Tharunika Sridhar on the Intersection of Cloud Computing and Telecommunication: An Interconnected and Empowered Future
Many leaders in the Telecom and IT industries agree that cloud computing is a game-changing infrastructure innovation, and Tharunika Sridhar is one of them. She is one of the youngest and foremost Electrical and Communications engineers in the increasingly superimposing fields of cloud computing and Telecommunication today.
"Growing up in the 90s, I was exposed to major world-changing technologies that were quickly intertwined in our lifestyles" she shared. Drawn by the advent of technologies like the Internet, digital device revolution, and multimedia communications across the globe, she was steered in the direction of pursuing her undergraduate degree in Electronics and Communication in Chennai, ultimately leading her way to being a part of one of the world's foremost teams working on wireless communication and cloud computing. Through this article, she highlights how the Telecommunications industry is conjoining with cloud computing technology.
According to McKinsey's analysis, 60% of cloud evolution and its value relies on innovation- driven growth. The Telecommunication industry is pioneering in this front and capturing substantial economic value and impact from the cloud.
The Telecom sector, in 2023, is leveraging cloud technology to provide customers with distinctive offerings beyond network connectivity, including network function visualization and software-defined networking. The above allows telecommunication providers to deliver more effective consumer services at reduced costs.
Tharunika on the Challenges of Bringing Telecom and Cloud Services Together
Sridhar has worked as a Network Quality and Design Engineer at T-Mobile (USA's 3rd largest telecommunications operator), where she was deeply involved in customer-oriented and backend services. Talking about the challenges that stand in the way of merging telecommunication and cloud computing, she highlighted Gartner's prediction of 85% of organizations adopting a cloud-first strategy by 2025. However, most telco service providers are reluctant to adopt cloud computing services.
She also said — “essentially, shifting the telecommunication infrastructure to the cloud is challenging since it integrates a gigantic portfolio of interconnected services and communication networks.” To understand the magnitude of this industry at scale, it might suffice to learn that a national telecommunication operator manages up to 70,000 cell sites in just one country.
On the other hand, the challenges pale compared to the technological advantages of migrating the tele- communication infrastructure to the cloud. Tharunika shared that cloud computing removes numerous technology barriers derailing telecom service providers from growing. Furthermore, a cloud-based tele- communication infrastructure provides more agility, scalability, and performance, allowing telecom operators to be more resilient and respond to fluctuating demands.
The Benefits of Combining the Two Technologies
According to Cowen researchers, telecom operators adopting cloud technology stand to gain numerous benefits. "Private networks may be the next meaningful growth adjacency for telcos to offset ongoing enterprise legacy losses," they noted.
Currently working as a network technical consultant at Microsoft's "Azure for Operators" arm, Tharunika focuses on providing cloud-based solutions for Operators, which taps into the potential of the 5G network for connectivity. Thus, she cited the example of the 'Azure for Operators' platform shaping the future of 5G technology and offering a new paradigm for connected applications. As a telecom network consultant at Microsoft, she focuses on moving US's largest telecom partner's workloads to carrier-grade cloud that can easily and quickly respond to individual customers and enterprise needs.
She also emphasized that a multitude of Azure services will leverage 5G Network functions towards a fully cloud-native 5G standalone core in a cloud ecosystem, simplifying operations, ease of new service spin-up, and delivering exceptional customer experience while opening up new opportunities for operators. Verizon, too, leverages the power of cloud computing in telecommunications to enhance cybersecurity and secure web solutions.
Sridhar believes — “from 5G-powered edge computing to virtualized network functions, the convergence of these domains has created a powerful ecosystem capable of delivering low- latency, high-bandwidth, and personalized services.” This intersection has proven instrumental in bridging the digital divide. Cloud-based services and virtualized infrastructure have brought affordable computing power and advanced communication capabilities to remote and underserved regions.
