Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) today revealed a software stack for the 5G core that will be available in the second half of this year. With the HPE 5G Core Stack the company is trying to straddle the benefits of pairing software with its HPE GreenLake platform while also embracing an open, disaggregated approach that will allow operators to use the platform with services or hardware provided by other vendors.

An adherence to cloud native infrastructure is a key differentiator for HPE’s approach to the 5G network core, according to Domenico Convertino, VP of product management at HPE’s communications and media division. “We are launching a real cloud native 5G core, so no cloud washing as many of the other traditional equipment providers are offering today,” he told SDxCentral.

“It’s real cloud native stuff that has been written from scratch, dedicated to the 5G network function” and it provides network operators with the ability to onboard network functions provided by other vendors. “If a mobile operator wants to have a multi-vendor 5G core network, this is probably today the only offering available for them.”

HPE is also preparing to launch a consumption-based model for its 5G core offering, but that will only be available to customers that also purchase access to HPE GreenLake, which is sold on a consumption-based model. Convertino maintains that HPE’s 5G core offering is still completely disaggregated because the platform is open to third-party vendors for network functions.

This is a significant change because Ericsson, Nokia, and Cisco are “pretty much forcing customers to buy everything from them or nothing,” Convertino said.

Because HPE’s 5G Core Stack is for 5G standalone network cores, the company is hopeful that timing will be right as many network operators prepare to evolve their network infrastructure from non-standalone mode running on a 4G core to a completely standalone 5G core.

Convertino noted that no operators have commercially deployed a 5G standalone core to date, but multiple operators are planning to do so later this year and in 2021. Earlier this year, South Korea’s SK Telecom said it successfully initiated the “world’s first standalone 5G data session” using equipment from multiple vendors on a commercial 5G network. The operator plans to deploy 5G standalone service before July.

HPE is in discussions with a few operators and is actively testing and trialing the technology in about 20 labs, according to Convertino. “There is a lot of interest because it is opening lots of opportunities for [operators] to reduce the cost of running the network, and even to better monetize the data that they [have] in the core,” he said.

The network functions that HPE plans to make available later this year, including network slicing and automation, could gain traction among tier 1 network operators that have the technical knowhow to select a broad number of vendors for such services, according to Convertino. However, “the tier that we want to address with the core stack is probably more on tier 2 or newcomers, greenfield operators starting with 5G” because removing the initial investment for network infrastructure will be particularly appealing to those operators, he said.

The HPE 5G Core Stack also supports integration with previous generations of cellular technology, stateless containerized network functions, a shared data environment, management and orchestration services, and an automation framework that can also be purchased in conjunction with HPE’s GreenLake infrastructure-as-a-service platform. Pricing, according to HPE, will be based on GreenLake consumption-based models.