Thursday, August 27, 2020

5G Future Forum releases Multi-access Edge Computing specs

The 5G Future Forum released abstracts of its first technical specifications. There are two major sets:


  • The “MEC Experience Management” technical specification defines a set of intent-based APIs for functional exposure of edge and workload discovery with potential expansion to include future MEC functions and capabilities which are driven by network intelligence
  • The “MEC Deployment” technical specification defines the set of specifications to enable hyperscalers and service providers to deploy and integrate global MEC physical frameworks, including facilities (e.g. power and cooling), monitoring, operational considerations, and security.

Abstracts of the specifications are posted on The 5G Forum website.

The technical specifications are the first outputs from the technical workstream of The 5G Future Forum, which was established in January 2020 by América Móvil, KT Corp., Rogers, Telstra, Verizon, and Vodafone. The specifications are seen as a major step forward in enabling global interoperability for 5G and Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) deployment to deliver efficient and innovative services to end customers. 

“The 5G Future Forum was set up to unlock the full potential of 5G and MEC applications and solutions around the globe,” said Rima Qureshi, chief strategy officer, Verizon. “5G is a key enabler of the next industrial revolution, where technology should transform how we live and work through applications including machine learning, autonomous industrial equipment, smart cars and cities, Internet of Things (IoT) and augmented and virtual reality. The release of these first specifications marks a major step forward in helping companies around the world create a seamless global experience for their customers.”

“We are in the right direction to bring more innovation to our customers and start delivering new 5G services, which should increase the quality and enhance the user experience through the adoption of MEC”, said Daniel Hajj, América Móvil CEO, “We are pleased with this first achievement from the 5GFF Members to build the future for the 5G deployment.”

“The release of the first specification and whitepaper of 5G Future Forum ushers in a practical approach to put MEC solutions into the market. With this groundwork firmly in place,the 5GFF partnership should continue to further motivate rich 5G innovations in the MEC space where state-of-the-art technologies like AI and AR/VR are to be seamlessly integrated for more competitive services,” said Dr. Hongbeom Jeon, chief DX officer, KT Corp.