Mobile network game changers: vRAN and Open RAN
Jul 26. 2022-
Kali Pickens
Host, Director, Marketing,
Networks Business, Samsung Electronics America -
Derek Johston
Head of Marketing,
Networks Business, Samsung Electronics America
Samsung’s Kali Pickens and Derek Johnston discuss what vRAN and Open RAN mean for
operators, Samsung’s views on them, and Samsung’s leadership in both technologies.
With the rapid push to 5G, operators are looking for fast, scalable ways to deploy while also having the flexibility and agility to manage services and optimize their networks. There are two ways that operators achieve this flexibility: using a virtual Radio Access Network (vRAN) and embracing O-RAN standards.
vRAN gives MNOs greater network management and service agility and better deployment flexibility using pooled, centralized software-driven network functions operating on standardized commercially available hardware. Samsung’s cloud-native vRAN was the first in the industry to deliver to the market the virtualized Distributed Unit (vDU) and virtualized Centralized Unit (vCU) that run on general-purpose processors. Samsung’s cloud-native vRAN supports single band, dual-band, and Massive MIMO radios. Since Samsung started developing vRAN in 2016, it has become the industry leader in the fully virtualized 5G cloud-native vRAN market. Samsung is the only major vendor to have vRAN commercial deployments with Tier One operators on multiple continents and to provide a commercial vRAN solution that supports both Samsung and 3rd party Massive MIMO radios.
Open RAN is a choice for network operators who want more flexibility and agility in their network. As a member of the Open RAN Alliance, Samsung is committed to virtualized and fully interoperable networks. Samsung believes that Open RAN starts with opening the fronthaul and fully disaggregating the baseband with vRAN. Beyond the production of O-RAN compliant solutions and integration and interface work done in traditional RAN, Samsung’s cloud-native vRAN is O-RAN compliant and integrated with other vendors’ radios.
Earlier this year, Samsung won two GLOMO Awards for its fully virtualized 5G RAN solution, an indication that the industry recognizes the importance of vRAN and the virtualization of the network. Watch and listen to this Networks Tech Talk episode to learn more about what vRAN and Open RAN mean for operators, Samsung’s views on them, and Samsung’s leadership in both technologies.
Don't Miss These Discussion Topics:
| 1:17 | Samsung’s view and approach to vRAN |
| 2:35 | Samsung’s vRAN successes and accomplishments |
| 4:32 | How are Massive MIMO and C-Band important to vRAN? |
| 6:33 | Samsung’s views on and successes deploying Open RAN |
| 9:29 | How the market is adopting vRAN and Open RAN |
| 14:23 | Why are there questions and negative press coverage on Open RAN? |
| 16:52 | How is Samsung making their vRAN more open and forming partnerships? |
| 19:15 | What technology awards mean to Samsung and the industry |
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