Cisco Marks World’s First with the Deployment of SRv6 Flex-Algo on SoftBank Corp.’s 5G Commercial Network

Agile and Advanced Traffic Engineering Enables SoftBank to Bring New Range of 5G Services to Market

Cisco announced today that SoftBank Corp., a Japan-based operator that provides telecommunications services and combines them with advanced technologies to develop and operate new businesses in Japan and globally, will be deploying the network slicing built with Segment Routing over IPv6 (SRv6) Flexible Algorithm (Flex-Algo) to its 5G commercial mobile network powered by Cisco.

Cisco and SoftBank have been longstanding partners for decades and since 2017 they have been collaborating to deploy 5G successfully by leveraging state of the art network architecture, based on SRv6. This technology allows networks to be extremely scalable with improved reliability, flexibility, and agility. SoftBank has just completed the nationwide deployment of SRv6 to its 5G commercial mobile network which has network overage of more than 90% of Japan’s population.

Cisco and SoftBank’s collaboration will continue as they build the 5G next-generation network designs which aims to reduce operational load and increase network enhancement to meet future internet traffic needs of the country coupled with a range of services, building digital inclusive future for all.

”SoftBank is aiming to build the world’s top level 5G network by meeting the increased traffic needs in the future and promoting the further sophistication and area expansion of 5G to realize a stress-free network. We are very pleased to be able to introduce network slicing by utilizing SRv6 Flex-Algo technology with Cisco’s support,” said Keiichi Makizono, Senior Vice President & CIO, SoftBank. “We look forward to receiving Cisco’s technology assistance as we work to realize a more advanced network to support social infrastructure.”

“Following the world’s first the SRv6 commercial deployment with SoftBank, SoftBank and Cisco are very pleased to announce our setting of this industry benchmark. The SRv6 Flex-Algo features programming flexibility and simplicity that can help in improving network stability and cost efficiency,” said Sanjay Kaul, President, APJ Service Provider, Cisco. “SoftBank and Cisco will continue to drive the utilization of new technologies to develop the internet for the future beginning with 5G.”

*1 Based on Cisco’s record of SRv6 Flex-Algo commercial deployment with Cisco products

Additional resources

About SoftBank

About Segment Routing

SoftBank Corp. Press Release: SoftBank Corp. Completes Construction of Commercial SRv6 Network and Introduces Network Slicing Using “SRv6 Flex-Algo”

Blog: Flexible Algorithm makes Segment Routing Traffic Engineering even more agile