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Five network trends
TOWARDS THE 6G ERA
Thepivotalrolethatthedigital
infrastructureplaysindeliveringcritical
societal,economicandgovernmental
functionshasbecomeclearerthanever
beforeasaresultoftheCOVID-19
pandemic.Thereisnowahighlevelof
awarenessinbothbusinessandsociety
thatavailability,reliability,affordability
andsustainabilityareallessential
aspectsofthedigitalinfrastructurethat
mustbeensuredinboththeshortand
longterm.Atthesametime,thecyber-
physicalconvergenceispickingup
speed,highlightingtheneedfor
advancednetworktechnologiesto
supportusecasesthatblurthe
boundariesbetweenphysicaland
digitalrealities.
Therapidaccelerationintheadoptionrateof
digitalizationduringthepandemicwouldnot
havebeenpossiblewithouttheexisting
capabilitiesofboththemobileandthefixed
communicationsinfrastructure.Going
forward,5Gwillbethemaindigital
infrastructureforconsumerswithmobile
andfixedwirelessresidentialaccess
supportingaugmented/virtualrealityand
artificialintelligence(AI)basedservices.For
enterprises–andparticularlythosethatare
alreadymovingtocloudservices–5G
provideshigherperformance,edge
computing,built-inInternetofThings
optimization,workflowautomationand
networkslicingforServiceLevelAgreement-
basedQoS.Thedesireformoreadvanced
usecasesinwhichthephysicalanddigital
worldsconvergecanalreadybeseenin5G
andwillbeevenmoreevidentinthe
developmentof6G.Forexample,the
InternetofSenses(IoS)willaugmentour
sensesbeyondtheboundariesofourbodies.
Thenetworkwillprovidecost-effectiveand
trustworthysolutionsfortheseusecases.
Increasingrelianceoncloudtechnologiesis
goingtobeessential.Manynetwork
operatorshavealreadystartedtoinclude
cloud-nativetechnologiesintheirnetworks
–examplesincludetheuseofcloud-native
standalonecoreandcloudRANswithan
openlayeredarchitecture.Future
developmentinthisareadependsonthe
existenceofhigh-performancedigital
infrastructurefunctionsthatensureanopen,
interoperable,trustworthy,secure,efficiently
automatedandsafephysicalworld.Beyond
exposingtraditionalcommunication
services,thenetworkwillprovidenew
featuressuchasmultisensorydigital
representationsincludingcontext
awarenessandobservabilitytosupport
userswithinsightsandreasoning.The
distributedfunctionsofthecommunication
network,suchasubiquitousconnectivity
embeddedwithintelligent,real-time
compute,willworkinsynergywiththe
distributedendpointsandthecloud
infrastructures,formingthefuture
capabilitiesofthedigitalinfrastructure.
Thefoundationalprinciplefortheevolution
ofthedigitalinfrastructurewillbeopenness
intechnicalandbusinessinterfaces,
guaranteeinganopenmarketplace.This
opennesswillbeinstrumentalfor
independentinnovationbothwithinandon
topofthedigitalinfrastructure,enablingthe
futurebusinessplatform.Theecosystemwill
evolvethroughbusiness-driveninvestments,
strongpartnershipsandopennessinthe
digitalinfrastructure.
Inlastyear’stechnologytrendsarticle,
Istressedtheimportanceofthenetworkas
thespinalcordofthedigitalinfrastructure
andarguedthatitistheidealplatformfor
innovationforanintelligent,sustainableand
connectedworld.Thisyear’sarticlefocuses
onthefundamentalnetworkfunctions
relatedtodigitalrepresentationthatenable
thecommunicationparadigmforthe
networkedreality.Ihavegroupedallofthese
functionstogetherintrend1,underthe
headingdigitalrepresentationforthe
networkedreality.Trends2-5arethemain
networkbuildingblocksthatwillensurethe
provisionoftherequiredcapabilitiesand
services,namely:adaptablelimitless
connectivity,integrityoftrustworthy
systems,federatedcognitivenetworksand
aunifiednetworkcomputefabric.
