Because 5G promises to connect “anything, anywhere,” it places different requirements on a network’s packet core, and according to Keith Allan, who looks after product line management for the Cloud Packet Core at Nokia, an unprecedent level of flexibility might be one of the most important. In an interview with RCR Wireless News, Allan provided details about how designing a cloud-native packet core is essential for 5G networks.
“To provide [5G connectivity] anywhere,” he explained, “operators have to have the capability to provide it on any of platform — virtual network functions, cloud-native network functions, physical network functions based on custom silicon, etc. That is the real challenge of 5G, but it’s also the benefit of 5G.”
All these connections, whether wireline or wireless, and whether they’re connecting IoT devices or voice services, must transmit back to a common core to make it easier for service providers to expand the network where and to the extent it is needed.
Allan indicated that a packet core that is cloud-native will provide the level of flexibility necessary in a 5G network.
“[With cloud-native], you’re able to disaggregate the software, separate the control plane and user plane and put the pieces of the core network exactly where you need it at the right scale,” he said, adding that the next step is adapting the core as the network and service requirements change.
In a 5G era, Allan summarized, service providers — and their networks — must be flexible, able to react quickly and able to “deploy without limitations.” Therefore, a 5G packet core must be infrastructure agnostic and must be designed with the ability to deploy “any type of network function over any type of technology, anywhere in the network.”
“[The core] also has to evolve with confidence,” he added. “End customers still want that service level guarantee that [the network] is always going to perform how they expect.”
And, he continued, when done with a cloud-native packet core, this can be accomplished while managing the network with one set of operational processes, keeping the cost low and ensuring an optimized end-user experience.
