Fiber Slicing Has Potential, Though Details Are Still Being Worked Through: GFiber
While 5G network slicing has gotten the most attention, it hasn’t proved to be successful in most cases, and fiber slicing may have more promise, said Nick Saporito, executive director at GFiber Labs, during a Fiber Broadband Association webinar Wednesday. Also at the event, FBA CEO Gary Bolton said early indications show that fiber will play an important role in the restructured BEAD program.
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GFiber Labs, working with Nokia, recently completed a project demonstrating fiber slicing, Saporito said. Slicing creates “virtual, dedicated lanes for specific traffic end to end.” One question is whether slicing matters when customers have a 10 Gbps passive optical network connection “because you have so much bandwidth,” he said.
Wi-Fi remains a choke point, Saporito noted. “Unfortunately, we haven’t figured out how to defy the laws of physics on Wi-Fi quite yet.” Wi-Fi congestion is likely to persist for years to come, and fiber slicing could play a role in addressing that, he said, adding that it could also help with latency issues. “Latency is really kind of having a moment right now, and we think that moment is here to stay.” Many new use cases, including real-time AI, virtual-reality streaming and live-streaming, are “very latency sensitive.” When something isn’t loading, it’s usually a latency issue, not a bandwidth issue, he said.
In addition, slicing allows providers to optimize their networks and make them more efficient, Saporito said. Potentially, providers could have less traffic over their transit pipes, he said. “You can’t have a conversation about network slicing without also having a conversation about network automation,” he said. “You can’t have one without the other.”
The fundamental question is whether slicing will provide customers with “more value and more customization,” Saporito said. “We keep giving customers a bigger pipe to the home, and it's kind of a one-size-fits-all pipe.” There’s been too little focus on helping customers customize the pipe “to their specific use cases,” he said. Some are “hardcore gamers,” while others “just simply work from home and want their videoconferences to work right.”
Bolton said he has reviewed 35 final state BEAD proposals that are out for public comment (see 2509020077, 2508280049 and 2508250030), while proposals from five states have been delayed. At a separate Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday, state officials discussed the challenges and progress ahead of NTIA's deadline for final proposals (see 2509030054).
Based on one analysis, Bolton said, about 64% of BEAD locations will be served by fiber, 19% by satellite broadband, 11% by fixed wireless, 3% by cable and 1% by unlicensed fixed wireless.
The “silver lining” of the delays in the BEAD program is that four years ago, the U.S. had 15 million unserved and underserved locations, which is down to about 4 million, Bolton said. Most of the 11 million locations now served are largely served by fiber, he added. “We got a lot of the job done over the last four years.”