Ericsson aims for customised 5G with RAN Slicing software
Software released by Ericsson enables communications service providers to deliver innovative 5G use cases to consumers and enterprises. The Ericsson 5G RAN Slicing software is built on the company’s radio expertise and a scalable and flexible architecture, explained the company. It will support customised business models and growth with end-to-end network slicing capabilities needed to deliver different services over a common infrastructure.
The commercially available 5G RAN Slicing allocates radio resources at 1ms scheduling and supports multi-dimensional service differentiation handling across slices. This strengthens end-to-end slicing capabilities for dynamic resource management and orchestration, says Ericsson.
Network slicing supports multiple logical networks for different service types over one common infrastructure. It is a key enabler for unlocking 5G revenue opportunities such as enhanced video, and in-car connectivity, and extended reality. A report by Ericsson estimates $712billion in an addressable consumer market for service providers by 2030. The addressable market for network slicing alone in the enterprise segment is projected to be $300billion by 2025. Service providers are looking to maximise returns on investments by targeting innovative use cases such as cloud gaming, smart factories and smart healthcare.
Per Narvinger, head of Product Area Networks at Ericsson said: “Ericsson 5G RAN Slicing dynamically optimises radio resources to deliver significantly more spectrum-efficient radio access network slicing. . . It boosts end-to-end management and orchestration support for fast and efficient service delivery. This gives service providers the differentiation and guaranteed performance needed to monetise 5G investments with diverse use cases.”
Network slicing is one of the major 5G deployment models. Ericsson has ongoing 5G network slicing engagements for RAN, transport, core network and orchestration across the globe involving use cases for the consumer segment and enterprises/industry verticals such as video-assisted remote operations, AR/VR, TV/media for sports event streaming, cloud gaming, smart city, and applications for Industry 4.0 and public safety.
The Ericsson 5G RAN Slicing software offers a multi-dimensional service differentiation handling that allows for the effective use of dynamic radio resource partitioning, slice-aware quality of service (QoS) enforcement, and slice orchestration functionality for service-level agreement (SLA) fulfilment. It dynamically shares radio resources at 1ms scheduling for best spectrum efficiency and ensures end-to-end network slice management and orchestration support for fast service delivery and supports business models for virtual, hybrid and dedicated private networks.
The solution can also power use cases for mission-critical and time-critical communication services.
