Page 5 - 5G Proof-of-Concept Demonstrations

Foreword

ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Sector
(ITU-T) has assigned priority to its study of the
architecture and networking innovations necessary for
IMT-2020 (5G) systems, a natural complement to the
radio transmission studies of ITU’s
Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R).

ITU-T standardization work is supporting 5G innovation
in fields such as network softwarization, slicing and
orchestration, 5G architecture and fixed-mobile
convergence, end-to-end network management, and
information-centric networking.
5G systems will need to be agile all-round players
capable of supporting a wide array of specialized
functions. This will demand significant innovation in
network architectures and orchestration techniques.

In 2015, a Focus Group was established to accelerate this study of 5G networking innovation, a study
led by ITU’s standardization expert group for future networks, ITU-T Study Group 13.

The Focus Group’s final meeting in December 2016 was held in conjunction with an IMT-2020
workshop and demo day. This model was followed by ITU-T Study Group 13 in a second IMT-2020
workshop and demo day in July 2017.
This publication shares insight into the demos showcased at the two events.

The demos clearly highlighted that network softwarization and slicing, underpinning deeply
programmable networks able to create virtual ‘slice instances’ with very specialized capabilities, will
be essential to the achievement of the 5G vision.
This software-driven environment will give networks the agility required to support the specific
requirements of any particular 5G application.

Dr Chaesub Lee
Director, ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

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