Samsung, Vodafone, and AMD demo industry-first data call on Open RAN network

Samsung, along with partners Vodafone and AMD, has announced a successful demonstration of an end-to-end data call leveraging the latest AMD processors to enable Open RAN technology.

The call, conducted in Samsung's Research and Development laboratory in Korea, utilized Samsung's O-RAN-compliant, virtualized RAN (vRAN) software. This software was powered by AMD EPYC 8004 Series processors and ran on Supermicro&rsquo's Telco/Edge servers, with support from Wind River Studio's Container-as-a-Service (CaaS) platform.

"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. Samsung is constantly working with other technology frontrunners to offer operators the means to transform their networks and capitalize on the diversity of the Open RAN ecosystem," said June Moon, Executive Vice President & Head of R&D, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics.

The demonstration aimed to verify the optimized performance, energy efficiency, and interoperability of the integrated solutions of the partners.

The trio will demonstrate its test result exceeding 1Gbps throughput for multi UE on the multi-cell configuration at MWC 2024.

Commenting on this achievement, Nadia Benabdallah, Network Strategy and Engineering Director at Vodafone Group, said, "Open RAN represents the forthcoming major transformation in advancing mobile networks for the future. Reaching this milestone with top industry partners like Samsung and AMD shows Vodafone's dedication to delivering on the promise of Open RAN innovation. Vodafone is continually looking to innovate its network by exploring the potential and diversity of the ecosystem."