1. Heavy Reading’s View Automated 4G/5G Core Networks
Prepared for Cisco Knowledge Network by
Gabriel Brown, Principal Analyst, Heavy Reading
November 8, 2017

2. Agenda Capacity Economics & New Services Automated Mobile Core
Distributed Cloud, Distributed Core
5G-Ready Services Core

3. Mobile Network Evolution (in Logos)

4. Price Pressure & “Unlimited”
Mid 2016
Mid 2017
$ / GB
Mobile Access
Fixed Access
$8.97
$0.15
$1.80
$0.05
37x
30x Mobility Premium
Mobility Premium Based on Data Plan Allotment
Source: Mobile Experts, August 2017

5. Capacity Economics w/ Gigabit LTE
High Band
Unlicensed?
4x4 MIMO
1 Gbit/s
High Band 4x4 MIMO
256 QAM
Early adopter user-experienced data rate = ~ Mbit/s
Mid Band 4x4 MIMO
Target baseline data rate = 50 Mbit/s
Low Band 2x2 MIMO
Massive opportunity to simplify in 5G NR

6. Extreme Capacity with 5G NR
1 Gbit/s per Sector
100 MHz of Mid Band Spectrum; or
200, 400, 800 MHz of 28 GHz
4-8 bits/Hz
Mbit/s cell edge
Massive MIMO +
1 Gbit/s per Sector
2x2 & 4x4 MIMO
LTE Underlay (4 x 20MHz, 2 bit/Hz, 4x4 MIMO)
Existing Cell Site Grid in Phase 1

7. Reduction in transport cost-per-bit must be at least matched by lower cost of operations

8. Future Mobile Network Service Dimensions
Massive MTC (IoT)
$/Yr/Device; Low power;
eMBB
$$$/Yr/Device
High bandwidth
Vehicular
(telemetry, driver assist, autonomous, etc.)
$$$/Yr/Device; High mobility
UR-LLC
(Mission Critical Services)
$$$$$$/Yr/Device
Low latency; Reliability
Network Operations
Low cost operations; Network Slicing; Cloud-native
Source: Heavy Reading, based on 3GPP SMARTER

9. Automated Mobile Core

10. The Need for Core Network Automation
Diverse services are only economical with automation at the network and service level
Mobile operators need both functional agility and service agility
Objective: to make networking services as easy to buy & consume as the cloud

11. Business Model Evolution
Integrated Virtualized Services
Self-Service
Network
Today’s state-of-the-art
Multiple VNFs to create service
Dynamic Network
User requests automatically implemented in network
On-demand Services Network customized, on-the-fly for multiple use-cases
Increasing technical & commercial sophistication
VNFs
Network-as-a-Service

12. Virtual EPC Deployment Examples
vEPC
Enterprise & IoT
Connected Car
All Traffic
VoLTE, VoWiFi
Enterprise
Public Safety
OpCo
Dedicated physical core

13. Levels of VNF On-Boarding Maturity
On-Boarding VNFs
Levels of VNF On-Boarding Maturity
Source: Intel, October 2017
Initially, overly manual and craft-like, but progress being made

14. Closed-Loop Automation (a model)
Service Orchestration
Network Orchestration
NFVI / Cloud Platform / Appliances
Actuate Network Functions
Service Assurance
Enterprise Network Service
Connected Car Service
Consumer Broadband
Sessions
Mobility
DRA
Auth.
Database
Policy

15. Service Automation (an example)
Test tools and network KPI’s are returned. Assuming that all results are pass, subscriber database updated to connect customers to services
Solution Deployment
Once service and network provisioning are complete, update subscriber database for test UE and triggers test cycle 5 7 1
Instantiate or configure GW and IP network; System configuration complete received
Instantiate service and network slice
Network Automation and Monitoring
Service Automation and Monitoring 2
Test tool connected to GW to test connectivity integrity
Subscriber Database
Instantiate or configure service.
System configuration complete received 3 4
Test UE is connected to Network Slice and Service
Test Tool
Authentication & Policy 6
Svs 1
Svs N GW 8
Either by triggering a reconnection or when devices reconnect, subscribers can connect to newly deployed service over optimized network.
Source: Cisco, October 2017

16. Console-Driven; API-Driven
EMS
NE/VNF
VIM
Application NE
NFVO
SOAP
REST
CLI
Netconf
Product Management
Service Catalogue
Service Design tools
Automated Test

17. Distributed Services

18. Distributed Service Deployment
Central Data Center
Distributed Service Deployment
UDM
PCF
Automation
N1/N2
AMF
SMF
Remote DC for vRAN and MEC
Remote DC
N4 + Extensions N4 5G N3 NR
UPF
IP Services
Central Data Center
Optimized for user plane
N4 + Extensions
User plane and IP Services are instantiated and managed as a set
SGi Services/Internet
UPF
IP Services
Remote DC,
Different domain 5G N3
UP and Applications are chained NR
UPF
IP Services
SGi Services/Internet
IoT Services
Source: Cisco, October 2017

19. Distributed User-Plane Node
Virtualized on x86 servers
GTP termination
User-plane and IP services chained
GTP IP
High Performance Fast Path Forwarding
User Plane Node with Integrated SGi-LAN Services
VNF
High Performance Data Path
Counters
Flows
Tables
SDN Client
Flow Classifier
GTP-U
SBI IP
GTP
S1U
SGi
Session Anchor

20. 5G-Ready Services Core

21. 5G Development & Deployment Timeline
5G NR
NSA-mode
(w/ LTE anchor)
Simulations, Prototypes & PoCs
Mass Market Service
5G Standalone Development
(5G system architecture & core)
Field Trials
5G NR Early Drop
2018
2019
2020
2025
2017

22. Introducing 5G NR EPC eNB gNB 5GC Migrate 5G Radio in NSA Mode
5G in SA Mode CP UP

23. Source: Heavy Reading’s 5G operator Survey, November 2017
NSA & Standalone Modes
Based on Release 15 specifications, which deployment options is your company considering for 5G New Radio (NR)? (n=139)
Source: Heavy Reading’s 5G operator Survey, November 2017

24. 5G-Ready Mobile Core 4G Architecture 5G Architecture Control Plane
HSS + UDM
PCRF + PCF
N10 N7
S6a
SMF + PGW-C N8
SGW-C
S5-C
N15
User Plane N4
S11
N11
UPF + PGW-U
SGW-U
S5-U
S1-U
MME
AMF Nx
S1-MME N3 N2
4G Architecture
5G Architecture N1
5G RAN
E-UTRAN UE UE

25. Conclusion
Capacity demands and service diversity make automation essential
The mobile core controls services and is the key pivot for automation
As tools mature, operators will become comfortable with closed-loop automation & self-service
Advanced 4G and early 5G services can run on a common, cloud-based mobile core network

26. Automated Mobile Core White Paper
@gabeuk
5G Transport & Networking
New York, November 10
Light Reading Executive Summit
Prague, December 5

27. Thank You! brown@heavyreading.com