Huawei Unveils Vision for All Cloud Mobile Networks

[Tokyo, Japan, November 25, 2016] At the 2016 Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF) in Tokyo today, the President of Huawei Wireless Solution, Edward Deng, described an integrated suite of solutions to enable the full cloudification of wireless networks. The company calls this solution ERA, signaling the arrival of the mobile cloud era. ERA includes three integrated solutions: one for cloud-based core networks (CloudEdge), cloud-based radio access networks (CloudRAN), and cloud-based air interface (CloudAIR).

Edward Deng,the President of Huawei Wireless Solution, made a speech at MBBF

An era of explosive growth for SingleRAN and applications

Over the past decade, the successful deployment of SingleRAN is a testament to the robust development of mobile broadband (MBB) and explosive growth of digital applications. As the market stands, different applications and scenarios have vastly different requirements for data rates (ranging from Kbps to Gbps) and latency (ranging from milliseconds to seconds).

"This diversity of applications will raise the bar for network capabilities and operations," said Deng. "In order to face this challenge, a modern network needs efficient resource utilization, on-demand module deployment, and agile service provisioning if it hopes to achieve long-term development. And building a cloud-based network is the only way to make that happen."

Huawei's ‘All Cloud’ strategy: Founded in technology build-up and thorough verification

Cloud network technology is a core focus of Huawei's research and development. Since its release at the 2014 Mobile World Congress (MWC), Huawei's CloudEdge solution has been deployed in over ten commercial sites and has obtained over 60 commercial contracts. Cloud core networks enable the convergence of multiple radio access technologies (RATs) as well as the provision of more flexible applications through network slicing and tailored scenario-based solutions.

Huawei aims to promote, drive, and lead the development of an All Cloud era. The company launched CloudRAN in April of this year to enable the cloudification of wireless network architecture, paving the way for cloud-based radio access networks. "The goal of CloudRAN is to redesign the entire architecture of wireless networks, transforming resource management, multi-connectivity, and elastic architecture into native capabilities to better meet the challenges of an uncertain future." CloudRAN has passed business verification procedures in China, Italy, South Korea, and Japan, and is expected to be commercially deployed in Q3 of 2017.

With CloudAIR, an all-cloud solution for mobile networks is complete

Despite rapid progress, Deng emphasizes that these innovations are still not enough: "Air interface is the most valuable resource that operators have. And if this most valuable resource doesn't support efficient, on-demand, and agile network deployment, then a mobile network isn't truly cloud-based," said Deng. "Today we launched the CloudAIR solution to help reshape air interface. Our focus is on improving the efficiency of air interface, enabling operators to deploy services more flexibly and, of course, enhancing user experience. CloudAIR is designed to enable more efficient sharing of air interface resources like spectrum, power, and channels."

Spectrum cloudification allows different RATs to share the same spectrum, dynamically allocating spectrum resources based on fluctuations in traffic. This maximizes spectral efficiency and helps get new RATs online faster to ensure more immediate coverage. It also prevents legacy terminals from occupying golden spectrum for long periods of time, enabling on-demand access based on service needs.

"By enabling more efficient sharing and allocation of resources, spectrum cloudification creates real value for telecom customers," Deng concluded. "It's an important development trend in the industry, and it will take greater collaboration with industry partners to continue pushing things forward."

In a similar fashion to air interface cloudification, power cloudification supports inter-carrier, inter-RAT, inter-band, inter-site power sharing.

Channel cloudification is the third feature of CloudAIR. This allows for the implementation of artificial intelligence-based scheduling to enable any received signals to be recognized as available multi-path resources. This will facilitate convenient site selection and provide an improved user experience.

Huawei's innovative mobile cloud solution, ERA, combines CloudEdge, CloudRAN and CloudAIR technology to launch a new era of cloud-based mobile networks. "The ERA solution will maximize the value of operator assets, enable on-demand network deployment, accelerate service provisioning, and empower mobile networks to be the true enablers of all industries around the world," said Deng. "Through nonstop innovation, this solution will create unprecedented value for the industry."