Category: Wireless

NEC and Netcracker Orchestrate Cloud-Native 5G Core Services on AWS

– Solution demonstrated at the AWS Virtual Village at Mobile World Congress –

NEC Corporation and Netcracker, a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC, announced today that they have deployed their 5G Core and full stack Digital BSS/OSS on Amazon Web Services (AWS) to orchestrate and automate 5G digital services.

The solution will be displayed at the AWS Virtual Village during Mobile World Congress.

In this demonstration, NEC deploys its 5G Core control plane on an AWS Region and its 5G UPF on an AWS Outposts’ edge location. AWS Outposts is a fully managed service that offers the same AWS infrastructure, AWS services, application programming interfaces (APIs), and tools to virtually any datacenter, co-location space, or on-premises facility for a truly consistent hybrid experience. The edge location is connected to the AWS Local Zone where applications are hosted. 5G services and network slices can be ordered on-demand from Netcracker’s Digital Marketplace, and its orchestration systems dynamically place the 5G workloads and applications in the appropriate AWS Local Zone. This setup guarantees the very low latency and very high data capacity necessary for services such as interactive media traffic.

NEC and Netcracker have the ability to run their applications on private or public cloud environments (on premises, edge or centralized). They also utilize advanced technologies, such as network slicing, Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) and Control and User Plane Separation (CUPS). Their adaptability and technological innovation generate a variety of new use cases, helping CSPs to create a wide range of innovative B2X services.

NEC’s 5G Core was instantiated using Netcracker’s Core Domain Orchestration solution. The solution combines Network and Service Orchestration, Digital OSS and AI/Analytics to automate full lifecycle management and monitoring, including scale-up and scale-down operations, across distributed AWS Regions and AWS Zones. Netcracker’s Cross-Domain Service Orchestration provides an end-to-end network view for services and slices across RAN, transport and core domains. It monitors resource consumption, triggers dynamic scaling and healing, and applies closed-loop control policy in response to certain events. Based on traffic usage or user requests, additional UPF instances are instantiated on AWS Outposts and more bandwidth is allocated in the transport network.

The solution will be demonstrated at the AWS Virtual Village during Mobile World Congress.
new windowhttps://village.awsevents.com/

Patrick Lopez, Global VP of Product Management, 5G products, NEC, commented: “NEC has deployed its 4G and 5G Mobile Core Solution on AWS for the commercial services of multiple service providers in Japan. Our Core and its associated orchestration products allow us to provide sophisticated capabilities, such as end-to-end slicing, ultra-low latency and multi-cloud deployment options, which are key to realize the promises of 5G monetization.”

“Netcracker is helping service providers leverage the power of cloud-native software and distributed AWS environments to deliver an exciting range of new B2X 5G services,” says Bob Titus, Chief Technology Officer, Netcracker. “With our Orchestration and Digital BSS/OSS systems, service providers can automate networks and services across all network and cloud domains and monetize the network in innovative new ways.”

About Netcracker Technology

Netcracker Technology, a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, offers mission-critical digital transformation solutions to service providers around the globe. Our comprehensive portfolio of software solutions and professional services enables large-scale digital transformations, unlocking the opportunities of the cloud, virtualization and the changing mobile ecosystem. With an unbroken service delivery track record of more than 25 years, our unique combination of technology, people and expertise helps companies transform their networks and enable better experiences for their customers.

For more information, visit new windowwww.netcracker.com.

About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation has established itself as a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies while promoting the brand statement of “Orchestrating a brighter world.” NEC enables businesses and communities to adapt to rapid changes taking place in both society and the market as it provides for the social values of safety, security, fairness and efficiency to promote a more sustainable world where everyone has the chance to reach their full potential. For more information, visit NEC at https://www.nec.com.

NEC launches Optical Fiber Sensing Solution using AI

– Contributes to infrastructure maintenance by analyzing vibrations detected on existing optical fiber –

NEC Corporation (TSE: 6701) announced today that it has begun sales of the “NEC Intelligent Optical Fiber Sensing Solution,” a solution that allows Communications Service Providers (CSP) and optical fiber owners from around the world to utilize optical fiber as a sensor.

