Network Exposure Function
For a programmable and open 5G
Develop new applications rely on your core network
Nokia Network Exposure Function provides you with a robust platform for creating new services by consolidating APIs and presenting unified access to the API framework for both your developers and 3rd party developers.
- Secure exposure of network services (voice, data connectivity, charging, subscriber data, etc.) towards 3rd party application over APIs
- Developer environment and SDK for operator and community
- Service mashup for creating end-to-end offering by combining any of the network assets into your application
- Integration layer that connects your application to operator’s network.
The API framework is realized through a plug-in concept that makes it possible to create complex API-based services. You can add additional APIs over time, according to your needs. For those operators with multi-vendor cores, Nokia’s Network Exposure Function can expose APIs from other vendors’ network functions, by enabling the use of 3rd party plugins.
NEF is a platform for innovation
Key features
Secure API exposure
Scalable, simplified exposure for events and data and control points of network functionalites in CSPs network
Extreme openness
Multivendor APIs can be plugged in and composed / orchestrated
Advanced Development portal
With catalogs, documentations, examples and SDK and sandboxing
Service Based Architecture
Enables external application to communicate with the 5G core via APIs
NEF (PaaS)
Advanced application capabilities, specialized application servers
RESTful APIs
Adapts and transforms telecom network interfaces
Service capability exposure in practice
IoT in smart agriculture
How to make NEF interactions with 5G core and 3rd party smart agriculture application by maintaining high bandwidth and low latency for drones with UPF re-allocation to the nearest edge resource of the distributed cloud? For supervision of field sensors, NEF is programming them up for more frequent updates once the weather forecast predicts changes.
Consumer gaming
How to assign higher SLA dynamically to the user mobile subscription while gaming with NEF: more bandwidth and lower latency and how to utilize MEC application re-allocation APIs while the subscriber on the move.
Enterprise self-service
Creation of the dynamic self-managed setup of user group bandwidth and latency parameters within the SLA of the enterprise network slice with real-time interaction of the enterprise’s operator.
5G network as a platform for collaboration
Operators looking at their network as a platform, opening it to application developers. There are new capabilities 5G brings, that all these application developers will want to use, and rely on the operator's network. Network Exposure Function is one of the capabilities that is natively built into the 5G network, Applications can subscribe to certain changes in the network and command the network to exploit its programmable capabilities providing new innovative services for the end-users.
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Operator benefits to address 5G opportunity -
Use 5G API exposure function to build new differentiated services
API exposure in 5G
API exposure is fundamental to 5G as it is built into the architecture natively where applications can talk back to the network, command the network to provide better experience in applications.
The value of the 5G ecosystem
The ecosystem of service providers, industrial players, application developers and API vendors must innovate jointly to create differentiating successful new services. This open ecosystem must share SDKs, descriptions to support each other in this process.
5G’s Application development
Network Exposure Function beside fulfilling 3GPP requirements abstracts the capabilities of the network creating a programmable environment. Developers can create a new service logic introducing new APIs on the top of the standard ones tailormade for the business needs.
Nokia 5G Service capability exposure infographics
The new era of the 5G application ecosystem with its openness and programmability, the 5G network can act as a key service enabler with the following capabilities: Developer environment, SDK, and APIs are for introducing new service logic, targeted APIs for application service providers and verticals and integration to new capabilities from the network. The development environment is abstracted to ease the creation of new services.
