Nokia has announced a multi-access edge slicing innovation that will be showcased together with UAE operator Etisalat on a live network at next week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Multi-access edge slicing allows operators to offer premium slicing services across 4G, 5G, fixed wireless access (FWA) and fixed access (FA) that can support several use cases and applications simultaneously.

With multi-access edge slicing, operators can enable a 4G or 5G smartphone user to send business-sensitive information using a secure and high-performing network slice while also participating in a video call using another slice at the same time. With a multi-sliced FWA or FA network, a family could use one slice to access services such as HDTV streaming or cloud gaming while another slice could be used for home working via a laptop. Both slices could be tailored to have different network characteristics depending on their requirements such as routing, bit rate, QoS, latency and security.

Nokia’s latest innovation supports laptops, tablets, game consoles, IoT devices, and 4G and 5G smartphones including new URSP (UE Route Selection Policy) capable multi-slice smartphones. It can also be used for on-demand network slicing. For example, a subscriber could order and activate a slice for a gaming application running at the edge cloud with an enhanced network performance, low latency and sliced edge.

It also supports slice service continuity between 4G, 5G, FWA wifi and FA wifi. This lets Etisalat provide the same subscriber experience across all access network technologies. Nokia’s technology is based on industry standards including 3GPP and IETF and works seamlessly in multi-vendor networks.

Multi-access edge slicing complements Nokia’s 5G edge slicing and recently announced edge cloud network slicing portfolio. This enables operators to provide 4G and 5G virtual private network services for enterprises and industries over a campus, city or wider area. Scalable and cost-efficient edge slicing supports several enterprise VPN deployments using the same 4G and 5G network.

“We are committed to driving the digital future by investing in new technologies and innovations and pave the way for revolutionising the industry,” said Khalid Murshed, CTIO at Etisalat (www.etisalat.ae). “We continuously focus on creating new value and multi-access edge slicing is an important step in providing innovative services for our customers.”

Ari Kynäslahti, head of strategy and technology at Nokia (www.nokia.com), added: “Working closely with our partners like Etisalat is very important in developing innovations. The launch of multi-access edge slicing underlines Nokia’s network slicing leadership once again. With this latest innovation we can enable operators to provide premium enterprise and consumer services that enhance the customer experience.”

At next week’s Mobile World Congress (www.mwcbarcelona.com), Nokia will showcase its multi-access edge slicing on its stand in Hall Three. The live demonstration is built on Nokia’s commercially available RAN, PON, FWA CPE, transport and core products, as well as its management, control, entitlement, assurance and orchestration systems.

• Qualcomm and Nokia have developed prototype technology that could solve the problem of interoperability, one of the fundamental challenges facing AI’s use in wireless systems. By enabling multi-vendor interoperability between the different AI models used in networks and devices, future wireless systems would support the use of AI to achieve greater capacities and better performance while potentially reducing their energy consumption.