GSMA THRIVE CHINA 2020: Azhar Sayeed, chief technologist at Red Hat (pictured), argued roaming capabilities will key in unlocking the true potential of edge compute applications and explained operators should focus on delivering seamless service across multiple networks.

In a session on scaling edge computing, Sayeed noted the industry conversation around the approach had shifted to a focus on multi-provider environments, as developers dream up applications with demands clearly beyond the scope of a single service provider’s reach.

As an example, he highlighted a use case which aims to turn dash camera footage into a revenue generator, by analysing it to provide insights about road maintenance needs and traffic flows.

Enabling such applications requires delivery of roaming capabilities for edge services: he explained achieving this requires a “network exposure function”, which reveals what capabilities are necessary for a given application to function properly.

The function is “critical” to enable new “services to be built, charged and managed across multi-provider networks”, he argued.

In terms of expanding edge operations, Sayeed said flexibility is key: “Scaling edge is not just about cookie cuttering or stamping-out replicas of the exact same feature set, but it’s also about ensuring that you can actually address these different deployment models and scenarios.”