Skip to content
  • A Microsoft Company
  • Support

Affirmed Networks

Powering the World Wide Wireless Web

MENUMENU
  • Solutions
        • NFV Solutions
          Go

          Affirmed Networks’ fully virtualized, cloud-native mobile solutions enable operators to handle more traffic, simplify network operations and rapidly create and launch new revenue-generating services. Our solutions are now an integral part of the Azure for Operators initiative, Microsoft’s strategy to meet operators wherever they are on the path towards transforming their networks and services to the cloud.

        • Affirmed Private Network Service

          A managed private network service for operators to monetize the enterprise opportunity.

        • Virtual Evolved Packet CoreTransform your network with the only fully virtualized, cloud-native solution.
        • Affirmed UnityCloud – 5G Core5G and webscale technology to drive the Telco digital transformation.
        • Affirmed Private Network ServiceA managed private network service for operators to monetize the enterprise opportunity.
        • UnityCloud OperationsSimplify operations of Any G network functions to accelerate 5G deployments and migrations.
        • Affirmed Cloud Edge – Mobile Edge ComputingA Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) solution for telecom operators
        • IoT Mobile Core SolutionsQuickly create, optimize and monetize a wide variety of IoT services.
        • Content & Security ServicesCreate customized policies with virtualized GiLAN and Security Services.
        • Virtual Probe & AnalyticsGather real-time network intelligence with an integrated virtual probe and analytics.
        • Network SlicingDeliver customized and differentiated services with network slicing.
        • Virtualized Wi-FiImprove network coverage with a virtualized Wi‑Fi featuring TWAG and ePDG.
        • Global Professional ServicesOur experts put MNOs on the fast track to virtualization and 5G services
  • Company
        • Company
          Go

          Now part of the Microsoft Azure for Operator initiative, Affirmed technology is helping the world’s most forward-thinking service providers in transforming their network architectures and businesses models.

        • About Affirmed Networks
        • Careers for Experienced Professionals
        • Student and Graduate Roles
  • Customers
  • Resources
  • News
        • News & Events
          Go

          This is an archive of Affirmed press releases and media coverage. Please visit the Azure Blog for the most recent updates on the Azure for Operators product portfolio.

        • Press Release
        • In the news
        • Upcoming Events
  • Blog
  • Contact

Home > 4 Key Capabilities for a 5G Slice Management Tool

4 Key Capabilities for a 5G Slice Management Tool

November 17, 2020

by Adam Dorenter

Adam-Dorenter

No matter how you slice it, your slice manager matters a lot

If you were to ask mobile network operators what keeps them up at night, “5G slice management” probably wouldn’t be their first answer. Or their second, third, fourth… well, you get the point. The fact is that slicing is just a very small slice of 5G rollouts at first, with operators deploying only a few 5G slices initially: one for consumers, another for enterprises, maybe a third for an MVNO partner, but nothing so elaborate that managing those slices becomes a cause for sleepless nights.

Operators who ignore 5G slice management altogether, however, could be in for a rude awakening. By 2023, 5G users are expected to make up about half of all mobile subscribers. When that happens, operators will go from a few slices to a few hundred and, eventually, a few thousand. There will be slices for every app (e.g., Netflix, Facebook, YouTube), for every enterprise, and even for every application within an enterprise (e.g., manufacturing floor sensors, delivery vehicles, virtual private networks, videoconferencing). And managing all those slices will be unmanageable without an automated slice management tool.

Now that we’ve got you thinking about 5G slice management, the question is What should you look for in a slice manager? It ultimately comes down to four key capabilities:

  1. Operational Agility
  2. Support for Virtualization
  3. Service Optimization
  4. Intelligent Orchestration

 

1. Operational Agility

When 5G ramps up, operators are going to need to create slices quickly. Think sushi chef fast. So, their slice manager has to support a DevOps framework that allows them to create, spin up, iterate, and spin down slices dynamically to meet rapidly changing subscriber demands. Ultimately, slices will define the services you sell; the more slices you have, the more revenue streams you’ll have coming into your business.

