Network slicing in emergency services

It’s hard to deny the benefits of 5G — strong connectivity, accessibility and cost-effectiveness. Unfortunately, many enterprises must still rely on MPLS links because they provide a service-level agreement, or specific connection guarantee, that cellular cannot. However, good news is on the way — the latest technology, in the form of 5G network slicing, will represent a tangible shift in the connectivity landscape.

Innovation in this space is continuously being developed. Late last year, Cradlepoint demonstrated application-based traffic steering into two carrier-defined network slices on its fixed wireless and in-vehicle 5G enterprise networking solutions. Using Cradlepoint 5G routers at the WAN edge and leveraging Optus’s 5G standalone live network based on Ericsson’s 5G Core and RAN with network slicing capability enabled, we conducted the world’s first demonstration of dual network slicing for businesses using a live production network.

Defining network slicing

Network slicing is the ability to create differentiated end-to-end services, on a single network connection. This means that service providers can deliver a 5G connectivity guarantee, from end to end, that is equivalent to the MPLS service-level agreements organisations have come to expect. An October report¹ predicted that the network slicing market will generate approximately US$12 billion in revenues in 2030 — translating to a 50% compound annual growth rate from now to the end of the decade. In other words, it’s poised for tremendous growth.

But how can organisations like emergency services effectively leverage these new connectivity capabilities? For those organisations that will want to take advantage of network slicing, there will be a different playbook — centred on software-defined wide area networks (SD-WAN).

Let’s begin by taking a look at the state of play in Australia today. Network slicing — at least network slicing that’s cost-effective and done at scale — was seen as mostly a theoretical concept until news broke of 5G standalone (SA) deployments. In Australia, Telstra, in partnership with Ericsson and Cradlepoint, already offers 5G Standalone automated and orchestrated services for enterprises. The services fully enable automated 5G network slicing, delivering network-defined differentiated services to customers; Local Packet Gateway, providing enterprise customers with onsite local data breakout; and 5G enterprise routers with network slicing capabilities delivered by Cradlepoint.

Standalone networks such as these create the ability to segment the radio, core and transport network — thereby giving service providers the ability to offer differentiated end-to-end network segments that can be purchased by either consumers or enterprises. Each differentiated network, or ‘slice’, will meet the requirements of a different application category. For context, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards define four application categories:

• Ultra-reliable low latency — This category includes applications that need very reliable, low latency connectivity.
• Enhanced mobile broadband — This category includes high bandwidth applications with low latency such as broadcast video.
• Machine to machine communication — This category includes sensors, actuators and other IoT deployments.
• Public safety — This category includes government, emergencies and other public safety requirements.

The benefits of network slicing

Currently, many emergency services organisations leverage an MPLS link because it provides a dependable, end-to-end connection. Service providers offer MPLS connections with SLAs because their fibre installations all have a guaranteed bandwidth, a guaranteed latency and a guaranteed level of data loss on the link. However, because MPLS services typically use fixed connections like fibre, these services can cost tens of thousands of dollars and take weeks/months to establish. The appeal of 5G is its ability to create a high-speed connection with little time, staffing resources and money. With 5G network slicing, organisations can ensure their applications experience the strong connection they need with each of these benefits. This also contributes to the secure capabilities of network slicing which is critical for sensitive applications and environments.

While emergency services headquarters, like a police station, are fixed locations that have fibre as an option for connectivity, network slicing could become a game changer for use cases where vehicles are involved. In a police headquarters use case, the headquarters obviously cannot connect to its cars through a cable link and likewise, vehicles cannot connect to other vehicles using cable. Also, each car probably has critical connected technology — licence plate readers, dash cams, body cams, radars. These applications require 5G connectivity and with network slicing, each car can connect to a first responder network with an SLA and pricing structure. If there is an issue with connectivity back to headquarters, vehicles could leverage a secondary modem that can access alternative carrier networks to ensure 100% uptime.

SD-WAN’s role in network slicing

Early implementations of network slicing will need SD-WAN to support thousands of applications, including public-cloud hosted applications, SaaS applications and custom applications. Software-defined wide area networks (SD-WAN) can recognise, then classify, all those diverse applications, with policies that can steer those applications to the appropriate network slice, based on pre-programmed performance thresholds. ​That SD-WAN intelligence can reside within the service provider or the enterprise environment and regardless of where it lives, will play a crucial role in the initial rollouts of network slicing. With the knowledge of what network slices the carrier is extending to that particular enterprise, applications can be classified and then policies that ensure each application gets connected to the right network slice can be created.

The future with network slicing

Network solutions are at their best when they allow mobility, security and adaptability. Despite the fact that 5G provides each of these benefits, organisations have slowly been rolling out networks for mobile, IoT and fixed sites to connect where fibre isn’t available or is cost-prohibitive for the business model. With the availability of 5G network slicing, organisations are able to cut the cords often synonymous with connectivity. Instead, organisations can leverage versatile cellular networks that greatly reduce implementation costs and maximise business resources.

_{1. ‘Network Slicing Global Market Report 2022: Use Cases of Network Slicing, Including Remote Education, Work and Healthcare to Further Boost Sector’, Research & Markets, August 2022}

Image credit: iStock.com/Tasha Vector