Dell launches AI program to boost telecom network performance

Dell Technologies has announced the Dell AI for Telecom program, a new initiative that aims to streamline and advance AI deployments for communication service providers (CSPs).

This endeavour is part of the broader Dell AI Factory initiative, which merges Dell's AI expertise, infrastructure, and services with software and silicon from various partners within the AI ecosystem.

This program will focus on developing and deploying on-premise AI solutions designed to enhance network performance, improve customer service, and provide greater value at the enterprise edge. According to a recent study commissioned by Dell Technologies and conducted by MeriTalk, 48% of telecom executives view AI as the most transformative technology in the next five years. However, 68% feel their organisations are struggling to keep pace with rapidly evolving technologies and customer demands.

"Capitalising on the multiple opportunities presented by AI has become the most compelling driver of network cloud transformation," said Dennis Hoffman, senior vice president and general manager of the Telecom Systems Business at Dell Technologies. "Dell AI for Telecom brings together Dell's AI expertise and infrastructure, with partners across the ecosystem, to help network operators implement AI solutions in and on the network that reduce OPEX, improve performance, and create new edge revenue opportunities."

Dell has extended its collaboration with NVIDIA to co-create and validate telecom AI solutions built upon the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA. These solutions utilise Dell PowerEdge servers, NVIDIA GPUs, and enterprise-grade AI software to address various needs. Among the new partnerships:

• Amdocs, to enhance customer care and improve network maintenance with the Amdocs amAIz platform.
• Iternal, to automate call centre scripts and customer care operations.
• Kinetica, to conduct network troubleshooting and analysis with Kinetica SQL-GPT.
• Synthefy, to develop digital twins for networks and perform predictive network maintenance.

The Dell PowerEdge XR8000 server, now available with NVIDIA L4 Tensor Core GPUs, is specifically designed for telecom and edge use cases and aims to simplify deployment and maintenance. Additionally, Dell will help CSPs design and deploy GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) offerings, enabling on-demand NVIDIA GPU capacity for enterprise customers. This infrastructure will support enterprise AI workloads, unlocking new revenue opportunities and delivering low-latency AI inference and training closer to data.

In collaboration with its network partners, Dell is already making strides to speed AI adoption and innovation in telecommunications. Indonesian technology company Lintasarta is offering GPU Merdeka, a GPUaaS, to provide AI infrastructure, including NVIDIA GPUs with Dell PowerEdge XE9680 servers, for national businesses.

Furthermore, Dell and SK Telecom are working together to develop an AI chat agent for CSPs. By creating the Mobile Network Operator (MNO) AI Platform, they plan to integrate AI into existing business support systems (BSS) to enhance telecom business operations, drive revenue growth, and quickly resolve customer issues.

"As part of our collaboration with Dell Technologies and NVIDIA, Lintasarta will provide GPU-as-a-Service (Deka GPU) with Dell AI infrastructure and NVIDIA GPUs for national businesses, providing them access to the latest AI capabilities tailored for high-demand computing tasks," said Gidion Suranta Barus, Chief Cloud Officer at Lintasarta.

Haisung Kwon, Head of MNO AI Platforms at SK Telecom, added, "The creation of the Mobile Network Operator (MNO) AI Platform signifies a pivotal step in integrating AI into existing business support systems (BSS). This innovation aims to not only enhance our telecom business operations but also drive revenue growth and resolve customer issues with unprecedented speed and efficiency by minimising legacy burdens and standardising so that LLMs can easily understand MNO products, supporting well-organised API calls necessary for problem-solving. Through our collaboration with Dell Technologies, we aim to accelerate AI adoption and innovation to deliver superior service and value to our customers."

Ronnie Vasishta, senior vice president of Telecom at NVIDIA, remarked, "Telecom networks provide a critical fabric to bring AI applications to consumers and enterprises at scale. With NVIDIA's AI suite, Dell is accelerating the adoption of AI factories, AI-powered operations, and AI-RAN in telecom, as well as helping communications service providers apply these technologies to augment their own network operations and enhance customer experiences."

"Our collaboration with Dell Technologies uses the Dell AI Factory and Amdocs's amAIz platform to deliver AI solutions that will transform business operations for communications service providers and accelerate GenAI adoption," stated Anthony Goonetilleke, group president of technology and head of strategy at Amdocs.

The AI solutions with Amdocs, Iternal, Kinetica, and Synthefy, as well as the PowerEdge XR8000 server with NVIDIA L4 Tensor Core GPUs, are now available.