Cisco said that SoftBank has partnered with it to work on the world's first Segment Routing IPv6 (SRv6) deployment. Under this project, Cisco has been helping SoftBank to deploy Segment Routing IPv6 (SRv6) networks to build a scalable network architecture for gradual shift to 5G.

The American networking giant said that current mobile networks are deployed as divided networks, with several layers and complicated control plane processing, which makes it difficult to respond to strict quality requirements like in the case of 5G.

Cisco asserted that deploying SRv6 in a 5G mobile network will simplify network layers and integrates user plane functions from end-to-end with only IPv6 protocol, making things simple, controllable, and flexible.

“Converging 5G features into the end-to-end IPv6 layer with Segment Routing capabilities, is the key to embodying 5G in a simple, scalable architecture,” said Junichi Miyakawa, Representative Director & CTO for SoftBank.

“SoftBank has kept an intense focus on improving service quality for its customers, which can be challenging when trying to reduce costs,” said Sumeet Arora, Senior Vice President of Service Provider Networks, Cisco. “With the launch of SRv6 network programming, it is pioneering the next phase of IP networking through automation, and championing the needs of its customers.”