If you’ve been following closely the trends in 5G mobile network, you probably know that it has a lot more to offer both individuals and enterprises worldwide. Among its other capabilities, the 5G network supports slicing. For those who have no idea what we are talking about, 5G network slicing is a technique that divides a single physical network infrastructure into multiple virtual networks.
When compared to exiting 4G and LTE network, 5G mobile network promises significant improvements in bandwidth and latency. This explains why virtual network slices is a possibility with 5G mobile network. To make it even better, 5G network slicing provides an isolated, end-to-end network, optimized for a specific business purpose.
The 5G Infrastructure Public-Private Partnership Architecture Working Group has further described 5G network slicing architecture. Based on their explanation, the architecture makes use of a recursive, multi-tenant model in which an infrastructure provider’s physical network is divided into sub-networks.
Each sub-network created is leased to mobile virtual network operators, which divide the allocated network into more specific sub-networks. Furthermore, each sub-network is bundled with cloud services that encompasses compute and storage infrastructure to meet a given circumstance.
Before taking advantage of what this newest mobile network offer users, you should remember your business purpose and applications dictate the mix of bandwidth, latency, resiliency, processing and storage needed by each slice. When it comes to the mix of compute and storage within each slice, it is vital that you factor in the content distribution, IoT edge computing and network functions virtualization.
We can never conclude without mentioning the fact that 5G network slicing management should include the ability to create, operate, and delete slices. For quick and accurate control, it is in your best interest to automate these steps. Fortunately, the same system abstractions are used in each layer regardless of whether the underlay is based on physical infrastructure or a logical network slice.
These are just but some of the things you need to know about 5G network slicing. Be sure to do your homework before deciding on anything.