Beyond the edge

For use cases involving devices connecting to mobile networks, the edge cannot exist on its own and needs support within the core network to deliver on its potential. The traffic to the edge needs requires specific treatment to ensure optimal routing and quality of service for example. Next to that, many use cases in mobile networks involving the edge are expected to involve multiple networks because they need to reach a larger user base and/or because of the users mobility. The GSMA and its operator and industry members have created initiatives to make using the edge in mobile networks as simple as possible. This involves a federated platform architecture that allows exposing the required capabilities of all operators involved in the federation as services through entry points that each of those operators could offer to their enterprise customers, alignment on the APIs offered and on the models for offering those. This architecture will now be used also to offer other, non-edge-related services that may be of use to enterprise customers. About the speakers: Mark Cornall has been with GSMA for One year as a Technical Director. He has been focusing on the federation of APIs and work within GSMA’s Operator Platform Group. Prior to this he worked for Vodafone Group studying public and private MEC and as technical lead in the deployment of AWS Wavelength into the Vodafone Networks. Within Vodafone he has held a number of earlier technical roles focusing on Video and TCP optimisation, the “Enjoy More” program and performance management. Tom van Pelt has been with the GSMA as a Technical Director for over 10 years. Within the GSMA, Tom has been driving and contributing to the specification and interoperability work on RCS messaging and since 2019, he’s also involved in the work on Operator Platform and telco edge cloud. Tom is acting as the director of the GSMA’s Operator Platform Group.