BY: ERIK EKUDDEN, CTO

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TREND#1:
DIGITALREPRESENTATIONFOR
THENETWORKEDREALITY
With5G,wealreadyenablephysicaland
digitalworldstoconvergeintoanaugmented
realitythatservescommunicationneedsfor
humansandmachines.Ashumansand
physicalobjectsareonlyabletoexperience
thephysicalworldinalocalcontext,thelocal
presenceofsensors,actuatorsand
networksisacrucialenabler.The
convergenceofphysicalanddigitalworldsis
enabledbydigitalrepresentationsofboth
humansandphysicalobjectsaswellas
theirenvironments.
Datafromembeddedsensorsand
actuatorsenablesthedigitalobservability
oftheenvironmentandphysicalassets.The
futurenetworkwillprovidelow-level
processingofbillionsofdifferentdata
streamsfromsensorsandpreparethemfor
applications.Thepreparationwillhandle
aggregation,filteringandfusionofthedata
streams.Processesaremonitoredinreal
time,andactuatorswillenableautonomous
operations.Tofurtherimprove
observability,thenetworkwillgenerate
sensorydatasuchasidentity,positioning,
timestampsandspatialmapping
information.While5Genablesthebasic
functions,6Gwillprovideenhancements
acrossthesedomains.Thefollowing
functionsandcapabilitiesarethemost
crucialinthedevelopmentofthefuture
networkplatform.
Network-awarerenderingand
synchronization
Someusecasesrequireupper-bound
guaranteedend-to-endlatency.Asthe
networkiscontextaware,fromthe
capabilitiesofspatialmappinganddynamic
objecthandling,renderingalgorithms
providesthedynamiclatencyandcontrol
requiredtooptimizethequalityoftheuser
experience.Theoptimizationincludes
synchronizationbetweenallsensory
modalitiesanddigitalobjectsinthe
physicalenvironment.
Collaborativecontextualawareness
andobservability
Connectedintelligentmachinesrelyon
contextualawarenessandobservabilityto
relateto,andcooperatewith,other
machinesnearby.Thisincludesthe
registrationandtrackingofphysical
trajectories,intentsandcapabilities,for
example.Thenetworkwillserveintelligent
machinesthroughacontextfabricof
contextualinformationincludingreal-time
processingofsuchcontextualinformation.
Thecontextfabricthusprovidesvalidated
informationtothecollaborativemachines
abouttheirpersonasandcapabilities,as
wellascontextualdata.
Interoperabilityamongmachines
anddevices
Diversityamongconnectedintelligent
machinesanddevicesleadsto
heterogeneityintermsofsemantic
descriptionsandinformationformats,and
mediationandinteroperabilityarethus
requiredbetweenthem.Theoptimization
ofcommunicationbetweenmachinesand
devicescallsforsyntacticaland
semanticinteroperability,aswellas
programmabilitybetweendifferent
protocolsandmodels.Thenetwork
communicationstackwillprovidesupport
forthis,therebyoff-loadingtheissueof
interoperability.
Real-timepositioning
Physicalandlogicalpositionsaswellastime
observationswillbeessentialforrelating
thedigitalrepresentationstothephysical
world,therebygeneratingdigitalcontext
awareness.Suchcontext-awaredata
needstobepresentedinauniformand
standardizedformattoenableusageacross
platformsandtooperateandmanage
systemsofsystems.Thisalsoenables
marketplacesforcontinuouslyupdated
observations,models,lessonslearned,
insightsandotherdigitalrepresentationsin
realtime.
Akeynetworkfeatureisthecoordination
ofsafe,collaborativeautonomous
operationsbyreal-timepositioningof
physicalobjectsinadynamicenvironment.
Thenetworkalsoprovidessecure
identificationandauthenticationofobjects
andtheirrelateddataforintegrityand
privacy.Thisenablesthesecurecontrol
andactuationofphysicalobjects,taking
intoconsiderationregulations,policiesand
roles.Thesenetworkabilitieswillbekey
enablersinthefoundationofatrustworthy
cyber-physicalworld.
Spatialmapping
Spatialmapsarecreatedbycollectingand
fusingsensordatafromallnetwork-
connecteddevices–suchascameras,
lidars,radars,gyroscopes,
accelerometers,levelsensorsand
pressuresensors.Thesenetwork-
generatedmapsareusedtocorrectly
positionthedigitalobjectstothephysical
environment,therebyenablingmultiuser
interaction.Thisnetworkfeaturewill
handlerelevantspatialmapping
processingtoreduceformfactors,power
consumptionandcostonIoSdevices.
