Nokia and Microsoft teamed to power a 5G-based edge cloud network slicing trial running on Austrian operator A1’s network, highlighting the latest push toward commercializing nascent edge and network slicing services.

The trial was conducted on A1’s live commercial network in Vienna. It used Nokia’s 5G edge slicing platform integrated with Microsoft Azure managed edge compute to support real-time high-definition video streaming.

The video streams were generated from mobile devices using Multicasting.io’s streaming mobile platform running on the Azure edge infrastructure. The Azure managed edge compute was deployed at A1’s data center in Vienna with connectivity to the Azure region in Austria.

The package showed the capability to use a slice of A1’s network to support the low-latency and high-throughput requirements of streaming high-definition video content while maintaining quality of service and performance for other traffic on the network.

“This innovative solution enables A1 to deliver secure, reliable and high-performance enterprise VPN services integrated with edge cloud applications over our 4G LTE and 5G networks,” A1 CEO Marcus Grausam noted in a statement, adding this “opens up new business opportunities and demonstrates our commitment to delivering innovative services for our enterprise customers, as well as realizing the full potential of 5G technology.”

Multimedia streaming services, as trialed in this use case, are viewed as an early use case for network slicing services.

Rethink Research ranked “media and entertainment” as the highest data-consuming use case for network slicing services through the end of the decade. This was followed by manufacturing; energy and utilities; healthcare; logistics and transport; and government/public sector. The overall market is forecast to generate $23.6 billion in revenues by 2030.

The media and entertainment vertical has been central focus for operators looking to take advantage of network slicing capabilities to support revenue-generating use cases.

T-Mobile US last summer used a slice of its commercial 5G standalone (SA) network to power remote video production during a Red Bull Cliff Diving event held in Boston. The network slice was used to provide an uplink channel for the transfer of high-resolution video content from cameras and a video drone used to cover the event.

John Saw, EVP and CTO at T-Mobile US, wrote in a blog post that the slice was able to provide uplink speeds up to 276 Mb/s.

T-Mobile US used a similar platform at the recent Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The carrier has also launched a video calling slicing beta program for developers that allows for the testing of video calling applications on a slice of the carrier’s 5G SA network. Google, Cisco’s Webex and Zoom Video Communications have joined the testing program.

Verizon is also looking at similar multimedia opportunities to drive network slicing use cases.

“We've been very public about some of the use cases that can come with network slicing, meaning network slicing can be used for optimal performance of particular use cases,” Adam Koeppe, SVP of network planning at Verizon, told SDxCentral in a recent interview. “The goal is to create a very efficient network path for things like mobile gaming or for public safety agencies or for content creation like we do with F1 [Formula 1], creating a network slice to ensure that if the application needs a certain throughput and latency to work effectively, we're going to make sure the network delivers that.”

Rethink Research also linked network slicing advances to driving enterprise-focused private network deployments.

“For enterprises themselves, network slicing from operators will offer a flexible alternative to a private network,” the research firm noted in its report. “At the same time, slices will operate within private networks to apportion resources between applications and users, whether those have been built with the help of operators or not.”

Deutsche Telekom last year worked with Ericsson on creating a secure 5G network slice that tied directly into a private cloud. That PoC also used TM Forum-based APIs to integrate third-party management interfaces that allowed external management systems to incorporate slice ordering and management.

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

ABI Research noted that it still expects a dynamic market over time, but that current technical and use cases issues have slowed those forecasts. The firm had initially forecast a $66 billion market opportunity by 2026; however a more recent forecast pegs that market at a $19.5 billion opportunity by 2028.

“Horizontal integration for cross-domain interoperability is critical going forward. Equally important is vertical integration for 5G slicing lifecycle management of multi-vendor deployments,” Don Alusha, senior analyst at ABI Research, wrote on the ongoing market challenges.

“There is ongoing market activity for the 5G core network penetration and maturity of 5G slice management functions. To that end, enterprises will seek to create and reserve slices statically and on demand. They also want to efficiently integrate with cloud providers through open and programmable [APIs] to enable hybrid cloud/cellular slice adoption. [Network equipment vendors] and other suppliers offer solutions enabling [communication service providers] to create fully automated and programmatic slicing capability over access, transport and core network domains.”