2. Support for Virtualization

It’s a given that any operator implementing 5G capabilities will already be pretty far down the virtualization/container path. 5G slice management needs to support a virtualized environment, which brings to the fore unique concerns. For example, how do you measure NIC bandwidth, CPU, memory, and disk space on virtualized hardware? And how do you prioritize and balance traffic when you only have a single rack of virtualized servers in an edge deployment? The slice manager needs to be able to capture these metrics and re-balance or re-tune traffic in as close to real-time as possible.

3. Service Optimization

Conserving physical resources is important, but so is serving up great subscriber experiences. Service optimization isn’t a new concept for operators, but it requires a new process in 5G. Today, operators optimize their services by drilling down into their data to pinpoint areas for improvement and then making manual adjustments accordingly. With a 5G slice manager, operators can now do this automatically. For example, a slice manager may detect congestion issues and decide to optimize Netflix videos through video compression. This traffic could be moved to an automatically instantiated slice in order to prevent impact to other services. A lot of these automated optimization capabilities will be enabled by a new network function defined in 5G, the network data analytics function (NWDAF).

4. Intelligent Orchestration

Orchestration in this sense refers to integration within an ecosystem of solutions. Some 5G vendors will try to sell operators a complete ecosystem based on their own technology and, yes, you would expect tight integration in such a case, but that’s not necessarily the best approach. Our approach is that best-of-breed is best because it gives operators more flexibility to pick and choose the right components. You might have a RAN slice manager from one vendor, a transport slice manager from another, and a core network slice manager from Affirmed. Choosing an orchestration solution built on open standards ensures that everything works together, allowing operators to perform service activation, subscriber provisioning, and slice management all from one shared platform.

The intelligent part of the intelligent orchestration refers to out-of-the-box, automated capabilities. Affirmed, for example, includes a lot of prebuilt content and wizards in its slice manager to help operators quickly and automatically set up, customize, and manage slices. The advantage here isn’t just speed but accuracy, as automated slice management reduces common, manual errors.

So, now that you know what to look for in a 5G slice manager—and that Affirmed can deliver those capabilities today with its UnityCloud 5G core solution—maybe you’ll rest a little easier. But don’t rest too long, or you could risk missing out on your slice of the 5G revenue pie.

0 Shares
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
BLOG

Subscribe to our Blog

* Required Field

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Related

  • Azure for Operators 5G SA Solution, UnityCloud Achieves 2nd Consecutive Leader Ranking in GlobalData 5G Mobile Core Disruptor Report
  • Sierra Wireless selects Affirmed to help speed IoT application deployments
  • What is Private LTE? How Operators Can Benefit from P-LTE Networks

Archives

  • Year 2021 blogs
  • Year 2020 blogs
  • Year 2019 blogs
  • Year 2018 blogs

Products & Solutions

  • Virtual Evolved Packet Core (vEPC)
  • Affirmed UnityCloud
  • Affirmed Private Network Service
  • UnityCloud Operations
  • Affirmed Cloud Edge – Mobile Edge Computing
  • IoT
  • Content & Security
  • Virtual Probe & Analytics
  • Network Slicing
  • WiFi
  • Global Professional Services

Company

  • About Affirmed Networks
  • Careers
  • Contact Affirmed
  • Terms of use
  • About Microsoft
  • Privacy at Microsoft
  • Partners
  • Customers
  • Cookie Policy (EU)

News & Events

  • Press Releases
  • In the News
  • Events
  • Resources
  • Blog

Contact

+1-978-268-0800
AN_Marketing@microsoft.com

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Vimeo

Copyright © 2023 Affirmed Networks | Privacy Policy

Manage Cookie Consent
We use cookies to improve our website, track page views and provide more personalized services to you.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
Affirmed is now part of Microsoft

azure-dalle

Learn more about Azure for Operators

CLICK HERE