Enea claims to extend 5G core to manage 4G network data through ‘virtual schema’
Enea announced the creation of the industry’s virtualised data schema giving mobile operators the ability to map 4G and 5G data models into a single customisable view from the 5G Core to the edge.
Developed for the Stratum Network Data Layer, Enea’s telco-grade solution breaks through vertical data silos allowing operators to launch and onboard new use cases such as edge computing, network slicing and IoT, while interworking seamlessly with 4G systems and the 5G Core.
“Data is at heart of 5G, and operators need genuine agility to maximise their potential” says, Roland Steiner, senior vice president for telecoms, Enea “But network providers have struggled to manage 4G and 5G data on their own terms. Our virtualised 5G core data management solution gives ownership of data back to operators so they can take back control of their data and their network.”
Enea’s open standard virtual schema based on 3GPP guidelines unlocks the data path allowing operators to manage and control both 5G and 4G data eliminating vendor lock-ins. Unlike Service Based Architecture (SBA) in the 5G Core, 4G lacks the standards that separate data and functions. As a result, mobile operators have been at the mercy of their infrastructure vendor, with added data management costs when they needed to make system changes to launch new 5G services with legacy 4G data systems.
Having been freed from legacy vendors, operators can now have full control over their 4G/5G data to achieve cost efficiency and have the flexibility to create 5G ecosystems that match their network needs.
The strategy for mobile operators to take back control of their data and deploy seamless 4G/5G data management architecture was highlighted in a recent study from ABI Research. It examined vendor lock-ins and the importance of distributed data platforms in the 5G Core.
Roland Steiner
ABI’s senior research director, Dimitris Mavrakis says, “Enea’s Stratum comes at a pivotal moment for operators. Operators want to enter the enterprise market with 5G and use AI and ML to monetise a variety of use cases. Yet 4G/5G centralised data platforms have been a major pain point for operators with proprietary and centralised databases that did not scale. A growing number of operators including AT&T, Telenor, Telefonica, Orange and Vodafone have implemented significant upgrades to their data platform strategies. More operators will deploy virtualised, distributed systems in line with their cloud-native strategies.”
Thanks to Stratum’s cloud native capabilities, mobile operators can dynamically onboard new services faster. Stratum delivers robust data management at the edge, data that is created or updated in one location can be accessed and read anywhere securely and instantly.
Enea provides mobile operators with 5G-ready products for the mobile core, originally developed by Openwave Mobility. Its 5G network data layer unifies subscriber and session data across network functions, while its video traffic management alleviates RAN congestion and maximises subscriber QoE.
Report: The Importance of Distributed Data Platforms for 5G can be found here:
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