Voice&Data Talkies #6: Kuljesh Puri, SVP for IBM Alliance and Emerging Verticals, Persistent Systems

Persistent Systems is a digital services and technology provider, with operations across 15 countries. Its services in telecom include software engineering, network management, and the distributed edge. The company has formed partnerships with telecom players in India to enhance networks with software and cloud-based solutions. At Persistent Systems, Kuljesh Puri leads the IBM Alliance and Emerging Verticals. Puri has more than 2 decades worth of industry experience across verticals.

In the sixth edition of Voice&Data Talkies, Puri talks 5G, digital transformation, and what part Persistent Systems will play during the same.

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen internet usage skyrocket in India. What are the long-term implications for the same?

We are seeing a surge in digital transformation initiatives across industries and enterprise verticals including Telcos, Manufacturing, Banks, Healthcare, Education, among others. They are changing the way they operate and serve their customers in an era of social distancing and lockdowns. People and organizations all over the world have had to adjust to new ways of working and living.

Bandwidth availability, speed, and data are a given. People's appetite to consume data-based services has been whetted and there is no going back. Arogya Setu and the ease with which the COVID vaccine rollout was managed over mobile apps has now created an ecosystem that relies on data and online connectivity.

Persistent has been working with leading ISVs in the enterprise communications space developing UCaaS, CCaaS, and CPaaS solutions. Enterprises have accelerated their digital transformation journeys. As a leader in digital transformation and product engineering, Persistent is enabling enterprises to get digital ready at a fast pace with consulting, technology, and domain-driven solutions.

Digital transformation has been the focus of the government for a while now. How will 5G compliment the same?

Before the pandemic, since 2015-2016, there was a “Digital India” campaign that gave our government some of the platforms to enable the larger rural and urban populations to be integrated with the country’s benefits. This drive was expedited during the pandemic since government functions were asked to operate and engage with the public remotely, thus significant investments in IT were made.

Governments are preparing for the digital age, and technology changes such as automation and AI will have a tremendous impact on the future of work and global economies. 5G is critical to India's digital transformation campaign. This could result in Smart City initiatives leveraging 5G-driven use cases around smart buildings, smart airports, smart events, and even parking. Industry 4.0 will be expedited towards sensor data-driven smart manufacturing and digital twins, and Telcos focus to serve OTT-driven media streaming with advanced AR/VR technologies.

5G use cases in TeleHealth are paramount to enable a better response to a pandemic in the future, including 5G track and trace for emergencies, TeleMedicine, TeleSurgery, and enhanced supply chains for medicines and equipment.

4G has already backed the app economy and the consequent data explosion very strongly. What do you think 5G will do differently?

4G was about data speed and consumption; 5G will be more about availability, latency, and performance leading to real-time monitoring and actions. It enables industries to get online, with services available in real-time based on actionable intelligence. The last decade has seen growth in voice, video, and data (Internet) services with 4G/LTE technologies backing up the app economy. These enabled us to survive remote work during the pandemic through collaboration tools, among other technologies.

5G will be significantly faster than 4G, with more capacity. It is also designed to support a 100x increase in traffic capacity and network efficiency. Furthermore, 5G has ultra-low latency compared to 4G, which enables near real-time processing of content and decisions. This enables new use cases and connects new industries. With 5G, the next decade will see benefits from low-latency and high speed be realized with new use cases like remote patient care, smart city, and smart manufacturing (IIoT 4.0).

Since 5G networks will be deployed on cloud-based, open architectures, how do you believe this might help telecoms leverage data?

5G networks will be powered by cloud-based, network virtualization cores that allow network slicing-based services to enterprises and industries. Software upgrades by Telcos will make it easier to roll out new features, while edge computing will enable ultra-low latency. Network slicing will enable functionality-based SLAs to drive network performance, and Telcos will be able to provide higher priority services, SLAs for critical operations, and lower SLAs for normal services.

With 5G, there will be an explosion in the data collected from sensors/IoT devices at extremely high speed. Telecos are in a very good position to leverage this data for the benefit of their customers.

There are a few other industry examples of how the rapid increase in data collection will have an impact. First, Smart Manufacturing, which ensures faster decision making, predictable failures, and stock controls. Second, education will undergo a transformation by 5G enabled Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). Third, autonomous or self-driving cars. Lastly, healthcare, which includes remotely assisted surgery, improved patient care, and so on.

How can telecoms leverage cloud and edge computing to enhance the customers’ experience?

Telcos are keen to leverage edge computing to grow revenue, particularly in their enterprise businesses. They will be able to manage a high degree of availability due to virtual networks. Mobile edge computing eliminates dependency on network infrastructure and makes apps more reliable, enabling Telcos to manage capacity better as the network is programmable. Network slices create logic networks for similar requirements and can provide applications with guaranteed service levels.

Telcos are partnering with cloud Hyperscalers like Azure, AWS, and Google to provide edge services and deploy a 5G core on AWS/Azure clouds, which allows Telcos to offer high speed, low-latency, SLA-based services to their enterprise customers. In the edge computing ecosystem, Persistent Systems has been working with the leading 5G network equipment, Telco-cloud infrastructure, IoT, and Media and Advertisement players. Persistent Systems has built partnerships with leading Telco cloud vendors and is building next-generation Telco cloud platforms for ISVs, carriers, and enterprises.

Monetization has remained a matter of concern for telecoms since 4G. Will 5G allow for better monetization?

Telcos believe that enterprise revenue will be the most important source of 5G growth. Faster data throughput, lower latency, improved traffic capacity, maximized data volumes, network slicing, and improved cloud billing capabilities open a new playing field of advanced B2B solutions and IoT applications, where enterprise businesses will be the central players.

5G will also drive consumer monetization of video data. Some applicable use cases include low-latency multiplayer gaming, immersive entertainment using virtual reality (VR), smart stadiums, real-time translation (for example, during video conferences). Persistent Systems is helping a Tier 1 UCaaS service provider expedite their R&D development, business application integrations, and cloud infrastructure management to rollout collaboration services to their enterprise customers. We have been at the forefront of 5G Product Engineering, building 5G service assurance, performance monitoring, 5G Telco cloud infrastructure, RAN engineering, fixed wireless, edge computing, and IoT solutions.

For now, the telecoms are conducting 5G trials, developing use cases. How important will early market capture prove for telecoms in India?

5G will bring additional subscribers for Indian operators; it will bring additional capacity for increased data traffic on the network. An early adopter will be able to gain market share as well as increase ARPU and data monetization charges that will dominate the market. Some Indian operators – including both Airtel & Vodafone Idea - have inked partnerships with companies across industry verticals to tap the lucrative enterprise market for use cases like public safety, connected worker, and productivity-driven industry use cases especially for India where the “AtmaNirbhar Bharat vision” will be realized.

Persistent, through ISVs, has been working with top carriers in India on several 5G infrastructure development initiatives such as 5G RAN engineering, 5G service assurance, and performance monitoring, as well as with leading carriers globally for cross-domain service orchestration, IoT solutions, performance benchmarking, professional services, support, and many related areas.

Persistent Systems is investing in setting up a 5G test lab and developing IP for Telcos, device manufactures, OEMs, and application providers to test and validate their 5G use cases for rollouts.