The development of 5G will enable what we commonly refer to as future networks, but what will this mean for us? The future networks shall fulfil a number of requirements, including the following ones:
Connecting billions of devices: Future networks are expected to connect the billions of sensors and smart objects that will equip our daily life. This requires extreme scalability, especially on the signalling side, extremely simplified Operation, Administration and Maintenance and management and support of multiple radio interfaces including low power narrow-band radio interfaces dedicated to connected objects.
Open platform: Collaborative business models are expected to become the norm in the telecoms world. The network has to be designed as an open platform with standardised APIs (Restful) allowing 3rd party digital content providers to access network resources and build value added digital services, following the model of current mobile apps ecosystem.
Mission-critical reliability: This is required for future digital services such as remote health or road transport signalling. One of the requirements is around 100% coverage. Given the physical limitations of cellular coverage, this requirement could be fulfilled through device to device connections (to complement traditional device to base station connection).
Real-time: The whole promise of future digital services enabled by 5G rely on the ability of future networks to deliver zero latency and be configured and managed in real time. While 5G radio interface will deliver this ultra-low latency, the configuration, orchestration and management of networks will have to be fully automated. The current concept of manned Network Operations Center and Service Operations center and their reference business processes (eTOM, ITIL, etc.) will gradually disappear and be replaced by fully automated systems and processes.
Simplified and Flat architecture: The overall network will be simplified, with many functions disappearing. Backhaul and Core Network will most likely merge together, and one single GTP tunnel will link the handset or the connected object directly to the content server in the cloud. This means some of the traditional difficulties related to correlating data from a variety of disparate data sources will reduce, but troubleshooting quality of service issues and ensuring consistent digital experience might become more complex.
Agility through Virtualisation: In order to achieve the required agility for configuring on-demand digital services, the networks will move to the cloud and will be virtualised with NFV (Network Functions Virtualisation) and SDN (Software Defined Networking) set to become the norm in the coming years. This will trigger the need for intelligent network and service orchestration that is QoS and experience centric and that can manage and correlate the virtual and physical parts of the network.
Digital Experience centricity: 5G promises to help communication services providers evolve into digital services providers. This means that the digital experience whether related to a consumer or a connected service or a connected device will be key. This can only be achieved through extreme reliance on real time analytics that will become the brain and commanding center of 5G networks. The real time constraint will also dictate the move from centralised to distributed analytics and edge compute
Capacity through complex HetNet design: To achieve the channel capacity targets, and because of the short range propagation of higher spectrum bands that will be used initially for 5G, it is expected that the design will involve ultra-dense heterogeneous networks. This will involve very small cells with lots of complex intra and inter technology mobility and selection algorithms that will need to be optimised and orchestrated in real-time by intelligent automated systems that can manage the end-to-end service performance. The final efficiency achieved by 5G will greatly depend on the performance of these automated systems.
Network Slicing and Network as an appliance. As stated earlier, 5G is thought as a major transformational technology that will connect the majority of industries, products and services. The ownership of the digital services delivered through 5G could lie with various industry players such as car manufacturers or smart city developers. This means that future networks should be “sliced” or delivered as “appliances” by CSPs to various third party partners. This involves the ability to easily and dynamically configure such on-demand network “slices” and deliver them with the required custom QoS and User Experience levels.
The author of this blog is Mounir Ladki, president and CTO, MYCOM OSI. Mounir Ladki joined MYCOM in 2001 to start and lead the software business and since then he has led the company’s product strategy, development R&D, go-to-market. Mounir has 18 years international experience in technical and business leadership roles. An industry visionary with expertise in Mobile Telecoms, IT and Software, he is actively participating in shaping the future of OSS and Networks Management, and has been sitting at the advisory board of TM Forum. Mounir was recognised twice by ‘Global Telecoms Business’ as one of the leading 40 under 40 executives in the Telecoms industry worldwide. Prior to joining MYCOM, Mounir worked at Nortel where he set up and managed the advanced engineering services group and played a key role in the definition and market delivery of Nortel’s advanced mobile solutions including a number of world firsts. During this period he designed solutions for more than 20 mobile operators worldwide in APAC, EMEA and US, and obtained many distinctions. Mounir gained a master’s degree in Telecom engineering with distinction from Supélec, a business degree from Sorbonne University and executive education at INSEAD
