The document discusses how 5G and mobile edge computing (MEC) are fueling growth through the use of APIs. It describes how MEC processes data closer to devices at the network edge for improved performance. 5G impacts latency and other factors. APIs allow dynamic interactions between networks, MEC, software, and devices to support new technologies. The 5G Future Forum aims to accelerate 5G and MEC solutions through API development and specifications that are interoperable across networks.

1. How APIs are fueling the
growth of 5G and MEC
API Days Interface
June 28th, 2023
Luc-Philippe Bouchard
Troy Saulnier
Michael Murphy

3. 5G Future Forum
2
5GFF’s mission is to accelerate the delivery of 5G and MEC-enabled solutions for developers and customers
around the world.

4. ● MEC is a cloud-based solution that processes and stores data at the
network’s edge, closer to devices and endpoints for improved response times
and performance.
5G and Mobile Edge Compute(MEC)
What is MEC?
How do Network APIs support
the MEC solution?
5G Impact
How do APIs Support this new
technology paradigm? ● We’re developing and enhancing API specifications that are interoperable across
telcos and are cloud agnostic.
● Facilitates latency & reliability, speed & throughput, mobility & connected devices,
and service deployment & energy efficiency
● APIs allow for dynamic interactions between the mobile network, the MEC, the
software platform, and the end user device.

5. 5GFF confidential and proprietary. Unauthorized disclosure, reproduction or other use prohibited.
5GFF Demos

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Open Sesame Demo Overview
5G Music Festival: World’s first music collaboration across continents showcasing 50
years of rock and roll, over 5 minutes, over 5G
5G Music Festival
Video

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Solution for Architecture Challenges at 5GFF Music Festival
● Multi-network, multi-territory
session where all users can
benefit from low audio latency
provided by SyncStage
● Users from the same area
can also benefit from reduced
latency and jitter between
them provided by MEC and
the EDS API - latency (14% -
25% better than cloud)
SyncStage (Open Sesame) AWS Wavelength AWS Outpost
New York
Toronto
London

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Learn more about the technical architecture
Open Sesame Whitepaper
How SyncStage supports Multi-
Territory & Multi Network Music
Collaboration using the 5GFF’s Edge
Discovery Service
AWS Whitepaper
Architecting multi carrier
interoperability with Edge Discovery
APIs on AWS Wavelength

9. 5G MEC API Overview
Troy Saulnier and Luc-Philippe Bouchard
5G, MEC and IoT Innovation and Discovery

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1G
No data
1981
2G
40kbps
1991
Up
to
3G
42Mbps
1998
4G
1.5Gbps
2008+
5G
20Gbps
2019+
Up
to
Up
to
Up
to
What makes 5G so different?
5G is a leap forward across many metrics, leveraging cloud, APIs and AI
for an explosion of new services
99.999%
Availability
100%
Coverage
90%
Less energy
10 Year
100x
1000x
1ms
20 Gbps
Sustainable cities
Immersive entertainment
Safer transportation
Improved public safety
data

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Mission Critical Services
Autonomous Vehicles
Remote Healthcare & Surgery
Smart & Safe Cities
Wireless Fixed Broadband
Immersive Entertainment Environmental Monitoring
Manufacturing & Logistics
Intensive smartphone & data growth
Where are developers leveraging 5G?
Enhanced Mobile Broadband Massive IoT Low Latency

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All these are real companies, with real business objectives
Enabling real-world breakthrough innovations

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Journey from Telco to Servco / Techco
Shifting from connectivity to comprehensive solutions
From a similar, to a
differentiated experience
From mass consumer
features, to multiple
targeted solutions
From consumer only, to
developers and
enterprises

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Why latency matters?
Whether it’s a banking application where milliseconds can mean millions, or fully
autonomous vehicles where milliseconds can mean metres and the difference between
stopping safely, or not, our wireless and wireline networks play a significant role in
delivering low latency
Stopping!
Stop!
*SELL NOW*
ACTUAL SALE
PRICE
Other
applications
requiring low
latency
Drone command
and control
High-precision
autonomous
mining
AR/VR 360 degree sports
and e-sports

