Practically Deploying Multiple Vertical Services into 5G Networks with Network Slicing

Abstract

As 5G is progressing from theory to practice, deploying vertical services (VSs) becomes key to examining the 5G capabilities and validating 5G KPIs. Jointly participating in several EU H2020 projects, we gain experience in collaborating with partners from academia, mobile operators, verticals, and solution providers to build large-scale trial platforms for 5G end-to-end services, and practically deploy, experiment, and validate various VSs prior to commercial rollout. Based on the experience, we propose a VS deployment framework that addresses four main requirements from verticals: service performance, functionality, topology, and value-added services. The framework is a guide to the construction of a 5G platform on how to concurrently design, implement, and operate multiple network slices and meet the requirements of verticals. Four use cases are selected to exemplify how multiple VSs are practically deployed in the 5G platform. The lessons learned are valuable for multiple stakeholders to bridge the gap between theoretical and practical deployment of 5G networks and VSs.