Open Core Network
The Open Core Network group is working to develop an open, cloud-native, and converged core that is a collection of microservices implementing various core network functions (“open, flexible and extensible”):
Running on standardized software and hardware infrastructure (“infrastructure agnostic”)
Supporting 3GPP 5G Core (5GC) and LTE Evolved Packet Core (EPC) for licensed, unlicensed (e.g. Wi-Fi), and shared spectrum (e.g., CBRS) networks (“access agnostic”)
Enabling seamless migration from 4G EPC to 5GC in both Non Stand-Alone (NSA) and Stand-Alone (SA) modes
The goal is to innovate on the packet core technologies across any access wireless networks operating on licensed, unlicensed and shared spectrum; develop microservice, orchestration and automation frameworks on OCN platform, and support an ecosystem of developers, OEMs, SIs, MNOs, and ISPs around OCN based solutions.
Subgroups
The Open Core Network project group activities are currently sub-divided in three parallel work-streams:
Applications and Services
The goal of this work-stream is to design, develop and deliver a set of production-grade microservices implementing 3GPP 4G/LTE, 5G, shared spectrum (e.g., CBRS) and Wi-Fi core network functions and APIs between such functions as well as between these functions and RAN elements or Network Management Systems.
Orchestration
The goal of this work-stream is to design, develop and deliver an orchestration framework for integrating, deploying and managing OCN microservices, including FCAPS, metrics, analytics and monitoring.
Automation
The goal of this work-stream is to design, develop and deliver an infrastructure and test automation, i.e., CI/CD framework for testing OCN microservices.
Deliverables
FWA Use Case & Technical Requirements Document v1.0
Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) use cases have become an attractive alternative to providing internet connectivity to a wide range of consumers in place of fiber or copper access. This document describes the FWA use case and requirements on OCN to support the use case. It can be easily converted to an FWA solution RFP to facilitate the vendor selection and procurement process.
Open Core Network Private 5G Scenarios Whitepaper
Private Network’s market segment is highly competitive and major equipment providers are already proposing pre-packaged solutions to realize isolated private networks on 26 GHz spectrum. On the basis of this existing ecosystem, the present document describes four private 5G network scenarios which are addressed by OCN group. The goal is to facilitate the prioritization of two of them to drive the implementation.
Applications and Services Technical Requirements v2.0
This document describes technical requirements for network function applications and services of an open core network implementation. It describes the necessary software functions, and the requirements that the implementation needs to meet to be deployed in the networks of the specific operators participating in this specification
Orchestration Technical Requirements v1.0
This document describes the technical requirements of an orchestration framework to manage the services and resources related to TIP open core network components and provides use case examples of the expected functionality.
Continuous Delivery and Continuous Deployment Infrastructure Technical Requirements v1.0
This document describes the Open Core Network continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD)—the development workflow and tooling used to build and deploy OCN microservices—starting from initial code commit all the way to deployment in a lab or proof of concept (POC) environment of an operator.
Cloud-Native Infrastructure Technical Requirements v1.0
This document describes the best-of-breed infrastructure to deploy and run the microservices that comprise the open core network. The purpose of this document is to describe requirements for cloud-native infrastructure for running open core network components on an individual Kubernetes cluster.