Network slicing is perhaps the most important concept which will make the 5G business case genuinely different from that of 4G. The ability to create virtualized slices of network capacity for individual services, on-demand and automatically optimized for that service’s requirements, is the centerpiece of many R&D projects. Some commercial carrier initiatives are taking steps in this direction, such as AT&T’s network on-demand offerings, and pre-5G trials are also starting to take place, giving a better idea of how this concept will translate to reality. Huawei and Deutsche Telekom have announced a demonstration of end-to-end autonomous network slicing, with the slices being automatically created to ensure the most intelligent allocation of resources. The demo built on a previous one, which…