Verizon hailed a major milestone in its virtualisation efforts, completing an end-to-end 5G data session on a live network, a feat it believes will enable wide-scale mobile edge computing and network slicing use cases.

In a statement, the US operator said the fully virtualised 5G data session occurred from the core to the far edge of the network. This will enable it to “rapidly respond to customers” varied latency and computing needs.

Verizon explained virtualisation efforts around the core and RAN involved decoupling software and hardware functionality, enabling the network to be built on general purpose hardware.

Similar to many of its industry peers pushing an open RAN network approach, the company also highlighted the benefits of virtualised infrastructure, noting it enables greater flexibility in the introduction of new products and services, and “lowers the barrier to entry for new vendors in the ecosystem”.

Adam Koeppe, SVP of technology and planning, said virtualising its entire network from the core to the edge had been a “massive multi-year redesign effort”, which simplifies and modernises its entire infrastructure.

“Verizon has been on the leading edge of virtualising the core over the past few years and has been bullish in the design and development of open RAN technology, as well as in the testing of that technology with great success.”

Koeppe added virtualised networks will enable the company and the industry to deliver other key 5G use cases, including massive scale IoT services, more robust consumer devices, AR/VR, remote healthcare and autonomous robotics in manufacturing environments.