Will the enterprises pay for the MEC? And what do they get?
5G is hyped, in significant part, by the promise of extremely low-latency and highly reliable service. Mobile network operators are setting up Mobile Edge Compute (MEC) zones with hyperscale partners to provide this.
But, what exactly, are they delivering on 5G at this stage? And what does the enterprise really want when it is delayed? A New evaluation by Spirent Communications Announcing that at present, there is a significant disconnect between what 5G networks are capable of, and what initiatives they think they want.
“The performance that applications will require is a disconnect between end-user customer trust and network operators are actually preparing to deliver.” The new report says, Going on to add, “The demand and supply aspects of the Edge application will require key latency, when it will be needed and in what cases it has been isolated for use.” Perhaps a little drier, the report goes on to say, “Beyond some testing and proof of concept, it is clear that operators and potential end users are not locked steps closer to edge computing requirements.”
Spirent combined real-world network testing MEC outposts and public cloud connections in several major cities (Chicago, Seattle, New York City and Tokyo) and with nearly 150 interviews with potential enterprise customers of end-based services – mostly manufacturing and construction, the company noted. This is because the verticals are considered to be the most advanced in the potential adoption of MEC-based services.
That test showed that overall, current 5G latency can be quite good – in some cases, less than 20 milliseconds. Some 5G Release 15 networks could theoretically deliver average latency that would support Release 16 usage, Sprint found — but this is a problem with latency fluctuations, as well as the wide differences between upload and download latency.
Enterprise customers not only want the best effort less latency, explains Stephen Douglas of Sprint, head of Sprint’s marketing strategy. They want Compatible Latency, it will be within the very specific limits defined by an SLA and they want a way to ensure that an operator is providing exactly the desired latency.
The report warns, “The most promising use of 5G will be a nonstar of late fluctuations.
Among Sprint’s searches:
-56% of enterprises surveyed said they would ask for an SLA with “guaranteed latency that never goes beyond the default latency window” (and willing to pay for it). Another 26% said they would like to view the SLA based on the average latency over a period of time, which falls within a predefined latency window. The final 18% wanted an SLA based on the percentage of time spent in a particular latency window.
-66% of those surveyed said they believe they need guaranteed latency of 50 ms or less.
-Geographical issues; Sprint found that of the four markets it tested, “mean latency varies significantly from city to city, in some cases by a factor of two.” Regardless of the location, however, performance optimization will actually be required to provide a consistent experience, industrial manufacturing equipment that must run within a certain low latency 24/7/365 — and Douglas added, it must be end-to-end optimization which RAN is responsible for delays in transport networks and cores, as well as anything that may be added by application or security policy.
– Early applications of 5G standalone showed more than 20% latency improvement compared to non-standalone 5G.
When it comes to current networks, Douglas said, “there’s a pretty big disconnect between what the standards are demanding and what the actual networks are capable of delivering at this stage,” and it’s common to see at least two. Year after year gap between the features related to freezing a standard and the emergence of commercial network implementation. Release 16 (which brings many features of industry interest) chipsets and industry-specific devices are not yet available, for example.
For operators, by contrast, Sprint has found that a relatively small number of edge computer sites can significantly reduce latency. “While operators are expecting more dense edge coverage, these investments are potentially unnecessary.
In the case of limited initial income-generating use in the medium term, they will actually serve, ”the report said.
Sprint also mentions in its report that its survey partner also interviewed STL carriers, from the perspective of what enterprise customers are asking them. “From the perspective of a global Tier 1 operator, ‘customers are paying more attention to guaranteed delays – if the network is full, they still want the network they need,'” the report said. While two of the operators interviewed reported that they “saw a desire among end users to pay a premium for short-delayed SLAs,” there were those who expected a boom in “past-low latency usage, driven by healthcare and industry.” 4.0, acknowledging that they are currently unable to meet those requirements. ”
When mapping potential short-delayed use against a timeline, it will be possible for most operators to serve them, even in the case of short-term use that presents an edge opportunity “out of sync with current reality.”
“Gaming, video analytics, and AR / VR dominate the short-term edge,” the Spirent report concludes. But even then: “They are short-term opportunities that are strong
Requirements for low latency, and unique requirements will continue to evolve rapidly, so out of sync with current realities – at least until consistently low latency can be provided through 5G Edge solutions.
“Cloud gaming usage is directly affected by latency, latency fluctuations and symmetric bandwidth,” the report continues. “Once Edge can provide those capabilities, video gaming will use them.”
Douglas sees latency fluctuations as less important in most consumer applications (excluding AR / VR) because people can tolerate a wide range of latency before their experience is affected. “The machine can’t,” he added. “They need determination. And that is going to be the challenge. “