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Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) and latency

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MNO Network APIs and developers
Network
Wireless Fibre / transport
Partners,
verticals,
and
services Connected
Workforce
Smart
Buildings /
Cities
Supply
Chain
Smart
Agriculture /
Manufacturing
Public
Safety
Video
Surveillance
B2B B2B2X B2C
5G Games
5G Experiences
5G Devices
Slicing Cloud / MEC
Autonomous Vehicles
Connected Vehicles
Drones, Gaming
Augmented / Virtual
Reality, Smart Homes
APIs
Performance telemetry Request network features
Core RAN
• Bandwidth
• Latency
• Jitter
• QoS
Attributes
• Slice / sub slice
• MEC location
• Admission control
• QoD
• Congestion state
• Location
Interface Reporting, charging
5G (3GPP)
Core and RAN
Device
management
Transport Cloud MEC
Charging,
rating, billing
Data lake,
analytics, DPI
Location (GPS,
high accuracy)
Partners
• Network aware Apps
(development, use)
• Digital marketplace
• ISVs / Developer
ecosystem tools
Smart Core
What network, infrastructure and service attributes are most useful for Developers?
It depends on the use case…

17. Telco / ISV Development Ecosystem
Latency, reliability and consistency Developer access to 5G capabilities via APIs
Content delivery
network, App
storage
MEC
Edge data
center
House the compute power and application content at
local edge data centres for the mobility 5G users, which
is to allow lower latency
Dedicating (or prioritizing) a ‘slice’ of the network for Apps
and Content, which could provide lower latency and
improved bandwidth
App /
Content
Slicing
Network API’s
Network APIs to aid partners in delivering the best app
experience
Differentiated experiences (Slicing, QoS, latency)
QoS Leverage wireless QoS (QCI, 5QI) to link traffic flows to
optimal priorities
Ecosystem
Developer sandbox Extend XR partner sandbox to Bell capabilities including
developer education, environment access, etc.
KPI requirements
Devices XR, mobile, AR glasses, consumer / enterprise context,
specialized use cases, IoT
Networks Mobile (5G SA, 5G NSA, LTE) via radio or hotspot
Wi-Fi via best in class plus intelligent meshed pods
Bandwidth, latency, jitter optimal requirements
User experience and app KPIs (load time, disconnects,
visual artifacts, audio synch, multiplayer lag, etc.)
Developers
/ ISVs

18. EDS API

19. Supports interoperable
and federated Telco Edge
Cloud: Operator MEC or
hyperscaler cloud at
operator edge

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End-to-end API flow and zero-touch North Star
Environment Setup and
Cluster Configuration
• Cluster Creation
• Creation of Node-pools and allocate nodes to it
• Load balancer Configuration
• Firewall rules for a) mobile users and b) ISV workloads
• AD account creation for access to the cloud project *
• Give developers to access the cluster, RBAC – Role Based Access/Authorization Control
• Download of the Kubeconfig to access Kube-APIServer
Application Build and
Deployment
• Namespace creation
• Memory and CPU quotas for a namespace and pods in the namespace
• Horizontal autoscaling of pods in a Kubernetes cluster
• Provision a Linux virtual machine on the cloud edge
• Metric configuration and visualization
• SSL certificate using Certificate Authority service
• Register a domain names
• Set up domains in Cloud DNS
Manual onboarding and Lifecyle steps do not scale beyond single digit deployments
Operational challenges for ISVs and Developers

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Leverage CAMARA specifications and 5GFF roadmaps to programmatically
orchestrate, deploy and manage workload lifecycle
Why edge cloud + 5G APIs? Developer benefits…
W
IP