Spatialmapswillinitiallyfocusonvisual
representationandwill,overtime,be
extendedtospatialsound,touch,smell
andtaste.
Dynamicobjecthandling
Basedonspatialmaps,thenetworkwill
performdynamicobjecthandlingand
real-timetrackingtomergethephysical
environmentanddigitalcontent.Dynamic
objecthandlingwillbeparticularly
importantforadvancedocclusion,
un-occlusionandthecontinuousupdate
ofmovingobjectsinhigh-resolution
spatialmaps.Forexample,inafire-rescue
operation,un-occlusionofsmellsand
temperaturecouldbeusedtolocalizea
trappedhuman.Otherfeaturesinclude
theabilitytocollectspatialdatato
generatepersonalizeduserexperiences
andenablecontext-aware
communication.
Embeddeddataprocessingand
enrichment
Afundamentalcapabilityofthefuture
networkisalightweightpervasivedata-
processingfabricprovidingtherightdata
pipelineandcomputecharacteristics.As
theconnectedintelligentmachines,
devicesandsensorswillgeneratemassive
dataandinformationstreams,the
networkwillprovideadequateprocessing
forthepreparationofdata,metadata
extractionandannotation.Further,
in-networkstreamprocessingand
enrichmentsuchaseventdetection,
filtering,inferencingandlearning,aswell
assensorfusion,willbeprovidedand
exposed.Thisin-networkstream
processingwillbesupportedby
specializedhardwareacceleration
embeddedinthenetwork.Dataformats
andnewcompressionalgorithmswillbe
optimizedfortheneedofmachinesrather
thanforhumanconsumptionand
processing.Thenecessarytranscoding
andcompressionalgorithmswillbe
embeddedinthenetwork.
Inadditiontothenetworkfunctionsand
capabilitiesdescribedabove,the
realizationofdigitalrepresentationforthe
networkedrealityatscalewillalsorequire
end-to-endsolutionsacrossthedigital
infrastructureofdevices,edges,networks
andclouds.Asdigitalrepresentationscan
includesensitiveinformation,
standardized,interoperableandsecure
useofcollaborativespatialmapsare
prerequisitestobuildtrust,makingthema
goodexampleofanareathatwillbenefit
fromecosystemcollaborationand
innovation.Wewillpromoteopennessand
closecollaborationwithintheglobal
ecosystemtoformthefuturebusiness
platformforinnovation.
Technologicaladvancesinfourkeyareas
areessentialforthefuturenetworkto
supporttheconvergenceofthephysical
anddigitalworlds,namely:limitless
connectivity,trustworthysystems,
cognitivenetworksandthenetwork
computefabric(trends2-5).
THEDIGITALIZEDAND
PROGRAMMABLE
PHYSICALWORLD
Inthefuture,everyphysical
object–includingintelligent
machines,humansandtheir
environments–willhavea
digitalrepresentation,andthe
physicalworldwillbefully
programmableand
automated.Thedigital
representationswillmanage
andprocessdataboth
individuallyandcollectively
forpredictionandplanningin
relationtothephysicalworld.
Thegeneratedinsightswill
impactthephysicalworld
throughorchestration,
actuationandreprogramming.
INTERNETOF
SENSES
TheIoSmakesitpossibleto
blendmultisensorydigital
experienceswithlocal
surroundingsandinteract
remotelywithpeople,devices
androbotsasiftheywere
nearby.Essentialcomponents
torealizedigitalsensory
experiencesclosetothose
experiencedinthephysical
worldarevisual,audio,haptic,
olfactory(smell)and
gustatory(taste)sensingand
actuationtechnologies.
CONNECTED
INTELLIGENT
MACHINES
Connectedintelligent
machinesarephysical
objectsandsoftwareagents
operatingandperforming
tasksinboththedigitaland
physicalrealms.Theyare
connectedtoapplications,
usersandeachotherin
collaborativeandaggregate
structures.Ascollaborative
capabilitiesadvance,the
needforcommunication
capacityandfunctional
capabilitiesincreases
exponentially,andnewdigital
anddiverseinteraction
patternswillbegenerated.
