Red Hat modernises telecommunications for HKT, Samsung

Red Hat has signed deals with communications service providers (CSPs) including HKT and Samsung as part of an effort to drive the modernisation of telecommunications, following the emergence of 5G in the global market.

Red Hat states that CSPs now need to provide modern networks that work across every industry if they are to survive in a competitive and evolving marketplace.

"Communication service providers are helping organizations at every enterprise provide groundbreaking innovation while working to modernise their networks in an incredibly competitive market," adds Red Hat telco, media and entertainment global vice president Honoré LaBourdette.

"With Red Hat OpenShift, CSPs can focus on tackling the industry's most exciting use cases like edge computing, standalone 5G core and more.

HKT, a Hong Kong telecommunications service provider, leveraged the opportunities from accelerated digital transformation within enterprises due to the pandemic.

HKT and Red Hat firstly diversifed and expanded the services within HKT's unified online shopping platform, Club Shopping, built on Red Hat OpenShift.

HKT also launched DrGo, an end-to-end app-based platform, which provides telemedicine services by connecting users with Hong Kong-registered doctors and other healthcare professionals through the app.

HKT states that through the enhanced reliability and flexibility of OpenShift, the company is now able to react more quickly to market shifts, improving its nimbleness while still delivering innovative new services to its customers.

"Through the enhanced reliability and flexibility of Red Hat OpenShift, HKT is able to react more quickly to market shifts and improve our agility while still delivering innovative services to our customers," comments HKT's technical service, operation and security senior vice president, Eric Wong.

Another customer is global telecommunications giant Samsung. Samsung selected Red Hat to expand deployment options of its 5G solutions, including 5G Core and Radio Access Network (RAN), by applying them to Red Hat OpenShift.

Samsung then completed the testing and validation of its 5G core CNF on Red Hat OpenShift for a joint customer deployment.  Samsung says it plans to test and validate its 5G vRAN on Red Hat OpenShift.
Red Hat senior vice president and chief technology officer Chris Wright comments, "As service providers build 5G networks, they are forming the foundation for the next wave of cross-industry innovation.

"From helping businesses in their edge computing solutions to ensuring enterprises can successfully deploy their artificial intelligence and machine learning applications, we expect these services to be built on a proven, cloud-native infrastructure.