Network Slicing: Unlocking a More Open, Customized, and Secure Experience

Network Slicing: Unlocking a More Open, Customized, and Secure Experience

Network slicing is emerging as one of the most promising developments in broadband. By enabling real-time customization at the network level, slicing could allow customers to prioritize performance for specific needs—whether that’s streaming, gaming, remote work, or even short-lived secure connections for activities like online banking.

In this episode of Fiber for Breakfast, Nick Saporito, Head of Product at GFiber, joined Gary Bolton, President & CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association, to unpack the potential of network slicing, the role automation will play, and the steps needed before it can be widely deployed.

GFiber Labs partnered with Nokia, its primary optical line terminal (OLT) vendor, to demonstrate how slicing can be applied to fiber networks. The proof-of-concept simulated congestion on a Wi-Fi network with two PlayStations, producing lag and pixelation. “We created an on-demand slice from the gateway all the way to the core. Once that slice was established, the gaming experience was perfectly normal,” Saporito explained.

At its core, network slicing allows operators to create virtual, dedicated lanes for specific traffic flows. That may sound unnecessary when delivering 10-gigabit pipes to the home, but Saporito argues otherwise: “Most traffic in the home is on Wi-Fi, and unfortunately, we haven’t figured out how to defy the laws of physics. Congestion still exists. Slicing gives us a tool to help overcome that.”

Latency—not just bandwidth—is another driving factor. “Latency is having a moment right now, and we think it’s here to stay,” Saporito said. With applications such as real-time AI, VR streaming, and live content delivery on the rise, customer experience hinges more on low latency than on raw speed.

Beyond improving user experience, slicing could also yield operational benefits. “There’s a cost-control play here too—less traffic over transit pipes, more efficient network optimization,” Saporito noted. But he cautioned that the technology’s success depends on automation. “You can’t have a conversation about network slicing without also talking about network automation. I literally cannot fathom trying to productize this to consumers without a high level of automation.”

GFiber is exploring several consumer-facing use cases:

• Gaming mode – prioritizing traffic to top gaming platforms.
• Work-from-home mode – creating slices for platforms like Microsoft Teams or Google Meet.
• Secure transactions – establishing temporary slices for online banking, then tearing them down automatically.

Bolton highlighted how this approach aligns with broader industry trends toward zero-touch provisioning. “It seems like network slicing and AI go hand in hand, because automation is so critical to this,” he said. Saporito agreed: “A cloud-native, virtualized network is almost a prerequisite. Network slicing is a benefactor of these trends.”

While slicing isn’t fiber-exclusive, it’s particularly relevant to the technology. “We’re giving consumers, frankly, data center-level connectivity to their home,” Saporito said. “If you’re delivering 10 gigabits, shouldn’t customers have more ISP-like controls over their traffic?”

Managing latency is especially critical when ushering in innovations such as AI and quantum networking. “Quantum networking is not so much bandwidth-intensive as it is latency-sensitive—and the same goes for AI,” Saporito noted. “All these things are highly latency-sensitive, and when leveraging fiber, this is where you really see the huge benefits of network slicing.”

Looking ahead, Saporito emphasized collaboration and regulatory foresight: “Innovation always leads regulation. We think this is technology the whole industry can benefit from, which is why we’re working openly with partners like Nokia and talking about it publicly.”

For GFiber, the guiding principle is customer empowerment. “We’d only implement slicing in a way where customers are in the driver’s seat. This isn’t about hidden monetization. It’s about customization and control,” Saporito stressed.

As the industry moves toward multi-gig networks and latency-sensitive applications, network slicing may be the next lever to pull—provided automation and collaboration keep pace.

Click here to listen to the full episode or find previous versions of Fiber for Breakfast.