Intelligence in 5G - At the speed of services

5G systems will be designed for significantly higher efficiency concerning spectrum usage, energy consumption, and cost of ownership. Besides technology improvements, one relevant step is the integration of a large number of very different services and applications into one converged network. The network will rely strongly on virtualization techniques to provide the flexibility for the various service characteristics, and 5G shall have an air interface that allows for this flexibility. In addition, 5G systems will integrate existing radio access technologies more and more tightly for improved service coverage and optimum resource usage. The flexibility and the highly integrated nature of 5G systems will bring a level of complexity that can be mastered only by employing automation and intelligence. That applies to the orchestration and set-up of the virtualized networks, to the management of radio and energy resources in a multi-RAT, multi-service system, and ultimately to the optimization of service provisioning and user experience.