Abstract: With the rapid development of edge computing technology, 5G MEC edge cloud collaboration has become the latest development trend.

Abstract: With the rapid development of edge computing technology, 5G MEC has entered the fast track of commercial deployment, and edge cloud collaboration has become the universal appeal of MEC. KubeEdge community understands this trend and sets up MEC SIG according to the mature governance mode of CNCF.

In the MEC scenario, MEC SIG puts forward corresponding solutions from the perspectives of application management, network and open ecology based on the analysis of the challenges facing edge-cloud collaboration, mainly including application deployment, service discovery, micro-service traffic governance, capacity opening and ecological integration of the 5G network combined with the edge-cloud.

Finally, MEC SIG said it hopes to work with operators and developers to promote 5G MEC technology for a win-win situation for the industry.

background

According to the Frost&Sullivan report, the multi-access edge computing (MEC) market is projected to grow at an impressive cagr of 157.4% and is projected to capture $7.23 billion in revenue by 2024 from $64.1 million in 2019.

Gartner releases the top 10 technology trends in infrastructure and operations [1]. It believes that edge computing is one of the top 10 technologies that will become mainstream and have the greatest impact on I&O in the next five years. With the rapid development of edge computing technology, 5G MEC edge cloud collaboration has become the latest development trend.

The following is a simple analysis of the current situation of the collaborative development of 5G side cloud:

OTT perspective

AWS launched the hardware and software Integration edge cloud service. Switching on THE EDGE of 5G network, AWS provides 5G edge network and edge cloud services. It cooperates with Operators such as Version, Vodafone, SK Telecom and KDDI, and is gradually rolled out in the US, Europe, South Korea and Japan.

Google released its global Mobile Edge Cloud (GMEC) strategy to build 5G network edge PaaS platform through GMEC, and jointly build global 5G solutions and ecology with AT&T, Orange and other operators. The plan is to bring Anthos Ecology to corporate and individual customers through carrier networks.

Azure launches Azure Edge Zones with Carrier and Azure Private Edge Zones, sinking the capabilities of the central cloud to the Edge of Carrier 5G networks and enterprise Private networks, And partnerships with AT&T, Telefonica, Vodafone and other operators.

Operator perspective

In China, The CU-MEC edge cloud platform [2] launched by Unicom realizes the integration of CT+IT+OT and actively cooperates with OTT manufacturers to achieve seamless docking with public cloud, industrial cloud and private cloud ecology. The overall architecture of China Unicom’s edge business management platform is shown in the figure below, which makes it clear that edge cloud collaboration is part of the function of MEPM edge manager.

Experts from China Unicom and China Telecom all believe that cloud-side collaboration will be an important feature of MEC platform:

Mobile Sigma Edge Computing Platform Architecture [3]

Telecom Edge Computing Platform Architecture [4]

Industry perspective

The GSMA, in collaboration with 22 operators around the world, launched the Operator Platform[5] project to accelerate and simplify the deployment of MEC apps across operators and clouds, making it easier for MEC App providers or operators to promote edge applications.

How does edge cloud synergy help operators to carry out cloud network integration? What are the challenges?

Challenges of 5G side cloud collaboration

The challenges of cloud side collaboration in MEC scenarios mainly include:

How to manage mass physical discrete edge site simply and efficiently? How to optimize edge applications to match edge computing resources of different levels based on 5G network events. Resource layers include site edge, carrier network edge, and central cloud.

How can terminals efficiently discover target services at different levels, access nearby services, and obtain the lowest latency experience?

How can I simplify the network configuration of applications in cross-edge cloud deployment and ensure network security? How to implement cross-edge cloud microservice traffic governance to simplify the complexity of application development and the reliability of application operation?

How to integrate third-party capabilities into the MEC platform and open them to users through cloud native methods, such as 5G network capabilities, blockchain, AI and other technologies? How to achieve rapid integration of cloud and 5G ecology?

Introduction to KubeEdge MEC SIG

KubeEdge, as the most typical open source project of edge cloud collaboration in the industry, was initiated by community members. After several community meetings, KubeEdge community established MEC SIG according to the mature governance model of CNCF, which is responsible for the development of technology and ecology in 5G edge computing scenarios, so as to better cope with the challenges mentioned above.

As illustrated in the figure below, MEC SIG will focus on the following directions:

Service Resource Manager: Global application deployment and network Resource management across the edge cloud. Docking with 5GC NEF to realize application scheduling based on 5G network events, 5G traffic distribution, QoS configuration, application migration, etc. Edge sites support multi-tenant management.

Edge Service Discovery: Cross-edge cloud Service Discovery and nearby access. It can cooperate with Service Resource Manager to realize triggered on-demand application deployment based on geographical location and shortest path of network transmission.

EdgeMesh: cross-edge cloud L3 container network configuration and security management; Cross-edge cloud micro-service communication full-link routing, current limiting, fusing and other governance capabilities.

ServiceHub: To realize the capability open platform based on cloud native method, realize ecological coordination with Service Broker, and quickly integrate network capability and third-party developer’s capability into MEC platform and open it to users, such as block chain, general AI, network high-precision indoor positioning capability, wireless network measurement information capability and QoS guarantee capability. APIG capabilities such as service registration, authentication and access control will also be provided.

conclusion

Edge-cloud collaboration is the universal appeal of MEC and also an important topic in the development of edge computing. How to achieve edge-cloud collaboration to better help operators achieve the strategic transformation of cloud network integration? Better ability to help app developers better use 5G networks? Better realize the win-win industry? KubeEdge MEC SIG will continue to discuss and explore these directions in depth.

References:

[1] Gartner infrastructure and operations area 10 technology trends: www.gartner.com/smarterwith…

[2] China Unicom 5G MEC Edge Cloud Platform Architecture and Commercial Practice White paper

[3] 5 g edges computing new trend peak BBS – China mobile computing technology vision and industry practices: www.bianyuanyun.com/archives/28…

[4] 5G Edge Computing New Trend Summit Forum — China Telecom: Open MEC Innovation Environment, Join Hands to Empower the Industry future:

www.ecconsortium.net/Lists/show/…

[5] GSMA Operator Platfrom whitepaper:

www.gsma.com/futurenetwo…

[6]CNCF Special Interest Group (SIG)

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