Read Part I of Mobile Edge Computing.
Two years ago, some of the very first articles we published on The Mobile Network picked up on a theme that we thought would be critical – we called it Intelligent Networks.
(See Building the intelligent network at Mobile World Congress 2013; Some automated thinking about MWC2013; Building the intelligent network at Mobile World Congress 2013: Part II; NSN adds edge intelligence for Liquid Applications launch)
When asked what we were writing about, working on, or thought was hot, this was often the answer – the topic of how networks could become more “aware” – aware of customer locations and value, aware of network conditions, aware of impending demand, aware of what should happen next.
Sometimes that hit a chord and other times it left the interrogator with a blank look and quickly moving the subject on. But look now – network intelligence, the structure of the adaptive network, predictive decision-making is front and centre.
It is within this trajectory that you should think of Mobile Edge Computing. Certainly is something you are going to hear more and more about. It’s an application of aspects of embedded and cloud technology that imbues base stations with more smarts, can make things happen quicker on the network, and can reduce demand on core signalling and core elements. It also may just be an essential architecture to adopt for 5G use cases that are a) network dependent and b) require very low latency.
And MEC was there, as this feature makes clear, two years ago with Nokia’s first Radio Application Server and Liquid Apps announcements.
So the two-part feature on Mobile Edge Computing is not TMN hurriedly jumping on the bandwagon. We did that two years ago!