Further,connected
intelligentmachineswillbe
increasinglydependenton
awarenessofboththe
physicalanddigitalcontexts
inwhichtheyact.
KEY USE CASES
Threekeyusecasesaredrivingthenetworkedreality:thedigitalizedandprogrammablephysicalworld,theInternetof
Senses(IoS)andconnectedintelligentmachines.
1
2
3

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TREND#2:
ADAPTABLELIMITLESS
CONNECTIVITY
Oneoftheprimarygoalsof6Gaccessis
todeliveradaptablelimitlessconnectivity
thatensuresthedevelopmentofanagile,
robustandresilientnetwork.Usersand
applicationsshouldfocusonthetaskat
handanytimeandanywhere,whilethe
networkshouldbeabletoadaptand
supporttheirneeds.Multi-vendor
interfaceswillensureopennessbothin
networksandintheecosystematlarge
whileminimizingsystemcomplexity.
Networkadaptability
Solutionsthatensuredynamicandflexible
sitedeploymentsareessentialforfuture
high-capacity,resilientnetworks.Different
typesofnodes,includingad-hocandnon-
terrestrialones,willbeseamlessly
integrated.Forsmallersiteswithlimited
reach,thenetworktopologywillevolve
withmulti-hoproutingcapabilitiesleading
tocost-effectivenetworkdensification,
asdedicatedtransportlinkswillnot
beneeded.
High-performance,flexible,scalableand
reliabletransportwillallowheterogeneous
deploymentscenariosforthewhole
network.Forexample,itwillsimplifythe
integrationofdistributedandcentralized
radioaccess,aswellaspublicandnon-
publicnetworks.Tokeeptransport
networksflexibleandmanageable,
AI-poweredprogrammabilitywillbeused
forclosed-loopautomationandmulti-
servicevirtualization.
Deviceandnetworkprogrammability
Deviceswillbecomemorefuture-proofand
beabletoleveragemoreadvancednetwork
functionsthroughprogrammability.Device
programmabilitywillincludedownloadable
softwarestacksandconfigurableAI
models.Atthesametime,theprogrammable
networkfunctionalitywillsupportupdated
andnewdevicefeatures,resultingin
optimizedcustomizationofindividual
devicesforspecificusecases,aswellas
fasterfeaturedevelopmentandtime
tomarket.
End-to-endavailabilityandresilience
Tomeetavailabilityandresilience
requirements,thenetworkwillbe
simplified,withfewernode-centric
deploymentsandfunctionalseparations
betweentheradioaccessandcore.
Standardizedmulti-vendorinterfaceswill
ensureecosystemopennesswhile
minimizingcomplexity.
Networksandapplicationswillcollaborate
toensureend-to-endperformanceandthe
provisionofthemostsuitableservicesto
differentapplications.Resilience
mechanismsandend-to-endtransport
protocolsaregoodexamplesoffunctions
thatsupportcollaborationwith
applications.Theseend-to-endsupport
functionswillevolvewiththeneedsand
requirementsoftheapplications,suchas
transportprotocolsthatcanhandlemulti-
pathcommunicationandintelligent
congestioncontrol.Tosupportupper-
boundlatencyapplicationrequirements,
thenetworkwillprovidepredictablelatency
withlowlatencyvariation.
TREND#3:
INTEGRITYOF
TRUSTWORTHY
SYSTEMS
6Gnetworkswillsupporttrillionsof
embeddabledevicesandprovide
trustworthy,always-availableconnections
withend-to-endassurancetomitigatethe
widenedthreatspace.Anessentialfeature
ofthenetworkwillbetoprovidesecure
servicesbymanagingandverifying
compliancetosecurity,safety,resiliency
andprivacydemands.Automationthat
utilizesAItechnologieswillbeusedinthe
wholeproductlifecyclecovering
development,deploymentandoperations.
AItechnologieswillalsobeusedfor
automaticroot-causeanalysis,threat
detectionandresponseagainstattacks,as
wellasunintentionaldisturbances.These
technologieswillalsoenhanceservice
availability.
