Samsung and AMD announced a partnership to integrate the vendor’s vRAN software with the latter’s processor in a bid to increase performance and power efficiency for operators.

The companies completed several rounds of tests at Samsung’s laboratories to verify high capacity, operator-grade performance using FDD bands and TDD Massive MIMO.

Samsung stated the tests revealed a significant reduction of power consumption without providing details.

The South Korean vendor’s vRAN software was integrated with AMD’s EPYC 8004 processor for mobile operators. The results included optimised call capacity on servers.

Henrik Jansson, VP and head of SI Business Group, networks business at Samsung, stated the technical collaboration was another element of its effort to build a large virtual and open RAN ecosystem for service providers.

Samsung has emerged as a 5G vRAN rival to leading equipment vendors Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei and ZTE. It has a vRAN-related partnership with Intel and deployments with US operators Verizon and Dish Wireless.