Intel

Analytics to optimize enterprise

and IoT applications
A conversation with Caroline Chan, Vice President and General
Manager, 5G Infrastructure Division, Network Platform Group, Intel
In collaboration By Monica Paolini, Senza Fili
 which will be crucial to ensuring a smooth and services in areas such as manufacturing, retail,
Profile successful path to full virtualization. healthcare, smart home, and transportation.

Intel
Intels networking, wireless, IoT and artificial
intelligence solutions are geared to the business
and networking challenges in setting the stage
for 5G that service providers and enterprises
face, including:
To create a new generation of highly agile,
open, and programmable cloud-ready
networks, Intel is working on technologies such
as network slicing, flexible RAN architectures,
small cells and multi-access edge computing
(MEC). Intels work on emerging wireless
capabilities aims to enable new services and
applications in wireless networks.
Intel is also pioneering in AI and data analytics,
both in telecoms and other verticals, and
believes it will be a driving force toward
revolutionizing every industry. With trials and
initial commercial deployments, Intel intends to
bring new insights and understanding to the
entire IoT ecosystem, including smart factories,
drones, healthcare and autonomous driving.

Increasing network capacity to meet growth Intel has been leading to establish the
in data traffic foundational capabilities and platforms that will
Building agile networks and platforms to make possible the rapid development of IoT
improve existing service
and enable new ones
Deploying architectures
and products to
accelerate analytics and
artificial intelligence
adoption and bring an
infusion of intelligence to
networks

This requires transformation

to virtualized, software-
defined and cloud-ready
networks to support 5G
from the device all the way
to the core and the cloud.
Intel is committed to
supporting this end-to-end
transformation with its
silicon and software solutions
and its reference
architectures. It is also
actively engaged with
partners, standards bodies
and industry organizations to
create a robust ecosystem,