This solution contributes to infrastructure maintenance by using AI to analyze vibrations detected with optical fibers, thereby enabling the detection of abnormalities, such as fiber damage, and helping to prevent future damages.

This solution utilizes NEC’s optical fiber sensing technology, which is one of the first technologies of its kind, to enable sensing from existing optical fibers that are conventionally used for communications.

In addition to a sensing device attached to one end of the optical fiber, this solution consists of software with a function that detects vibrations and external conditions that may cause an abnormality, and a mapping function that accurately displays location information, such as the latitude and longitude of a fiber section.

In recent years, with the spread of high-speed, high-capacity communications for 5G, the importance of optical fiber has increased, and more fiber is continually being installed. As a result, there is a growing impact from communications failures caused by damaged fibers. CSP and optical fiber owners need a system to support the efficient maintenance and management of fiber. In addition, as optical fiber installations increase, it is increasingly difficult for CSP and optical fiber owners to quickly identify damaged areas in the event of fiber breakage, making it challenging for operators and maintenance personnel to quickly make repairs.

This solution, however, detects signs of potential fiber cable damage caused by unexpected construction work, deterioration, etc., by detecting vibrations that differ from normal conditions, and also enables quick identification and repair of damaged areas by precise mapping of fiber location information.

NEC has already examined the possibility of using optical fiber sensing technology to detect cracks in utility poles. Moreover, NEC and Verizon have conducted joint field experiments of a traffic monitoring system in the United States, where the companies confirmed the effectiveness of a traffic monitoring solution* for assessing roadway traffic conditions. This is in addition to the companies also verifying the effectiveness of the new NEC Intelligent Optical Fiber Sensing Solution in the field.

“Optical fiber cable networks are becoming increasingly important as 5G becomes more prevalent. We have been working for many years on the practical application of fiber sensing utilizing optical fiber networks, and are excited to capitalize on this technology in order to improve the efficiency of network operations,” said, Kazuhiro Tagawa, General Manager, 1st Network Service Division, NEC Corporation.

In the future, NEC will expand the application of this solution and aims to create new value across a variety of fields, such as utilizing information acquired through wide-area monitoring with existing fibers to enhance the services of smart cities.

Solution Features
Fiber Cable Cut Prevention – Prevents fiber damage by detecting abnormal vibrations
By analyzing vibrations detected by the fiber, it is possible to automatically detect vibration sources, such as construction machinery, that may cut the fiber. This helps to prevent accidental fiber damage by identifying unusual vibrations caused by construction, etc.
Fiber Cable Position Locator – Accurate mapping of fiber locations allows for quick identification and repair of damages

The exact location of a fiber section can be conveniently mapped, allowing users to quickly identify damaged areas in the event of a failure. This helps when an abnormality is detected by sending an alert to an operator in real time, thereby supporting efficient repair work through accurate instructions from operators to maintenance personnel.

For More Information
Optical Fiber Sensing:
https://www.nec.com/en/global/solutions/ofs/

*Verizon and NEC just made fiber sensing a whole lot easier
https://www.nec.com/en/press/201910/global_20191008_02.html

About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation has established itself as a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies while promoting the brand statement of “Orchestrating a brighter world.” NEC enables businesses and communities to adapt to rapid changes taking place in both society and the market as it provides for the social values of safety, security, fairness and efficiency to promote a more sustainable world where everyone has the chance to reach their full potential. For more information, visit NEC at https://www.nec.com.

NEC and Mavenir collaborate with Deutsche Telekom for a live 5G Open RAN mMIMO deployment at O-RAN Town in Germany

NEC Corporation (TSE: 6701) and Mavenir announced today that they have jointly collaborated in a live 5G Open RAN massive MIMO deployment as part of Deutsche Telekom’s initiative, “O-RAN Town”.

Deutsche Telekom is a strong, highly active advocate of Open RAN, a founding member of the O-RAN ALLIANCE and one of the major operators who signed an Open RAN MOU earlier this year to prioritize deployments and foster greater investment in Open RAN technologies. The O-RAN Town project refers to the initial deployment of disaggregated RAN for serving approximately 65,000 residents in Neubrandenburg, a town north of Berlin, in preparation for the operator’s future mass deployment.

