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At the meeting, Zhao Jingbo, Industry Application Research Institute of China Telecom Research Institute, said that with the deepening of digital transformation, vertical industries are facing challenges such as IT architecture reform, cloud network convergence, cloud edge collaboration, OT/IT/CT convergence, etc. Traditional private network methods can no longer meet the business needs of industry customers in coverage, transmission, connection, reliability, security and business model innovation.
Under the traditional private network mode, enterprises need to deploy multiple independent private networks from production, management, logistics to office, which has high operating cost and long construction period. In addition, because all kinds of networks come from different suppliers and at different times, the background can't be connected and the frequency band is interfered.
The 5G private network highly meets the needs of digital transformation, is the comprehensive integration and promotion of OT+IT+CT, and will also be the first explosion point of 5G vertical industry application.
According to the definition of 3GPP standard, 5G private network can be divided into independent deployment mode (SNPN) and public network convergence mode (PNI-NPN). According to the sharing degree with public network, public network convergence mode can be divided into "partial sharing with public network (sharing RAN or RAN and core network control plane)" and "end-to-end sharing with public network".
The independent deployment mode is that the state provides a dedicated 5G frequency band for industry users to build their own 5G private networks. The public network convergence mode relies on operators to build/rent private networks for enterprises by using edge computing and network slicing technology.
Network slice or dedicated spectrum
To allocate dedicated 5G spectrum resources, enterprises need to have a complete set of network assets, such as base stations and core networks, if they want to build their own networks. In the process of network construction, the investment cost is very high, and ordinary enterprises, especially small enterprises, are unable to purchase and deploy a full set of 5G networks. In addition, some professional operation and maintenance personnel are needed to maintain the network later.
Enterprises build their own 5G private networks.
The private network established in this way has the advantages of good isolation, low delay and high security, and the network environment is more autonomous and controllable, and it can provide the required services without relying on operators.
Network slicing is to use virtualization technology to divide the core network and wireless network of 5G into multiple parts to support different services, so as to ensure that the sliced networks are isolated from each other, thus ensuring the delay and reliability of private networks.
Enterprises can customize the network slicing service to operators according to their own business needs, without self-built network infrastructure, which saves the network construction cost and reduces the later operation and maintenance cost. At the same time, different network slices can be customized, and private networks can be shared to varying degrees, so it is not necessary to allocate spectrum resources separately. However, slicing technology actually belongs to virtual private network. Although there is no slicing, the physical network, power supply and transmission system are still the same, and the security and isolation are not as high as those of the self-built private network.
So is it better to allocate dedicated spectrum or slice technology for 5G private network?
Self-built private network has certain rigid requirements for the strength of enterprises, and private spectrum is difficult to obtain. Public security, military and other industries with high security requirements will choose the self-built private network mode, while some traditional enterprises are not so strict in this respect, and will choose the public network integration mode with slicing technology.
Zhao Yibo said that the 5G private network is not only an opportunity for the industry, but also an important transformation opportunity for operators. For users in different industries, it is necessary to combine specific business scenarios and business needs to create a 5G private network that meets the needs of different industries, so that 5G can maximize its business value.
Five-G Private Networks of Three Major Operators
The 5G private network services of the three major operators adopt different service modes according to the needs of different customers.
China Mobile's 5G private network includes exclusive mode, exclusive mode and exclusive mode; China Telecom launched the 5G private network Zhiyuan mode, neighbor mode and wing mode; China Unicom launched 5G virtual private network, 5G hybrid private network and 5G independent private network products.
China Mobile
Jiang Yi of China Mobile Communication Research Institute introduced the 5G private network product system of China Mobile based on "exclusive, exclusive and exclusive".
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Enjoy mode
Through QoS, network slicing technology and other technical means, the service priority guarantee and service isolation are realized, which meets the requirements of network speed, delay and reliability priority guarantee, and achieves the effect of service logical isolation and flexible configuration on demand. This mode is oriented to most wide-area businesses and some local businesses, such as video monitoring in industrial parks, tracking of people and goods, data acquisition, etc.
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Exclusive mode
Provide customized wireless networks (such as wireless networks with enhanced coverage) on the basis of public networks, realize data traffic unloading and local business processing through edge computing technology, meet business requirements such as data locale and ultra-low delay, and provide customers with exclusive network services.
