Everything is interconnected in the 5G era. Smart life and cities will not be far away, all of which will depend on the continuous and deep cooperation between 5G network slicing services and vertical industries. ZTE’s slice orchestration solution is based on B2B business mode and actively invites vertical industries to participate in orchestration management of slice network to promote the 5G commercialization process. ZTE has successfully launched the world’s first 5G “Slice Store” operation model for vertical industries by late February.

ZTE continues to lead the innovation of 5G technology. The 5G slice orchestration solution independently developed by ZTE is based on the ZTE CloudStudio product series. The network slice can be automatically provided on demand by cooperation with vertical industries so as to achieve rapid delivery of industry services.

  • The slice orchestration solution supports the vertical industry to participate in the design of network service templates. According to different industry characteristics, preset templates are designed for specific network services. Then the slicing network can be flexibly deployed according to these templates.
  • The slice orchestration solution supports E2E’s one-click design, deployment and provisioning. Vertical industry users do not need to pay attention to details to deploy and deliver the slicing network quickly.
  • The slice orchestration solution supports the vertical industry to participate in the intelligent and automatic management of the slicing network. Vertical industry users set their own KPI counters and processing policies for slice according to their own experience. Once set up these strategies, the slice orchestration system can automatically perform intelligent O&M.

In February 2019, ZTE and Guangdong Telecom jointly released the 5G slicing orchestration for vertical industry applications in Barcelona MWC. Firstly, in the online “Slice Store” of China Telecom, different SLA requirements of slice are provided to the customers. After the customer subscribes the slicing service, the slice orchestration system automatically splits the slice services into RAN, BN, CN sub-slices and splits the SLA requirements of the slice into configuration data of NFs, which are sent to next level controller. Then, the system automatically completes the configuration and provision of slice.

ZTE’s slice orchestration for 5G slicing wholesale advocates the collaboration with vertical industries. Its strong open capabilities make it possible to invite vertical industries to participate in the slicing network orchestration management. The 5G slicing management solution with customization, E2E automation, intelligent assurance and high security features which are described as follows.

  • Customization: The slice orchestration solution provides powerful open capabilities. The important steps in the management of the slice, such as design, deployment and assurance of O&M capabilities are opened to users. This allows communication service providers and vertical industry experts to participate in the entire process of slicing to meet their needs.
  • E2E Automation: The slice orchestration solution provides intelligent, end-to-end automated capabilities and provides rich industry experience templates. Users only need to adjust the specific SLA requirements according to their needs to easily complete complex slicing design work. By one-click operation, users can complete the end-to-end deployment of slicing.
  • Intelligent Assurance: The slice orchestration solution provides intelligent assurance O&M capabilities. Vertical industries can participate in customized operation and maintenance strategies, set different O&M strategies (slicing-level scaling strategy, self-healing strategy and performance threshold strategy) to achieve daily intelligent O&M.
  • High Security: The slice orchestration solution provides high security and reliability. The slice orchestration system provides different slice tenants to different users, and different slice tenants are given different operation rights to achieve security isolation among slices.

ZTE’s slice orchestration for 5G Slicing Wholesale promotes the full integration of 5G technology and vertical industry, and accelerates the 5G commercialization process.

For mobile operators, based on the 5G slicing wholesale solution, they can provide slicing network with multiple SLA requirements according to different user requirements. It also supports flexible slice charging modes, like the number of slices, the slice SLA level, the payment period or other payment modes according to the user usage scenario. Vertical industry users and end users benefit from such diverse and personalized 5G “Slice Store” service and brings huge business opportunities to mobile operators.

For industry users, they will have many benefits from this intelligent orchestration technology. Different vertical industries can participate in the establishment of its own end-to-end service process from product design, production, logistics and to sales. Use the flexible and highly reliable network features of 5G slicing services, it can greatly improves the production efficiency of the industry, speeds up the launch of products or services, reduces costs and rapidly improves the ability to earn money.

For the end user, with the application of the intelligent orchestration technology and the continuous integration of service requirements of various vertical industries, the customer is provided with flexible, on-demand and on-time slicing network services. While enjoying diversified services, customers only need to pay attention to a single network traffic expense without worrying about the payment of service fees in various industries, effectively breaking the gap among vertical industries and greatly improving the user experience.