Can 5G and ecosystem construction support the rapid development of MEC?

MEC (Mobile Edge Computing) was born in the 4G era. It has received great attention from operators because it can provide high-speed, low-latency network support and can meet the development of innovative businesses such as drone control, F1 racing live broadcast, and smart mall navigation.

After years of efforts by all parties in the communications industry, MEC has made good progress in small base station equipment, platforms, business models, etc. However, due to unclear profit models, low enthusiasm of industry customers, and operators' concerns about the reliability of existing network deployment, MEC has not been able to develop on a large scale.

Recently, relevant experts from China Mobile told media reporters that MEC has become one of the 5G application scenarios and will achieve rapid development with the help of 5G "east wind" and ecological construction.

The value of MEC is becoming increasingly prominent

As a key technology for the evolution of 4.5G/5G network architecture, MEC can meet the system's requirements for throughput, latency, network scalability, intelligence, etc. Relying on MEC, operators can bring traditional external applications into the mobile network, making content and services closer to users, and increase mobile network speed, reduce latency, and improve connection reliability, thereby improving user experience and developing the value of the network edge.

According to Li Fuchang, an expert at China Unicom Network Technology Research Institute, MEC enables the traditional wireless access network to have the conditions for service localization and close-range deployment, and can upgrade the traditional wireless base station to an intelligent base station. At the business level (Internet of Things, video, medical care, retail, etc.), mobile edge computing can provide customized and differentiated services to the industry, thereby improving network utilization and value growth space.

At present, the main functions of MEC include local content caching, service optimization processing based on wireless perception, local content forwarding, network capability exposure, etc. It is mainly used in scenarios with high latency sensitivity, high real-time requirements, and large data volumes, such as V2V, AR, enterprise office, MCDN, smart home, IoT, etc. By introducing intelligent computing on the base station side, the problems of operators and network service providers will be effectively solved, the service experience will be more guaranteed, the management of wireless resources will be more intelligent and optimized, and different levels of services can be achieved.

5G and ecology can become driving forces

Based on the judgment of future business, MEC may become the "touchstone" of 5G business development. There are generally two deployment methods for 5G-based MEC solutions. One is to deploy the MEC server at the GW-UP, and the other is to deploy the MEC server behind the base station. Experts from China Mobile said that vigorously building MEC will allow operators to adjust traditional architecture, operations, and business, and these changes are exactly what 5G business needs.

In 2018, 5G standards will become clearer. Countries and regions such as China, the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Europe are all working on 5G in an attempt to seize the right to speak. Many operators, including China Mobile, will start building 5G trial commercial networks in 2018. By then, it will become an urgent need for the industry to find "killer" applications that can develop rapidly on 5G networks. The exploration of MEC networks by operators in 2017 happened to be the opening of the 5G curtain. In the 5G era, the application of MEC will extend to transportation, intelligent driving, real-time tactile control, augmented reality and other fields.

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The development of MEC business requires not only equipment manufacturers such as Huawei, Nokia, Ericsson, and ZTE, but also chip manufacturers such as Intel and Qualcomm, and more importantly, ISVs (independent software developers) such as Softcom. After all, the needs of customers in different industries are different, and ISVs who understand industry needs are needed to provide customized software solutions to support them. Therefore, if MEC is to achieve rapid development, it must build a complete ecosystem, and its business model needs to be jointly developed by various manufacturers.

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