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Exclusive mode
The exclusive service mode further meets the needs of ultra-high security, ultra-high isolation and customized network through the exclusive construction of base stations, frequencies and core network equipment, and achieves the effect of dedicated 5G network and VIP door-to-door service, which is suitable for local scenes such as mining areas and underground.
China Mobile's "Kernel" product is a customized integration solution for 5G private network based on integrated integration mode, which integrates UPF, 5GC, edge computing, small SPN, BBU, IMS and other capabilities on demand.
According to the performance report for the first half of 2002/kloc-0 released by China Mobile, in the first half of the year, China Mobile signed 900 provincial-level regional characteristic projects, and expanded 452 5G private network projects, with the contract amount exceeding 10 million, and the number of DICT large orders 122, which drove the incremental revenue of DICT to exceed 6 billion yuan, and the number of government and enterprise customers reached15.53 million.
China Mobile cooperates with Alibaba to build a private network for the 5G intelligent park. Based on the 5G network deployed by Hangzhou Mobile, XG Lab has developed a brand-new 5G private network security architecture system, which greatly improves the security and ease of use of the 5G private network.
Ali said that the XG Laboratory of Dharma Institute innovatively realized the connection between the 5G authentication information and the enterprise authentication information through the self-developed EAC (Enterprise Access Controller) based on the 5G core network, and built a secure, intelligent and flexible 5G enterprise private network.
China Mobile also cooperated with China Southern Power Grid to provide a systematic 5G command power grid solution based on 5G SA architecture and slicing technology, aiming at the four business characteristics of Shenzhen Southern Power Grid, such as intelligent distributed distribution automation (intelligent distributed distribution differential protection and distribution automation), power grid emergency communication guarantee and distribution network measurement. This case aims to explore innovative 5G services and demands in vertical industries, verify the capabilities of 5G networks and services, and lay the foundation for 5G commercialization.
China Telecom
Chen Yunqing of China Telecom Research Institute said that the 5G private network of China Telecom is a comprehensive solution of "network customization, edge intelligence, cloud collaboration and X-on-demand". "The network is the foundation, the cloud is the core, the network moves with the cloud, and the cloud network is integrated", and it is committed to the digital transformation of the "cloud to digital" service industry.
China Telecom has launched three modes: based on the three service modes of "Zhiyuan, Neighbourhood and Ruyi" to serve customers in different industries, and realize "cloud-network integration and customization on demand".
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Zhiyuan mode
Zhiyuan mode is a network service mode of secure networking customized for government and enterprise customers. Based on China Telecom's 5G 2B private network resources, this model provides end-to-end differentiated network connection services for customers in transportation, logistics, education, agriculture, health, emergency, politics and law, housing construction, energy, industry and other 1 1 industries through technologies such as VPDN, QoS, flexible resource scheduling, DNN customization and slicing, and can also directly connect with Tianyiyun.
Typical case: Shenzhen smart police service
China Telecom and Shenzhen Public Security took the lead in exploring the application combination scheme of 5G private network technology and police actual combat system, which can meet the needs of large-scale mobile video transmission of new police equipment (such as unmanned patrol car, police ar and police drone); Meet the requirements of supporting three-dimensional rapid deployment and support the rapid deployment ability of police force; Meet the requirements of high reliability and security isolation of police connection, and provide private network isolation, networking security docking and air interface priority protection.
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Adjacent model
Neighborhood mode is a special network service mode customized for delay-sensitive enterprise customers. Based on 5G 2B private network resources, this model provides enterprise customers with a private network with enhanced bandwidth, low delay and local data unloading through flexible customization of technologies such as multi-frequency collaboration, carrier aggregation, super uplink, edge nodes, QoS enhancement, wireless resource reservation, DNN, slicing and edge nodes, and cooperates with MEC and Tianyiyun to maximize the advantages of edge computing and cloud collaboration, thus empowering enterprise customers with digital applications.
Typical case: Guangdong Midea Smart Park
Midea's transformation direction to personalized production and flexible manufacturing is clear, but its business is facing many problems at present. China Telecom and Midea have created a smart factory application scenario based on 5G+MEC support.
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Wing pattern
Ruwing mode is a private network service mode customized for security-sensitive enterprise customers. Based on China Telecom's 5G 2B private network resources, this model makes full use of technologies such as super uplink, interference avoidance, 5G network slicing, edge computing, etc., and customizes private network equipment such as private base stations, private frequencies and campus-level UPF according to requirements, so as to provide customers with isolated, end-to-end high-performance private network access. At the same time, MEC and industrial applications can be customized as needed to provide exclusive operation and maintenance support services for private networks.
