In order to create a 5G network, we must transform three things: the radio access network, the core network, and the service creation layer. Radio access standards and available spectrum are still works-in-progress—but we have a good understanding today of the requirements of 5G. Here are the five core network service requirements for 5G.
- Create a Common Composable Core
- “Slice” the network to Support Different Services
- Optimize for the Internet of Things
- Support Creation of New Mobile Services
- Simplify Network Operations and Management
Create a Common Composable Core
The first 5g requirement is creating a common composable core to deliver a controlled and secure experience across access technologies and manage connectivity/mobility for mobile devices. The 5G core also needs to scale dynamically while reducing cost and complexity. A composable core decouples the user and control planes, moving services and applications closer to the network edge. Communications service providers (CSPs) can affordably achieve high bandwidth, low latency requirements with unlimited scale and flexibility.
“Slice” the network to Support Different Services
In a 5G network, CSPs will need to slice their network resources into many different types of services, each with unique requirements around the quality of service, security, latency, etc. HD videoconferencing in a telemedicine application will have very different session requirements than a wireless machine-to-machine device communicating its hourly status. CSPs must support network slicing on-demand on a per-customer or per-application/use case basis.
Optimize for the Internet of Things
The Internet of Things brings billions of connected wireless sensors that will share space on the same network as consumer and enterprise data traffic. Preventing millions of devices from impacting subscriber services requires a network architecture that can efficiently handle high-bandwidth downloads, high-bandwidth uploads, and high-density/delay-tolerant communications.
Support Creation of New Mobile Services
Increased network intelligence and analytics will allow service providers to create new services that drive business decisions and improve the overall subscriber experience. Real-time insights can be gleaned from session control, subscriber events, and subscriber data to drive smarter network planning and provisioning.
Simplify Network Operations and Management
CSPs face the challenge of how to build more intelligent networks to handle more volume and more types of traffic without escalating costs. On the wireless access side, leveraging existing Wi-Fi networks and short-range access points instead of radio access network (RAN) towers can mitigate the cost of mobile broadband. Within the network, CSPs use virtualization and the cloud to reduce capex costs, while service automation, orchestration, and network analytics will drive opex costs down.
Find out more about how we can create agile mobile networks, and learn what the virtual packet core for 5G will look like at the 5G Core Track “vEPC in the Lead up to 5G ” on June 14th at 3.30 P.M.
Members of the Affirmed team will be available in Booth #5G304, showcasing our 5G-Ready portfolio and demonstrating 5G CUPS, Network Slicing, Service Orchestration and Automation, IoT solutions, Virtual Probe, and Real-Time Analytics, Service Function Chaining, and more.
Affirmed Networks delivers the world’s only fully virtualized, cloud-native, 5G-ready mobile core solution. The Affirmed Mobile Content Cloud (vEPC) provides a breadth of VNFs with integrated Virtual Probe and Tap providing real-time network visibility and reducing probe and monitoring costs by more than 50%.