Amazon EKS Anywhere Certifies on Intel Xeon Scalable Processors to Ramp vRAN
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is working with Intel to boost Telco adoption of cloud-native network solutions. The two companies are developing on a certification and go-to-market initiative to allow communication service providers and network operators to take advantage of cloud-native solutions for their next-generation networks.
Much of the existing appliance-based network infrastructure was not designed to take advantage of cloud economics and edge computing. A transition is required for service providers to reap the benefits of cloud native designs and improve overall total cost of ownership (TCO). Given that most service providers have made significant investments in on-prem infrastructure that need to be capitalized, they want to take advantage of both their existing infrastructure investment and the cloud with hybrid deployments. This migration and separation of hardware and software allows for future software upgradability and scalability on top of commercial off-the-shelf servers based on Intel Xeon Scalable processing optimized for network workloads.
Working with Intel, AWS is planning to certify a specific set of use cases for Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) Anywhere on Intel® Xeon® scalable platforms. These platforms will be commercially available solutions from leading OEMs that are prominent in the industry today. By offering service providers access to optimized solutions for both greenfield and brownfield deployments, operators can take advantage of the cloud elasticity in their end-to-end network infrastructure, including the RAN (radio access network).
As part of this effort, each company will bring key expertise to develop reference architectures with the following deliverables that can be sourced by service providers:
- Certification of bare-metal deployments of Amazon EKS Anywhere on third-party, Intel-based compute platforms
- Ability to deploy customized OS with Amazon EKS Anywhere and third-party hardware (firmware, accelerator firmware, NICs, BIOS settings)
To accomplish this, AWS solution architects and specialists will work with Intel to validate Amazon EKS Anywhere with Intel’s FlexRAN® reference software. Other validated platform components include open source projects such as Multus, SR-IOV, DPDK, MacvLAN, and IPvLAN.
Intel has been at the forefront of network infrastructure virtualization and has built an ecosystem to deliver on the promise of a software-based infrastructure, including virtualized radio access networks. The next frontier is cloud-native designs that allow service providers to take advantage of AWS technologies that deliver the elasticity and scale sought by our customers. Intel’s vRAN technologies, combined with AWS and innovations from the OEM community, will give operators a compelling, best-of-breed approach to creating intelligent, scalable networks.
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Vice President Network & Edge Group
General Manager Wireless Access Network Division.
Cristina Rodriguez is vice president in the Network & Edge Group, general manager of the group's Wireless Access Network Division (WAND), and general manager of the Austin Design Center at Intel Corporation. She leads Intel’s efforts to provide innovative wireless access solutions in both traditional and cloud native networks, enabling the RAN of the future by bringing together 5G, the build out of the Edge and Artificial Intelligence. Rodriguez has full PnL ownership, responsible for strategy and business plans, technical product marketing, roadmaps, product definition, forecasting, customer relationships, investment decisions and GTM.
Rodriguez joined Intel in 2014 with the acquisition of LSI Corp.'s Axxia Networking Business from Avago Technologies Ltd., where she led and carried out software strategy. In her first Intel role, Rodriguez managed the division's worldwide software engineering and product development efforts. She also led the successful integration of the Axxia team into Intel and aligned the team's focus with Intel's networking business. Her team has been recognized multiple times with Intel’s highest honor, the Intel Achievement Award, for their contribution to the company’s 5G leadership efforts.
Before her tenure at LSI and Avago, Rodriguez spent seven years holding leadership roles in software development at Agere Systems Inc. and its parent company, Lucent Technologies Inc. Earlier in her career, she worked at Zilog Inc. and at two startup ventures.
Rodriguez earned her bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Instituto Superior Politécnico José Antonio Echeverría in Havana, Cuba; her master's degree in computer science from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in Madrid, Spain; and completed the Stanford Executive Program at Stanford University. Rodriguez is also a member of the Intel Latinx Leadership Council and was recognized as one of HiTEC’s “100 Most Influential Hispanic Leaders in Technology” in 2021 and 2022.