What does the increasingly popular 5G public network dedicated service mean?

[[426454]]

This article is reprinted from the WeChat public account "Xianzao Classroom", the author is Xiaozaojun. Please contact the WeChat public account of Xianzao Classroom to reprint this article.

In July last year, the 3GPP R16 version was frozen, officially opening the curtain for the implementation of 5G vertical industry applications.

Now, more than a year has passed, and we are pleasantly surprised to find that 5G toB applications have been implemented and have achieved results far beyond our expectations.

Based on the increasingly improved domestic 5G network coverage, we have successfully incubated thousands of 5G integrated application innovations around key industries such as industry, energy, transportation, finance, medical care, education, agriculture, culture and tourism, and launched nearly 10,000 5G industry application projects.

At present, the number of "5G+Industrial Internet" projects under construction alone has exceeded 1,600.

These 5G toB vertical industry applications that have sprung up like mushrooms after rain have achieved the deep integration of digital technology and traditional industries, improved process flows, and reconstructed business models. Their vigorous development means that digital transformation and the digital economy are advancing in an orderly manner.

The large-scale implementation of 5G toB applications cannot be separated from the support of an important solution, that is, 5G private network.

[[426455]]

As we all know, the Internet that ordinary users' mobile phones and computers connect to is called the public network, which is a "public place". The private network, on the other hand, is a network dedicated to a specific industry or enterprise and is a "private place".

There are two main reasons why private networks exist. One is for security isolation, to prevent public network users from accessing sensitive data. The other is because industries or enterprises have higher requirements for QoS indicators such as network reliability and stability, which the public network cannot meet.

In the 2G/3G/4G era, the construction cost of private networks was extremely high, and only government departments or a small number of large enterprises were able to build and use them, such as public security private networks, railway private networks, and power private networks.

In the 5G era, the main application scenarios of the network have become vertical industries, and the main service objects have become industry enterprises. As a result, the network construction ideas and business models of private networks have begun to undergo fundamental changes.

According to the definition of 3GPP standards, the deployment mode of 5G private network is divided into independent deployment mode (SNPN) and public network integration mode (PNI-NPN). In simple terms, it is "separate construction" and "sharing public network".

Let's talk about the independent deployment mode first.

The independent deployment mode of 5G private network is essentially the same as that of 4G private network. In short, enterprises pay to build a separate network, using the dedicated spectrum issued by the regulator or free spectrum (unlicensed spectrum).

The advantages of this model are complete isolation, complete independence, high reliability and privacy; but the disadvantages are also obvious.

First, the cost is extremely high. In addition to the one-time network construction cost (CAPEX), enterprises also have to bear the long-term and even higher operation and maintenance cost (OPEX).

Secondly, the technology is very difficult and requires high capabilities from the enterprise. Generally, it is necessary to hire a professional communication technology team for on-site support.

Third, the network construction cycle is very long, and new services are slow to come online. If a failure occurs, the resolution and recovery speed is also slow, affecting the normal operation and production of the enterprise.

Fourth, there is a lack of standard protocols and insufficient support from the industry chain. Private networks serve a wide range of industries, and different industries have different requirements for networks. 3GPP cannot formulate independent deployment standards for each industry, so it is easy to cause confusion or loss of standards, which in turn leads to product fragmentation and a sharp increase in workload. The industry chain is also unable to provide sufficient support.

Let’s take a look at the public network dedicated.

In view of the above main shortcomings of the "independent deployment mode", the "public network integration mode" has begun to rise and become the first choice for enterprises to build 5G private networks.

The "public network integration mode" is also known as "public network dedicated". As the name suggests, it means sharing the operator's 5G public network equipment and resources to realize dedicated services.

According to the different degrees of sharing with the public network, the "public network integration mode" is divided into "partial sharing" and "end-to-end sharing". As shown in the following figure:

Compared with independently deployed private networks, shared public networks have obvious cost and technical advantages.

During the network construction phase, enterprises do not need to purchase a complete set of 5G communication equipment, which can save a lot of money.

