Network slicing is a large part of the plans of DISH Wireless for its 5G network. Adding to its growing list of impressive vendors, Oracle will be working with DISH Wireless to provide a 5G core slicing assistance. The computer software company now headed in Austin, TX will be helping DISH Wireless enable a service-based architecture (SBA) for its standalone cloud-native 5G core which will include its control plane network functions.
“We’re kind of quietly doing a lot of business already on 5G out there with major tier one’s around the world,” said Oracle’s Group Vice President of Technology, Andrew De La Torre. Using an Open RAN and cloud-native approach, DISH Wireless has continued to utilize unique partnerships to advance its 5G network during its buildout. Here, we are seeing these techniques continue to come into play and providing a path for Oracle to assist and bolster the network slicing functions of DISH.
“Our decision was to take a best in breed approach to be very focused on trying to create products that stand out in the market from a capability perspective but to wrap that all in something that was really embedded in cloud principles and that cloud ecosystem,” said De La Torre.
A different component that Oracle is bringing to DISH Wireless is that it is one of the few companies that provide cloud services but can also provide telecom communications solutions. On top of this, because of Oracle’s extensive reach, much as we are beginning to see with DISH Wireless and its partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company can provide a wide range of these telecom solutions.
The main telecom solution that Oracle and DISH Wireless are excited about revolves around the control plane components of the 5G core. As De La Torre puts it, the 5G core, or “the brains”, will include network functions such as Network Exposure Function (NEF), Network Repository Function (NRF), and Policy Control (PCF). These will help DISH Wireless as it pursues its goal of providing thousands of network slices with its first market, Las Vegas, coming later in 2021.
By using network slicing, instead of providing companies with a singular 5G network where everyone is connecting, providers can deliver privatized 5G networks built for a specific function. This means a manufacturing company can have a private 5G network that performs better and is safer for its factories, while a smart venue can enjoy its own 5G network for running events. Both are quality 5G services and customers of the provider, yet, each delivers specific solutions without interfering or providing better performance for businesses. DISH Wireless will use a dynamic pricing model thanks to its partnership with Matrixx Software that will allow the company to provide these network slices with real-time pricing for customers.
DISH Wireless will have the eyes of the industry upon it as it continues to make progress with its network slicing approach. While the company does have responsibilities to keep its subscribers to Boost Mobile connected, unlike the other big three major wireless providers, DISH does not have any consumers to deal with yet. Oracle believes that this could help DISH Wireless succeed and that other providers may follow soon after monitoring its success. “We think it’s going to be key for DISH because ultimately their whole business is enterprise-centric and they don’t have a large consumer base to lean back on if it doesn’t work out for them,” said De La Torre. “So it’s going to be more important for these guys than anybody else to have a really powerful slicing solution,” he continued.
Source: Fierce Wireless
