5G orchestration: Services, standards and slices

Many 5G service providers are entering the second phase of their 5G network deployment through the deployment of the standalone (SA) core network. Building upon the first phase, which introduced 5G spectrum and RAN, this second phase will allow service providers to deliver the low latency premium services that are crucial for recovering network investment. They must also execute strategies to ensure their networks can meet the additional orchestration requirements that 5G services will introduce.

To document and assess service provider orchestration and service assurance priorities, Heavy Reading launched the survey-driven 5G Orchestration and Service Assurance Market Leadership Program (MLP) with project partners Juniper Networks and RADCOM in March of this year.

This survey garnered 108 qualified mobile service provider responses from around the world, providing a global vista of the role that orchestration and service assurance will play in 5G service delivery and monetization. This first blog provides a summary of the key orchestration findings.

Orchestration service priorities

The 5G core implements new capabilities with the support of the RAN that will fuel the next wave of mobile service adoption. One foundational capability is the ability to expose APIs at the network edge, in private or even in a hybrid cloud configuration. Another is the ability to create software-based network slices for high value services.

These two functions are highly complementary and will enable service providers to support latency-sensitive services such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC) and multi-tenant services.

To meet or exceed the strict latency budgets of these premium offerings, service providers will have to develop new service-level agreements (SLAs) with their customers. In an orchestration context, 5G orchestrators must support the flexibility and programmability to meet these new demands.

As captured below, when asked to rank several 5G service options based on “extremely important” responses, SLA-based network slices led the way (34%). This result was followed closely by multi-tenant dedicated enterprise services integrated into the public network (31%), dedicated enterprise services as SA mobile private networks (29%) and edge-based applications and services (26%). Heavy Reading interprets this input as confirming that successful orchestration strategies must be multifaceted and able to support end-to-end orchestration to facilitate a comprehensive view of a service as it traverses the edge, RAN, core, transport network and even cloud domains.

To read the complete article, visit Light Reading.