Microsoft and AT&T offer customer example of Azure on the 5G edge network

The Network Edge Compute technology, initially available to a limited number of customers, “interweaves Microsoft Azure cloud services in AT&T network peripheral locations closer to customers,” Microsoft says.

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Microsoft and AT&T have unveiled the first concrete step in a partnership designed to offer customers technology built on the AT&T network and the Microsoft cloud.

In a Tuesday press release, Microsoft said the two companies are introducing selected customer examples for Network Edge Compute (NEC) technology, which runs Azure cloud services at AT&T’s peripheral network locations.

As Microsoft has explained, the move means that AT & T’s virtualized 5G core network can deliver Cloud Azure services to customers.

SEE: 5G technology: a guide for business leaders (TechRepublic Premium)

The preview of NEC will initially be available to a limited number of customers in Dallas, Microsoft said. Next year the preview will be expanded with selected customers in Los Angeles and Atlanta.

The technology is seen as a way to unify 5G, cloud and edge computing environments for business customers.

Edge computing, where data processing is close to the customer, has seen its share of challenges, including connectivity and latency issues, Sid Nag, vice president of Cloud Services and Technologies for Gartner, told TechRepublic. But Nag believes that the introduction of 5G makes all this more interesting.

“Building all these lego blocks together and placing them in an issue where they all work hand in hand is not only an advantage for the provider community, ie Microsoft and AT&T, but also an advantage for the business and corporate customer,” Nag said .

One example from Microsoft about how edge computing can help businesses is mobile gaming. An AT&T customer, Game Cloud Network, has developed a 5G game called Tap & Field, which is hosted on AT & T’s advanced network with Microsoft Azure. In this track-and-field game, users race each other. But the advantage here is that racing can be done in real-time without the usual latency thanks to the speed of a 5G network and 5G connected devices.

Aside from games, any type of latency-intensive industry application or workload where edge and accessibility are required would benefit from this type of environment, according to Nag. He mentioned specific examples, including aviation and fleet management, with real-time calculations taking place at the edge of the process.

“With our 5G and edge computing, AT&T works uniquely with Microsoft to combine their cloud capabilities with our network to create a lower latency between the device and the cloud that will unlock new, future scenarios for consumers and businesses,” Mo Katibeh, chief marketing officer for AT&T Business, said in the press release. “We have said throughout the year that developers and companies will be the first 5G users, and this puts both at the forefront of this revolution.”

The client preview report for Network Edge Compute follows a July announcement of the growing partnership between Microsoft and AT&T. The collaboration in cloud computing, edge computing and 5G included the news that most non-network applications and workloads from AT&T, such as Office 365, SharePoint and OneDrive, would migrate to Microsoft’s public Azure platform by 2024.

The latest development also comes after Microsoft’s announcement in early November of Azure Arc, a service that brings Azure public cloud capabilities to the enterprise.

As an example quoted by Nag, with Azure Arc, a service such as SQL Server running in the public cloud might have the same capabilities that run on-site within an enterprise. Given the move from AT&T to Azure and the release of Azure Arc by Microsoft, the latest development appears to be a natural extension between the two partners as a way to extend Azure services to the AT&T network, he said.

“I see these two announcements and this (last) as very synergistic,” Nag said. “And I think the business customer benefits from everything. And from a broader perspective, I find this an interesting combination of 5G, cloud, edge and Internet of Things. Obviously, Microsoft has a significant interest in the lead; AT&T has an interest in the edge “Microsoft has a significant stake in the public cloud. AT&T has a significant stake in networks in general, but more importantly in 5G technology.”

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