Expected to be launched in 2020, 5G provided a bright spot at Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona recently. The achievements of 5G R & D organizations, operators, vendors and academia have caught the eye of the telecommunication industry and the mobile communication vendors have released new blockbuster products and solutions at the event to take the lead in the 5G competition.
Huawei Released World's First Commercial 5G Core Solution
Huawei releases the world's first 5G core solution for commercial use case, known as Service-Oriented Core 2.0 (SOC 2.0). SOC 2.0 will show the commercial 5G capabilities of the solution and enable all access to 5G networks and all services in 5G. It will not only provide connectivity for a multitude of terminals from various industries, but also on-demand services for all vertical industries.
In the 5G era, telecom networks will not only provide users with communication services, but also information connectivity and services for various industries, such as autonomous driving, industrial controlling, and AR/VR. With the growing variety of access modes and diverse and complicated services, a core network that will support all access and all services is required.
Ericsson's New 5G Platform
Ericsson's new 5G platform comprises the 5G core, radio and transport portfolios, together with digital support systems, transformation services and security, able to help the carriers' network move to the next-generation mobile communication network.
The Ericsson 5G Core System is capable of 5G using cases based on network slices. Network slicing allows an operator to provide dedicated virtual networks with functionality specific to the service or customer over a common network. In radio and transport, Ericsson adds mid-band and high-band 5G New Radio (NR) Radios to world's first 5G NR radio that the company launched last year. Ericsson also introduces optimized transport solutions, delivering a MINI-LINK enabling speed of 10Gbps and new rail-mounted fronthaul and router products.
In addition, Ericsson released a range of 5G products, declaring it will conduct 5G NR standard trials with Qualcomm, NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone and Telstra Australia.
ZTE's 5G Pre-Commercial Base Station and Gigabit Phone
ZTE released a full range of 5G pre-commercial base station products and demonstrated the 50 Gbps peak rate of a 5G mmWave base station at MWC 2017. These new products support 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)'s new radio (NR) new air interfaces and mainstream 5G frequency band and use massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO), beam tracking, beam forming and other key 5G technologies.
Leveraging on its 5G and pre-5G solutions, ZTE unveiled its Gigabit Phone that it touts would be the world's first smartphone with download speeds reaching up to 1Gbps.
MWC Shanghai 2017, Innovation to Be Continued
5G standardization process started in early 2016 and the initial 5G standard will be announced in 2018. Let's look forward to the new things at MWC Shanghai 2017 which will be held on June 28 - July 1.