Intel
Analytics to optimize
enterprise and IoT
applications
A conversation with
Caroline Chan, Vice President and
General Manager,
5G Infrastructure Division,
Network Platform Group, Intel
With the evolution of wireless networks toward
virtualization, edge computing and eventually
5G, operators, enterprises and public entities
now have the analytics tools to harness huge
amounts of data. With insight from this data,
they can optimize how they deliver or use
services, and they can enable IoT and other
enterprise applications.
In this conversation, I talked with Caroline Chan
about the network implications of analytics as
we move toward virtualized and distributed
networks, and how IoT will be a major growth
driver in transforming wireless networks.
Caroline is Vice President and General Manager
of the 5G Infrastructure Division at Intel.
Monica Paolini: Analytics and, more generally,
network optimization must be of great
relevance to Intel, especially with the ongoing
2017 Senza Fili www.senzafiliconsulting.com
move to virtualization and edge computing.
Caroline, what is Intels perspective on this?
Caroline Chan: Every time we talk about the
network, we think of the network as an
extension of the cloud. But it needs to be soft. It
needs to be flexible. Here at Intel, weve been
working on different prototypes and reference
architectures to extend that.
In the discussion we have today around the
ways 5G infrastructure aids big data analytics,
we think about the network as an integral part
of it being more cloud-like.
We know that a lot of data is being stored and
analyzed in the cloud. We want to aid the use of
the analytics that are coming from the edge
coming from all the devices that are going to be
out there collecting all this information.
Its also important to note that not all data is
equal. Intel is working on solutions that address
the question of how we pick the right data
without getting overwhelmed. You need to pick
the data that is useful for helping the enterprise
make good decisions.
The network needs to be not too hot nor too
cold. This is our way of saying that the network
needs to be flexible and sliceable in order to
manage all the data thats expected to hit us all.
Monica: Flexibility is crucial in a network where
multiple things happen at the same time. You
need to be able to react to anything that may
happen.
At the same time, when you talk to operators,
theyll tell you they feel overwhelmed because
Intel: Analytics to optimize enterprise and IoT applications
there is so much data. The data doesnt sit in a
neat box. And as an operator, you need to pay
attention to what the users see. Its very easy to
get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of data,
and you need to find whats relevant in there.
How can you go about it?
Caroline: Quite a few years ago, we worked
with a local provider on a worlds fair event in
Shanghai. One of the issues the provider was
facing was the use of security cameras it had all
around the venue. This was a big event, and
security was top of mind.
This provider was taking every single frame and
sending it to the cloud. Thats overwhelming. It
was a very large site with a lot of people. We
worked with our customers and partners locally
to collect and organize the data. They had
certain criteria it was in July, so in terms of
security threats, they were looking to observe
movements of people wearing unseasonably
warm clothing or big backpacks. Many times,
local public safety folks will tell you what to look
for look for certain car models, maybe. They
have a target in mind.
In these sorts of scenarios, you really dont
need to bring all the data back to the cloud. And
this was the idea in the earliest versions of MEC
if you remember, the M stands for multiple-
access and weve been talking about this
concept for a while. Through the use of some
analytics, you can take the right frame of data
and pass it back to the local authorities.
Intel has been involved in MEC from the
beginning. In the last five years, weve come a
long way, and now we are able to do a lot more
analytics using more advanced MEC technology
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and edge-compute technology. Now its really
to the point that, if you look at something like
connected cars and autonomous driving, our
role today is to see around the corner, with no
line of sight this is what you need to capture
the right data at the right time.
For instance, take a video from the frame-by-
frame camera feed that shows people in a car
what police or public safety actions are
happening two miles down the road. In this
situation, the data can explain to the people in
the car why the self-driving car is taking a
different route than the one they normally take
to work.
For us, things like this can now become an
integral part of making something like
autonomous driving successful. And its
something were showcasing in our
Autonomous Driving Garage on the Intel
campus in San Jose.
That was just one example, which can be
extended to other scenarios, as well. MEC also
has useful applications in network management
within our wireless networks if you provide
the right platform and APIs and expose them to
developers.
People do come up with applications that are
meaningful and useful to the management of
