The discussion surrounding network virtualisation has shifted recently from a focus on replacing boxes to one that pays far more attention to customer experience. In the emerging 5G era, service providers are already looking for ways to monetise 5G’s unique characteristics, which puts both virtualisation and monetisation in focus.
There are many ways in which NFV’s qualities can translate into customer experience factors. Here are three qualities that stand out as service providers examine the use cases that will turn 5G technology into a thriving business, says Ed Finegold, director of content strategy at Netcracker Technology.
- Immersive entertainment:
5G anticipates services that are viral, event driven and bandwidth hungry. If we learned anything from the Pokémon Go fad, it’s that augmented reality games can become a massive viral sensation, popular and profitable for a short burst of time. Immersive entertainment experiences that feature augmented reality are the next step beyond Pokémon Go. Their unpredictable but bandwidth intensive nature will need NFV’s dynamic capabilities within the 5G network to deliver experiences that don’t interrupt customers’ suspension of disbelief.
- Complex app and network integration on demand:
Imagine you’re a major shipping company. Your clients need their supplies delivered on time. Your stakeholders, banks and insurers, need to know what’s on your shipment, where it’s located, where it’s headed and whether it gets there. They demand photographic evidence and verification that your bill of lading or manifest is totally accurate.
To meet their requests, you need an automated way to collect the data and images and a secure way to transmit and store it for multiple parties who are subject to different regulations. The process needs to work flawlessly from start to finish and needs to be readily available on demand, i.e. throughout each shipment’s lifecycle.
NFV not only provides the dynamic and secure networking needed, but also anticipates the API-driven mashups that will automate the process and deliver data and image files to the right public and private clouds and applications that customers and stakeholders require to successfully run their business processes.
- Remote emergency medicine:
In emergency medical situations, every second counts. The sooner a patient receives informed care, the more likely he or she is to survive an accident or serious medical event. Automated emergency defibrillators (AEDs) have become common in public places, saving countless lives, but there’s no substitute for a knowledgeable first responder who knows how to perform CPR, effectively use an AED or epinephrine pen or stabilise an injured person.
Miniature medical devices like AEDs, pulse-ox meters and digital thermometers can provide vital information. With such devices moved into a connected 5G world, that kind of data can be transmitted with high quality video to a trained professional who can guide untrained first responders until professional help arrives.
In severe medical scenarios, this can lead to measurably better outcomes. NFV can provide the means to zero-touch automate the 5G VNFs and private network slices that transmit, synchronise, sustain and secure medical interaction and related data dynamically.
These scenarios are forward looking, but they provide a sense of the relationship between NFV’s dynamic capabilities and the automated world of complex integrated services 5G anticipates and which make up the 5G customer experience.
To build up to this vision, service providers can focus in the near term on commercialising virtualised services and monetising the first wave of advanced 5G network capabilities.
The author of this blog is Ed Finegold, director of content strategy at Netcracker Technology
About the author
Ed Finegold is a Director in the Strategy team at Netcracker Technology. He works closely with Marketing and Corporate Communications to direct and shape content and market engagement. Ed has more than 20 years of mobile, cable and digital transformation experience. He has authored two books on OSS/BSS strategy and architecture and brought new digital customer experience solutions to market.
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