TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 2 2.0 Role of Network Slicing in 5G ................................................................................................................. 3 2.1 5G Requirements on Network Slicing ................................................................................................. 3 2.2 How Network slicing can fulfilL these requirements ............................................................................ 4 2.3 Benefits to operators ........................................................................................................................... 4 3.0 Network slicing system architecture (E2E network slicing) ..................................................................... 5 4.0 Network slicing in CN .............................................................................................................................. 8 5.0 Network slicing in THE RAN ................................................................................................................. 10 6.0 Operational aspects of network slicing ................................................................................................. 13 6.1 Network Slices Management Framework .......................................................................................... 13 6.2 Network slicing management and ETSI NFV MANO ........................................................................ 16 6.3 Network slice management ............................................................................................................... 18 6.3.1 Network slice life cycle management ...................................................................................... 18 6.3.2 Configuration Management ..................................................................................................... 20 6.3.3 Performance management ...................................................................................................... 20 7.0 Opportunities introduced by network slicing ......................................................................................... 23 7.1 Evolution of Slicing Technology ........................................................................................................ 23 7.2 Services to Virtual Operators ............................................................................................................ 23 7.3 Further benefits of network slicing ..................................................................................................... 23 8.0 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................... 25 Appendix A: Summary of Existing Works ................................................................................................... 26 Appendix B: Network slicing in 4G .............................................................................................................. 29 Appendix C: Acronyms and Definitions ....................................................................................................... 31 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................... 34 1 5G Americas White Paper – Network Slicing for 5G and Beyond 1.0 INTRODUCTION 5G cellular systems are expected to enable a major digital transformation that will provide people, businesses and governments with unprecedented capabilities to share information. The industry consensus is that 5G should be known not only for its cutting-edge radio access technologies, but also for the way it integrates cross-domain networks so operators can provide networks on a need-for-service basis. 5G will enable new verticals, new services and new business models that aren’t possible or practical with 4G and other legacy mobile technologies. Examples includes wearables for advanced telemedicine applications, virtual/augmented reality, UHD video and machine-to-machine (M2M) applications that require single-digit-millisecond latencies such as driverless cars. 5G technologies aim to provide an end-to-end infrastructure capable of delivering a consistent user quality of experience in a heterogeneous environment across a wide variet