The world's first 5G joint network slice provides global coverage

Recently, Ericsson teamed up with Deutsche Telekom and SK Telecom to create and display the world's first intercontinental 5G trial network. Deutsche Telekom and SK Telecom network slicing are currently used in each other's networks, enabling network connectivity between Germany and South Korea. Currently, this proof of concept has been successfully implemented and completed, including the creation and expansion of network slice roaming for augmented reality (AR) and maintenance services.

The demonstration was conducted at the German Telecom Enterprise R&D Center in Bonn, Germany, and the SK Telecom 5G test bed at Yeoungjong-do (BMW Driving Center) in Korea. Previously, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson and SK Telecom announced a global cooperation at the 2016 Shanghai World Mobile Communications Conference to develop breakthrough 5G technologies for such networks.

Bruno Jacobfeuerborn, CTO of Deutsche Telekom, said: "Our customers demand a global connection and a unified service experience. Network slicing is seen as a key enabler to support multiple services in the 5G era. Today's breakthrough shows that we can scale This concept ensures a superior service experience for our customers with global coverage."

Ulf Ewaldsson, senior vice president and chief strategy and technology officer at Ericsson, said: "5G is a network for all walks of life. The network slice in the 5G era is similar to the "on-demand virtual network". With the world's first intercontinental 5G The trial network, we really show how to configure network slicing for global customers in a foreign country."

SK Jins Chief Technology Officer Alex Jinsung Choi said: "5G is not just a faster transmission network, it provides a superior user experience anytime, anywhere, even when users roam between different operators around the world. Enables operators worldwide to share a seamless platform that delivers a continuous, guaranteed user experience."

In the 5G era, network slicing allows operators to configure end-to-end networks to provide the overall functionality and service parameters that users expect. 5G roaming joint network slicing extends this concept to the visited network. This technology enables operators to provide network services globally, ensuring a global service experience without having to sign a separate agreement with each operator.

New cooperation model

The premise of 5G joint network slicing is to enhance the cooperation mode, operators need to open their own networks to host the services of partners. An agreement must be reached between the vesting and the visited operator to support the re-creation of specific network slices in the visited network.

These protocols should cover the following aspects: network slice availability at the access layer (cellular, fixed), availability at the core, and connectivity to user application servers. The visited network hosts edge cloud resources that perform special business functions that require high throughput and low latency in the location where the visited network is close to the customer.

The proof of concept performed on February 14 uses the joint network slicing function to run the components of the 5G core of the home network in the visited network. The demonstration includes industrial maintenance use cases where maintenance personnel communicate with support personnel via augmented reality (AR) on the visited network. This scenario uses a branch server and edge cloud to provide the best service experience for maintenance AR in terms of latency and throughput.

GPU Case