Vodafone, Samsung and AMD completed an end-to-end data call in Samsung’s research and development lab in Korea, utilizing AMD processors that supported Samsung’s virtualized RAN (vRAN) software, which is O-RAN compliant.
The test result exceeded 1 Gbps throughput for multiple devices on multi-cell configuration, according to the partners, who plan to showcase the demonstration at the upcoming Mobile World Congress Barcelona.
Samsung’s vRAN software was running on Supermicro’s telco/edge servers, which utilize AMD’s Epyc 8004 series processors. Wind River’s Studio Container-as-a-Service (CaaS) platform also supported the servers. The partners said that it was the first data call to use AMD processors in an Open RAN environment.
“This demonstration aimed to verify optimized performance, energy efficiency and interoperability among partners’ solutions,” Samsung said in a release, adding that the joint demonstration “represents Samsung and Vodafone’s ongoing commitment to reinforce their position in the Open RAN market and expand their ecosystem with industry-leading partners.”
Samsung is supporting Vodafone’s large-scale Open RAN roll-out in the U.K., involving about 2,500 sites. The network equipment manufacturer announced in late 2023 that it was working with AMD on using its high-performance telco/edge processors for vRAN and Open RAN environments.
“This collective effort marks a key milestone for the mobile network industry to steer Open RAN forward, by embracing multiple providers at every layer of the network stack. The demo illustrates Samsung’s commitment to delivering the full potential of mobile networks by embracing openness,” said June Moon, EVP and head of R&D for the networks business at Samsung Electronics.
“The telco industry continues to demand new levels of performance and energy efficiency with increasingly complex workloads and stringent efficiency targets,” said Kumaran Siva, corporate VP of strategic market development at AMD. Siva added that AMD’s Epyc 8004 series CPUs are optimized for edge and vRAN deployments and said that the work with Samsung and Vodafone “[leverages] our latest data center processors to modernize legacy telco infrastructure and deliver the leadership Open RAN performance, efficiency and scalability needed to build highly innovative mobile networks.”