Confidentialcomputing
Securecloudandedgesystemshavestrict
protectionrequirementsfortheexecution
ofsensitivecodeanddatainvirtual
executionenvironments.Trustworthy
confidentialcomputingfeatureswill
provideisolatedexecutionenvironments
usingencryptionandcryptographic
integrityprotection.Thiswillrequire
specializedhardwareandremote
attestationbyuserstoverifythattheir
applicationsexecuteongenuineand
properlyconfiguredhardware,enabling
hardwareroot-of-trustandsecure
bootstrappingofthevirtualexecution
environment.
Evolvingtechnologieslikehomomorphic
encryption,whichpermitsuserstoperform
computationsdirectlyonencrypteddata,
aswellasmultipartyconfidential
computation,wheredataprivacybetween
participatingpartiesissecured,will
becomeavailable.
Confidentialcomputingtechnologiescan
alsobeusedtoovercomeprivacyconcerns
whenperformingprocessingonthecloud
andedge.
Secureidentitiesandprotocols
Thenetworkwillprovideroot-of-trustto
secureidentitiesinthehighlydynamicand
distributedvirtualizedenvironment.Secure
identitiesformthebaselineforidentity
managementandenhancementsto
privacy-preservingprotocolstacks,which
willenablethemonitoringandcompliance
verificationoftheentirenetworkaswellas
allconnectedphysicalobjectsandsoftware
agents.
Zero-trustarchitecture
Azero-trustarchitectureisfoundationalfor
facilitatingsecureaccesstonetwork
resourcesthatislimitedtoauthorizedand
approvedclients.Zerotrustisanidentity-
centricapproachbywhichdynamicpolicy
authorizationisexecutedinruntime.
Humanssupervisetheintegrityand
securitypostureofallownedand
associatedassets.
Serviceavailabilityassurance
Serviceavailabilitystartswithensuringthe
integrityandreliabilityofthehardwareand
softwarecomponentsandtheconsistency
ofbehaviorofeachserviceintheoperating
environmentwiththeassignednetwork
resources.Oneexampleisthetrade-off
betweensystemcapacityandperformance
intheradioaccesstomitigatetheeffectsof
environmentalandtrafficvariabilityfor
criticalservices.
Apredictiveanalysisframeworkfordata-
drivenoperationsandreal-timepolicy
managementwillprovidereal-time
compositemetricstosecureservice
availabilityandtoinformcriticalservices
aboutfunctionalsafetyrisks.Inadditionto
thenetworkmetrics,userscanalsoshare
theirintentionstofurtherenhancetheir
serviceavailability.
Building blocks of the
networked reality
TRENDS2-5:

4.
Ericssonisengagedwiththe
automotiveindustryinaproofof
conceptforautomatedtransport
robotsonawirelessfactoryfloor.
Thesolutionwillmoverelevant
application-relatedprocessingfrom
theconnecteddevicesintoedge
computecapabilities.Thecloud-
basedsoftwarestackandrelated
serviceshavebeensignificantly
adaptedfordeterministicreal-time
performance.Tofulfilltheindustrial
requirementsonavailabilityand
reliability,theintegrationofthe
solutionintothe5Gconnectivity
networkisunderway.Thenetwork
computefabricisembeddedwith
deterministiccomputation
capabilitiestomanageevent-to-
actuationinafault-tolerantmanner
forsafeandaccurateoperations.
PROOF OF
CONCEPT
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TREND#4:
FEDERATEDCOGNITIVE
NETWORKS
Continuingalongthe5Gnetwork
automationpath,thefuturenetworkwill
becomecognitivebyobservingandacting
autonomouslytooptimizeitsperformance.
Cognitive6Gnetworkswillenablefull
automationofnetworkmanagementand
configurationtasks,allowingoperations
andmaintenancepersonneltosupervise
thenetwork.
Asetofdistributedintentmanagerswillbe
embeddedinthenetwork.Eachintent
manageriscontrolledbyintentsthat
specifyexpectationsincluding
requirements,goalsandconstraints.An
intentmanagerincludescognitivefunctions
thatobservetheenvironmentundercontrol
anddrawconclusionsfromtheacquired
data.Thisimpliesareasoningprocesswith
thepurposeoftakingactiontofulfillthe
expectationsoftheintents.Humanswill
expressintentstocontrolthenetwork.
