Google Fiber says that it and Nokia have successfully demonstrated network slicing. The demo, which took place at GFiber Labs, used a Nokia optical line terminal for the network slicing.
Two PS5 gaming consoles were linked to a traffic generator. Initially — before the activation of the network slicing — there was lag, shuttering, and pixelation. Network slicing was enabled, and the game functioned normally.
“The game runs effectively [at] under 10ms. Congestion added 90ms to the delay, [so] another 10ms path was selected,” Nick Saporito, GFiber’s Head of Product, told Telecompetitor about the network slicing demo.
Fingerprinting (the automatic establishment of a network slice) and network congestion simulation (selection of “a new clean path” if the current one fails) were demonstrated, according to Saporito.
Network slicing has generated interest in enterprise use — such as a demo regarding public safety and another 5G network slicing demo by Verizon. GFiber is positioning it as a consumer product, however.
“Today’s one-size-fits-all connections treat all traffic the same. But we know not everyone uses the internet the same way: gamers care about latency, remote workers need video stability, home businesses rely on solid uptime and security, and, we can see a future where applications (AI, VR, etc.) may require next-level performance. Network slicing could be how we level up network performance.”
Another use case of the technology are “transactional slices.” These are short-term connections that provide secure environments. The example in the Google Fiber post about its network slicing demo is the ability to spin up temporary connections from a subscribers’ homes to a bank without crossing the internet.
It’s been a busy year for GFiber. In May, GFiber announced that it will roll out its multi-gigabit service in Kansas and Missouri. That was only weeks after making a similar announcement for Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, and Texas. Earlier in the year, it had rolled services to Utah and Idaho (in April) and to Alabama, Arizona, North Carolina, and Tennessee (in January).
