Network Evolution toward 2020 and Beyond

Executive Summary Whereas 3G and 4G mobile network innovations have driven a revolution in personal communications, NEC believes the biggest impact of next mobile network innovations will be felt by society at large. NEC focuses on developing " Solutions for Society " , applying advanced ICT to help solve some of the world's most pressing social challenges and create a sustainable and more enriching future. NEC believes that the flexible integration of future mobile networks with ICT-enabled urban and industrial infrastructure will bring wide ranging benefits to consumers and businesses in a diversity of vertical sectors. Relevant technologies will enable the world to support growing, ageing, and more urban populations in revolutionary new ways while minimizing our impact on the environment. These technologies include ultra-low latency connectivity for driverless cars, kilobits per second connectivity for M2M sensor networks for health and environmental monitoring, and up to a hundred megabits per second for ultra-high definition video broadcasts. NEC believes that our vision will be a reality in mobile networks in around 2020 when global technology innovations, which are likely to be defined in emerging 5G standards, will increasingly be deployed. The " 2020 network " will help to make our cities safer and improve the delivery of public services as well as citizens' quality of life. It will also enable the creation of new, more efficient services in many industries, including transportation, entertainment, logistics, utilities, healthcare, manufacturing, and agriculture. Businesses in these sectors will be a key driving force in creating new mobile and ICT-related innovation ecosystems in partnership with network operators, vendors, and businesses in a variety of industry verticals. The performance requirements of the " 2020 network " will diversify as various new business models and services are developed to support the provision of new solutions for society. The concept of the IoT will also accelerate this movement. Therefore, by cooperating with other industries, the " 2020 network " is required to efficiently provide the necessary functionalities that enable various solutions for society. For that, a new network architecture that can be flexibly integrated with ICT platforms in other industries should be developed. SDN and NFV technologies will help to build such innovative architecture economically. NEC will continue to exercise its leadership as a company that uniquely has very innovative technologies in both the networking and computing domains. By collaborating closely with our customers and business partners, NEC is …