ThecognitivefunctionsuseAIfeaturesto
drawconclusionsfromrawdata.Examples
ofsuchfeaturesincludemachine-learning
modelsthatcanproduceinsightsand
machine-reasoningcapabilitiestoexecute
onintents.Furthermachine-reasoningand
multi-agentreinforcement-learning
technologiesarecandidatestoenable
collaborativeclosed-loopfunctionality.
TrustworthyAIensuresthattransparencyis
builtintothenetwork,sothathumanscan
understandwhycertainactionsaretaken
orwhycertainconditionscannotbemet.
Onetechnologyforimplementing
trustworthyAIisExplainableAI,an
approachthataimstoprovideaneasily
understandableexplanationofwhatanAI
outcomeisalongwiththerationalebehindit.
Theimplementationofcognitivefunctions
isenabledbyanunderlyingdata-driven
architecturethatincludesefficientand
securedataingest.Anessentialpartofthe
intentmanagerwillbetheknowledgebase,
whichiswheretheknowledgeofthe
cognitivefunctionsresides.
TREND#5:
AUNIFIEDNETWORK
COMPUTEFABRIC
Theconvergenceofinternet,telecom,
mediaandinformationtechnologieswill
leadtothecreationofaunified,global
systemofinterconnectedcomponents.
Thenetworkcomputefabricfacilitates
unificationacrossecosystems,application
management,executionenvironments,and
exposureofnetworkandcompute
capabilities.6Gwillactasacontrollerofthe
network,coveringapplicationsranging
fromsimpledevicestoadvancedcyber-
physicalsystems.Atthesametime,6Gwill
integratestorage,computeand
communicationtocreateadistributed
unifiednetworkcomputefabric.Thisfabric
willgiveserviceprovidersaccesstotools
andservicesbeyondconnectivitythatcan
bemadeavailabletotheopenmarketplace.
FutureusecasessuchastheIoSand
connectedintelligentmachineswillbe
highlydistributedwithdemandson
guaranteedlowdeterministiclatency,high
throughputandhighreliability.Thenetwork
willcomplementtheconnectivityoffering
withanembedded,unifiedexecution
environmentthathostsandmanagesthese
typesofusecases.Hardwareandsoftware
acceleration,time-sensitivecommunication
technologiessuchastime-sensitive
networkingandultra-reliablelowlatency
communication,aswellastiming-aware
featureswillenableguaranteedend-to-end
timingandreliability.
Consideringthebillionsofsensorand
actuatordatastreams,in-networkstream
processingwillbeprovidedby
deterministiccomputecapabilities
availablethroughinteroperable
applicationprogramminginterfaces.In
conjunctionwiththepreparationof
informationsuchastheprovenanceof
data,metadataextractionandannotation,
alightweightpervasivedatapipelineand
computefabricwillbeprovided.Further,
thenetworkwillprovideapplication
deployment,scalingandresource
allocationinaserverlessfashionto
supporttheexecutionofallthepossible
sensorandactuatorfunctionsof
thefuture.
Thiscomputefabricwillevolvearounda
federatedecosysteminvolvingactorsand
usersoftheairinterface,theinternet,cloud
servicesanddevices.Thescaleofthe
ecosystemwillrequirewideusageofbilateral
agreementsbetweenecosystemactors.The
computefabricwillofferadecentralizedand
broker-lessexchangeforvirtualservices,
includingidentityandrelationshandling.
Smartcontracttechnologiessuchas
distributedledgerswillautomatecontract
negotiationbetweenpartiessupporting
as-a-servicedeliverymodelslikeautomated
sales,deliveryandcharging.
Currentroamingmodelsforvoiceanddata
willexpandtoincludesmartcontractsfor
thefederatedecosystem.Togetherwithour
academicpartners,weareconducting
researchtoaddressthesecurity,
confidentiality,privacyandprovenanceof
thesetypesofbroker-lessexchanges.

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Thedigitalinfrastructureenabledby5G
and6Ghasacriticallyimportantroleto
playinenablingtheemergingcyber-
physicalconvergence,particularlywith
respecttoitsabilitytoreachamassive
scale.Advancedcapabilitiesand
featuresembeddedinthenetwork,
suchasfullreal-timespatialmapping
andcontext-awareuserdata,willbe
foundationaltothenextwaveofdigital
transformation.Theworldwidesystem
ofinterconnectedphysicalobjectsand
softwareagentsthatemergesasa
resultwillmakeiteasytointegrate
entitiesfromdifferentdomainstoform
varioussystemsofsystems.
