Challenges and opportunities of EPC

EPC (Evolved Packet Core Network) was born in response to LTE. The mobile communication network evolved from 3G to 4G LTE, and the mobile core network also evolved from the traditional core network to EPC. EPC is the core network part of the 4G network, and provides an intelligent pipeline for high-speed, high-traffic data transmission. It plays a pivotal role in the 4G network.

From the perspective of functions and definitions, EPC is more suitable for mobile data service development than traditional core networks. 3GPP defines EPC mainly to meet the needs of higher-speed mobile data service access. As a new network architecture, EPC has the characteristics of flatness, separation of control and bearer, and All IP. These characteristics make EPC more comfortable to deal with the surge of mobile data traffic, reduce the cost per bit, and also support multiple access methods of 3GPP and non-3GPP. It is a converged architecture of heterogeneous networks. It can be said that EPC has laid a solid network foundation for operators to develop mobile Internet, full-service and big data services.

EPC provides guarantee for the development of LTE services. At the same time, EPC networks are also meeting new challenges. The experience of foreign operators in large-scale deployment of EPC networks shows that the signaling storm caused by the surge in data traffic is testing the "robustness" of EPC. The surge in mobile data traffic has led to a signaling storm. Compared to traffic growth, signaling overload is more sudden and more destructive to mobile networks. In recent years, mobile phone network paralysis has been caused by signaling storms. At the same time, for operators, in order to cope with the explosive growth of mobile data traffic, it is often necessary to expand and upgrade the network throughput. However, the consequence of this measure is that the increasing gap between network investment growth and revenue growth has resulted in an increasing scissors difference .

The above challenges are “forcing” operators to build more secure and stable robust EPC networks. Industry experts believe that the occurrence of signaling storms is mainly due to a combination of factors such as insufficient network perception of terminals and services, terminal and service behavior, and network capacity imbalances. To solve the impact of the signaling storm, operators need to start with the "cloud, management, and end" end-to-end unified solution, as well as the targeted optimization of the EPC network side. At the same time, they need to learn from advanced foreign operators. Deployment experience.

At present, operators and equipment manufacturers have begun to actively explore the optimization of EPC networks. If any manufacturers try to introduce virtualization, cloud computing and other technologies into EPC, to create a more flexible and efficient network, it is also conducive to network construction. Cost reduction. In addition, manufacturers start from the platform strategy to ensure the stability and reliability of EPC, and to build EPC's LTE networking capabilities of different vendors, to provide guarantee for larger-scale deployment of EPC.

The pace of technological evolution has never stopped. The arrival of the LTE era has provided "fertile soil" for the development of EPC, and the continuous development of EPC technology will also provide strong support for the take-off of LTE. It is foreseeable that under the growing market demand, how to build an EPC network with high efficiency, low cost, reliability and stability will become the direction of continuous exploration in the industry.