© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A smartphone is seen in front of the Microsoft logo pictured in this illustration taken July 26, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
By Supantha Mukherjee and Martin Coulter
BARCELONA (Reuters) – Microsoft (NASDAQ:) has unveiled previews of two AI-powered services designed to manage telecommunications networks, leveraging the same capabilities used to manage the tech giant’s Azure cloud platform.
Operators can benefit from advanced artificial intelligence that helps unlock new business opportunities from data and insights about their operations, including the rollout of high-speed 5G networks, the company said in a blog post.
Microsoft first entered the 5G arena after its acquisition of cloud networking companies Affirmed Networks and Metaswitch in 2020.
The company has been very focused on AI, investing heavily in OpenAI’s ChatGPT bot, which has added to the widespread attention artificial intelligence has been receiving in Silicon Valley and beyond. Microsoft said last month that it aimed to embed such AI into all of its products, as OpenAI continues to pursue the creation of human-like intelligence for machines.
“What we’re doing is taking our cloud-native work and making it specific to this telecom carrier network space. I think a great example of that is all the AI operations work we’re putting into the system,” said Jason Zander, Microsoft’s executive vice president of strategic missions and technologies.
“We’re bringing that same technology into this space,” he added. “Every trader I’ve shown this to is extremely excited.”
Telecommunications partners such as AT&T Inc (NYSE:) , Ericsson (BS:) and Nokia Oyj (HE:) will be able to take advantage of Microsoft’s new Nexus service, an all-in-one platform that allows operators to manage their networks from the cloud and two different “AIOps” services.
Monica Zethzon, a vice president at Ericsson, said the developments would allow operators to “transform their core networks while improving customer experiences.”