Japanese telecom provider KDDI and South Korea-based Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. have conducted what they say is the world’s first field demonstration of service level agreement (SLA) guaranteed network slicing. The details of the demonstration, which used a RAN Intelligent Controller in a commercial base station, were released last week. Research and Development will continue with the goal of the deployment of full-scale network slicing in 2024.
Network slicing enables multiple virtual networks to be created within a single physical network infrastructure, where each slice is dedicated for a specific application or service. SLA guarantees are necessary for a carrier to provide communication quality that meets customer use cases and application needs, according to KDDI. Up until now, best-effort communication quality was generally provided but not guaranteed.
“Network slicing will open up countless opportunities, by allowing KDDI to offer tailor-made, high-performance connectivity, along with new capabilities and services, to its customers,” said Junehee Lee, Executive Vice President, Head of Global Sales & Marketing, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “This demonstration is another meaningful step forward in our efforts to advance technological innovation and enrich network services.”
In September 2020, KDDI said it was the first to generate multiple network slices simultaneously with end-to-end quality assurance and low latency.
“Until now, we have been verifying the function that guarantees the communication quality of each slice in a demonstration environment, and then considering applying it to a commercial environment,” a statement from KDDI reads. “We will develop a mechanism to provide the necessary resources in real time in response to changes in the communication environment and respond to communication requests in accordance with SLAs.”
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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