How, where and why telco is using enterprise open source

While the telecommunications industry is familiar with enterprise open source—95% of our survey respondents are already using it—it also stands at an inflection point with the rise of edge computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) and the rapid deployment of 5G.

According to “The State of Enterprise Open Source” report we published earlier this year, open source will continue to play an important role in the future of telecommunications. With data collected from 13 countries, the report shows a picture of how, where, and why IT leaders across the globe and a range of sectors use enterprise open source. Let’s see how it’s positioning telecommunications providers to keep up with their technology revolution.

Security is a big factor in choosing enterprise open source

Across the industry, enterprise open source is being used in Application development (66%), IT infrastructure modernization (63%) and Digital transformation (59%). As service providers modernize their infrastructure to provide connectivity from the core all the way out the edge, they need secure pathways to scale efficiently.

Telco IT leaders cited “better security” and the “ability to safely leverage open source technologies” as some of their top reasons for choosing enterprise open source, and 74% say enterprise open source is a key part of their organization’s security strategy. 

Open source’s expanded use for emerging technologies

Many respondents expect the use of enterprise open source for emerging technology to increase in the next two years, with two-thirds of IT leaders identifying AI/ML as key growth areas—and to an even greater extent, edge computing / Internet of Things (IoT).

Kubernetes’ role in Telco’s cloud-native strategy

The industry is shifting to containers and capitalizing on virtualized RAN in its process of revolutionizing radio access networks (RAN). In our survey, an overwhelming 94% of respondents say Kubernetes is important to their cloud-native application strategy. Additionally, a majority of telco leaders indicate they prefer to use multiple cloud vendors. 

Red Hat’s partner ecosystem and our work to drive open source innovation and can help communications service providers find that flexibility they’re looking for. Not only is flexibility an important factor for telco leaders, so is open source participation: 85% say they are more likely to select a vendor who contributes to the open source community.

Want more insights from the telecommunications industry? Get highlights in The State of Enterprise Open Source: Telecommunications infographic.