ATOS in DEDICAT 6G

ATOS is an international information technology company strategically positioned in the new telecommunications paradigm and at the forefront of the latest technology, methodologies and industry trends. Atos strategy in telecom is to support its operator clients in their move to next-generation networks and help them generate more business value from their networks.

Following this vision, Atos research and innovation department participates in DEDICAT 6G project applying its long experience to the process of requirement elicitation and definition of use cases. This work allows Atos to participate in the design of the architecture needed for the management and orchestration of the virtualised infrastructure and therefore be prepared for new customer demands and business offerings. It is a fact that vertical industries digital transformation opens the door to new business opportunities and revenue streams, enabling the creation of new products and services. Industries consider 5G/6G a key enabler of digital transformation, because of the superior performance that helps meet the objectives of this transformation, such as business improvement, competitive excellence, reduced downtime, centralized operations etc. However, industries do not always have the necessary expertise or knowledge in communication networks. Even if they did, they would have to perform certain actions manually, which leads to more time to complete tasks and human error. 5G networks have strict constraints regarding application services in terms of latency, reliability, and availability, which pose additional challenges to the traditional orchestration solutions, and 6G networks will increment the number of slices and services deployed over different technological domains, adding more difficulties for the orchestrator.

Architecture view showing End-to-End slicing

In this context, Atos research in DEDICAT 6G is dedicated to assist the NFV orchestrator and SDN Controller to be able to deploy network slices configured according to the needs of the verticals.​ Atos is developing a component (named Orchestration Engine) that fits in the overall network architecture and translates the instructions coming from the Decision-Making FCs to be applied in the real Edge System by external actors (e.g. OSM or TeraFlowSDN). These decisions include intelligence placement in different edge nodes and/or network reconfigurations to guarantee the service required by the vertical. If not for this component, each decision FC would have to convert its instructions into something that external actors could interpret and apply. Instead, the OE receives the recommendations from different sources and integrates them to fit the format and form needed, additionally implementing the interfaces to communicate with these external actors.

Apart from this technical contribution to the project, Atos plays a relevant role in DEDICAT 6G acting as Innovation Manager and leading the activities on exploitation and impact creation. Atos applies its knowledge of the telecom sector and its closest proximity to customers to lead the project partners in the process of transforming project research ideas and achieved scientific results into products and services, boosting European competitiveness and growth.