivery activities remotely in “zero-touch” mode, which effectively reduces infection risks during the pandemic and personal safety risks in certain distant war-torn areas.
- In terms of service quality, with a resource pool of over 10,000 remote experts in 15 R&D centers worldwide, we can provide global customers with real-time online remote services 24/7.
In general, ZTE’s cloud-based network service solution keeps complexities to ourselves, but make things simpler for our customers and partners. It provides customers with more efficient and convenient remote network guidance, diagnosis, and services.
Can you give us a simple analysis of why Chinese and overseas operators, especially overseas operators, have increasing requirements for cloud-based network service delivery? What are the requirements?
The coming of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has brought huge negative impacts upon the world economy and people’s lives. Hundreds of millions of people around the world had to be isolated in homes, and there has been an explosive growth in the demand for instant and online services, such as telemedicine, remote working, and distance education. As a result, the traditional network construction mode, which features remote support, is facing severe challenges. This provides a macro background for cloud-based network services in the telecom industry, for example, it is difficult to carry out tasks that originally required high personnel mobility, such as base station site survey, quality check, network maintenance, network optimization. This has greatly promoted the strengthening and application of cloud-based network service solutions.
Could you please talk about the challenges ZTE has encountered in the practice of the cloud-based network service mode? Are there any countermeasures?
In the case of the challenge in global time zones, on the one hand, ZTE has developed a 24/7 online delivery support service plan. On the other hand, ZTE has also established local remote delivery centers in some major countries in Asia, Europe and Africa, to achieve services of no time difference and ensure security and reliability.
How about the application of ZTE's cloud-based network service solution?
Since the COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of 2020, ZTE has provided “zero-touch” and “on-demand” cloud-based network services to more than 500 telecom operators in over 160 countries and regions worldwide. In the face of the severe global pandemic and a dramatic increase in the demand for telecom networks, ZTE has innovatively solved the difficulty of on-site maintenance by communication personnel in Africa, Europe, Asia, and America. This fully guarantees the progress of global network deployment, and also effectively reduces the risk of infection to network O&M personnel, winning praises from many customers.
Can you introduce ZTE's progress and highlights in cloud-based network services by providing us with a few typical cases?
- In Africa, under the difficulties of war and COVID-19 pandemic, the cloud delivery team successfully completed the remote commissioning and cutover of new wireless controllers in over a thousand sites in the existing network within one month, rapidly solving the problem of too high network load caused by the rapid increase of users in the Libiyana wireless network, meeting the network service requirements of the local people in a timely manner, and greatly improving user experience of network services.
- In Europe, since the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, it happened to be the key period for Hutchison Drei Austria GmbH to greatly develop new network applications. The joint expert team of the Global Cloud Delivery Center gathered in Shenzhen, Xi'an and Nanjing safe houses. They overcame the difficulty in time difference and successfully completed core network commissioning and debugging, acceptance, network access and cutover one and a half months ahead of the plan, effectively supporting the application of COVID-19 prevention and control and helping the operator rank in the leading position in the third-party network performance test.
- In Asia, the local remote delivery center of Indonesia and the Global Cloud Delivery Center together remotely completed the upgrade of about 10,000 sets of multi-mode base stations in Indonesia Telkomsel within one and a half months. We have been able to provide our customer with continuous and high-quality services even though entry into Indonesia was prohibited due to the local epidemic and control policy.
In this challenging digital era, ZTE will continue to make innovations and explore the best delivery mode to provide customers with ultimate communication products and services, so as to help global telecom operators achieve a win-win success in the digital era.
Content provided by Mr. Zhang Jian from ZTE.