Standards challenges could impede the move towards 5G, though industry adoption of NFV and SDN could ease the transition.
Across a broad spectrum of industries, businesses are pinning their hopes for the future on the “internet of things,” and who can blame them? The potential business opportunities for connected cars, industrial IoT and smart homes are irresistible – improved efficiency, reduced costs, enhanced customer experiences and access to a treasure trove of valuable real-time data.
Many telecom network operators also have high hopes for the IoT, as they anticipate providing connectivity and machine-to-machine services for more than 20 billion “things” and devices by 2020. In the mobile realm, the key to making this dream a reality will rely on “5G” technology, but that could mean major headaches for network operators. This is because the connectivity requirements for many IoT things and devices are unique and often contradictory; yet they require pervasive connectivity and interoperability to work together seamlessly throughout the ecosystem.
At present, we have multiple standards bodies working to create 5G standards and many consortia are looking to develop or influence 5G standards. Even so, some network operators already are conducting 5G trials years ahead of standards being finalized or even fully scoped out. How can network operators and service providers accurately map the way forward? And without a common standard in place, where do they even start?
Life on the edge
At the edge of the network, 5G will take many different forms with many different needs. For example, consumers will embrace high-speed 5G to enable 4K video streaming with demanding bandwidth requirements over a relatively short range. Connected cars, on the other hand, require longer range, ultra-low latency transmissions to relay critical information about traffic conditions or potential hazards in real time. And smart home devices need interoperability coupled with tight security. With different propagation characteristics, various latency requirements and competing connectivity needs, smart home devices, connected cars and other IoT things will create incredible challenges for mobile operators as they build out 5G networks.
Leading mobile operators are already working toward this brave new IoT world in an effort to get ahead of the curve to meet various speed, security and latency requirements. Along the way they are accelerating technology advancements such as network functions virtualization, software-defined networking and new radio access technologies such as self-organizing networks.
But the industry is far from ready at this point and many network operators currently are forced to use multiple, separate deployments to support the growing number of IoT use cases. Others are investing in time-sensitive networking, which uses time synchronization on a schedule, extending the functionality of Ethernet to deliver data over different network components more reliably.
With the reality of competing 5G needs becoming more evident, however, we can expect many service providers to adopt network slicing as their best option to successfully manage these disparate requirements and maintain quality of service.
Cloud of clouds
As cloud networking becomes more mainstream, network service providers have an array of new tools and capabilities at their disposal. One particular tool that will be essential to more efficient and effective deployment of 5G is network slicing, enabling multiple cloud-based network functions to be automated and programmed from the radio access network for different use cases and requirements.
Adoption of network slicing will enable mobile operators to program individual aspects of network layers to meet the varying needs of different IoT devices without additional hardware deployments. But to gain the most flexibility, agility and control possible with network slicing, operators should consider centralized RAN. C-RAN simplifies cell sites by moving baseband processing units to a centralized location to serve a larger number of remote radio units. In this way, C-RAN makes it easier for the operator to deploy network slicing and control multiple clouds over a larger area.
In fact, the future mobile network will continue to transition to the cloud, and in order to maintain an edge, service providers will require solutions that are virtualized from one end of the network to the other. Greater adoption of NFV/SDN technologies will be key to the future of 5G, enabling targeted network slicing with automated and correlated intelligence across each network slice for more accurate monitoring, optimization and service assurance.
In the meantime, however, we need to advocate for a coordinated, industry wide approach to build a stable and interoperable 5G. We’ve been down the wrong path before with competing global standards; operators, vendors and ultimately subscribers all paid the price for an expensive drawn-out battle over CDMA and GSM. Perhaps the number of early 5G deployments will force the acceleration of standardization, but we can’t leave the future to chance. As we plot a course across uncharted waters, we should remain focused and vigilant, making sure that the rising tide of 5G lifts all boats … or we all sink together.
Editor’s Note: The RCR Wireless News Reality Check section is where C-level executives and advisory firms from across the mobile industry share unique insights and experiences.
