5G Private Network Guidelines for Industry Verticals
Summary
5G offers many benefits apart from the increased data speeds, such as completely renewed security architecture, lower latency of the connectivity, and support of massive number of simultaneously communicating IoT devices. Along with the new architectural models, 5G works as an enabler for private networks, or non-public networks (NPNs). Traditionally, there have been many ways to implement private networks based on previous generations of cellular technologies or other wireless systems such as Wi-Fi hotspots, but thanks to the service-based architecture (SBA) of the 5G standalone (SA) networks, enterprises, factories, and other entities interested in serving closed user groups can implement new advanced functions, choosing from various architectural models covering own, standalone NPN (SNPN) and completely outsourced networks on 5G network slice (NS), or relying on shared infrastructure that combines private and public network components in a form of public network integrated NPN (PNI-NPN). Nevertheless, as the environment is so new, the ecosystem benefits from further guidelines to better understand the adequate balancing of the pros and cons of each model.