In this project, NEC will provide its industry-leading 5G massive MIMO (mMIMO) radio units (RU) conforming to O-RAN Alliance fronthaul specifications, embedded with advanced beamforming technologies. The implementation of this mMIMO RU will help increase and dynamically optimize the operator’s capacity depending on the actual traffic volume.

Mavenir will provide the container-based centralized units (CU) and distributed units (DU) of the disaggregated RAN as a software. Mavenir offers the industry’s widest choice of cloud-native CU and DU solutions, built on open interfaces. Working together with NEC, Mavenir is expanding its leadership to Open RAN mMIMO solutions.

Following the first step of successfully integrating NEC mMIMO antennae into the DTAG live network, NEC’s and Mavenir’s Open RAN experts will jointly work to provide comprehensive validation and optimization of 5G Open RAN interoperability, as well as end-to-end functional and operational performance in the lab and field, ensuring full commercial readiness for deployments in Europe.

“Open RAN is about increasing flexibility, choice and innovation to ensure a more customer-centric network of the future,” said Abdurazak Mudesir, Senior Vice President, Service & Platform Telekom Germany and Head of Open RAN, Deutsche Telekom Group. “We are happy to partner with Mavenir and NEC for the European first live implementation of massive MIMO at O-RAN Town, where our key priority is to drive the development of high performance multi-vendor open RAN to be a competitive solution for macro deployment at scale.”

“We appreciate the industry changing opportunity that Deutsche Telekom’s O-RAN Town offers, and are glad to work together with our partner NEC to launch one of the first Open RAN mMIMO networks,” said Pardeep Kohli, President and CEO, Mavenir. “Together with our partners, we are excited to showcase how open interfaces and cloud-native technologies accelerate innovation in RAN infrastructure areas such as mMIMO.”

“We are honored to contribute to Deutsche Telekom’s highly strategic initiative in collaboration with Mavenir,” said Nozomu Watanabe, Senior Vice President, NEC Corporation. “Capitalizing on our experiences gained from contributing to the world’s first commercial launch of Open RAN in Japan, we are thrilled to extend our capabilities to accelerate best-in-class, carrier-grade Open RAN deployment across the globe.”

About Mavenir
Mavenir is building the future of networks and pioneering advanced technology, focusing on the vision of a single, software-based automated network that runs on any cloud. As the industry’s only end-to-end, cloud-native network software provider, Mavenir is focused on transforming the way the world connects, accelerating software network transformation for 250+ Communications Service Providers in over 120 countries, which serve more than 50% of the world’s subscribers.

About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation has established itself as a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies while promoting the brand statement of “Orchestrating a brighter world.” NEC enables businesses and communities to adapt to rapid changes taking place in both society and the market as it provides for the social values of safety, security, fairness and efficiency to promote a more sustainable world where everyone has the chance to reach their full potential. For more information, visit NEC at https://www.nec.com.

NTT Group and NEC accelerate activities to promote 5G tailored for enterprises

NTT Corporation (NTT), its subsidiary NTT DATA Corporation (NTT DATA) and NEC Corporation (NEC) announced today the acceleration of activities to promote the global adoption of 5G solutions tailored for enterprises.

The three companies aim to develop these solutions to accommodate market demand that helps to drive the creation of successful business models and business. These activities will be conducted in “Enso – The Space for Creators” (Enso Lab), which has been established at NTT DATA Deutschland’s Munich laboratories.

1. Background
Current wireless network base stations are mainly equipped with integrated hardware and software based on the specifications of certain communication equipment vendors. However, in order to lower the dependence on specific vendors, O-RAN activities which aim to create an open ecosystem for base station equipment are accelerating among mobile telecommunications operators around the world.

In June 2020, NTT and NEC entered a capital and business alliance for joint R&D and global expansion of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) products utilizing innovative optical and wireless technologies. The companies have now launched an initiative to develop globally competitive products in compliance with O-RAN Alliance specifications with global operators and telecommunication equipment vendors toward promotion of the wider use of O-RAN and other open architectures.

