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05 March, 2020
Although we’ve missed out on the trumpets heralding the continued roll-out of 5G thanks to the cancellation of MWC 2020, there are significant early milestones to the full deployment of the technology being passed. The road is long, though, Tejas Rao, the managing director and global 5G offering lead at Accenture, tells George Malim.
06 November, 2019
5G is quickly becoming a reality that will deeply impact our everyday lives. Considered by some to be more than just the next generation of mobile technology – it has the potential to change industries, businesses and the very way we interact with digital content. (more…)
15 March, 2019
With its promise of ultra-low latency, high speeds and capacity for an almost limitless volume of data traffic, 5G has been heralded as a revolution for mobile communications, writes Sameh Yamany, the chief technology officer at VIAVI Solutions.
According to GSMA, 5G technology will transform the role that telecoms technology plays in society, fueling economic growth and pervasive digitalisation of a hyper-connected society wherein people are connected to the network whenever needed, joined by myriad devices and things.
Service providers will all have a part to play in this radical transformation, of course, but their end game will always be to monetise network investments to replace revenue erosion from over-the-top (OTT) players and smartphone market saturation, to stabilise their capex and opex, and create new, expansive revenue streams. Each of the new use cases enabled by 5G, however, will have its own unique set of requirements in terms of performance, as well as network and service quality. As such, it’s vital that service providers slice the network according to use case and implement service assurance, test and measurement for each use case across every industry.
Testing times
While communications service providers (CSPs) like AT&T and Verizon deployed limited 5G networks toward the end of 2018, the launch of full end-to-end 5G networks is expected during the first half of 2019. With a full 5G rollout now imminent, CSPs have been carrying out critical testing across several aspects of the ecosystem. However, from lab testing of new features and interfaces specific to 5G, through to the validation of infrastructure used in pilot network deployments, much work remains.
The unique complexity of 5G creates several challenges when it comes to testing, assurance and optimization. In order to deliver more data bandwidth, for example, 5G new radio (NR) will make use of extremely high-frequency millimeter wave (mmWave) bands, which can only be demonstrated by using over-the-air (OTA) testing and some specialist chambers. The beamforming and massive multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) techniques employed to increase overall spectral efficiency present additional challenges. Massive MIMO in 5G can often have more than 256 array elements, requiring a large number of radio channels, meaning that traditional cable testing won’t always be viable or cost-effective, while the addition of complicated beamforming can seriously impact the testing process.
Network slicing, while crucial to meet the service demands of different use cases, is not without its challenges. Currently, there is a lack of slice definition or the associated network and service function distributions that mirror the demands of unique industry verticals. For example, each slice will have its own performance requirements, meaning services that make use of one slice will have entirely different service level agreements (SLAs) than those using another slice. For network slicing to deliver the multi-faceted benefits being touted, each slice needs vigorous prototyping, testing and continuous assurance and optimisation. Robust testing and continuous assurance are essential to guaranteeing that each network slice delivers the particular benefits it promises.
Automate assurance
Once a 5G network is finally deployed, the priority for CSPs becomes the ongoing testing of services and applications to reassure customers that they will perform as expected in their respective use case. In time, however, as the number of networks grows, and the number of multiple different network slices along with it, CSPs will inevitably turn to automation for service assurance and optimisation.
With virtual network function (VNF) agents deployed within each service slice, assurance and optimisation will be intrinsically linked to the services themselves, thereby enabling automated root-cause analysis with service impact assessed in real-time, and any issues will be automatically addressed and remediated to minimize impact on end users and to optimize the service slice efficiency. Should component failure or insufficient computation or storage be the root cause of a problem, for example, a ticket automatically will be created for either the repair of the defective element, redistribution of the virtual components or to initiate a request for additional computational or storage resources.
Real-time analytics will ensure that SLAs are met, even as services evolve and change, by monitoring the network resources or functions infrastructure for overload, congestion, faults and anomalies that might impact service, as well as providing detailed insight into the activities of services, applications and devices across the network.
With such measures in place, CSPs can be assured that every application and service on each specific slice of the 5G network delivers the best possible performance.
Reach the end game
5G represents huge potential for CSPs to provide a range of new and enhanced services and applications, offering speeds, latency and data bandwidth never before possible. Assuring the performance of these services and applications is crucial, however, if CSPs are to effectively monetise the 5G network.
It’s vital, therefore, that they address the testing, assurance and optimisation challenges that this new network technology presents, employing virtualised, automated solutions to monitor and measure the performance of every service on every slice for the best possible performance for every use case. Because ubiquitous connectivity without quality of experience would fall far short of the end goal.
12 February, 2019
5G’s advent has been preceded by several technological advancements, business models and market demand for new types of communication services, writes Vinay Devadatta, the practice head for Innovation and Industry Relations at Wipro.
12 October, 2018
Telecoms is dynamic, and today it is the companies that digitally transform that have the edge. With constant changes in technology, services, competition and even business models, more communications service providers (CSPs) are looking towards software network virtualisation than ever before, writes Faisal Usmani, the business development and strategy lead for the Communications Business Unit at Cyient Europe.
13 June, 2018
Everything used to be so straightforward. Customers couldn’t get enough mobile service – first voice, then data – and 3GPP brought vendors and operators together on a single path to delivering more of it, writes Dr. Nick Johnson, the chief technology officer of ip.access. Ubiquitous coverage with infinite capacity was a reasonable expectation. The ITU did its bit with a handy bite-sized definition for 4G. There was a target we could all aim for. We all did. And we all pretty much hit it.
07 June, 2018
The first pre-standard launches of 5G are due toward the end of 2018, writes Scott Sumner, the vice president of strategy at end-to-end network and application performance experts Accedian. However, standardised 5G will probably not arrive globally and at scale until 2021-2022. In the meantime, operators are upgrading their existing LTE networks to 4.5G.
17 April, 2018
Huawei became the first vendor to pass China’s 5G non-standalone (NSA) Core Network test. The test, which covers key Core Network technologies and service processes, is the third phase of the 5G R&D trial. The trial was organised by the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group and conducted at the Beijing lab of the China Academy (more…)
12 April, 2018
As one of the hallmarks of soon-to-launch 5G, network slicing has the potential to revolutionise the services mobile operators offer to their customers. And as also recognised by the majority of industry stakeholders (standards organisations among them), virtualised networks are expected to play a key role in realising network slicing (more…)
19 March, 2018
Network slicing is one of the most important 5G innovations available to mobile operators. Across the industry, experts are falling over themselves to enthuse about the future benefits. However, as Bart Salaets, F5 Networks Systems Engineering director says, fewer realise that aspects of its technological impact can already be leveraged. (more…)
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