5G and SDN – Laying the Software-Defined Foundations for 5G Networks

Heavy Reading Principal Analyst Gabriel Brown joins Sandvine CDO Ambuj Mittal and representatives from Ericsson and Amdocs to explore operators true feelings about 5G Network Slicing and the timing to implement and commercialize it as they look to monetize high-volume 5G and OTT services.

Historically, new infrastructure deployments are impeded by a limited understanding of the structural integrity of poles in an outside plant network. It is vital that all parties involved in the deployment of wireless and wireline infrastructure understand the basics of pole loading analysis, including why it is important, what factors have the greatest impact, and what solutions can be used to ensure timely customer access to new services. During this webinar, we will discuss the importance of performing pole loading analysis, as well as the various methods that can be used to determine a pole’s remaining capacity.

With the proliferation of 4G LTE across the globe and evolution of WiFi standards to support Gigabit connectivity in building (home, enterprise, high-density venues, etc.), there has been a steady rise in data consumption at the network's edge. This demand for high bandwidth on the radio access has led to growing demand for high-bandwidth backhaul connectivity. The natural choice for backhaul connectivity has been fiber, and networks across the world are extending fiber reach to as close to the network edge as possible. But can a converged infrastructure or fiber++ bring better value to the end consumer and make case for a better economics? In the recent past, 5G and particularly the 5GNR standard, has generated renewed interest in fixed wireless access, with the focus primarily on offering broadband connectivity to homes.

One of the new groups of services is based on the concept of network slicing. This concept is to enable the rapid (even on-demand) creation of logical/virtual networks based on one physical technical infrastructure. From the application's point of view, this is to enable resolution of existing network-building problems that were a compromise between different requirements on the part of the application. However, this technology comes with a price, which is a significant complication of network management.