How should Internet companies share the 5G pie?

3GPP defined the three major scenarios of 5G a long time ago: high-traffic mobile broadband services (eMBB); massive machine type communications services (mMTC); and low-latency, highly reliable connection services (URLLC).

The three major scenarios obviously put forward high requirements for 5G. Not only must it solve the speed problem that has always needed to be solved, but it must also meet the requirements of low latency and massive connections.

In fact, if we rely solely on the 5G core network to process the massive data explosion in the future, the core network and backhaul links will inevitably be unable to bear the load, and problems such as network congestion, reduced transmission rate and latency performance will be difficult to avoid.

Edge computing happens to solve this problem.

Support each other

"Complementing each other" can well summarize the relationship between 5G and edge computing.

From a technical perspective, 5G belongs to the communication network CT (Communication Technology) domain, and edge computing belongs to the Internet IT domain.

Therefore, the development of edge computing technology is no longer the exclusive domain of operators. It is not difficult to find that cloud vendors have long integrated cloud computing with edge computing to provide services to users.

As a result, edge computing has become the entry point for cloud vendors to develop 5G.

The 5G edge computing center deployed by Tencent Cloud in Binhai is a good example. Leifeng.com (public account: Leifeng.com) visited the site and found that the edge computing center is the size of a small container, which can achieve lightweight deployment.

"As long as a flat area, electricity and internet access are met, the edge computing center can be deployed," Tencent data center architect Han Pengrui told Leiphone.com.

According to Han Pengrui, Tencent Cloud 5G edge computing center consists of three layers:

Hardware layer: Mini T-block is used as the carrier, and self-developed equipment such as Xingxinghai server is used;

Platform layer: Tencent edge computing infrastructure ECM, edge access and acceleration platform TSEC, and IoT edge computing platform IECP, integrating intelligent maintenance and network security capabilities to ensure edge computing stability;

Application layer: edge computing business created by Tencent.

"In the 4G era, operators' core networks were deployed in provincial capitals. For cities far from provincial capitals, the distance limitation makes it impossible to meet the low latency requirements. After combining 5G with edge computing, we hope to deploy the operator's 5G core network in our MEC in a lightweight way, providing a faster deployment solution for industry private networks."

How does the edge computing center combine with 5G? Tencent's self-developed edge computing machines ECM and TSEC are edge access and acceleration platforms, which are the key.

Edge Computing Machine ECM is a lightweight computing platform that can deploy computing power to cloud edge nodes close to users and data production sources, providing low-latency, high-availability, and low-cost edge computing services. At the same time, Edge Computing Machine ECM uses the same technical solution as Tencent Cloud Central Cloud, seamlessly supporting edge and central cloud-edge collaboration.

TSEC is an edge access and acceleration platform that can collaborate with operator networks to achieve 5G edge traffic access, QoS/slicing network acceleration capabilities, secure access, 5G LAN industry communication capabilities, etc.

According to Leifeng.com, Tencent Cloud will also release an outdoor integrated cabinet, which will be a data center product with smaller granularity than Mini T-block, faster delivery, and more flexible deployment, further meeting the needs of enterprises for edge computing and private cloud.

In addition, at the Tencent Global Digital Ecosystem Conference on September 11, Tencent Cloud announced that it expects to complete the construction of nearly 300 edge computing nodes by the end of this year, but not all of these 300 edge nodes will have 5G access capabilities.

Synthesizer

Let’s take a look at what Tencent Cloud has done around the 5G edge computing center.

In terms of preventing physical damage, Tencent Cloud has created a personnel and event management platform - Tencent Jishi, which provides many intelligent security services such as hard hat detection, fire warning, restricted area detection, etc., which can effectively monitor the losses caused by external intruders and disasters such as fire.

In terms of edge center operation and maintenance, Tencent has developed its own data center operation and maintenance management platform - Tencent Zhiwei, which can effectively monitor the environment of the digital center, as well as the equipment status of the data center, to achieve intelligent management of the data center.

At the network security level, Tencent Security Network Intrusion Protection System (Tianmu) adopts the approach of "deep into the kernel and close to the hardware" to address security issues in edge computing scenarios, providing near-source security analysis, thereby enhancing the security protection capabilities and efficiency of edge computing centers.

In addition, Tencent Cloud is also reserving 5G SDK and providing devices such as 5G DTU, 5G SDWAN, 5G AIoT gateway, user-side 5G terminal devices, and IoT devices with other connection methods. Through SDK transplantation, it helps users quickly connect to the Tencent Cloud IoT platform Explorer.

Xia Yunfei, product architect of Tencent Cloud IoT, said: "Only 5G devices can make better use of our edge computing, so we need to help the entire industry develop 5G devices. The 5G SDK can help small and medium-sized enterprises quickly develop 5G devices. This is one of the functions of our IoT platform Explorer."

Where does Tencent’s advantage lie?

Obviously, with edge computing becoming popular today, Tencent is definitely not the only player making efforts. Operators, communication equipment manufacturers, and other Internet companies are also providing solutions from hardware to software.

"Our advantage lies in our strong operational experience in meeting our own business needs. For example, Tencent Video and Tencent Games are already very advanced in China and are also very large in scale. If we want to operate such businesses well, as well as Tencent Cloud's customer business, we will inevitably have high requirements for our technology platform," said Liu Hang, senior product manager of Tencent Cloud Edge Computing and 5G.

According to Liu Hang, relying on the 5G edge computing center, Tencent has created the Xianyou cloud gaming platform. Whether on mobile phones, PCs or OTT devices, you can get a low-latency and high-definition gaming experience without downloading and installing games.

In addition, relying on the Mini T-block's video cloud edge access point, the overall service delay of 4K live broadcast will be shortened to less than 200ms, allowing users to experience ultra-high-definition video smoothly.

All ready to go

After all, the construction of 5G still needs to be completed by operators.

"We also need to cooperate with operators to build 5G edge computing nodes," said Chen Wei, a 5G expert at Tencent Cloud, to Leifeng.com.

On the one hand, it will take some time for edge computing technology and industry maturity to reach commercial 5G networks. When operators build 5G networks, they need to open up relevant technical capabilities so that we can jointly build 5G edge computing nodes with operators. Therefore, the progress of our 5G edge computing node construction depends not only on Tencent's technical capabilities, but also on the maturity of operators' 5G network construction and edge computing technology.

On the other hand, in terms of edge node construction, operators are also opening their MEC data centers. How operators and Internet companies can have a better cooperation model is also an area of ​​much discussion in the industry, and both sides need to explore a win-win cooperation model.

"But as 5G users develop on a larger scale and the entire 5G user scale and business market are cultivated, there may be a greater demand for 5G edge computing. It is only a matter of time."

This shows that Tencent Cloud is ready.