5G – The Game Changer

Over the next couple of years, service providers, after the spectrum auction are expected to invest in 5G networks and chips, and the consumer in devices. Operators may choose a traditional approach by deploying 5G as an independent network, or a new approach of setting up 5G to be tightly integrated with their existing 4G assets.

5G is set to completely transform the way we do business. Bringing enormous data capacity, rapid speeds, and incredibly low latency, 5G marks a huge step up from its predecessor. The first 5G networks will begin to arrive in 2020, resulting in unparalleled levels of disruption.

The operators will get an opportunity to earn revenue from B2B customers and leverage emerging technologies such as IoT, virtual reality, augmented reality, robotics, autonomous vehicles, and even drones. The vast majority will be more than just a smart pipe and find newer ways of generating services, how exactly this pans out remains to be seen.

The evolution toward 5G mobile networks is driven by the diverse requirements of a multitude of new use cases in the areas of enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC), and massive machine-type communications.

Along with a demand for lower costs, these drivers have led to the development of split architectures for the RAN to support multiple deployment models. Since the transport network’s role is to connect all the pieces of the RAN and the mobile core network, optimal performance in 5G scenarios will require high levels of intelligence, flexibility, and automation in the transport network, the vital link between all the pieces. Intelligent, automated coordination between RAN, transport, and mobile core networks will undoubtedly be a key part of a robust 5G solution, because without automation it will not be possible to achieve the required levels of flexibility and observability. The TIF solution provides the requisite intelligence and acts as a catalyst for automation, enabling operators to meet the 5G requirements of multiple use cases while simultaneously reducing OpEx.

The 5G core now becomes an intelligent interconnection hub residing at the heart of the network, forming a global interconnected fabric and acting as an anchor point for multi-access technologies. It needs to deliver a seamless service experience across fixed and wireless access technologies, with the advanced 5G NR being an important new radio access technology.

Traditional packet core networks have provided mobile broadband connectivity for smartphones, tablets, and laptops, and were designed around a well-defined call model. This call model will no longer apply because the core network will need to support a broader range of new services and applications with a variety of different characteristics that do not follow a conventional consumer call model.

The packet core is already undergoing an evolutionary change with network functions virtualization (NFV) to support LTE-advanced (LTE-A) services and the first wave of IoT/machine type communications (MTC) devices. Many organizations have already adopted NFV and virtualized their packet cores, but this is only the first step in the transformation that is needed to support these new services today, and moving forward, 5G services. A cloud-native architecture is essential for a 5G next-generation core (NGC). It builds on the network investment required today for LTE-A and IoT/MTC services, to support the 5G NGC with expanded service capabilities, scalability, agility, and new network functions.

5G NR and NGC architectures. 5G will need to be flexible to benefit from all available spectrum options, utilizing licensed, shared access, and unlicensed spectrum. There will be a need to balance the requirement for high data rates or low latency with massive device densities as well as wide geographic coverage. The 5G NGC will need to be architected to deliver the performance, massive scalability, reliability, and agility to realize the economics of delivering diverse and demanding services and applications of the new connected world.

Network slicing. The role of network slicing is to support very diverse and extreme requirements for latency, throughput, capacity, and availability. Network slicing will create end-to-end logical networks that have isolated properties and are operated independently. As new services get layered onto the network, a cloud-native core will be able to create an instance, or slice, of an entire network virtually. The slice will be fully customized with network resources (dedicated if needed) allocated by use case, subscriber type, or application from a common infrastructure.

At the heart of the network is a multi-access interconnection hub, which acts as the anchor point for all wireless and fixed access types. For instance, Nokia already supports this new reality today with its Cloud Packet Core solution.

The solution provides software designed specifically for the cloud. It is not just core software that has been virtualized to run on a server; it has been optimally designed to take full advantage of a cloud environment. Its cloud-native capabilities and operations deliver the performance to support increasing capacity, massive scalability, deployment flexibility, and service characteristics such as low latency. With these capabilities, organizations can realize the economics of efficiently
and reliably delivering diverse and demanding consumer, residential, enterprise, and LTE-A/IoT/MTC services and applications.

It provides a solid foundation for organizations to profit from today’s opportunities, and to evolve with confidence toward a 5G NGC.

Toward commercialization. The recent 3rd Generation Partnership Project announcement of finalization of specifications for the standalone (SA) variant of 5G, including next-generation core (NGC), will enable the development of an end-to-end 5G network that, unlike non-SA 5G networks, would not need a 4G/LTE network for support. The non-SA new radio specification was released in December of last year. At present, the first phase of full-featured standardization work has been completed.

The entire industry will be able to take the final sprint toward 5G commercialization. The completion of SA specifications which complements the NSA specifications, not only gives 5G NR the ability of independent deployment, but also brings a brand new end-to-end network architecture, making 5G a facilitator and an accelerator during the intelligent information and communications technology improvement process of enterprise customers and vertical industries. New business models will be enabled and a new era where everything is interconnected will be opened up for both mobile operators and industrial partners. This activity will intensify in the months and years to come, in many sectors.