In addition, since O-RAN specifications indicate that open architectures of software for communication equipment are required, NEC’s communication system integration technologies as a telecom equipment supplier, and NTT DATA’s IT system integration technology as a software developer are increasingly necessary.

2. Details of cooperation
As part of the global O-RAN activities, the three companies will start co-creation activities utilizing their 5G capabilities for enterprises. The Enso Lab has created a 5G environment featuring a multi-vendor system configuration by building a co-creation space for enterprises using 5G technologies form NTT DATA, and installing additional NEC radio units that conform to O-RAN specifications.

By utilizing the Enso Lab, customers will be able to build demonstration environment using 5G base stations that meet O-RAN specifications, and develop application prototypes according to customer-specific requirements. This will help customers develop new business utilizing 5G.

As a first step of the three companies’ co-creation activity, they aim to develop and commercialize solutions that include 5G infrastructure and applications for automotive-related industries in Europe. Furthermore, the companies plan to create new solutions for other industries, such as the automotive and manufacturing fields for global markets, including the US, by leveraging their private 5G expertise, knowledge and use cases cultivated in Japan.

3. Role of each company
NTT – Overall coordination and support of collaboration
NTT DATA – Integration of 5G systems for enterprises
NEC – Providing technologies, products, and solutions required for 5G systems for enterprises

4. Representative Quotes
Akira Shimada, Representative Member of the Board and Senior Executive Vice President of NTT: “As one of the initiatives based on NTT’s capital and business alliance with NEC, three companies, including NTT DATA, have begun co-creation activities for enterprise 5G solutions in the global marketplace utilizing radio base station equipment manufactured by NEC in compliance with O-RAN specifications.

“By combining NEC’s sophisticated network technologies and the integration capabilities of the NTT Group, we believe that we can accelerate the creation of advanced corporate solutions that match customer needs.”

“NTT Group is working together with global partners to promote the spread of open architecture in order to create innovative technologies, products, and solutions in the telecommunications field, and will contribute to resolving social issues through the development of services utilizing 5G.”

Toshi Fujiwara, Representative Director and Senior Executive Vice President of NTT DATA: “With 5G networking becoming widespread worldwide, digitization will accelerate even further. In order to respond quickly and flexibly to customer needs in 5G networks, the NTT Group will promote the dissemination of open networks that conform to O-RAN specifications. At the same time, the NTT Group will strive to propose and develop advanced solutions tailored to the needs of global companies by utilizing NEC’s proven 5G related technologies.”

Takayuki Morita, President, CEO and Representative Director of NEC: “NEC is engaged in a range of activities through a capital and business alliance with NTT, aiming to expand and grow 5G businesses globally.

“As part of our collaboration with the NTT Group, we have great hopes that by combining NTT DATA’s solution delivery assets with NEC’s technology assets, we can promote co-creation of 5G for enterprises, starting with the European automotive industry.”

“Going forward, we will continue working together to provide value to customers in Europe and elsewhere utilizing innovative 5G solutions.”

About NTT
NTT believes in resolving social issues through our business operations by applying technology for good. We help clients accelerate growth and innovate for current and new business models. Our services include digital business consulting, technology and managed services for cybersecurity, applications, workplace, cloud, data center and networks, all supported by our deep industry expertise and innovation. As a top 5 global technology and business solutions provider, our diverse teams operate in 80+ countries and regions and deliver services to over 190 of them. We serve over 80% of Fortune Global 100 companies and thousands of other clients and communities around the world. For more information on NTT, visit www.global.ntt.

About NTT DATA
NTT DATA – a part of NTT Group – is a trusted global innovator of IT and business services headquartered in Tokyo. We help clients transform through consulting, industry solutions, business process services, digital & IT modernization and managed services. NTT DATA enables them, as well as society, to move confidently into the digital future. We are committed to our clients’ long-term success and combine global reach with local client attention to serve them in over 50 countries around the globe. Visit us at nttdata.com.

