Modern hybrid architecture is transforming telecommunications companies from simple connectivity providers into essential platform players. As momentum builds around AI-native networks, the focus has shifted toward utilizing existing infrastructure — from central data centers to the “far edge” of the radio network — to host private AI workloads and secure enterprise data.

But the ability for telcos to move beyond consumer-grade services and toward high-value business-to-business opportunities relies on their unique real estate at the radio access network. By integrating sovereign cloud capabilities, operators can offer a level of data integrity and low-latency processing that hyperscalers struggle to replicate, according to Fran Heeran (pictured, left), vice president of global telecommunications at Red Hat Inc.

“Telcos have been building sovereign networks for years. A telco network is, by definition, largely sovereign,” Heeran explained. “That’s where you’re seeing the gigafactories, the AI factories. They’re seeing an opportunity to do something that nobody else can do right now, which is to offer these … super-sovereign, secure [and] telco-grade clouds — both in mainstream data centers, but also out on the edge as well.”

Heeran and Eoin Coughlan (right), global chief technology officer and industry lead for telecommunications, media and entertainment at IBM Corp., spoke with theCUBE’s John Furrier and Dave Vellante at MWC Barcelona, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the monetization of AI at the far edge, the role of sovereign AI infrastructure and the transition of telcos toward agentic, autonomous networks. (* Disclosure below.)

Driving monetization through modern hybrid architecture

The shift toward a modern hybrid architecture is enabling telcos to capitalize on their unique proximity to the end user. This is especially critical for emerging technologies such as augmented and virtual reality devices, which require near-instantaneous response times from the network, according to Heeran.

“The new generation of wearable devices is an interesting one. They’re starting to demand lower and lower latency, which is where the telco edge becomes really important,” Heeran said. “Putting the workload that they rely on as close to the device as possible — that’s something a telco can offer. That is becoming a practical use case.”

While the first wave of AI focused on internal cost optimization, the current frontier is the “AI factory” model. This allows small and medium-sized enterprises to use telco infrastructure as a managed AI platform — effectively serving as their CIO office — providing tools to build, govern and deploy proprietary models within national boundaries, Coughlan said. Now, telcos should position themselves as the primary stewards of enterprise AI infrastructure, he added.

“[Telcos] should provide the AI factory and they should give them the tools to govern, to build their own capabilities, to bring in their own models,” Coughlan explained. “That’s what we’re talking to customers about right now is, ‘How does the telco manage that for all of the enterprise?'”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of MWC Barcelona:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for MWC Barcelona. Sponsors of theCUBE’s event coverage do not have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE