Red Hat and SoftBank Corp. Collaborate on Research and Development of AI-RAN Technologies
Red Hat, Inc., the world's leading provider of open source solutions,
and SoftBank Corp. (“SoftBank) announced a collaboration on joint research
and development of artificial intelligence radio access network (AI-RAN)
technologies. The resulting solutions will be intended to help maximize the use
of AI for enhanced network orchestration and optimization, and aim to deliver
intelligent, autonomous networks with improved performance, higher resource efficiency
and a better user experience. These are particularly critical in supporting 5G
and future 6G network use cases where AI-enabled applications can leverage
these solutions for differentiated service offerings and new revenue streams.
Red Hat and SoftBank are advancing the integration of high performing AI
technology, running on Red Hat OpenShift, within the radio access network (RAN)
infrastructure to enable faster data processing and resource optimization for
service providers to achieve enhanced performance, intelligent automation and
enhanced multi-layer security. This approach helps service providers redefine
network operations and unlock new revenue opportunities with scalable, secure
management of both virtualized RAN and AI applications on a single, unified
platform. As part of this collaboration, Red Hat and SoftBank are focused on
the following:
· Support for AI and
RAN functions on Arm architecture for better optimization,
compatibility and performance of a flexible RAN solution built on Red Hat
OpenShift, the industry’s leading hybrid cloud application platform powered by
Kubernetes;
· Performance
optimization of distributed units (DU) on hardware accelerated Arm
architecture for low latency and high-throughput communication, helping to
address the evolving needs of future networks;
· Development of an orchestrator, in collaboration
with NVIDIA, for intelligent and autonomous network operations that can enhance
service availability, agility and quality of experience.
According to a Red Hat-sponsored sustainability study, RAN is
responsible for 75% of a service provider’s total power consumption.
By adopting better resource optimization and power use, service providers can
reduce their energy consumption and advance their sustainability goals.
Lastly, in order to make this technology available to the broader
telecom industry, SoftBank and Red Hat will work together to help deliver new
AI use cases through the development of an open and interoperable RAN
ecosystem. Through their membership in the AI-RAN Alliance, both companies
will have the opportunity to collaborate with industry ecosystem partners and
research institutions to help advance research and conduct additional
proof-of-concept testing for new AI-RAN technologies and solutions.
Chris Wright, Senior Vice President of Global Engineering and Chief
Technology Officer, Red Hat, said, “AI has the
potential to revolutionize how service providers operate, and a standardized
platform is crucial for cost-effective, efficient and automated operations.
Through collaborations like this one, Red Hat and SoftBank are able to help
service providers navigate this terrain by making AI easier to develop and
deploy from the edge to core to hybrid cloud and back, all on the trusted
foundation of Red Hat OpenShift. This joint effort will help service providers
leverage AI models in the RAN for streamlined operations, new and exciting
applications and more automation than ever before.”
Ryuji Wakikawa, Vice President, Head of Research Institute of Advanced
Technology, SoftBank, said,” AI-RAN's software foundation serves
as a robust RAN platform that not only meets the stringent performance
requirements of RAN but also enables seamless AI application integration. We
have newly designed and developed the orchestrator specific to the AI-RAN,
showcasing our ability to operate this essential component. Our collaboration
with Red Hat will accelerate the ongoing evolution of our platform, ensuring
rapid advancements and contributing this innovation not just within SoftBank,
but to the entire telecom industry."
Leave A Comment