data. Its not just data for horizontal markets. A
lot of times, theres a vertical focus to data, for
a specific and targeted type of enterprise.
Monica: Lets get to the vertical distinction
there, because thats really a huge part of
analytics and a huge opportunity for
optimizing the networks. And lets look at the
2017 Senza Fili www.senzafiliconsulting.com
horizontal level, too the centralized versus
distributed.
The obvious goal is to optimize the network end
to end, and provide the best quality of
experience to the end user. But where is the
best place to act within the end-to-end network
to ensure that? Where do we collect the data?
Where do we act from an analytics point of
view?
Caroline: We see this as a hybrid model. There
are reasons to do centralized analytics, because
the cloud has a large amount of computer
storage. And, when its centralized, the cost
does go down.
But distributed analytics architectures, like FOG
computing and Multi-access Edge Computing,
have their place as well, because they help
extract all the value from data at the IoT
endpoint device. Its also a way of taking the
cloud-based learnings to the edge distributed
from the data center.
Intel: Analytics to optimize enterprise and IoT applications
A distributed architecture allows you to spread
the data analytics workload over multiple
nodes, in all classes of servers, instead of asking
one single node to tackle a very big problem.
Also, remember, this type of algorithm runs
across many of the nodes it forms a cluster of
the data.
In addition, many times, the data is very
meaningful locally whether it is in one node or
in several adjacent nodes. Weve been talking
with some of the machine learning innovators
out there about the enablement of this kind of
data, and they are experimenting with it.
When discussing distributed architecture, we
think its important to note that some of the
data should go to the cloud. Centralized
learning technology belongs in the cloud. But,
there is a rightful place for distributed analytics,
as well to get a faster response and faster
insights for things like road hazard situations
with autonomous-driving cars.
|4|
In a driving scenario, you need very low latency
and instantaneous, localized, response. This can
be done locally. But the big learnings are also
needed, and they should be performed in the
cloud. Again, we see this as a hybrid model
thats the path we are pursuing.
Monica: It really depends, at the application
level, on what youre trying to achieve, what
network you have. Its nondeterministic. Again,
it goes back to the need for flexibility that you
mentioned earlier.
Caroline: Exactly. Way back when we were
working on self-organizing networks (SON),
everything was going back to the network
operations center (NOC). The NOC made the
decisions, and there was some latency involved.
It was OK, because it was a bunch of macro
base stations.
But now you have macro base stations, and you
have all of these small cells out there and Wi-Fi
APs. The interference issue is a lot more
distributed. Getting everything back to the
cloud to make a SON decision may not be as
efficient as if you use both a distributed SON
and a centralized SON. We see the trend is
really going both ways, and this is another good
example of the hybrid architecture model.
In addition, we are also taking on different
verticals factories, robotics, driving and so on.
The examples just go on and on.
Monica: You mentioned latency and timing.
That brings up another crucial issue: real time.
You can optimize networks based on historical
data periods of weeks, months and thats
good. But it is not enough. We need to move to
2017 Senza Fili www.senzafiliconsulting.com
optimization in real time. How do we do that?
What are the enablers?
Caroline: We have a couple of tools, FOG and
Multi-Access Edge Computing. Moving the
intelligence closer to the edge helps reduce the
latency significantly.
Last year, there was a trial that Nokia and
Deutsche Telekom did on the A9 highway, in
Germany. This is one example showing that, in a
road hazard situation, the car is able through
LTE and MEC to get all the information it
needs to avoid the situation. In this case there
was a car breakdown, out of sight, and the
information was sent to all the cars around it.
This is just one example.
And, of course, the 5G standard is going to
tackle the latency issue. This will also help
address latency and timing. There are multiple
ways to skin this cat, but at present, we see
MEC as very critical to solving this issue.
In fact, weve been calling the network a
distributed data center. Think about it
managing the provisioning and reconfiguration
of the network in real time requires new tools.
Distributed centers are used across the network
so you dont have to wait to make every
decision until you get to the core. You can start
pushing some of the intelligence out to the
edge the minute the RF becomes IP. You can
start making the right decision at the right
place. Thats one way to reduce latency.
Monica: Taking that a step further, we need not
only to act in real time, but to act before real
time hits. Because, whenever there is an issue
in the network, whenever you need to change
Intel: Analytics to optimize enterprise and IoT applications
