A three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the companies focuses on possible enhancements and optimization enabled by cloud native micro-services-based principles. 

The MoU comes as increasing focus is being placed on the need for more agile and programmable 5G standalone core network that efficiently manage growth with automation and simplified operations

Peo Lehto, Head of Solution Line Packet Core at Ericsson, says: “Cloud-native micro-services architecture gives simplified and more granular software life-cycle management, higher degrees of automation, and more robust operations based on common mechanisms like container-based light weight virtualization and orchestration such as Kubernetes.”

Lehto says SKT and Ericsson will work closely to build solutions for predictable performance and high availability, enabled by state optimized design and the micro services architecture

“This will relieve requirements on the infrastructure by allowing better handling of multiple failures, better infrastructure utilization with more flexible and granular scaling, as well as increased rate of innovation with independent lifecycles and in-service software upgrade for each service,” he says.

“Ericsson and SKT have been cooperatig closely for many years around 5G innovation. With the new MoU we can accelerate the necessary evolution of 5G core networks the profitable introduction of 5G-based services and use cases.”

Jong-kwan Park, SVP, Head of 5GX Labs, SK Telecom, says: “After the successful launch of 5G NSA network, SK Telecom is preparing to migrate towards 5G SA networks to provide the latest and greatest technology and services to its customers. This joint collaboration with Ericsson on the next generation 5G SA Core and cloud native principles will not only enable us to introduce new services faster while at the same time improve our operational efficiency but also support higher availability through simplified operation.”