Slice also supported remote gamers in the US and South Korea, as well as a live broadcast
The UK’s Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) demo’d the potential of network slicing with Ericsson at the Comic Con event, held this week at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. The event attracted 8,000 visitors.
The demo showed a dedicated slice on VMO2’s 5G Standalone (SA) network enabling remote play and live broadcasting of augmented reality e-sport Hado and supported several thousand players simultaneously at peak times.
Gamers at Comic Con also competed against remote players in the US and South Korea, in real-time, largely thanks to the dedicated slice, according to the operator: the slice delivered the required bandwidth and latency, and controlled jitter.
The network slice also enabled the live broadcast of the action to thousands of viewers worldwide via Virgin Media O2’s “stable, secure and reliable communications platform”.
Network details
Remote ReRemote play and live broadcast took place over Virgin Media O2’s 5G SA network using a Cradlepoint R1900 device for 5G and network slicing on the 3.5GHz band. Virgin Media O2 configured the network slice end-to-end through the Ericsson-powered radio and core network; and was able to provision Hado’s SIM Cards to be able to access it in a matter of minutes.
Jim Sephton, Managing Director of Hado UK said,“5G standalone and network slicing will be game changers for the gaming industry. The ability to compete with people from all around the world and break down previous geographical limitations will have a real positive impact for Hado and other esports like it. It was particularly impressive that all of this was possible at a location as busy as Comic Con.”
Serious apps
The operator pointed out that the same tech could be applied to rather more serious applications, such as used by the emergency services. “The possibilities are endless,” claimed Jorge Ribeiro, Director of Service Platform Strategy and Engineering at VMO2. Find out more.