Thedigitalinfrastructurewillenablethe
continuousoptimizationofalldigitalized
solutionsforthebenefitofsocietyand
business,notonlytocontinuouslyimprove
efficiencyandcomfort,buttominimize
environmentalimpactsaswell.Withallof
thisinmind,Iforeseeunprecedented
growthandadoptionofdigitalizedsolutions
intheyearsahead,acrossvirtuallyevery
sectorofbusinessandindustry,aswellasin
theconsumerandpublicdomains.The
digitalinfrastructurewillgrantaccessto
newandincreasedrevenuestreamsforall
enterprisesandindustriesonaglobalscale.
Itisimportanttonote,however,thatthe
innovationrequiredtodevelopthe
capabilitiestoenableintellectualexchanges
betweenhumans,machinesandsoftware
agentsdemandsnewformsofcollaboration
acrosstheecosystem.Reachingthefull
potentialofthisnetworkedrealitywill
thereforerequirenewcollaboration
frameworksbetweenvendors,industries
andsocietytoensurefairness,
trustworthinessandinteroperability.6G
offersabroadplatformforinnovationandis
ideallysuitedtobecometheinformation
backboneofsociety.
Thenetworkedrealitywillbebasedona
globalplatformwiththeresponsibilityto
guaranteeperformance,integrityand
opennessintechnicalandbusiness
interfaces,ensuringanopenmarketplace.It
willevolvethroughbusiness-driven
investmentsandcollaborations.Ericsson’s
investmentsin5Gand6Grepresentour
primarycontributionintherealizationofthe
networkedreality.Withregardto
collaboration,ourapproachisdrivenbyour
firmbeliefthatthedevelopmentofthe
futurebusinessplatformforaconverged
cyber-physicalworldrequiresdeep,long-
termengagementwiththeecosystem.At
Ericsson,wearecommittedtoworking
togetherwithpartnersoldandnewtomake
thishappen.
As Group CTO and Head of Technology and Strategy, Erik Ekudden is responsible for setting the
overall strategy and direction of technology leadership for Ericsson. In 2017, he relocated to Kista,
Sweden, after nearly seven years in Santa Clara, California.
His focus for the group is on strategic decisions and investments in mobility, cloud, artificial intelligence
and the Internet of Things. This builds on his decades-long career in technology strategies and industry
activities with leading customers and partners from 2G to 5G and beyond. Ekudden first joined
Ericsson in 1993 working on mobile systems, but rapidly moved into leadership within research and
technology. He has served as research area director and vice president of technology strategy,
standardization and industry.
He holds a an M.Sc. in electrical engineering from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm,
Sweden. He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA).
ERIK EKUDDEN
GROUP CTO, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY & STRATEGY
Conclusion
Furtherreading
❭ Ericsson white paper, A research outlook towards 6G, available at:
https://www.ericsson.com/en/reports-and-papers/white-papers/a-research-outlook-towards-6g
❭ Ericsson Technology Review, The network compute fabric – advancing digital transformation with ever-present service continuity,
June 30, 2021, Sefidcon, A; John, W; Opsenica, M; Skubic, B, available at:
https://www.ericsson.com/en/reports-and-papers/ericsson-technology-review/articles/network-compute-fabric
❭ Ericsson, 10 Hot Consumer Trends 2030, available at:
https://www.ericsson.com/en/reports-and-papers/consumerlab/reports/10-hot-consumer-trends-2030
❭ Ericsson, The dematerialized office, available at:
https://www.ericsson.com/en/reports-and-papers/industrylab/reports/the-dematerialized-office
❭ Ericsson, Cognitive Technology, available at: https://www.ericsson.com/en/managed-services/cognitive-technology
❭ Ericsson blog, To deliver cognitive networks, we build human trust in AI, May 4, 2021, Ekudden, E, available at:
https://www.ericsson.com/en/blog/2021/5/cognitive-networks
❭ Ericsson Technology Review, Technology Trends 2020, Ekudden, E, available at:
https://www.ericsson.com/en/reports-and-papers/ericsson-technology-review/articles/technology-trends-2020