Etisalat UAE, the telecoms pillar of e& (formerly known as Etisalat Group), has announced the successful deployment and testing of mobile network slicing through 5G in collaboration with Huawei.
The network slice is a logically separated, self-contained, independent and secured part of the network, targeting different services with different requirements on speed, latency and reliability. Chopping up of the existing network to ensure dedicated bandwidth to a selected application or process means a network slice can be dedicated to one enterprise customer or shared by multiple tenants.
As Huawei and Etisalat point out, slicing architecture is more advanced in 5G private networks, enabling fast rollout and flexible resource isolation, and adapting to different kinds of enterprise requests, with both operators and customers benefiting from the technology’s control and efficiency.
With its 5G network slicing technology, Etisalat UAE says it will be able to meet increasing connectivity requirements with guaranteed service levels, adding value to the end-user experience.
Huawei has supported Etisalat UAE by providing its end-to-end converged approach that enables simplicity as well as controls operational expenses with new innovative applications and use cases.
In addition, Huawei has provided a 5G core solution that includes a series of cloud products for packet core networks and delivers integrated capabilities – from hardware to application software.
However, actual commercialisation of slicing, while highly desirable from many operators’ point of view, may still be some way off.
