5G competition enters the second half, shifting from technology to application

A few days ago, Wen Ku, vice chairman of the China Communications Standards Association, stated in a report entitled "5G Network Development Innovation and Vertical Applications" that now 5G competition has entered the second half, and the focus of competition has shifted from seizing the high ground of the technology industry to 5G applications.

At present, 5G is rapidly integrating into various industries such as industry, energy, medical, transportation, media, education, life and entertainment, and has become a key driver to promote the digital, networked, and intelligent transformation and upgrading of the real economy, opening up new ideas for the innovation and development of the digital economy. Path, provides a new engine. A few days ago, Wen Ku, vice chairman of the China Communications Standards Association, stated in a report entitled "5G Network Development Innovation and Vertical Applications" that now 5G competition has entered the second half, and the focus of competition has shifted from seizing the high ground of the technology industry to 5G applications.

My Country's 5G Fusion Applications Bloom

The "14th Five-Year Plan" outline has mentioned industrial digital transformation, digital society construction, and digital ecology many times. It proposes to build an industrial ecology based on 5G application scenarios, and conduct pilot projects in key areas such as smart transportation, smart logistics, smart energy, and smart medical care. Demonstrate and set up a column of digital application scenarios, including smart transportation, smart energy, smart manufacturing, smart agriculture and water conservancy, smart education, smart medical care, smart cultural tourism and other application scenarios.

Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and ten ministries and commissions jointly issued the "5G Application "Sailing" Action Plan (2021-2023)", setting out specific goals. By 2023, the key indicators of 5G applications will be greatly improved; the penetration rate of 5G individual users exceeds 40%, and the number of users exceeds 560 million; 5G network access traffic accounted for more than 50%, and the efficiency of 5G network usage was significantly improved; the average annual growth rate of 5G Internet of Things terminal users exceeded 200%.

By 2023, 5G applications in key areas have achieved outstanding results. In the field of vertical industries, the penetration rate of 5G applications of large industrial enterprises exceeds 35%. 5G applications in power, mining and other fields have achieved large-scale replication and promotion. The scope of 5G﹢ Internet of Vehicles pilots has been further expanded to promote the digital transformation and upgrading of traditional industries such as agriculture and water conservancy.

Wenku said that at present, my country's 5G integration applications are flourishing, showing a leading trend in economically developed regions. The 5G "Blooming Cup" competition has only 330 projects in 2018 and 4289 projects in 2020, involving more than 10 industrial Internet, medical and health, smart transportation, urban management, cultural and sports entertainment, smart education, public safety emergency response, etc. field. In the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and other places, 5G industry application innovation and landing clusters will be formed.

It can be seen from the project registration status of the 5G "Blooming Cup" in the past three years that 2018 and 2019 are basically demonstration and conceptual projects. Since 2020, nearly 30% of the projects have been applied.

Build A 5G Virtual Private Network For Vertical Industries

At present, the problem with 5G applications lies in how 5G networks support vertical applications. "The large-scale replication from 1 to N is the basis for the large-scale promotion of 5G." Wenku said. The scale of 5G applications encounters the "three highs" problems on the network side: 5G network customization costs are high, 5G network and industry integration is difficult, and enterprises have high demand for independent network operation. The "three highs" problem drives the evolution of 5G 2C networks to 5G industry virtual private networks. 5G will evolve from a 2C network to a 5G 2B network, involving several areas, including distributed sinking deployment of core networks, lightweight deployment of network equipment, "co-management and co-maintenance" between operators and vertical industries, and identification of converged networks.

The 5G industry virtual private network has requirements for the public network, that is, to provide industry users with a customizable, safe, reliable, and high-quality network that can meet the industry's own needs, and a network architecture that allows industry users to operate by themselves.

The construction of virtual private networks in the 5G industry has gradually formed a consensus and entered a period of large-scale deployment. With the joint efforts of the three major operators, the number of virtual private networks in the 5G industry has continued to grow. As of the first quarter of 2021, the total number of construction in the country has exceeded 1,000.

The 5G industry private network has three modes. One is public network sharing, which uses public network to achieve business priority protection and business logic isolation through QoS and network slicing technology; the second is public network dedicated, which is dedicated to the network through core network UPF sinking. Realize the offloading of local traffic; the third is to customize and specialize, through the special construction of base stations and other equipment, to achieve on-demand customization, and provide customers with a dedicated 5G network.

Through practice, we can see that it is necessary to not only meet the needs of vertical customers, but also take into account the requirements of large nets, and to achieve the lowest social cost of the entire network. Industry virtual private networks have become the first choice of various industries. Among them, the public network Dedicated UPF sinking mode is the main.

Wenku said that there are three major elements that drive the evolution of virtual private networks in the 5G industry. The first is the maximization of value. To give full play to the value of operators' public networks, and to realize the transformation from 2C networks to 2B networks, it is necessary to innovate in network architecture, technology and management mode. The second is integration and controllability. The 5G network integrates with existing industry networks and systems to meet the needs of business bearers and achieve network "manageable and controllable". The third is security. 5G networks must meet the needs of vertical industries, and ensure that business data does not leave the park, business end-to-end security isolation, and encryption.

Currently, there are several solutions for virtual private networks in the 5G industry. The first plan is based on the 5G service capability platform to explore new modes of operation and maintenance. On the 5G industry virtual private network service capability platform, one end is connected to the enterprise information management platform and the other end is connected to the operator's capabilities. The vertical industry connects its own business system with the 5G data system. In this plan, enterprises can choose their own operating packages, and the three major operators can customize packages suitable for enterprises according to the different needs of vertical enterprises.

The second plan is to fully sink the 5G network and establish a control interface with the operator. The feature of this plan is that the enterprise "has the final say." The lightweight and full-scale core network is deployed within the enterprise, and the enterprise customizes the configuration and future evolution direction of the core network according to the needs, reducing the impact on the operator's large network. At the same time, operators also "can manage." There are core network management and control interfaces between operators and enterprises to realize the "co-management" of 5G networks.

The third plan is to build a 5G network template for key industries. It is necessary to study and formulate 5G industry virtual private network template standards for key industries such as steel, electric power, and mining. According to the industry's business carrying requirements and the original business framework, build industry-customized 5G industry virtual private network templates, including industry-specific deployment architectures, end-to-end capabilities, etc. The feature of this program is that the industry business framework has "small changes". Based on the industry's existing business network architecture and business processes, build the industry's 5G convergence architecture to realize the "plug and play" of 5G networks, and try not to change the industry's existing business architecture and processes. With strong network "determinism" and "few accidents" in business, operators provide 5G end-to-end capabilities to ensure the security of vertical industry businesses based on industry business bearer requirements.

Wenku believes that the goal of the 5G industry virtual private network is to achieve a low-cost, high-value, high-security, manageable and controllable model of 5G networks, and sink to industry enterprises. He said that in the future, virtual private networks in the 5G industry will need to be explored from three aspects: first, cross-border research, exploring 5G full-scale network sinking models; second, formulating 5G template standards for key industries to form a basis for large-scale promotion; Third, establish a 5G test system for key industries and form an iterative output channel.