Dish Networks Views Virtualization as 5G’s ‘Real Paradigm Shift’

Dish Network co-founder and Chairman Charlie Ergen told attendees at this week’s Competitive Carriers Association Mobile Carriers Show that his company’s plans to use virtualization and software as the foundation for its 5G network plan is a “real paradigm shift.” And that those rural carriers in attendance would be able to tap into that software-powered network using network slicing technology. Ergen told attendees that Dish Networks’ focus on using virtualization and software to power its 5G network is the paradigm shift it needs to go up against larger rivals. He explained that many think that the paradigm shift is 5G, “but that’s just part of it,” Ergen added. “It’s really the architecture,” he said. “When you move to virtualization and are doing in software what you do in hardware today, the robustness of what that network will do is a paradigm shift.” Ergen said that Dish Networks’ focus on using virtualization and software in its 5G deployment will give it an advantage over incumbent providers that are still tethered to hardware-based systems. “The wireless industry needs to move to the cloud just like data centers moved to the cloud,” Ergen said. “It’s a big challenge. We are going to need a lot of help and hope people in this room will help us.” In return, Ergen said that Dish Networks’ virtualized architecture would allow for network slicing that rural carriers could take advantage of.