亚信科技

On December 17, the 2020 China Communication Industry Conference and the 15th China Communications Technology Annual Conference (“the Conference”), organized by the Communications Weekly, was held in Beijing. Many government leaders, academicians, experts, outstanding entrepreneurs and other professionals of the communication industry attended the conference.

A series of 2020 Jin Zi Zhu Communication Awards were granted on the conference. AsiaInfo, with its mature 5G network slicing end-to-end management systems and deep accumulation in the “scenario billing” field, won two awards: “2020 Excellent Product Technical Solutions” and "2020 5G Scenario Billing Contribution”.

The “2020 Excellent Product Technical Solutions” award are intended for the selection of excellent products, technologies, schemes and services that are available and active on the market in 2020, while the “2020 Communication Contribution Award” are given for the selection of excellent enterprises and institutions that take the lead in promoting the high-quality development of the communication industry.

AISWare 5G-Slicing Mgmt of AsiaInfo is a complete solution for end-to-end management of the 5G network slicing. It meets the requirements of 3GPP on framework systems and technologies for slicing management, and can satisfy the end-to-end management needs of the large-scale national 5G networks. This solution helps promote the maturity and implementation of the slicing technology, assists communication operators to improve their abilities to operate and manage 5G networks, and make the slicing business become a killer application for vertical industry scenarios and a new profit growth point.

AISWare Billing of AsiaInfo is a scenario billing product which redefines the billing support capability from 5G business demand, service, operation mode and other aspects, and helps communication operators to create more diversified business modes.

During the Conference, Dr. Ou Yangye, who is the CTO and Senior Vice President of AsiaInfo, made a representation themed “future prospects of network intelligence”.

Deep Integration of AI with Mobile Communication Helps to Promote the All-Round Intellectualization of 5G Networks

Network and AI: Integration and Interaction

In the view of AsiaInfo, since the 3G network was officially in commercial use, the communication ecosystem has generated massive data, providing a natural and high-quality data source for the development and application of the AI technologies in the communication field. The proposal of deep learning in 2006 marks the rise of the third wave of the AI development. More attempts are seen to apply machine learning, deep learning and reinforcement learning to the mobile communication scenarios. Only academic achievements of IEEE Xplore in the communication AI field in recent 15 years (starting from 2006) are 6.42 times of that before 2006.

Now, with massive communication ecological data as the “fuel”, the machine learning, deep learning, reinforcement learning and other algorithms as the “engine”, and the academic application achievements as the “booster”, the integration of the mobile communication and the AI technology begins to pick up its pace.

So, after many years of development, What's the status quo of the AI development in the communication field?

The application of AI technologies in the field of mobile communication network infrastructures mainly focus on wireless and core networks. The wireless network can be divided into physical layer, link layer and application layer. For the application layer, 3GPP introduced the concept of Self Organizing Networks (SON) for the first time in 2008. Since then, the mobile communication began to use machine learning, data mining and other analysis algorithms to optimize the network performance and quality as well as the automation of network operation and maintenance. As the first attempt of network intelligence in wireless network, SON only developed in a tepid way in the past 12 years due to the limited openness of data interface and the unclear definition of AI function in the network. In the physical layer and link layer, the intelligent functions are tightly coupled in the antenna and hardware, which is relatively closed, so the development AI technologies in these two layers are even slightly slower than that in the application layer.

In terms of core networks, 3GPP SA2 defined the network AI element NWDAF in February 2017, which means the AI has been defined into 5G core network architectures as an independent network element for the first time by 3GPP. This is a milestone marking the integration of AI and mobile communication as a common purpose technology. In 2018, ORAN also developed an AI-based wireless intelligent controller, which is designed for connection with the core network side.