something in the network, it doesnt necessarily
mean there is something going wrong.
If you are to optimize, you need to do it ahead
of time, before you get into the situation that
creates the problem. We need to learn to
predict. Can we do that?
Caroline: Actually, we need to prevent and
predict. Through some of the discussions weve
had with companies working in various
verticals, such as car or airplane manufacturers,
weve learned that they prevent and predict a
lot of the things that could go wrong for them.
They have all of this information, such as engine
data.
Today, all the information is collected. But they
havent necessarily been able to offload all the
data efficiently or effectively. Theres always a
cost involved when you start moving all this
data towards the cloud through the backhaul.
Intel started tackling this problem in multiple
ways. The first way was installing MEC. This aids
in efforts like getting the data off the engine of
an aircraft before the engine is used again
MEC makes it possible to run local analytics
with effective and consistent connectivity at the
edge, so you get the information quickly.
Weve learned from these enterprises that, by
having enough data, many times they can make
a prediction. There are trends and issues they
are aware of that can now be addressed
quickly.
For example, how many times have you had the
experience of sitting on a plane only to have the
pilot announce that theres a light on that wont
|5|
turn off? And Im going to call the mechanics
to come on. And its easily an hour later before
anything happens. Typically, if you can get the
data at the edge even to simply predict 15%
or 20% of the engine failures thats a huge
savings.
Again, the data sits there. Many times, the
datas there. The question is how to get the
right data. Not all data are equal. Get the right
data through the analysis allowing the smart
people within the enterprise to predict and
prevent.
Monica: Weve talked about timing and about
distributed analytics. Now lets look at the
vertical part, in the orthogonal direction i.e.,
the different vertical markets that are opening
up with IoT and IIoT. It used to be that it was
just us, subscribers with a phone, and that was
easy. Now you have many different devices,
different requirements out there. There is a
larger scope for optimization, but also more
complexity. How can we survive this
complexity?
Caroline: I just came back from the 5G Americas
and the Big Communications Event, BCE,
conference. I was participating in three
different panels on 5G economics and 5G use
cases. All of it really comes down to the need
for operators to utilize their network more
efficiently because they are, like you said, facing
a variety of verticals and enterprises theyll
serve.
The aim is to serve the enterprise. If they do
that, they will be able to monetize their
network investment much better.
2017 Senza Fili www.senzafiliconsulting.com
Its complex, because every vertical has its own
specific needs. You cant really build a network
fit for all unless you overprovision it.
That was what we did in the past. The industry
used to do this thing called the tornado effect
whatever algorithm we wrote or resource we
plotted, we always made sure the network
would be able to cope with that one day in a
season or in a quarter that the traffic just goes
through the roof.
You needed to make sure you accounted for
that, which meant that 99% of the time, you
underutilize your resources. What we did in the
past ties back to the need for a soft,
commercialized, network so you can move
resources to where you need them when you
need them to deal with these types of
situations.
The other important thing (for addressing
complexity) is network slicing which can
assign the right amount of resources, or the
right type of resources, to the type of
application youll be running. When the
application moves away, you can then switch
the resources around to handle something else.
The use of network slicing, SDN, NFV was the
theme we repeated in all the panels. Youve got
to move away from the fixed-function network
to a softer and more flexible network.
Monica: How do you see network slicing and
MEC working together within the analytics
framework?
Caroline: We look at network slicing as the
enabler. MEC is a principle and a philosophy.
Intel: Analytics to optimize enterprise and IoT applications
Were saying that the networks edge, either for
eNodeB or right next to eNodeB, needs to do
more than just the processing of the call
according to 3GPP it needs to do that and
more. It needs to have the intelligence and
analytics.
Thats a philosophy were putting into our
reference designs, into our silicon roadmap. In
addition to that, network slicing really becomes
an enabler. Without network slicing, can you do
analytics? Yes, you can, but you would do it at a
much higher cost and not as efficiently.
At the end of the day, theres only a certain
amount of money that is available. You can
control your costs and how you serve your
needs.
Actually, when I was listening to keynotes by
AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, everybody was
going back to the same principle: the network
must be flexible, and the network must be
sliceable it must use the right resources and
