Transitioning to the cloud for the Satcom industry represents an unprecedented opportunity for transformation. The cloud, encompassing both public and private cloud solutions, offers satellite operators and service providers new methods of service delivery and faster time to market, the ability to transform and digitalize their infrastructure, and optimize their operational costs. Flexibility is another key advantage of cloud adoption, enabling satellite operators and service providers to swiftly adapt to changing market demands and technological advancements. This adaptability allows for seamless scaling of operations-whether expanding to meet increased demand or downsizing during quieter periods.
With such promising benefits, satellite operators and service providers are keenly adopting virtualization and cloud technologies to redefine how networks are managed and scaled.
Virtualization of the Ground Segment
Ground segment providers are working towards virtualizing their solutions. In Intuition, our virtualized, cloud-based ground-segment system, we are leveraging cloud and orchestration advances, such as Kubernetes and its commercial counterpart, Red Hat OpenShift, to offer all network functions being hosted on Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) servers deployable in either Private or Public cloud.
These functions include:
- NMS processing functions utilizing cloud-native standard technologies
- Network Processing Functions responsible for executing processing tasks within the datapath
- Hub Baseband Processing Functions including all modem, signal and waveform functions
- Remote modem functions deployable on 3rd party CPE or COTS edge devices
Hybrid Models for Optimizing Cloud Deployments
While cloud deployments have many advantages satellite operators and service providers see two main challenges hindering from moving everything to the cloud.
Sovereignty rights are a concern, as deploying satcom on public clouds must comply with local data sovereignty regulations and strict security standards. Cost barriers also present a significant hurdle. Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) charge for virtual machines or containers, CPUs, and memory usage, as well as for both incoming (ingress) and outgoing (egress) data traffic between the cloud availability zones, regions and on -premises locations, such as private datacenters or teleports. For high-volume data traffic, these costs can be substantial, particularly for baseband processing in a satcom network.
What if Satcom operators could choose which of the ground segment operation functions to deploy in the cloud rather than being limited to fully purpose-built hardware or complete cloud deployments on Day 1.
That is the promise of hybrid models: the freedom to select the most cost-effective and efficient deployment environment individually for each ground segment network function while enabling seamless integration and operation across on-premises and cloud environments to achieve the best total cost of ownership (TCO).
Satcom operators could choose the deployment mix where it makes the most sense. We have identified these four use cases:
- Smart gateway diversity
- Disaster recovery
- Seasonal traffic expansions and special events
- Market mix strategies
To keep TCO low, an optimized hybrid scenario could be to deploy the NMS Processing and Network Functions Processing on private or public clouds for easier scaling, while keeping more resource-demanding functions like Baseband Processing in a high-density appliance on-prem.
Since iDirect Intuition offers both options, a high-density appliance- the iDirect XBB, and virtualized baseband processing functions (VBF) on COTS, one can always transition to the other deployment option if circumstances or tradeoff priorities change.
By leveraging hybrid deployment models, satellite operators and service providers can transition to cloud deployments at their own pace, aligning with their network requirements and cloud pricing models. This flexible approach not only optimizes costs but also enhances operational efficiency, providing a flexible and scalable solution while cloud pricing models and computing technologies are constantly evolving.
Intuition offers flexible pathways to virtualization, optimizing cloud deployments for TCO while guiding satellite operators and service providers through every stage of their transformation.