亚信科技

Undoubtedly, the national policy support and people's yearning for 5G technology make 5G become a highlight in the IT circle in recent years. At the same time, however, with the rapid development 5G technology, we have also seen that the words used to describe it have changed from the previous "fast, low-latency" into new concepts like the super nerve of the "digital brain" It can be said that people's expectations for 5G are no longer limited to personal consumption, but a greater commercial prospect.

"4G changes life, but 5G changes society," this is the opinion expressed by AsiaInfo CEO Gao Nianshu in an interview with the author. In his view, the value of 4G is more prominent in the C-end, and in the 5G era, the value is embodied not only in To C but also To B, especially for the liberation and improvement of enterprises' productivity, the potential of 5G is enormous.

Anyone closed to AsiaInfo may know that the Company began to plan and pre-study the next-generation business support system for 5G business models and scenarios in 2016, and has seen dramatic breakthroughs in such fields as 5G network intelligence, artificial intelligence, platform support, big data and scenario billing; later it has also released the strategy and plan on 5G network intelligent products, built a series of product prototypes, including customer experience management products, network virtualization products, network intelligent analysis products, etc., and now it has carried out pilot cooperation with the three major carriers and their research institutions or provincial branches.

On June 20th , 2019, AsiaInfo Technologies Limited held the "Force Evolution - AsiaInfo X for 5G Product Launch" in Beijing, which aimed at fully displaying AsiaInfo's "global visualization, global intelligence and global perceptibility" supporting capacity in 5G network and related business, deepening the cooperation with telecom carriers and large enterprises, and jointly building an open and collaborative 5G ecosystem to promote its transformation “from traffic to value”.

Three "globals" to ensure the smooth operation of 5G commercial software

In fact, as a company with software genes, AsiaInfo has always implemented its own advantages in software, using mobile communication networks to carry out overall technology evolution in virtualization and intelligence, and has made numerous software-loadable solutions in the network field.

"Global virtualization mainly refers to products and solutions for 5G network intelligence and virtualization, which help carriers to automate and virtualize network and business functions within the network system. 'Global Intelligence' means based on AsiaInfo's capacities accumulated in carriers' systems over the years in machine learning, data mining and artificial intelligence, to help carriers establish a set of universal AI platforms compatible with O and B domains, and to help carriers export uniform capabilities to vertical ecosystems within the communications ecosystem. 'Global awareness' means all new products of AsiaInfo developed for 5G must be aimed at optimizing and enhancing the awareness and experience of carriers' mobile users and vertical industry users at the network business level, and the ultimate goal of all products is to optimize the experience and awareness of 5G users." AsiaInfo CTO Ouyang Ye elaborated on AsiaInfo's 5G product and technology strategy.

"For example, the network user experience management products based on network user experience, including network virtualization products, and network optimization, network intelligence optimization, and network virtualization products based on network data." However, in Ouyang Ye's view, although the 5G commercial software in the market already has certain capabilities, and even some of them have been developed, it is necessary to wait until the network is mature before it can be fully tested. "It’s often the network first, then products are there, and then the verification and test, different levels."

Ye Ouyang stressed that mature commercial 5G software should be divided into three categories: network virtualization is a strong standard. The slice management software and technology are the medium standard, and BSS is the strong standard of the enterprise group. From the perspective of AsiaInfo, when developing products, it must follow these three categories and then proceed according to the standard specifications.

As for the software compatibility test, in order to better ensure the 5G experience of core customers, AsiaInfo is cooperating with the research institutes or provincial branches under the three major carriers in pre-business innovation. When the 5G infrastructure is established, AsiaInfo's software solution will be able quickly get the market feedback on 5G network and IT support systems.

First-class service capability

Transformation cannot be accomplished in an action; enterprise transformation is a process. To ensure the smooth transition from 4G to 5G, AsiaInfo's current technology solutions are compatible with 4G and 5G networks, allowing customers to use AsiaInfo's products and services with greater confidence.

"It is very difficult for domestic carriers to accept the pure product model, and the model of products plus services is not mature in China. It is also necessary to consider labor and development costs. Therefore, from the perspective of AsiaInfo, the best choice now is to provide quality products, and then according to customer demands, pay as needed. " In Gao Nianshu's view, there is a certain commonality in customization based on requirements - personalized customization and delivery based on products. "Basic products + personalized delivery" is a viable model, which is why AsiaInfo values products.

In the future, AsiaInfo will focus on three areas: network intelligence, digital operations, and digital transformation of non-carrier companies.

“In the past, AsiaInfo's focus was on business support, such as billing, CRM, BI, etc. These are network-independent.” According to Gao, 5G provides new opportunities for software companies; although network intelligence is a new field for AsiaInfo, the Company has always been making new attempts.

As for digital operations, now AsiaInfo is still working with carriers so as to influence other new industries with high-quality data from carriers and AsiaInfo's artificial intelligence, and then get profit through scenario design. Such as finance, including banking and insurance, and various securities, services, affairs...

The digital transformation of large non-carrier enterprises may be a change made by AsiaInfo to keep with the trend of the times. "Every industry is undergoing digital transformation. AsiaInfo has accumulated more than 20 years of experience in products and services in cooperation with carriers. These experiences can be used in other industries through applying AsiaInfo's products, data, and algorithm capabilities and delivery ability in large projects to other non-carrier Big B industries."

Conclusion

5G scenarios will be more complicated in the future. Taking billing as an example, the To C scenario alone is very complicated, which may indirectly lead to great changes in the software. Especially with the development and expansion of the vertical market in the future, many personalized products will come into being.

"Network slicing does not mean directly delivering the network slicing service To B customers. It must be fully furnished to ensure that the slicing is serviceable, manageable and measurable." Gao Nianshu said that the in the future, network slicing will be provided to the users along with a lot of service software, management software and slices, and it is more likely to come up with new software that can grow with the slices.