use the right spectrum for the right application.
We think its all very tied together the
enablers and the design principle.
Monica: Much of the IoT is going to be driven
by the enterprise. How is analytics benefiting
the enterprise? What types of applications? And
what is the enterprise doing in this space?
Caroline: When we started thinking about
analytics, we thought we had to sell the concept
to the operator and to the enterprise. It turns
out that when you go to the enterprise side,
and you really sit down and understand their
problems, most of them already wanted to do
what they call digital transformation.
|6|
They know that the business model and the
business practices have to be more automated
and consolidated. At the end of the day, you
want to give them a flexible platform with the
APIs that allow them to run the applications
theyre already running in different parts of the
network.
Many times its in their enterprise cloud or in
the public cloud. You give them the connectivity
they need, because many of these applications
are either running on their Wi-Fi network or are
not at all connected.
You show them a way to say, Heres a
platform. Its CIO approved. Its IT friendly. It
runs on an existing architecture, which means
your existing applications do not have to be
rewritten. It just runs on this platform.
We found they start changing the conversation
from Why are we doing this? to How do I do
this cost effectively? What other problems can I
solve in addition? The conversation really
changes. We found the enterprise starts driving
the conversation, driving the proof of concept
and driving the time line.
Then the operator comes in and says, Well,
heres our IoT now. Its sometimes
upgradeable to 5G in the 20182019 time
frame. In most of the conversations, we dont
even discuss waiting until 5G is available. Were
actually doing the work right now. There are
some rollouts, there are some early trials
happening, and there are some proofs of
concept in the lab.
Weve found that the enterprise very much
buys into this. First of all, you need to remove
2017 Senza Fili www.senzafiliconsulting.com
that preconception that this needs LTE, or
this needs 5G. You need to show them that
your enterprise application runs on this server
platform with connectivity. Once you change to
this dialog, the CIOs are much more willing and
able to discuss this with you.
Monica: Analytics recently has become a really
hot topic. Everybody talks about analytics, big
data, AI and machine learning. Why is it
happening now, do you think? Why not three
years ago?
Caroline: Actually, big data analytics and AI
have been around for a long time.
Monica: AI has been around for decades. The
hype on it is recent, though. At Mobile World
Congress, it was a much bigger topic this year
than it was in previous years.
Caroline: I personally think there are multiple
factors. Obviously, faster speed and
connectivity help. The channel spectrum
availability now extends beyond the typical 20
MHz. 20 MHz was enough for a network when
the activities on it were mostly browsing and
downloading. But now, online activities use so
much more data. Thats possible because of the
wide variety of spectrum bands we have
available now.
Another huge factor is SDN/NFV. Before, we
had fixed-function networks designed for voice.
We had voice over LTE. This is very much tied to
a human. Now, the network needs to also
handle wide varieties of machine-type
communication out there.
Intel: Analytics to optimize enterprise and IoT applications
You have a network that, at least in the design
principle, is so much friendlier to IT. The biggest
issue with SDN/NFV is that it looks like a server,
it talks like a server, and it runs like a server.
When you have AI, the users controls in the
cloud can now probably get that much closer to
the factory floor, into a publishing house, into a
stock brokers office.
It becomes much more industry friendly
healthcare friendly if it runs in a hospital, for
example. I think the conversation starts shifting
away from an elite group of people that run AI,
to AI that can be delivered to an ordinary
Fortune 500 or Fortune 5,000 enterprise.
Recently, I was in Rio de Janeiro attending 5G
Latin America and we were talking with all kinds
of enterprises, as well as Brazilian government
officials. They were very interested, saying,
Now that we have this potential using very
flexible network connectivity and youre
showcasing AR and VR, how does this transform
my economy?
By the way, they were not talking about
creating jobs, per se. They were talking about
things like agriculture. They were talking about
ranching. They asked: Can I get 5G to the cows,
help with milk production, meat production and
delivery?
So you see, once you give people the tool, the
conversation changes from elite groups of
intellectuals and the top tier echelon of
enterprises to everyone to the ranchers or
farmers, right? What does the government
want? The government wants to uplift the
economy.
|7|
Look at whats going on with China. They just I
announced the One Belt, One Road initiative.
What does that mean? Its a re-creation of the
Silk Road through IoT and through connectivity,
all the way from China to Europe; it used to be
done on a camel, and now its done through IoT
and connectivity.