About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation has established itself as a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies while promoting the brand statement of “Orchestrating a brighter world.” NEC enables businesses and communities to adapt to rapid changes taking place in both society and the market as it provides for the social values of safety, security, fairness and efficiency to promote a more sustainable world where everyone has the chance to reach their full potential. For more information, visit NEC at https://www.nec.com.

Rakuten Mobile, NEC and Intel demonstrate industry-leading performance in containerized 5G Core lab trial

Rakuten Mobile, Inc., NEC Corporation and Intel Corporation announced today that they have achieved a performance of 640 Gbps per server for the containerized User Plane Function (UPF) on the containerized 5G SA core network jointly developed by Rakuten Mobile and NEC running on the Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP).

Containerized UPF performance is crucial to maximize the value of 5G deployment. This is because the control plane (C-plane) and user plane (U-plane), which were historically collocated, are completely decoupled in the disaggregated 5G architecture. This enables an independently scalable UPF which is key to private networks, edge computing, hybrid cloud and to accelerate a variety of deployment scenarios. Rakuten Mobile has adopted 5G architecture from the launch of its network, including a CUPS (Control and User Plane Separated) packet core for its 4G LTE network.

The 640 Gbps performance per server for the containerized UPF on the 5G SA core network was achieved in a laboratory environment in Tokyo. This represents a significant opportunity to drive high performance of the commercial network in the future.

NEC leveraged its industry-leading product development based on its advanced telecom and IT expertise to maximize CPU utilization and fast memory access. This is fueled by the utilization of Intel’s latest high-performance infrastructure, including 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors with built-in AI acceleration and Dual-port 100Gb Intel Ethernet Network Adapter E810-2CQDA2 with Dynamic Device Personalization (DDP). Rakuten Mobile, Intel and NEC have collaborated on high-speed processing of containerized UPF, which plays a significant role in this initiative, and achieved a performance of 640 Gbps per server. High-speed processing in a containerized environment on Rakuten Mobile’s RCP enables instant and flexible deployment of UPF from edge to central locations based on traffic characteristics, leveraging RCP’s full automation features.

“Rakuten Mobile has successfully designed and built a fully containerized mobile network based on open standards,” commented Tareq Amin, Representative Director, Executive Vice President and CTO of Rakuten Mobile. “With NEC and Intel, we have demonstrated that extremely high-speed processing is possible on containers. We aim to continue to pursue performance improvements in the core to achieve higher throughput and reduce cost and energy consumption in the rollout of network technology in Japan and worldwide.”

“We’re proud that Rakuten Mobile, Intel and NEC were able to demonstrate industry-leading UPF performance,” commented NEC Executive Vice President Atsuo Kawamura. “NEC has been developing high-performance and highly reliable 5G systems by leveraging our vast experience that includes more than 25 years in mobile core networking. Our strong track record, technical capabilities and expertise in both network and computing domains, allowed us to bring high-quality 5G core to virtualization and cloud-native technology. NEC and Intel have a long-term relationship in the hardware business, including CPUs and NICs (Network Interface Cards), and have jointly enhanced the acceleration technology for virtualization, represented by the DPDK (Data Plane Development Kit). NEC performed significant optimization and improvements to pursue higher performance for the cloud-native UPF. In the future, we will continue to contribute to society through 5G in Japan and around the world leveraging the results of this project.”

“The fully virtualized Rakuten mobile network featuring NEC’s containerized 5G UPF software built on the latest Intel technology is another key proof point of how ecosystem collaboration and industry leading technology are both essential to fulfill the promise of 5G,” said Dan Rodriguez, corporate vice president and general manager of Intel’s Network Platforms Group. “The ongoing development and optimization work among the companies on the latest 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors and Intel Ethernet 800 Series network adapters not only provides outstanding performance, but the added flexibility to run workloads from core to edge that are designed to offer the best experience for end users.”

Rakuten Mobile and NEC started jointly developing an open, fully containerized SA 5G core network in June 2020 to be utilized in Rakuten Mobile’s mobile network in Japan and made available on RCP. In the RAN domain, NEC is also providing 5G radio units (5G RU) for Rakuten Mobile’s network in Japan, and recently, Rakuten Mobile and NEC announced the broadening of their collaboration to provide 5G and 4G radios and engineering services for Open RAN systems aligned with O-RAN specifications for global markets, and accelerate the global expansion of the RCP.

Through the joint development of the Open and fully cloud native containerized SA 5G core network, Rakuten Mobile and NEC aim to drive innovation in global mobile technology and provide high-quality 5G network technology to customers in Japan and around the world.

1982 Ventures Invests in Infina, Vietnam’s ‘Robinhood’ Investment App

Infina, Vietnam’s leading digital investment platform, has secured seed funding, raising an oversubscribed 7-digit seed round with 1982 Ventures, Saison Capital, Venturra Capital, 500 Startups, Nextrans and prominent angel investors. Infina, on a mission to democratize investments for Vietnam’s population of 97 million, will use the funds to fuel growth and expand its product offerings.

1982 Ventures backs Infina, Vietnam-based digital investment platform, in an oversubscribed 7-digit seed round. 1982 Ventures is the leading seed fund focused on fintech in Southeast Asia. [Images: Infina]

Launched in January 2021, Infina is the latest to join the boom of investment apps across the region. Amid the pandemic, the startup currently serves tens of thousands of users and has seen its assets under management (AUM) rise more than fourfold. Infina’s financial partners include some of the largest fund managers in the country, including Dragon Capital, Mirae Asset Fund Management and Viet Capital Asset Management.

Herston Powers, Managing Partner of 1982 Ventures stated, “Vietnam is the most promising market in Southeast Asia for the next wave of retail investing. Infina is at the forefront of the retail investing revolution in Vietnam and has quickly become the most trusted brand with millennial investors. Their commitment and experience building online communities is the key differentiator that makes Infina special.”

James Vuong, CEO and Co-Founder of Infina stated, “Infina is building the ‘Robinhood of Vietnam’, to make investment accessible, easy, and engaging for the country’s middle and lower classes.” The majority of Vietnamese previously let their money sit in risk-free checking accounts or freeze in long-term real estate. However, millennial investors are shifting toward higher-yield asset categories with smaller required investments.

“As millennial investors shift toward higher-yield asset categories, Infina allows users to make a contribution as low as US$25 into a broad range of assets including savings, term deposits, mutual funds, and fractionalized real estate,” added James. Infina’s customers are primarily millennials aged 25 to 40 who would save or invest their disposable income on family planning, child education and early retirement.

James Vuong is an engineer-turned-VC-turned-startup-founder with a track record in Silicon Valley and Vietnam. In 2008, he returned to Vietnam as VP of Investment and a Kauffman Fellow at IDG Ventures. James launched Infina after exiting the last company he founded which was acquired by the Japanese giant LINE Corporation.

Scott Krivokopich, Managing Partner of 1982 Ventures stated, “Infina is the right team to back to capture this massive opportunity. Vietnam’s digital retail investing industry is at an inflection point driven by rising incomes and millennials.” He added, “Infina is democratizing access to wealth management to a largely underserved market.”

Infina will use the funding to fuel growth and expand product offerings. Infina is built with regional aspirations but will continue to focus on Vietnam due to significant growth opportunities.

About 1982 Ventures

1982 Ventures is the leading seed fund investing in fintech startups in Southeast Asia. Our focus makes us the first port of call for fintech founders and the first money in. Our investments include Southeast Asian Open Banking API Platform Brick, Vietnam’s leading Buy Now, Pay Later Fundiin, Vietnam’s Rent-to-Own Home Financing app Homebase (YC W21), Indonesia’s first Earned Wage Access platform Wagely. 1982 Ventures is investing in and supporting the best founders to positively impact the future of financial services in Southeast Asia. Visit https://1982.vc, or follow us on LinkedIn.

About Infina

Infina is the leading digital investment platform in Vietnam. Infina allows users to invest in higher yield asset categories with smaller required investments – savings, term deposits, mutual funds, and fractionalized real estate. To learn more, visit https://infina.vn/.

Contact:
Herston Powers
1982 Ventures
herston@1982.vc