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API evolution
API Standards and Technology Evolution
1950’s – 1990’s 2000 -2009 2010-2019 2020-2030
API Service Evolution
1951: 1st API spec
(in Wilkes and
Wheelers’ book)
1974: API first introduced
to database (by C. J. Date)
1990’s: Many ways to
expose API services (e.g.
CORBA, COM & DCOM)
2000: REST (Roy Fielding)
2001: Open &
distributed API
(Semantic
Web API)
(by Tim
Berners-Lee)
Mostly private APIs for
internal use: intra-
system, inter-system,
inter-domain
Semi-public APIs (for
partners) and public
APIs (for customer
support and self-serve)
Emerging APIaaS and CPaaS
(e.g. Twilio, Vonage Nexmo,
Telefonica TokBox)
2013: TeleManagement
Forum 3 Open APIs
published (Product
Catalog, Product
Ordering, Trouble Ticket
Management)
Early API monetization efforts by Service Providers (e.g. Vonage, Telefonica,
AT&T, Telstra, Bell) & thru industry forums (e.g. TMF, 5GFF, CAMARA)
Other
APIs: MEF,
3GPP, BBF,
O-RAN, IoT,
Data
analytics/
AI/CAI/ML
Prolific API development and deployment by financial institutions, healthcare, government, etc.
2021: CAMARA
(Telco Global
API Alliance)
established ,
with Quality on
Demand
published
(18 repositories
on GitHub by
end of 2022)
2020: 5G Future Forum
established, focusing on
5GFF APIs for discovery,
deployment, and
orchestration of apps on
MEC at telco edge
2/2023: 8 telco members
(Vz, Vodafone, America
Movil, NOS, Telstra, KT,
Bell, Rogers)
Telco APIs thru industry forums (e.g. 5GFF): edge
discovery service, workload orchestration, QoS
mgmt, Network KPI exposure, network slicing

23. 5GFF 2023 API Roadmap
Focus Area Objective API
Traffic Steering /
Optimization
Empower application developers with intent-based end-to-end traffic
differentiation tailored to specific application/user requirements.
Network Slice Management
Network Slice Mapping
Traffic Influence
Quality of Service / on Demand
Network
Intelligence
exposure
Expose Network Analytics data to application developers based on specific
intents to enable applications to make decisions to improve end-user experience Radio Network Information KPIs
Bi Directional APIs
Standardized API interface definition between CSP and TSP to exchange MEC
focused network, application, and platform data
N/A
Edge Discovery
Service
Enable discovery of the most optimal MEC platform and endpoints of
Applications hosted on MEC
CAMARA Edge Cloud API
Workload
Orchestration
Enable developer to orchestrate application workload through intent based API CAMARA Edge Cloud API
Leading through 5GFF
Advancing through CAMARA

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This is what 5G MEC APIs might look like…
Application
owners / developers
Vertical solutions
Cloud
partners
Onboarding Manage workloads
Back-office Operations
5G
Secure 5G MEC APIs
Account
mgmt.
Organization
structure
Infra/FW
Creation + deploy
RBAC
Access /
KPIs / billing
Consumer devices
Simplicity, abstraction layers, standard interfaces…

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Thus the aim to align for an ecosystem that is developer friendly…
This is what we do not want it to become…

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Flexibility – there are many cloud and API partners, find a fit
Agility – yet to spec/build a full scope, iterative approach needed
Tooling – multiple options today, more offered over time
Creativity – unleash scalable, network-aware application potential
Standards – can help shape the future of the API ecosystem
5G MEC APIs – Key Takeaways
Unlock value and generate new monetization
opportunities

27. 5GFF confidential and proprietary. Unauthorized disclosure, reproduction or other use prohibited.
5GFF MEC Acceleration
Program (MAP)

28. 5G MEC Acceleration
Program
Benefits to Developers:
● Co-Marketing Opportunities
● Global Application Showcases
● Influence 5GFF API Development
● Access to International Telco Leaders
“To allow you to deploy your applications across
territories…opens up a wide range of use cases allowing
collaboration to be borderless…. This would not be possible
without 5GFF.”
-Julian McCrea, Open Sesame Co-Founder