Samsung and Japanese telecom operator KDDI claimed a significant radio access network (RAN) intelligent controller (RIC) milestone by demonstrating a network slicing trial that supported service level agreements (SLAs). The move opens the door for the carrier to begin offering commercial network slicing services running over its 5G network to enterprise customers.

The field trial generated multiple network slices using Samsung’s RIC running on a live commercial 5G standalone (SA) network in Tokyo. Those slices were able to meet SLAs for low latency and throughput for each application tested.

Samsung also used its RIC to meet SLA requirements of multiple user equipment-based network slices. The RIC operates in the middle of an open RAN deployment as a kind of linkage to the wider network. It allows operators to deploy microservice-based applications – like network slicing – operating in near-real time (xApps) and non-real time (rApps) that then allow operators to design and control RAN functions, providing administrative RAN sovereignty over functions that are typically implemented as proprietary features on base stations.

KDDI noted this will lead to support for enterprise-focused services.

“Network slicing will help us activate a wide range of services that require high performance and low latency, benefitting both consumers and businesses,” Toshikazu Yokai, managing executive officer and GM of KDDI’s Mobile Network Technical Development Division, noted in a statement.

The work builds on Samsung’s long-standing equipment relationship with KDDI, including being core to the carrier’s 5G network deployment. More recently, Samsung was part of KDDI’s commercial launch of a 5G SA cell site using open RAN specifications, and the carrier’s plans to deploy virtualized RAN (vRAN) technology.

Analyst firms have for years been touting the financial benefit of commercial network slicing capabilities, especially tied to penetrating different market verticals.

ABI Research in late 2018 predicted 5G network slicing would generate “$66 billion in value for enterprise verticals including manufacturing, logistics, and transportation by 2026.” The research firm more recently noted that operators need to pay “attention to 5G slice-as-a-service and other ‘value-add services’ which are critical to monetization.”

Network slicing tests have been ramping over the past 12 months. Large vendors like Nokia and Ericsson have touted various slicing successes.