As 5G private network applications enter deep waters, how can we achieve the goal of going from 1 to N?

At present, the 5G competition has entered the second half, shifting from technology to application, and the application development of 5G private networks has entered the deep water zone.

At the same time, the development of 5G applications has entered a "no man's land" and there is no ready-made experience to learn from. How to achieve the goal of going from 1 to N?

Diversification, lightweight and low cost become the development trend of 5G private network modules and terminals

With the deep integration of 5G and the industry, the application development of 5G private networks has entered a deep water zone. The development of private networks faces many challenges: 2C lacks typical 5G applications, and individual users are not sensitive to 5G applications; 2B 5G application "model room" has a high degree of customization and cannot be replicated on a large scale. How to promote the large-scale development of 5G private network applications?

It should be noted that 5G private network not only refers to the network, but covers the end-to-end industrial ecosystem from terminals, networks, platforms to upper-level applications, which requires the joint unity and cooperation of the industry.

Diversification, lightweight and low cost have become the development trend of modules and terminals. Now that the Internet of Things is integrated into the new infrastructure, the demand for 5G modules has increased, and companies have launched various 5G modules. According to GSA data: As of February 2021, a total of 80 5G modules have been released worldwide, which can be used in various terminal forms such as cameras, industrial gateways, AGVs, drones, etc.

Industry applications are characterized by fragmented types, limited geographical scope, low mobility requirements, and cost sensitivity. It is necessary to lightweight and customize 5G chips for C, such as reducing supported frequency bands and bandwidth to reduce costs.

In addition, lightweight and streamlined chips and modules have become an industry consensus, but are currently progressing slowly due to market fragmentation and uncertainty. Therefore, breakthroughs are urgently needed in the standards and industrialization of low-cost chips and modules.

In this regard, Du Jiadong, deputy director of the 5G Application Innovation Center of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, pointed out that the shared public service platform has become an effective means to break industry boundaries and reduce costs. "With the market promotion as the driving force, we will build a technical service system to provide a product supply system for governments, integrators, operators, investment and financing institutions, etc., enrich their product series and enhance their market competitiveness; by providing technical support services to terminals, application developers, servers, modules and other enterprises, we will improve their products and assist them in product marketing and corporate investment and financing."

5G private networks have three major industry pain points

5G private networks will become a new growth driver for operators. It is estimated that by 2026, the overall scale of global 5G networks will be US$166.3 billion, and the 5G private network market will reach US$48.3 billion.

However, there are still three major industry pain points in 5G private networks:

First, 5G private network capabilities need to be upgraded. Facing the diverse networks and business scenarios of thousands of industries, 5G private network capabilities currently match the needs of most industry scenarios, but some capabilities still need to be further improved and upgraded.

Second, 5G private network services need to be improved. Faced with the diverse 5G private network service demands of industry customers, including network planning, construction, maintenance and optimization, network demand customization and development, enterprise self-service and exclusive rights, the current 5G private network service system needs to be improved to fully support the industry private network needs.

Third, 5G private network operation systematization. Facing the demands of industry private network operation, the current 5G private network still has problems such as imperfect service system, inefficient delivery operation, and incomplete professional service team.

From 1 to N

Based on the above pain points, China Unicom has launched three 5G private network products: independent private network, hybrid private network, and virtual private network to meet the multi-level needs of the industry. At the same time, combined with Unicom MEC and slicing, it fully meets the personalized network needs and diversified choice demands of industry customers.

For example, independent 5G private network + 5G MEC focuses on demand scenarios with extremely high requirements for data privacy and security, such as coal and steel; hybrid 5G private network + 5G MEC + slicing focuses on high-end manufacturing, digital factories/workshops, industrial parks and other demand scenarios with high data latency requirements and local data offloading; virtual 5G private network (slicing) focuses on specific places such as stadiums, media users, energy and electricity, non-specific customers, and demand scenarios with wide-area mobility and stable bandwidth.

At the same time, China Unicom's 5G private network accurately provides ten customized services and five collaborative capabilities to help enterprises with digital transformation and upgrading. China Unicom's 5G private network has built a "1+1+1" operation system (one standardized service standard, one intensive service platform, and one professional service team) to provide high-standard boutique 5G private networks to industry customers and achieve rapid business protection.

"According to the plan, China Unicom will build one business operation center, 10 business incubation bases, 100 industry applications, and 1,000 edge nodes in 2021," said Feng Yi, director of 5G innovation at China Unicom's Intelligent Network Innovation Center.

To address the current problems, China Mobile has launched the "3+4+N" 5G private network operation system to create a one-stop operation platform for 5G private networks, quickly convert enterprise business needs into private network solutions, and make private networks visible, manageable and controllable.

At the same time, based on its thinking on the future development of private networks, China Mobile will actively promote the accelerated development of private network construction from three aspects: system improvement, product system innovation and carrier laboratory development for R16/R17: oriented to R16/R17 standards, continue to improve the 5G private network technology system, and build a 5G private network technology system 2.0; actively promote product system innovation, and build a 5G private network device-level product system; actively promote the construction of "carrier" laboratories to create new technology verifiers, system integrators and private network capability enablers.

In particular, in July 2020, China Mobile released the 5G private network technology system 1.0, which strongly supported the initial commercial use of 5G private network products. Among them, the product system includes premium mode, exclusive mode and premium mode. In order to support the development of the product system, the technology system 1.0 includes 12 major capabilities in three major areas: basic capabilities, network deployment, and service support. Now, a year is about to pass, and it is expected that China Mobile will release the 5G private network technology system 2.0 in August 2021. It is understood that this version has expanded from 12 technical capabilities in three categories in 1.0 to 24 technical capabilities in four categories, doubling the capabilities.

Public network dedicated to 5G private network is an excellent choice

During this year's Two Sessions, Zhang Yunyong, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and general manager of China Unicom's Product Center, suggested further clarifying that 5G spectrum resources (including industrial Internet 5G spectrum resources) should be exclusively used by the four communication operators holding 5G licenses, and that 5G private network spectrum resources will no longer be issued to special industries or large enterprises. Communication operators should provide professional services to enterprises with 5G private network needs to ensure the standardization of 5G network applications and operations.

Huawei also believes that the public network is the best choice for 5G private networks, and has launched the 5G toB public network dedicated kite solution. This solution is based on the operator's 5G network public network dedicated. Through the coordination of central and edge disaster recovery, when the private network in the park loses connection with the central network, it can automatically switch to the private network emergency disaster recovery control plane, greatly improving the reliability of the 5G private network and ensuring the high availability of the enterprise production system. In short: Huawei's 5GtoB public network dedicated kite solution can achieve data without leaving the park, plug and play, and continuous business when the network is disconnected.