It goes without saying: if the network is not

flexible enough and its unreasonably
expensive, this sort of capability will never
happen. We will go back to the camel days.

Monica: Moving forward, final question for you.

Where is analytics headed to?

Caroline: I think that analytics is going to head

to a much more widespread distributed model. think analytics will definitely help to drive AR Augmented reality
Analytics will happen in the cloud, at the edge economies forward toward a much more BCE Big Communications Event
of the cloud and in the network. And, it will efficient economic model. FPGA Field-programmable gate array
permeate many different verticals. GDP Gross domestic product
Monica: I like the plan to bring 5G to the cows. IIoT Industrial IoT
This is starting right now, although were still IoT Internet of things
stuck on some of the fundamentals in some of Caroline: Yes, in 2018, bringing 5G to the cows. IP Internet Protocol
the places where using analytics makes total
IT Information technology
sense like healthcare and hospitals. We do see
LTE Long Term Evolution
analytics going more and more things like
MEC Multi-access Edge Computing
retail. Glossary MM Millimeter [wave]
It is even going into farms and ranches. Before I NB NodeB
3GPP Third Generation Partnership NFV Network Functions Virtualization
went to Rio, I had no idea that Brazil is such a Project
dominant beef-producing country. A lot of their NOC Network operations center
5G Fifth generation RAN Radio access network
GDP is tied to it, and the conversation was AI Artificial intelligence
around Can you write analytics for the cow, for RF Radio frequency
AP Access point SDN Software-defined networking
milk production? A lot of this stuff really API Application programming
impacts peoples income, and the GDP. SON Self-organizing network
interface VR Virtual reality

2017 Senza Fili www.senzafiliconsulting.com Intel: Analytics to optimize enterprise and IoT applications |8|
About Intel
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) expands the boundaries of technology to make the most amazing experiences possible. As the leader in
the PC industry, Intel is powering the majority of the worlds data centers, connecting hundreds of millions of mobile and
Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and helping to secure and protect enterprise and government IT systems. Our manufacturing
advantagefueled by our pursuit of Moores Lawlets us continuously push the limits of performance and functionality and
expand what experiences can be made possible. Intel has a growing portfolio of products and technologies that deliver
solutions to help communication service providers transform their networks, bringing advanced performance and intelligence
from the core of the data center to the network edge. Intels commitment to network transformation is long and deep with
years invested in delivering reference architectures, growing a strong ecosystem, and partnering with end-users. We are also
deeply committed to 5G which represents the true convergence of computing and communications. 5G is a fundamental shift
for the industry where networks will transform to become faster, smarter, and more efficient to realize the potential for the
IoT and mobility, enabling richer experiences throughout daily life augmented reality, smart cities, telemedicine, and more.
Information about Intel and the work of its more than 100,000 employees can be found at newsroom.intel.com and intel.com.

About Caroline Chan

Caroline Chan is Vice President and General Manager of 5G Infrastructure Division within Intels Network Platform Group
(NPG). She is responsible for leading a cross functional organization driving global network infrastructure strategy for 5G.
Bringing Intel processor into the wireless infrastructure, projects such as virtualized RAN, mini-cloud RAN, 5G network,
heterogeneous network consisted of small cells and Wi-Fi, and multi-access edge computing for IoT. In her role, she closely
works with telecommunication vendors, operators, and application developers. Caroline also represents Intel at industry
forums. Her research interests include 5G and HetNet performance. Prior to joining Intel, Caroline was Director of Product
Management at Nortel Networks where she managed a portfolio of 3G and 4G wireless infrastructure products. Caroline was
born in Nanjing, China, received her BS EE from University of Texas at Austin, and MS EE from University of Massachusetts at
Amherst. Outside of her family and work, Caroline is passionate about the Texas Longhorn Football team.

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About the interviewer

Monica Paolini, PhD, is the founder and president of Senza Fili. She is an expert in wireless technologies
and has helped clients worldwide to understand new technologies and customer requirements, create and
assess financial TCO and ROI models, evaluate business plan opportunities, market their services and
products, and estimate the market size and revenue opportunity of new and established wireless
technologies. She frequently gives presentations at conferences, and writes reports, blog entries and
articles on wireless technologies and services, covering end-to-end mobile networks, the operator,
enterprise and IoT markets. She has a PhD in cognitive science from the University of California, San Diego
(US), an MBA from the University of Oxford (UK), and a BA/MA in philosophy from the University of
Bologna (Italy). You can reach her at monica.paolini@senzafiliconsulting.com.

2017 Senza Fili Consulting, LLC. All rights reserved. This paper was prepared on behalf of Intel Corporation. The transcription of the conversation has been edited for consistency and readability. The document
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