In what the global smart device company says marks an important step in realising practical 5G enterprise network slicing deployment, in a project designed to be implementable by network operators worldwide, OPPO has announced the successful testing of a pre-commercial 5G enterprise network slicing solution.

Working in collaboration with Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies, OPPO demonstrated the pre-commercial 5G enterprise network slicing product at its 5G Communications Lab. During this first demonstration, OPPO worked closely with Ericsson and Qualcomm to achieve connection between the core network, wireless network and chip module.

OPPO has been conducting research and development in 5G network slicing together with network operators and other partners for a number of years now. It previously partnered with Vodafone and Ericsson to build the first 5G Standalone (SA) network in the UK at Coventry University, where it also demonstrated the first 5G SA network slicing technology. It has also worked with China Mobile to complete testing and verification of 5G terminal slicing.

In the latest trial, an OPPO Find X5 Pro powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Mobile Platform with Snapdragon X65 Modem-RF System, running a customised system based on Android 12 – ColorOS 12, with Dynamic Network Slicing Selection capability from Ericsson 5G Core to support User Equipment Route selection and Policy control (URSP) and 5G RAN Slicing solution, the joint team demonstrated application and network traffic partitioning using the pre-commercial 5G enterprise network slicing solution.

The latter was said to have enabled the steering of applications and enterprise services with specific requirements to defined slices without switching devices. Under the new solution, apps which were able to access the dedicated network slice were identifiable via a small icon displayed next to the main mobile app icon.

OPPO, Qualcomm and Ericsson now intend to step up efforts to finalise ecosystem, device and network details with a view to commercial deployment.

“5G enterprise network slicing is the key to realising 5G-differentiated applications,” said Xia Yang, senior director of carrier product line at OPPO. “Based on our company mission, [we] will leverage our strengths in innovation and collaboration across the tech ecosystem to advance the commercialisation of 5G enterprise slicing technology. Together with our partners, we will enable a wide range of OPPO product users to be the first to enjoy a customised 5G connectivity experience.”

Monica Zethzon, vice-president and head of packet core at Ericsson, added: “5G network slicing enables enterprises to meet their network security, reliability and flexibility needs. This solution, created in partnership with OPPO and Qualcomm Technologies and underpinned by Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core and 5G RAN Slicing technologies, provides a foundation for CSPs [communications services providers] to deliver more tailored 5G services for enterprises.”

Sunil Patil, vice-president of product management at Qualcomm Technologies, added: “Demonstration of commercial 5G enterprise network slicing is an important step in fulfilling the promise of 5G standalone. Commercialisation of slicing will provide 5G network tools to customise 5G capabilities as per the needs of the application.”

In the future, OPPO will continue to work with global operator partners to promote the application and implementation of 5G enterprise network slicing, bringing more secure, reliable and flexible 5G communications to commercial partners and users.