It appears that Nokia has figured out a way to expand upon software-defined wide area network capabilities to create network slicing on 4G networks and non-standalone 5G networks that also has a migration path to full stand-alone 5G.
Since 5G uses a virtualized network core that is different from the evolved packet core used by 4G, it was not originally possible to implement 5G network slicing on a 4G core. But it appears Nokia has figured out a way to virtually virtualize a 4G EPC to mimic a network slice.
Many early applications will likely support either public cloud or private cloud use cases, simply because that is the way most modern applications now operate.
Nokia says it is the “first to introduce a 4G/5G end-to-end slicing solution for both 4G and 5G non-stand-alone networks with a defined evolution path to 5G stand-alone” networks.
Slicing continuity between 4G and 5G networks enables maximum use of both LTE and NR network coverage, all 4G and 5G devices and multi-vendor networks, Nokia says.
Among the major advantages is the ability to create and support network slices that use the installed base of billions of 4G-compatible devices, now, without having to create a new installed base of devices.
The migration path to full 5G, with a 5G virtualized core, also is an advantage, while network operations and service creation tasks remain common.
The capability is provided by a software upgrade to Nokia network infrastructure.
To be sure, other ways of creating virtual networks might be said to exist already, for 4G networks. SD-WAN, virtual private networks or any virtualized core network services might be said to represent early versions of a network slice. And the 4G standard includes a new virtual slice selection function that likely is how Nokia developed its new capability.
Network slicing on fixed networks also is possible, so we might characterize 5G network slicing as “SD-WAN on steroids,” albeit with easier provisioning.
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