Full-Scenario One-Stop 5G Private Network for Vertical Industries

The start of 5G commercial use will bring strong driving force to the digital transformation of different industries. According to the prediction made by GSMA, 5G connections will reach 1.7 billion in 2025, accounting for 20% of the total connections, industrial applications will account for 54% of the whole cellular connections, and the industry private network deployment is expected to reach 25%-40%. Therefore, the integrated application between 5G and vertical industries will become the blue sea of business development and new economic growth in the future for telcos and vertical industries.

Digital transformation of different industries needs 5G industry private network as the base 

Currently, information and communication technologies are integrated and penetrated into various industries, and digital transformation in these industries is constantly deepening. The differences between different industries determine that their network requirements in different scenarios are greatly different, such as factory, port, hospital, power grid, Internet of Vehicles (IoV), and cloud game. They have different requirements with respect to network coverage, mobility, latency, bandwidth, security and reliability, isolation, and deployment environment. The unified network architecture, performance requirements, and physical form cannot meet the highly customized network requirements of industrial applications. It is urgent for telcos to provide a flexible and agile 5G private network, which is dedicated for different industries and provides flexible deployment, simple O&M, customizable functions, and SLA determination. In this way, both security and costs can be taken into account.

E2E 5G private network solution is enhanced and customized for different industries

To meet the requirements of constructing a private network in a vertical industry, ZTE provides an E2E 5G private network solution, covering access network, core network, and MEC, to provide on-demand customized IT cloud and telecom network capabilities for industry applications. First, it is a convergent network that supports 2G/3G/4G/5G/Fixed full access, so that the network is simpler. Second, new R16 capabilities such as 5G LAN/TSN/URLLC multi-path transmission are introduced to reduce network latency, improve network reliability and provide the vertical industry with E2E deterministic SLA. In addition, the 5G private network solution enhances user access security, data security, and network security in an all-round way to provide three-dimensional security protection for industry private networks.

One-stop integration, full-scenario deployment, and out-of-the-box

To meet differentiated network capability requirements of different industries and adapt to different deployment environments, ZTE's E2E 5G private network solution provides four typical deployment modes: high-configuration dual-rack, medium-configuration dual-rack, medium-configuration single-rack and simple-configuration single-shelf. It supports different requirements for network capacity, performance, scalability and isolation, and can be flexibly deployed as needed for out-of-the-box, so that telcos can fully expand into the ToB market.

Figure 1 Full-Scenario One-Stop 5G Private Network 

High-configuration: dual-rack 5G private network

Some ultra-large-scale industries, such as iron & steel mills and petroleum chemical plants, have a large number of terminals, requiring large bandwidth, high security and isolation.

For this type of scenarios, ZTE has launched a high-configuration dual-rack 5G private network solution, which integrates cloud and network capabilities through one-stop integration of a network cabinet and a cloud cabinet. The network cabinet is deployed with industry-oriented i5GC, BBU and OLT to achieve fixed–mobile convergence?(FMC) and support 5G access and optical access. The cloud cabinet, which is configured with an MEC platform, PaaS middle platform and third-party industrial applications, provides sufficient computing and storage resources.

• High security: The asset of the cloud cabinet is isolated from the network cabinet, and the racks are locked on demand, thus ensuring the security of the telco's assets and industry assets.
• Low latency: 5G private network can be deployed in the equipment rooms of the campus on demand, and the data can be locally distributed and processed, providing ultra-low latency and ensuring safe and reliable production in the industry.
• Full-connection large-bandwidth: BBU/OLT is configured flexibly according to the application scenario, to support large-bandwidth 5G access and optical access, thus meeting the wide range of high traffic applications of production lines and campuses.
• Precise middle platforms: A cloud cabinet is configured with an MEC platform while an AI middle platform, a data middle platform and a video middle platform are selected as needed. For the industry, the zero redundancy platform capability is released precisely to accelerate the innovation of industry applications.

Medium-configuration: dual-rack 5G private network, and single-rack 5G private network

For some large/medium-scale industries, such as enterprise branches and campuses, the equipment room space may be relatively limited, and intensive 5G private networks are required. ZTE provides two types of intensive 5G private networks: dual-rack and single-rack:

• Compact design: The rack is 950mm high and 600mm deep to reduce the footprint.
• Dual-rack and single-rack meet different asset management requirements. 

When the industry has high requirements for resource security isolation, medium-configuration dual-rack 5G private network is recommended. A network cabinet provides an E2E 5G network, and supports FMC. A cloud cabinet integrates IT cloud and industrial applications to meet the large industry digital transformation and development requirements.

If the cloud network assets are not required to be isolated by force, but the deployment space is limited, it is recommended to adopt the single-rack 5G private network solution, which provides end-to-end full-stack functions through a cloud network cabinet, integrating IT cloud, telecom network and industry applications in one stop.

Simple-configuration: single-shelf 5G private network

Some scenarios such as small enterprises, venues, and emergency response services require fast network deployment, but the equipment room space is limited, and even has no additional space to deploy new network devices. For this type of scenario, ZTE has launched a single-shelf 5G private network solution. One V9200 shelf is configured with BBU and UPF at the same time, and the data is locally offloaded, so the latency is lower. The single-shelf 5G private network can flexibly guarantee secure and reliable network communication requirements in small industrial campuses, venues, and emergency response scenarios.

As 5G moves from a concept to the reality, the ToB market will become an important profit growth point for telcos in the future, while industry partners need to improve the competitiveness of the industry by gaining digital productivity through 5G. ZTE's full-scenario one-stop 5G private network solution can help telcos expand the industry market and accelerate digital transformation in vertical industries.