Typical case: Qingdao State Grid
For the first time, China Telecom, Huawei and Qingdao State Grid rely on edge computing and 5G end-to-end slicing to realize the load upload and complete transmission test of millisecond precision load control devices. The test results show that the delay of 5G channel meets the millisecond requirement. With the successful landing of the test, the first set of millisecond accurate load control device under the special mode of 5G public network of State Grid was put into trial operation in Qingdao Power Supply Company.
China Unicom
Huang Rong of China Unicom Research Institute said that the 5G private network of China Unicom can be divided into three deployment modes: virtual private network, hybrid private network and independent private network.
5G virtual private network
Based on China Unicom's 5G public network resources, the end-to-end QoS or slicing technology is used to provide customers with a virtual private network with guaranteed delay and bandwidth, which is isolated from the ordinary user data of China Unicom's public network. Suitable for wide-area private network services, including smart cities, smart scenic spots, new media, high-end residential areas and offices, intelligent transportation (including automatic driving) and other scenarios.
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5G hybrid private network
Based on 5G data distribution technology, through flexible customization of wireless and control network elements, a basic connection network with enhanced bandwidth, low delay and no data leaving the park is built for industry users. The user plane network element UPF of the core network is privately deployed for industry users, and the wireless base station and the core network control plane network element are flexibly deployed according to customer requirements to provide users with some physically exclusive 5G private networks. Suitable for local open parks, including transportation, logistics/port terminals, high-end scenic spots, urban security, industrial manufacturing, etc.
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5G independent private network
Using proprietary wireless equipment and core network integration equipment, an independent private network completely isolated from public network data is built for industry users end-to-end, including all network element functions of gNB, AMF, SMF, UPF, MEC and other 5G systems. Suitable for partially enclosed areas, including mines, oil fields, nuclear power, high-precision manufacturing, prisons, military and so on.
800 meters underground in Pangpangta Coal Mine, Huozhou, Shanxi Province, China Unicom built the first underground 5G private network in China, which solved the problem of safe production in the coal industry.
China Unicom and Zhanjiang Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. also cooperated. The service first reaches the enterprise's 5G core network through the private wireless channel of the base station, and then is routed to its own service server, thus realizing the isolation between the enterprise service and the public network service.
Zhanjiang Iron and Steel has built a smart steel plant technology platform by investing in the 5G core network. At present, the application scenarios such as on-line detection and diagnosis of fans in steel mills, four coke ovens, movement control of silicon steel, remote control of robots and remote guidance of smart helmets have been realized.
Here, I believe everyone has a certain understanding of the architecture of the 5G private network. In fact, the architectures of the five major operators' 5G private networks are basically the same, and they can flexibly meet the differentiated needs of industry customers.
Stir up a fight
The market space of 5G private network is huge, and there are more and more deployment cases. At the same time, it also faces some challenges.
1. Whether an enterprise can build its own 5G private network, the most important thing is to obtain the spectrum, which is limited and not available on demand. In most countries, spectrum is regarded as a natural resource, and its use is controlled by national authorities, who allocate resources according to national needs. GSMA suggested that regulators should avoid setting aside spectrum for vertical markets in key frequency bands, which it believed would hinder the full release of the maximum utilization efficiency of 5G and waste spectrum resources.
2. The demand of industrial projects in the market is quite different, and the product standardization is insufficient. For specific projects, it is difficult for operators to quickly build solutions and open them quickly.
3. Zhao Yibo said that the ToB capability of the 5G private network is still incomplete, and the shortcomings need to be gradually filled: the differentiation capability of the 5G network is still incomplete; Industry and scenario solutions are not productized; Customized rules and regulations need to be improved; Business model needs innovation.
Although there are challenges, overall, the development prospect of 5G private network is huge. GrandView Research predicts that from 2020 to 2027, the global market size of 5G private networks will increase with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 37.8%, and it will reach 76,543.80 billion dollars by 2027.
The market competition is also fierce. In addition to operators, cloud service providers, equipment providers and system integrators are all interested in seizing the 5G private network market. It is believed that with the upgrading of technology, the future 5G private network will show a booming trend in various industries.
The article was transferred from SDNLAB.