Intel White Paper: Building 5G Wireless Core

White Paper Service Providers

Building the 5G Wireless Core

Discover how the new 3rd Generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor family helps meet the performance and security challenges of the 5G core. Features include built-in acceleration, improved input/output, and a range of security technologies.

Authors Executive summary

With mobile data traffic expected to grow by 4.5x over the next five years1,

Bryan Butters

communications service providers (Co SPs) need flexible and performant servers

Product Manager,

for the 5G core. At the same time, with the core becoming increasingly distributed,

Intel Network Platforms Group

encryption and security are more important than ever.

Rory Browne

3rd Generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors deliver the performance the

Solution Architect,

5G wireless core needs, backed with processor technologies that can be used to

Intel Network Platforms Group

help secure the core. New instructions accelerate common encryption protocols including internet protocol security (IPsec) and Transport Layer Security (TLS). Intel® Software Guard Extensions (Intel® SGX) provide a security-enabled enclave to protect data, code, and keys. In this paper, we share data that shows the performance improvements in the latest generation processor for workloads including 5G user plane function (UPF), IPsec forwarding, and Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). We also outline the improvements in input/output (I/O) and memory, and profile the new N SKUs designed especially for network workloads. The advancements in the latest processor generation deliver a strong architecture for the 5G core, with built-in security and an attractive total cost of ownership (TCO).

Building the 5G wireless core Videos, music, apps: the traffic load on the mobile network has never been greater,

Table of Contents

and it’s still growing. From 2021 through 2026, Ericsson estimates mobile data Executive summary . traffic will grow by 4.5x to reach 226 exabytes worldwide per month.2 Building the 5G wireless core . To deliver 5G services effectively, Co SPs need highly performant servers for the wireless core. 3rd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors are optimized

Pervasive performance for

for network workloads. The processors come with 8–40 cores, and N SKUs are

the 5G core .

engineered specifically for the needs of modern network workloads. They’re Accelerating encryption targeted for low latency, high throughput, and deterministic performance. N SKUs offer our best performance per watt. These processors offer higher base frequency

Improved input/output (I/O) .

for greater throughput for virtual network functions (VNFs) and cloud-native New security-enabled enclaves . network functions (CNFs), with lower power consumption for dense or constrained physical deployments.

Built-in acceleration .

The architecture of 5G brings new security requirements. The UPF can be more

Improved memory performance .

widely distributed, including to untrusted customer sites. Backhaul to the core Network-optimized processors . is encrypted using IPsec. TLS protects connections from third parties, such as automotive companies, that connect to the service-based architecture (SBA) to

A flexible foundation .

integrate with their services. As before, the network stores and processes sensitive Learn more . customer data that must be protected.