The 4G/5G converged core has improved network speed and latency by more than 10%, says T-Mobile US
T-Mobile US and Cisco say they have launched the world’s “largest” highly scalable and distributed nationwide cloud-native converged core gateway. The carrier has already moved all its 5G and 4G traffic to the new cloud native core gateway, which it says “immediately” improved performance by more than 10% in both speed and latency.
“T-Mobile customers already have access to the largest, most powerful 5G network in the country, and we’re innovating every day to supercharge their experience even further,” said Delan Beah, senior vice president of core network and services engineering at T-Mobile. “This cloud native core gateway takes our network to new heights, allowing us to push 5G forward by delivering next-level performance for consumers and businesses nationwide while setting the stage for new applications enabled by next-gen networks.”
Based on Cisco’s cloud-native control plane, the fully automated converged core gateway is optimized with Kubernetes orchestrated containers on bare metal. This frees up more than 20% of the CPU (Central Processing Unit) cores, said the companies. The converged core solution uses a broad mix of Cisco’s networking solutions including the Cisco 8000 Series routers, 5G and 4G packet core gateways, Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS), and Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches with Cisco Network Services Orchestrator.
Further, the new core gateway also allows T-Mobile US to test and deliver new 5G and IoT applications at scale faster and more easily. “T-Mobile can simplify network functions across the cloud, edge and data centers to significantly reduce operational life cycle management,” the companies claimed, adding that because the converged core is “more distributed than ever before” it delivers lower latency and advanced capabilities like edge computing.
“Our strategic relationship with T-Mobile is rooted in co-innovation, with a shared vision to establish best practices for 5G and the Internet for the Future,” said Masum Mir, senior vice president and general manager, Cisco Networking Provider Mobility. “This is the type of network every operator aspires to. It will support the most advanced 5G applications for consumers and businesses today and enables T-Mobile to test and deliver new and emerging 5G and IoT applications with simplicity at scale.”
