The GSMA, 3GPP, ETSI and Chinese telcos have joined forces to collaborate on virtual multi-access edge computing (MEC) technology.
The group comprises 13 telcos and was formed following discussions chaired by Huawei at a roundtable at the recent Mobile World Congress Shanghai.
MEC, which was formerly known as mobile edge computing, allows operators to roll out distributed network architecture and deliver services locally. Among its advantages is greater network efficiency, low latencies, and the ability to deliver better services to customers.
Tang Xiongyan, Chief Technologist of China Unicom Network Technology Research Institute, a member of the new group, said: “It is time that MEC applications be developed and used. We need to speed the development of an MEC ecosystem alliance and related standards, while also considering new business models. The goal in all of this is to enable the communications industry to support more industrial internet applications.”
Yang Zhiqiang, Deputy General Manager of China Mobile Research Institute, another member, added: “The next step for MEC networks should focus on building a unified network architecture through standards organisations. The architecture needs to enable unified scheduling and management, and flexible control and loading of edge nodes, thus creating an array of applications.”
The full list of members comprises China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom, China Communications Standards Association, China Computer Federation, GSMA, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), ETSI, Industrial Internet Consortium, Huawei, Intel, ARM, Trend Micro, and iQiyi.
The group will meet every six months to discuss cooperation projects and development of the technology.