As for AI applications in the network management field, the OSS architecture of operators, with the development of TMForum's NGOSS projects and architectures, has a relatively standardized guiding standard, and AI applications have a relatively stable framework and carrier, such as fault diagnosis, root cause analysis, performance prediction, etc. Taking the construction of 5G OSS-oriented systems by Chinese operators as an example, an AI or intelligent middle platform has been inserted between the data platform and the OSS core function module to enable the intelligence of OSS. Network AI algorithm models are continuously constructed, reasoned, released and precipitated for the planning, construction, optimization and maintenance scenarios in the network life cycle.

In the field of communication business, AI is mainly applied in the BSS field which mainly includes CRM system, billing and accounting system, BI system, CC system. At present, the BSS systems of mainstream operators worldwide are very mature, and most of them have completed the centralization and platform construction. Chinese operators are leading the technological evolution based on AI middle platform in the BSS field, where AI middle platform, based on AI algorithms, enables and empowers the intelligence of business processes through the encapsulation of scenario-based service capabilities. AI middle platform system has also been well applied in various business areas and scenarios of marketing, sales, customer experience, customer service and billing in the BSS field.

Future Development of Network Intelligence

Today, EU, Japan, South Korea, the United States and China have all begun researches on 6G, significantly enhancing the standard support functions, industrial IoT and other vertical industries, while extending the service range from land to satellite, undersea and underground. These all contribute to the trinity of sea, earth and sky in the global communication system.

AsiaInfo believes that, with the increasingly clear definition of network AI and the formulation of development hierarchy by ORAN, ETSI and 3GPP after 2017, 5G+AI, as a combination of general-purpose technologies, will enter a period of rapid development in the next decade. there is great space for AI to enable the intelligence of 5G core networks, radio access networks, network management, communication service management, customer experience management, vertical industries and private 5G networks. In the next decade, with the evolution of 5G to 6G, AI will play a more important role in the network core architecture and business scenarios of the 6G mobile communications, and eventually make the network move toward the goal of high intelligence and autonomy.

Ouyang Ye said that AsiaInfo has been working closely with the three major communication operators and has made great efforts in the past three years for the innovation and commercialization of network intelligence in 5G. At present, AsiaInfo’s network products have formed several provincial or group commercial sites to escort the intelligent operation and maintenance of the operators’ 5G network.

Relying on the 5G OSS+BSS technology and product system and adhering to the concept of “global virtualization, global intelligence, and global perceptibility”, AsiaInfo will assist communication operators to build a good 5G middle platform system and contribute to their digital transformation in the field of 5G network and business support.

AsiaInfo Helps Operators Build Intelligent 5G Network System

With deep insight into 5G vertical scenarios, AsiaInfo flexibly applies leading AI technologies to business scenarios and launches intelligent 5G network products, including intelligent network planning and optimization platforms, customer experience management platforms, network function virtualization and orchestration products through mature software products, solutions and comprehensive and personalized services to help communication operators improve network capabilities and value. Meanwhile, it develops comprehensive and leading 5G commercial software and application solutions, including 5G global AI products, 5G scenario billing products, 5G PaaS platform products, and 5G big data products. In the past two years, AsiaInfo has made major breakthroughs in private 5G networks, network slicing and network orchestration, and has formed several provincial or group commercial sites to escort the operators’ intelligent 5G network system.

AISWare 5G-Slicing Management, An End-to-end 5G Network Slicing Management System

AISWare 5G-Slicing Management is a complete solution for end-to-end 5G slicing management, which can meet the needs of national-level, large-scale 5G network and end-to-end management, help operators improve 5G network operation and management capabilities, and make the slicing service a real killer application and new profit growth point for government enterprises and vertical industries.

AISWare Billing, A Billing Product for 5G Scenarios

AISWare Billing centers on scenarios such as 5G business demand, service and operation mode to provide one-stop billing gateway, multi-dimensional billing, intelligent time factory and other business components; respond to services quickly; support demand flexibly; enhance service value, business conversion and user stickiness; help operators achieve revenue and profit growth; and accelerate the process of 5G-enabled vertical industries.