Verizon said that it was able to demonstrate a “significant boost to network performance” on its commercial network, as well as “meaningful power efficiency gains” and the capability to support higher throughputs, through the use of Intel’s 4th generation Xeon Scalable processor with vRAN boost, on a virtualized RAN from Samsung.
The trial took place on Verizon’s commercial network in Dallas, Texas. The new vRAN processor from Intel supports wider bandwidths of C-Band spectrum, which Verizon is turning up to increase its capacity as it now has access to the full amount of C-Band spectrum which it purchased at auction.
“As customers continue to increase their data usage and use our network in different ways, it is critical to continue to drive efficiencies to provide the best possible performance at the most efficient cost,” said Adam Koeppe, SVP of Technology Planning at Verizon. “As we continue to roll out virtualized cell sites and expand our 5G service, the use of this advanced processor will have tangible benefits for us as network operators and for our customers in how our network serves their needs.”
Verizon said that the combination of “dynamic and intelligent power management from Intel” plus Samsung’s vRAN solution resulted in better power efficiency, by reducing the need for multiple servers.
“The processor’s substantial capacity improvement provides the ability to consolidate more workloads onto a single server which was previously accomplished with multiple servers. It also provides an open processing platform to add innovative new features, optimizations and services without requiring a hardware upgrade,” the company said in a release.
Dan Rodriguez, CVP and GM of Intel’s Network and Edge Solutions Group, said that the achievement with its Xeon processor’s “fully integrated VRAN acceleration … [showcases] the uncompromised benefits of virtualization at scale.”
“As the only major vendor with large-scale commercial vRAN deployed across the world, we are thrilled to continue to push the boundaries of this innovative technology to provide many benefits for Verizon’s customers,” said Magnus Ojert, SVP of the networks business at Samsung Electronics America. “Our enhanced vRAN solution when integrated with Intel’s latest processor offers greater capacity and increased power savings. We look forward to continuing to advance vRAN towards a more scalable, flexible network that delivers carrier-grade performance, management and reliability.”