As operators look to solve the various issues associated with deploying standalone 5G (5G SA) and network slicing, Nancee Ruzicka from ICT Intuition, LLC talked with Jose Carlos Mendez, Director of Network & OSS Product Marketing, Amdocs; about what needs to be done to operationalize network slicing using 5G SA.
What’s your take on the rollout of 5G SA and the move to network slicing?
5G SA and network slicing deployments are beginning to happen, albeit slower than hoped for, but at the end of the day operators don’t have much choice if they want to monetize their extensive investments in infrastructure, spectrum, etc. We are confident that operators will be commercializing network slice-based services over the next two to three years
Operators are targeting companies offering goods and services, focusing on enterprise and business solutions for industry verticals like manufacturing, ports, mining, agriculture and others rather than on consumer services.
Operator investments in 5G SA and network slicing are being driven by enterprise and business customers. Now what?
Operators need to establish new business services strategies and operations models. Existing pre-5G operations cannot support the types of complex business services enabled by 5G SA and network slicing.
Now that the network investment is being made, operators need to make operational investments in parallel to target enterprises and business verticals with new and differentiated services. Even though at this point, there are no killer apps to grab the attention of business customers except of course differentiated connectivity with high performance and reliability. There are also no substantial partner ecosystems that enable operators to offer end-to-end connected digital services - this is clearly an area that needs operators’ attention. Network slicing can help operators define and deliver services, but the operations and systems strategies must be in place first.
What are those key systems strategies and capabilities?
5G SA and network slicing introduce an entirely new operating environment for service providers. The network is more open, disaggregated, heterogeneous and dynamic. 5G increases complexity to levels that go beyond human-scale operations demanding that systems and operations work seamlessly across network and service domains, from the radio access network (RAN) to the edge and through the core. Open, vendor agnostic systems must combine dynamic orchestration with the power of intelligent assurance to continuously monitor physical and virtual networks and services. Solutions need to leverage automation and use artificial intelligence and machine learning to keep up with the changes in networks and services. This is what we call hyperautomation.
What are your customers doing about this today?
Operators realize that in order to monetize the investment in 5G SA they also need to upgrade their operations systems now and can’t afford to wait for the network rollouts to be completed first. Hence, while they will likely introduce network slice-based services gradually, many operators have already started trials to evaluate network slicing operations.
At A1 Telekom Austria for example, Amdocs has demonstrated how to manage the lifecycle of network slices. Using a multi-vendor, multi-cloud distributed 5G network in core and edge data centers, the proof of concept (PoC) included design, creation, instantiation, modification and termination, as well as assurance with automatic closed-loop capabilities. The Amdocs end-to-end service and network orchestration platform used includes modular capabilities across design, orchestration and inventory, which were also used to demonstrate optimal placement of virtual applications at the edge during the PoC.
Using the same platform, a tier 1 North American operator is validating 5G slice management across a multi-vendor network, combining different RAN and core vendors. The Amdocs end-to-end solution is vendor agnostic and adheres to standards such as 3GPP and TM Forum open application program interfaces (APIs) thus supporting multi-domain orchestration.
We recognize how important operations is to be able to monetize 5G SA networks and slicing. But are there other areas operators need to address to make this happen?
Absolutely. Alongside 5G SA rollouts, operators need to implement new business models that enable definition, design, activation and delivery of differentiated, complex digital services. These services will be composed of network, data center, application and partner capabilities that must work together seamlessly and autonomously.
B2B2X business models will require partners and partner platforms that enable operators to on-board partner applications and services, integrate them into business services and ensure that the settlements are right. Charging and policy are key to monetizing 5G as are functions for measuring and predicting quality of experience and managing service level agreements. Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF) and Network Exposure Function (NEF) are good examples of these functions available within Amdocs portfolio.
To summarize, rolling out 5G SA is not sufficient on its own. A new approach to operating and monetizing both the new network and slice-based services at scale is vital for commercial success. And while deployments aren’t happening as fast as we would like, 5G SA clearly represents a unique opportunity for operators to raise their profile and become the reliable providers that business and enterprises of all types need in a digital world. Choosing a holistic, end-to-end and vendor agnostic solution is key to seizing this opportunity.
You can read the A1 Telekom Austria PoC case study here. Learn more about Amdocs 5G slice management here.
Jose Carlos Mendez - Title: Director of Network & OSS Product Marketing