Packet-Optical Transport for Vertical Services in the Path to 6G

5G evolution and 6G networks will have a crucial role in supporting the acceleration of industrial digitalization and new applications such as cloud robotics and remote-assisted surgery. The goal is to support differentiated quality of services including the critical ones, without increasing the cost/revenue ratio for network operators. The transport network plays a crucial role in supporting the physical connections of the interfaces of a mobile 3GPP network, including the interfaces between the Radio Access Network (RAN) and the Core Network (CN) and within the RAN itself. Here, optical technologies can play an essential role by providing challenging E2E QoS for vertical industries. The main challenge is to guarantee E2E QoS while avoiding over-provisioning on network resources. The use of a combination of packet and optical technologies, supported by AI-based orchestration mechanisms, can provide flexibility, and dynamically optimize the use of network resources. A specific case study was investigated and assessed through a pilot in the context of the H2020 5Growth project.