ETSI White Paper: Harmonizing Standards for Edge Computing

This white paper highlights the role of standards for edge computing when it is deployed in conjunction with mobile networks. It reviews leading efforts in the industry and introduces a synergised architecture which leverages ETSI ISG MEC and 3GPP specifications, highlighting the value proposition of different standards streams and how they could be combined when it comes to deployments. 

This is particularly important as the edge cloud ecosystem is emerging with the rapid expansion of edge-related initiatives, including open source initiatives. To avoid duplicated solutions, it is essential to ensure alignment, create synergies and offer common practices and tools for developers. Such an approach will help accelerate time-to-market and promote industry adoption. It will also help to simplify innovation co-creation with agile, plug-and-play value integration and accelerate time-to-market, promoting industry adoption for edge computing.

Key drivers for a synergised architecture are:

• At the heart of the ETSI ISG MEC and 3GPP SA6 architectures lie the MEC Platform/Edge Enabler Server and the MEC Applications/Edge Application Servers respectively. There is a great degree of synergy apparent in the two architectures on these aspects, and in the information carried between these functional entities.
• Further developments are still required in standards to cover business scenarios as defined in the GSMA for federating MEC capabilities among multiple operators and harmonising the access of developers/customers to edge computing capabilities.
• ETSI ISG MEC is working to support those requirements for federation by enabling interactions among MEC systems, supporting multi-operator, -network, - vendor environments. Involvement of open source communities has the potential to provide additional developments supporting ongoing standards, alignment and technology availability.

ETSI White Paper #36, Harmonizing standards for edge computing - A synergized architecture leveraging ETSI ISG MEC and 3GPP specifications 

ETSI ISG MEC - Industry Specification Group - Multi-access edge computing 

3GPP - SA6 (Vertical enablement)