The workshop highlighted that the 6G core will evolve from 5G Standalone rather than undergoing a radical overhaul, maintaining reliance on established components like SBA, UDM, and roaming while introducing modular enhancements. Key architectural shifts discussed include direct NAS routing between RAN and network functions, end-to-end user plane encryption, and the potential replacement of the N4 interface with SBI to improve efficiency. Participants emphasized that future voice services will likely remain operator-managed due to regulatory needs, despite the rise of OTT applications, and stressed the importance of standardizing external interfaces while allowing vendor-specific implementations. The consensus points toward a timeline that balances incremental innovation with practical proof-of-concept demonstrations, such as using Open6GCore to validate new proposals for 3GPP.
Keywords: cloud-native, network slicing, service-based architecture, NAS routing, AI-powered automation