5G enters the second half, the difficulty of ToB lies in the "three highs"

After more than two years of mobile applications, 5G has begun to enter a new stage of development. . According to the clearing of the library, in fact, in 2018, when the 5G is distributed in the front, the relevant departments may be a problem with the largest 5G application.

More than two years after the issuance of licenses, 5G has begun to enter a new stage of development. At a meeting not long ago, Wen Ku, vice chairman of the China Communications Standards Association, said, "5G has begun to enter the second half." The core of 5G competition in the second half is 5G applications. Wenku revealed that in 2018 before the issuance of 5G licenses, relevant departments felt that 5G applications may be the biggest problem.

In July this year, the "5G Application "Sailing" Action Plan (2021-2023)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Action Plan") jointly issued by ten departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology proposed that by 2023, the level of 5G applications will be significantly improved and the overall strength will continue to increase . IT (information technology), CT (communication technology), and OT (operation technology) deeply integrate new ecosystems, achieve breakthroughs in the depth and breadth of key 5G applications, build a bi-weekly technology industry and standard system, network, platform, platform security and other basic capabilities To further improve, the development of "5G application sailing far away" is formed.

 Among them, the key indicators of 5G applications have increased fatally. For example, 5G personal users exceed 40%, and the number of users exceeds 560 million; 5G network access traffic exceeds 50%, and 5G network usage efficiency is significantly improved; 5G Internet of Things terminal users have several years of growth in key areas Both exceed 200%. The application of 5G in key areas has expanded, and in the field of personal consumption, new businesses, new models and new formats of "5G+" consumption should be created, and the sense of user acquisition has been significantly improved. In the vertical field, the flow rate of 5G applications of large industrial enterprises exceeds 35%. 5G applications in power, mining and other fields have realized large-scale replication and promotion. In the field of social and people's livelihood, the city has built 5G+ smart education, 5G+ smart medical care, and 5G+ cultural tourism model projects, and the level of 5G+ smart city construction has been improved. Each key industry creates more than 100 5G application benchmarks.

With the continuous iteration of 5G technology, the desire to deepen and expand 5G applications is becoming stronger. However, the difficulty in the development of 5G is exactly how 5G networks support vertical applications and how to realize simple replication of 5G applications, because “scale replication from 1 to N is the basis for the large-scale promotion of 5G”.

Wenku pointed out that the reason why 5G applications are difficult is mainly because of the "three highs." First, the cost of 5G network customization is too high. Each company has one requirement, and different companies have different requirements. The application fragmentation is serious, and it is difficult to achieve "from 1 to N", basically "from 1 to 1". . Second, 5G itself has relatively high requirements for integration with vertical industries. Third, enterprises have relatively high requirements on the Internet. Enterprises use 5G, unlike individual consumers who only need to have application terminals. Enterprises need to know the situation of the network and realize the organic integration of the network and the enterprise's control system, warehouse management system, transportation system and other information systems.

Wenku explained that 5G has changed from a ToC (consumer-oriented) network to a ToB (enterprise-oriented) network. This change is mainly reflected in four areas. One is the core network. Operating companies require intensive and efficient development, and the core of the network is becoming more and more concentrated, but vertical industries hope that the network is best managed by the company itself. The second is the problem of network capacity and lightweight. The network deployed by the operating enterprise to most users may not be available to the enterprise. What the enterprise hopes is a low-cost, flexible, and lightweight network. Third, operating companies require centralized operation and maintenance to improve efficiency, but vertical users hope that "my site is the master" and manage the company's 5G network by themselves. Fourth, network operation and maintenance companies hope to make the network as good as possible, but enterprise users in vertical industries want the network to be more reliable. It is in this context that the 5G industry virtual private network came into being, that is, a virtual, customizable private network that can meet industry users' own requirements, has higher security, and better quality.

According to reports, the current industry virtual private network has entered the stage of large-scale deployment. As of the first quarter of this year, the three major operators have established various virtual private networks across the country to provide services for vertical users. The network architecture includes public network public, public network private, and customized private networks. "Through practice, we can see that we must not only meet the needs of vertical customers, but also take into account the requirements of large nets, but also achieve the lowest social cost of the network. Industry virtual private networks have become the first choice of various industries at present." Wenku said, In the finals of the third "Blooming Cup", more than 70% of the participating projects adopted the 5G industry virtual private network for deployment.

 Finally, Wenku emphasized that the overall cost of the 5G network must be low, the value must be high, and the security must be guaranteed. The future of the 5G industry virtual private network must be explored from three aspects: first, cross-border research and exploration of the entire 5G chain Network sinking mode; second, it is necessary to consider replicable, fragmentation is not successful, to develop 5G application templates for key industries, and form the basis for large-scale promotion; third, to experiment, establish 5G trials for key industries, and form an iterative Output channels.