For this vignette of a recent episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast, part of the 5G Factor series, analysts Ron Westfall and Shelly Kramer examine Amdocs supplying the business support systems, including 5G monetization capabilities, for what Orange is touting as Europe’s first 5G SA end-to-end experimental cloud network being built out in France.

Their discussion covered:

• Why Orange promoting its 5G SA network development as an experimental cloud network is a shrewd marketing move that aligns with pragmatic expectations for 5G SA rollouts.
• The expanding role of AI in assuring and accelerating the automation of business processes and operations in software-centric, cloud native environments.
• With Orange targeting the support of hundreds of users by the end of 2021, it will become incumbent for the operator to produce lessons learned and viable use cases at the beginning of 2022.
• How Amdocs gains a sizable marketing boost from its inclusion in Orange’s multi-vendor implementation of the operator’s experimental hybrid cloud 5G SA network.

Ron and Shelly view Orange’s progress in rolling out its experimental 5G network as key to boosting its overall open 5G objectives, including Open RAN assimilation, and helping Europe keep pace with 5G SA deployments in North America, China, and Northeast Asia.