NTT DOCOMO and Ericsson today announced their successful completion of a recent joint Proof of Concept (PoC) of dynamic network slicing technology for 5G core networks.
Network slicing technology virtually partitions a physical network into multiple co-existing logical networks in order to provide the most suitable resources and network topology to different types of services.
In the PoC, a slice-management function and network slices based on service requirements were autonomously created, enabling widely varying services to be delivered simultaneously via multiple logical networks. The PoC shows how 5G services could be connected flexibly between networks according to set policies in order to meet specific service requirements for latency, security or capacity.
According to NTT DOCOMO, existing networks cannot fully optimize themselves on a per-service basis, and thereby require significant improvement to ensure simultaneous delivery of the versatile services enabled by 5G.
DOCOMO designed the network slice creation and selection functions, and Ericsson developed the technologies to perform network slice lifecycle and service management.
Hiroshi Nakamura, Senior Vice President and General Manager of R&D Strategy Department, NTT DOCOMO, INC.
Network slicing has the potential to simultaneously deliver diverse cutting-edge 5G services, for enhanced entertainment as well as further effective and secure communication.
Håkan Djuphammar, Vice President and Head of Technology, Business Unit Cloud and IP, Ericsson
This PoC demonstrates the capability of 5G to support fast, efficient and flexible introduction of new services, and to enable differentiated characteristics like speed, latency and capacity.
