Ericsson has launched its bid to encourage wider 5G Standalone (SA) adoption among operators with a new product, the Compact Packet Core (CPC). The pitch is that it can ease the transition to cloud-native for both 4G and 5G networks and in doing so, lead operators already running 5G Non-standalone (NSA) networks to the revenue opportunities available in 5G SA. The CPC combines two existing functions: the cloud-native Packet Core Controller (PCC or control plane) and Packet Core Gateway (PCG or user plane) integrated with Ericsson’s cloud-native infrastructure (CNIS) on a single rack. Ericsson says this downsizing and simplification will also have financial benefits for reducing network running costs but as this is a new product, any claims about savings are…