Edge computing as an evolution of cloud computing brings application hosting from centralized data centers down to the network edge, closer to consumers and the data generated by applications. It is acknowledged as one of the key pillars for meeting the demanding 5G Key Performance Indicators, especially as far as low latency and bandwidth efficiency are concerned. Moreover edge computing also plays an essential role in the transformation of the telecommunications business, where telecommunications networks are turning into versatile service platforms for industry and other specific customer segments.

ETSI ISG MEC is the home of technical standards for edge computing. The group has already published a set of specifications and reports to offer fully standardized solutions to support IoT applications in distributed cloud. The emphasis of this talk is the MEC features in support of IoT use cases and requirements, as well as the MEC integration with 5G system and the MEC expansion to edge federation.

The upcoming massive deployment of 5G and IoT devices, together with a plethora of new industrial applications is going to add traffic pressure and demand new types of connectivity. Such a tremendous increase of connected devices and traffic is expected to push the underlying network infrastructure beyond its current limits. Moreover, in order to cope with the new connectivity demands, the so called “softwarization” of the network is key to provide, in an agile manner, new network services with different characteristics. 

Innovations in the networking solutions are required to provide sufficient and sustainable capacity capable of dealing not only with the expected increase in traffic and users/things, but also with the traffic pattern shifts expected in the next decade. Moreover, in order to achieve the desired agility, Software Defined Networking and Openness are two key aspects in the network evolution. The network is changing to become programmable and intelligent.

In this keynote, we will present the path of an operators towards building an open transport network enabling Beyond 5G services, with a focus on the different industry initiatives that help in this process.