SK Telecom builds its second 5G edge zone, first in Seoul

SK Telecom built its second 5G edge zone in Seoul, which enables 5G-connected cloud services with ultra-low latency using mobile edge computing, the telecom company said Tuesday. The 5G edge zone was set up in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Mobile edge computing, also known as multi-access edge computing, refers to technologies that bring computation capabilities and data storage closer to the devices being used. It is considered critical in reducing 5G latency.

SK Telecom’s new “5GX Edge Zone” in Seoul adopted a 5G mobile edge computing technique and AWS’ 5G edge computing infrastructure AWS Wavelength to minimize 5G network delay in using the cloud service for corporate customers.

Enterprise clients will be able to access SK Telecom’s 5G Edge cloud, which is based on the 5G edge zone, and develop an application program or software with ultra-low latency using the cloud service, said SK Telecom.

SK Telecom's current clients include companies in fields that require massive data processing capabilities such as robotics, autonomous driving and cloud gaming. One example is local robotics software company Neubility, founded in 2017. Neubility built a delivery robot control system on SK Telecom's 5G edge cloud.

SK Telecom's 5G edge zone in Seoul is the second of its kind, following the one in Daejeon established in 2020.

SK Telecom explained that the second edge zone will enhance the efficiency of the 5G cloud services, as edge computing workloads will be shared out between the Seoul zone and the Daejeon zone.

The Seoul zone will cover network traffic coming from the top half of the country including the greater Seoul area while the Daejeon zone will cover the rest. Before the Seoul edge zone was set up, the Daejeon edge zone had covered all network traffics across the country.

SK Telecom said that its "SK Edge Discovery" system will automatically allocate the edge zone based on users' current location.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]