Ericsson and SK Telecom Collaborate on 5G Network Core Slicing

Ericsson and SK Telecom have signed agreed to collaborate on the development of a 5G core network that deploys network slicing technology.  The idea behind slicing is to use logical instead of physical resources to provide networks on an as-a-service basis. The instantiation of the network slicing will use the Ericsson Virtual Evolved Packet Core solution.

The companies are building a test bed using Ericsson’s HDS 8000 Hyperscale Datacenter System and its Regional Cloud Lab,which is distributed across four sites in North East Asia including Anyang in South Korea, Beijing and Shanghai in China, and Tokyo in Japan.

“Virtual network architecture, including network slicing, is critical to supporting new services in the era of 5G. We will build an optimal network for a wide array of services from the overall end-to-end standpoint, and pioneer the evolution of innovative networks,” says Alex Jinsung Choi, Chief Technology Officer at SK Telecom.

“Network slicing, based on virtual evolved packet core, is an important part of the technology evolution of 5G, supporting operators with a new, broader set of services. It is important that we work together in the industry on this journey”, says Ulf Ewaldsson, CTO, Ericsson.

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