The dominance competition of global corporations is becoming more and more intense as the era of the fourth industrial revolution approaching. Companies in diverse fields such as automobiles, finance, medical care, and biotechnology are keen to apply next-generation convergence technologies to become competitive with future food in addition to information and communication technology (ICT).

Although the fourth industrial revolution is represented by artificial intelligence (AI), virtual and augmented reality (VR • AR), self driving cars, and Internet of Things (IoT), the core is the fifth generation (G) mobile communication. The fourth industry revolution can also bloom based on a communications infrastructure which supports much faster speeds, lower latency, and higher-end connections. Korea`s telecommunication operators are also actively involved in building 5G infrastructure. The commercialization is expected to be in 2019.
Telecommunication operators are becoming more concerned with the speed of infrastructure deployment, operational efficiency, cost savings and security as moving rapidly to 5G. "The huge flow of 5G, IoT, will bring tremendous changes and benefits. Carriers need to respond with high levels of automation." said Brendan Gibbs, vice president of routing for Cisco`s Carrier Services.”

We met vice president Gibbs, who visited Korea at the end of last month, at the ASEM Tower in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. He predicted that there would be thousands and millions of new connections and thus more frequency bandwidth by the time of the 5G era. "The more frequencies we need, the more costly carriers will have to pay," he said. "The problem is that telecommunication operators do not want to pay more. Operators need to use a variety of automation technologies to reduce operational costs and increase efficiency," he said.

Cisco is the world`s largest telecommunication routing company. Cisco is proposing `Open Network Architecture` to carriers that focus on 5G. `Open network architecture` helps to develop new services and new business models by providing network automation and self-optimization, and network-computing-virtualization of storage resources.

Vice president Gibbs also pointed out, "The open network architecture consists of three layers: the Evolved Programmable Network (EPN), which provides computing, network and storage capabilities; the Evolved Service Platform (ESP), which virtualizes the network; and applications and services. We can reduce the time to market for new services from a few months to a few minutes and reduce operating costs."

However, no telecommunication operators have introduced open network architecture in Korea yet. He explained, "Korea is always leading the global telecommunication market, especially in the 5G area. The Internet speed is the highest among users, and innovation is starting. He also said, "Cisco is actively contributing to 5G conversion by helping major customers such as telecommunication companies with the highest level of infrastructure products. Especially, we focused on developing next-generation infrastructure products such as backhaul equipment, wireless communication routers.”

By Jung Yoon Hee yuni@


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