-
My friend: Hi Ibrahim, I have a question for you.
- Me: Please, tell me.
-
My friend: I was wondering how we can design a 5G E2E solution for network slicing?
- Me: As you know, 5G network slicing is a concept for running multiple logical customized networks on a shared common infrastructure for different vertical industry customers. So, the first step is to collect the requirements from those customers such as throughput, latency, reliability, etc., then the operator should define different SLAs (Service Level Agreements) for these different requirements.
-
My friend: Then what is going to be done next?
- Me: To achieve these different SLAs, the 5G network slicing architecture should be designed from an E2E perspective, spanning over different technical domains (e.g., device, access network, core network, transport network and network management system) and multiple vendors. So, configuration should be done at different network elements to get multiple network slice instances. So, for example in 3GPP Rel. 15 specifications, the fundamental system architecture with dedicated identifier to recognize each slice has been specified in both core and RAN domains. And this will allow the operators to have a tailored network service with flexibility, agility and at low cost.
-
My friend: But what are the challenges that face operators to implement 5G E2E network slicing?
- Me: Many challenges such as how to ensure resources from different 5G slices not to impact each other, define a pre-emption rules when resources are scarce, how can the different slices be isolated from each other to guarantee security of each customer data, and to define E2E security architecture.
-
My friend: Thank you very much, you made it very clear.
- Me: You are most welcome.
LinkedIn: Ibrahim Sayed, PMP on LinkedIn: #5g #5gnr #5gtechnology