During the maintenance phase, enterprises can hand over relevant work to operators and use the professional capabilities of operators to perform standardized network operation and maintenance. This approach is more cost-effective, efficient and secure.

By adopting the "public network integration model", enterprise private networks can directly apply the results of 3GPP protocol standards and mature industrial chains, avoiding fragmentation and reducing costs.

How should "public network dedicated" deal with the data security and business security issues that enterprise users are most concerned about?

Here, we have to mention Huawei's unique kite solution for core network.

The Kite solution is based on the operator's 5G public network. It includes three specifications: S/M/L (small/medium/large), and two deployment modes: on-site and shared, to meet the reliability requirements of different users and ensure the high availability of enterprise production systems.

Taking the demand for data privacy as an example, many companies now hope to achieve “data does not leave the factory”, that is, sensitive data is retained within the park and does not enter the public network.

The M/L mode of the Kite solution generally adopts on-site deployment, placing the MEC/5GC private network inside the campus to ensure that user data does not leave the campus.

One of the great benefits of MEC is that it enables the sinking of computing and storage capabilities, which can meet communication needs with extremely high latency requirements, such as AI quality inspection, AGV navigation, etc.

Today, many companies apply private networks to production processes, and have extremely high requirements for network stability and reliability, and cannot tolerate business interruptions.

However, in extreme cases, the transmission between the public network and the campus private network may still fail (for example, illegal construction digging up the optical cable). In this case, it is necessary to ensure that the business of the private network is not affected and can continue to work smoothly.

Huawei's kite solution is handled like this:

In the M mode of the Kite solution, in addition to the UPF (core network user plane element) deployed in the park, an emergency CP (core network control plane) is also deployed to synchronize real-time data with the public network.

When the transmission between the private network and the public network is unexpectedly interrupted, the emergency CP immediately takes over seamlessly to ensure the inertial operation of steady-state services, the normal access of new services, and the normal processing of switching services. In other words, it ensures that "the network is disconnected but the business is not interrupted."

When the campus private network and the public network are restored, business management functions will be seamlessly migrated back to the central network and return to normal working status.

This emergency takeover mode has been verified in actual combat.

In May 2021, a signaling transmission failure occurred in a commercial 5G toB private network project in a certain park, resulting in a 3.5-hour interruption between the park private network and the central network. Because Huawei's Kite solution was deployed on site, according to the actual business test results, steady-state users in the park can maintain business inertia. Moreover, new users' access and switching services were also handled normally. After the interruption was restored, the network also achieved normal switching back.

In addition to being safe and reliable, the Kite solution also has obvious advantages in deployment and operation and maintenance.

The solution adopts an edge-integrated delivery model with plug-and-play and one-click deployment, and can be activated in 2 hours, greatly improving delivery efficiency.

The central network adopts centralized operation and maintenance, and also provides an enterprise self-service portal. Customers can access the portal and flexibly deploy applications on the platform, such as integrated upgrades of edge sites, hourly site deployment, and minute-level replication. These can well meet the needs of enterprise users to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

At present, the Kite solution has been applied in multiple scenarios such as coal mines and smart factories, and has gained the trust and favor of more and more corporate users.

Conclusion

The success or failure of 5G depends on toB, and the success or failure of toB depends on private networks.

5G public network dedicated solutions represented by Huawei Kite have proven their value through a large number of actual deployment cases.

It has flexible and open features, allowing industry customers to deploy networks more flexibly and freely. Its shared use of public network resources has greatly reduced the investment costs of industry customers. The cloud-edge collaboration mechanism it introduces also provides users with a lightweight edge cloud platform that can tap into more business applications.

For operators, using public network for exclusive use can better serve government and enterprise customers. It not only greatly improves the utilization rate of its own network resources, but also takes the initiative in cloud-network integration and achieves long-term gains.

Looking to the future, public network dedicated use will help more companies embrace 5G and achieve digital transformation. The golden age of 5G private networks has arrived!