The new Intel 3rd generation Xeon processor among other solutions is coming to help advance telecommunications companies and 5G do more.
Telecommunication executives are excited about some of the latest offerings from the tech powerhouse Intel. The crown jewel is its latest Xeon processor, however, solutions surrounding content delivery systems, core advancements, delivery networks, network programmability, and the virtualization of radio access networks. Intel’s products are continuing the trend of virtualization we are seeing grow in the world of 5G and other applications. This includes the solutions presented by Intel’s Corporate VP and GM of the Network Platforms Group, Dan Rodriguez, such as the Intel FPGAs, ethernet adaptors, memory solutions, software toolkits, and the aforementioned Xeon processor.
“5G needs to be built with services in mind upfront and getting that flexibility with the 5G standalone core is paramount,” said Rodriguez before the announcement of Intel’s Xeon presentation.
Virtualization is one of the big concepts hitting 5G vendors and carriers far and wide. It provides the ability for companies to create and deploy 5G networks and solutions without using as many physical components. This enables an easier and cheaper route for collaboration, creation, and maintenance of 5G components. Rodriguez spoke about how network optimized SKUs from Intel’s Xeon and N-SKUs can pair with additional Intel solutions to improve performance while reducing the total cost of ownership.
Many notable names in 5G including Vodafone, Orange, Deutsche Telecom, and Telefónica are taking steps to take advantage of virtualization and Open RAN to push a collaborative ecosystem for their networks going forward. Open RAN is another concept exploding in the wireless world that works hand-in-hand with virtualization by providing solutions that can work with others interchangeably to combine efforts for components. This too will help reduce costs, improve performance, and reduce the amount of time for deployment and solutions to be developed.
“We’ve driven Open RAN to almost being a commercial reality. That would not have been possible without (Intel),” said Vodafone’s Head of Group Network Architecture, Yago Tenorio. He continued, “One main outstanding challenge remains and it is the ability to run 5G massive MIMO workloads. That requires extremely high-performance silicon. I’m looking forward to working with you to solve that problem.” The collaboration between Vodafone and Intel began back in 2014.
Vodafone is not the only carrier singing Intel’s praises. Verizon is looking to the company’s advancements in silicon to take its 5G ambitions to the destination they need them to be. “5G massive MIMO deployment in the recently acquired C-band spectrum,” said Bill Stone, the VP of Technology Planning and Development for Verizon. He later said, “Virtualizing the entire network from the core to the edge has been a massive, multi-year redesign of our entire network. The advancements of virtualized technology are a critical piece of how we’re building a scalable, flexible, and programmable network to manage solutions that will be prevalent in a 5G digital environment such as massive IoT solutions, more robust consumer devices and solutions, AR/VR, and many more.”
Source: RCR Wireless