Huawei has released a new mobile bearer solution that it says will better serve the demands of 5G.
The China-based vendor’s X-Haul product supports flexible access to the core network through IP, microwave and optical transport network (OTN) technologies, regardless of the requirements of the base station.
X-Haul features a cloud-based architecture, allowing centralised orchestration of the different parts of the bearer network through the Network Cloud Engine, Huawei said.
Flexible ethernet (FlexE) technology allows end-to-end network slicing by dividing a single Ethernet port into multiple flexible channels. The Network Cloud Engine provides support for flexible slice creation, on-demand bandwidth adjustment, on-demand service-level agreement assurance and rapid fault location for each network slice.
In addition, X-Haul supports evolution between 4G and 5G bearer networks by introducing 50 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) technology at the access layer, which Huawei said allows a smooth upgrade to 100GE in the future. At the aggregation and core layers, the IP layer supports 200GE/400GE interfaces while the optical layer allows one-hop transmission of wavelengths.
In launching X-Haul, Huawei noted that the three major 5G application scenarios defined by 3GPP – enhanced mobile broadband, massive machine type communication and ultra-reliable and low-latency communication – all imposed high requirements on the likes of bearer network bandwidth, latency and connections.
Jeffrey Gao, President of Huawei Router & Carrier Ethernet Product Line, said: “The 5G era is approaching, and the shape that service modes will take is not yet certain. The Huawei X-Haul solution fully supports 4G/5G bearing, so as to effectively support operators’ new service development and expand the business blueprint.”