Samsung Electronics and O2 Telefónica’s plans to test cutting-edge cloud-native vRAN (virtualized Radio Access Network) and Open RAN technology in Germany were made on October 31, 2023. Through cooperative efforts, even more adaptable network designs will be established, featuring hardware and software segregation and virtualization of specific components. RAN technology, open interfaces, and automation features are the foundation of one of the most efficient and future-proof networks, which is O2 Telefónica, a prominent mobile telecommunications carrier in Germany that is in the process of building.
Both businesses committed to developing a road map that included many laboratory and outdoor tests. Initial testing of 4G and 5G vRAN and Open RAN technologies will be carried out at a Munich, Germany, facility by O2 Telefónica and Samsung. In order to ensure technical and operational readiness, the firms will thereafter conduct field tests on a commercial 5G network located in Landsberg am Lech. In addition to open-RAN-complaint radios that support low and high band frequencies, including 3.5 GHz Massive MIMO radios, through this partnership, Samsung will provide its industry-leading 4G and 5G vRAN software. With a track record of successful commercial implementation, Samsung’s vRAN solution leverages the benefits of software-based architecture and fully disaggregated design.
It also offers improved intelligent automation and energy-saving capabilities, assisting operators in creating more sustainable and efficient networks. By enabling O2 Telefónica to process more data in an elastic cloud environment, the vRAN solution hopes to improve automation, availability, deployment speed, and flexible capacity steering. It also supports high-availability use cases in the commercial segment and low-latency use cases like VR and AR. The businesses will also test intelligent network automation technologies throughout the trial, which will allow them to click-to-control all aspects of life cycle management, from deployment and operation to maintenance.
By using Samsung’s Open RAN-complaint Service Management and Orchestration (SMO), mobile operators may expedite creative software-based network rollouts by facilitating the automated deployment of thousands of network sites concurrently. Industry leaders Dell Technologies (Dell PowerEdge servers), Intel (Xeon® Scalable Processor), and Wind River (Cloud Platform) will also participate in this commercial pilot, offering best-in-class solutions, as multi-vendor integration is pivotal to the development of robust vRAN and open RAN ecosystems.
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Junehee Lee, Executive Vice President, Head of Global Sales & Marketing, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics, states, Samsung is leading the charge in advancing vRAN and open RAN with its proven expertise in large-scale commercial networks across multiple continents. This collaboration with O2 Telefónica in Germany represents Samsung’s ongoing commitment to forging new pathways in vRAN and open RAN, bringing the next-generation networks one step closer.”
