Home | Reports | Technical Documents | Tech-Blog | One-Shot Gallery | Korea ICT News | Korea Communication Market Data | List of Contributors | Become a Contributor |    
 
 
Section 5G 4G LTE C-RAN/Fronthaul Gigabit Internet IPTV/Video Streaming IoT SDN/NFV Wi-Fi KT SK Telecom LG U+ Network Protocol Samsung   Korean Vendors
 
Real World Private 5G Cases   4 Deployment Models On-Premise Cases 5G Core Control Plane Sharing Cases

5G Core Sharing Cases

   
 
Private 5G Deployment   • Private 5G Frequency Allocation Status in Korea  South Korean government's regulations on private 5G and KT's strategy for entering the market
Cases in Korea   Private 5G Operators |   SK Networks Service (SI) Sejong Telecom (Wire-line Carrier) KT MOS (Affiliate of KT) • Newgens (SI) • NAVER Cloud more >>  
    Enterprise DIY |   Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (Power Plant) Korea Electric Power Corporation (Energy) • Republic of Korea Navy more >>
 
CHANNELS     HFR Private 5G Solution (my5G)       my5G Solution Components       my5G Key Features        my5G Resources        my5G News          
 
banner
banner
SK Telecom, catching up the new trend through commercialization of commercial server-based EPC
August 26, 2015 | By Dr. Harrison J. Son (tech@netmanias.com)
Online viewer:
Comments (1)
2

Weeks ago on August, 4th, SK Telecom introduced commercial HP server-based EPC (4G Core) in its commercial network for the first time in Korea. This allows heavy smartphone traffic to be handled by the existing EPC-dedicated equipment, and light IoT traffic to be handled by this new HP server-based EPC.  

 

EPC (Evolved Packet Core) equipment is one of the key elements of network equipment. Most communication-dedicated equipment (H/W+S/W)  have been developed by major vendors like Samsung, Cisco, Ericsson, etc. and supplied to network operators.  

 

This type of dedicated equipment always consists of a set of i) a piece of hardware specifically designed by a vendor for certain communication purposes and ii) built-in software programs installed on it. Also, it is pretty pricey and sold as a set only.  

 

What's special about SK Telecom's new virtualization EPC is that it eliminates the necessity of using such vendor-supplied dedicated equipment because the new EPC allows communication software programs to be installed directly in any of the operator's commercial server, instead of performing server virtualization. So what SK Telecom did was to get general-purpose servers from HP, and just software programs from Samsung, without having to get a set of dedicated hardware and software from the vendor.

 

As far as we know, recently there have been quite a few cases where network operators purchase general-purpose servers from somewhere else, and just software programs from vendors - just like SK Telecom did.

 

You may find the concept of this new server-based network equipment hard to understand. But, let's think of lots of traffic signs placed along a highway. If road names or traffic rules change, and so you have to replace old signs, then you have to make new signs, physically carry them to the sites, remove old signs, and put new ones, all manually one by one. Lots of time and money.

 

But, fortunately there is a better way of doing it - use a commercial server as hardware, and just upgrade software programs on it. That is, if you install electronic highway message boards along the highway, then you can easily update messages on the boards in real time by entering messages using a universal display controller at a central location. Real-time and low costs.

 

It IS a good news for network operators who were not very happy with the circumstance where they had to solely rely on vendor-supplied equipment and even road map. The equipment was hard to customize/operate, and it took months after order to finally deploy them in the operators' commercial networks. Now things are changing. Operators can simply buy any equipment (i.e. servers) they want in the market, and then from vendors, just get software programs they need.

 

Of course, vendors are not happy with this change. Selling dedicated equipment, a set of hardware and software, gives them much greater profits than selling software only.   

 

When you go see a chiropractor for pain, the chiropractor gives you some chiropractic manipulation, which is the essential and most effective part of the treatment. Then when you pay, you think you are paying hundreds of dollars for just several minutes of pushing, pulling, or twisting your body. You feel cheated. That's why chiropractors shower you with stuff like prescribed chiropractic pillows, and so on, which would not have a major effect on your body. But, now showered with the stuff, you think you are treated very well and you are happy to pay.

 

If the pillows are hardware, then the chiropractic manipulation is software.

 

​Now, chiropractic pillows with similar effects are available at lower price in the market. So, people can simply buy one in the market and see a chiropractor just for chiropractic manipulation. Looks like vendors are facing the same problem as operators can get hardware somewhere else.

 

 

Charles Q. Tran 2015-11-24 04:01:46

4G LTE Advanced EPC is critical component in network infrastructure. I hope Netmanias provides more in details about hardward and software. Thanks

Thank you for visiting Netmanias! Please leave your comment if you have a question or suggestion.
 
 
 
 

[HFR Private 5G: my5G]

 

Details >>

 

 

 

     
         
     

 

     
     

Subscribe FREE >>

Currently, 55,000+ subscribed to Netmanias.

  • You can get Netmanias Newsletter

  • You can view all netmanias' contents

  • You can download all netmanias'

    contents in pdf file

     
     

 

     
         
     

 

 

 

View All (854)
4.5G (1) 5G (101) AI (7) AR (1) ARP (3) AT&T (1) Akamai (1) Authentication (5) BSS (1) Big Data (2) Billing (1) Blockchain (3) C-RAN/Fronthaul (18) CDN (4) CPRI (4) Carrier Ethernet (3) Charging (1) China (1) China Mobile (2) Cisco (1) Cloud (5) CoMP (6) Connected Car (4) DHCP (5) EDGE (1) Edge Computing (1) Ericsson (2) FTTH (6) GSLB (1) GiGAtopia (2) Gigabit Internet (19) Google (7) Google Global Cache (3) HLS (5) HSDPA (2) HTTP Adaptive Streaming (5) Handover (1) Huawei (1) IEEE 802.1 (1) IP Routing (7) IPTV (21) IoST (3) IoT (56) KT (43) Korea (20) Korea ICT Market (1) Korea ICT Service (13) Korea ICT Vendor (1) LG U+ (18) LSC (1) LTE (78) LTE-A (16) LTE-B (1) LTE-H (2) LTE-M (3) LTE-U (4) LoRa (7) MEC (4) MPLS (2) MPTCP (3) MWC 2015 (8) NB-IoT (6) Netflix (2) Network Protocol (21) Network Slice (1) Network Slicing (4) New Radio (9) Nokia (1) OSPF (2) OTT (3) PCRF (1) Platform (2) Private 5G (10) QoS (3) RCS (4) Roaming (1) SD-WAN (17) SDN/NFV (71) SIM (1) SK Broadband (2) SK Telecom (35) Samsung (5) Security (16) Self-Driving (1) Small Cell (2) Spectrum Sharing (2) Switching (6) TAU (2) UHD (5) VR (2) Video Streaming (12) VoLTE (8) VoWiFi (2) Wi-Fi (31) YouTube (6) blockchain (1) eICIC (1) eMBMS (1) iBeacon (1) security (1) telecoin (1) uCPE (2)
Password confirmation
Please enter your registered comment password.
Password