AT&T launched a new project alongside SK Telecom, Intel and the OpenStack Foundation it said will change the way operators build and manage cloud infrastructure.

Amy Wheelus, AT&T’s VP of cloud and domain 2.0 platform integration, noted in a blog post the project, called Airship, will initially focus on developing a so-called “declarative platform” for cloud management. This configuration defines the cloud in standardised documents which can later be altered to adjust elements of the cloud infrastructure. Edits can be made directly to the documents and the platform will automatically orchestrate those changes in the cloud, Wheelus explained.

5G backbone
AT&T said it is contributing code to the project which it first started developing with SK Telecom, Intel and others in 2017. The operator added the same code serves as the backbone of the network cloud that will run its 5G core and support its launch of 5G service in 12 cities later this year. The Airship project will also provide a boost for AT&T’s network artificial intelligence (AI) initiative, a framework for its open source projects announced in March that will form the basis of the operator’s ongoing software-defined networking (SDN) moves.

The declarative platform will help operators manage Airship’s software-based microservices architecture, which breaks applications out into separate functions that can be rearranged or upgraded to add scale or new features.

Ryan van Wyk, assistant VP of cloud platform development at AT&T Labs, said in the blog: “Airship is going to allow AT&T and other operators to deliver cloud infrastructure predictably that is 100 per cent declarative, where day zero is managed the same as future updates via a single unified workflow, and where absolutely everything is a container from the bare metal up.”

The effort underscores the operator’s open source initiatives and push toward a SDN. AT&T announced it virtualised 55 per cent of network functions in 2017 and it aims to virtualise 65 per cent of functions by the end of this year.