Electronics giant Fujitsu unveiled a new 5G virtualised RAN (vRAN) product which it will pitch to companies including operators from next month, tapping a wider trend in the industry to construct and deploy more flexible and open networks.

Fujitsu stated it developed product as part of the 5G Open RAN Ecosystem project fronted by NTT Docomo, with the operator backing performance verification and evaluation tests.

Nvidia also contributed by applying its GPU processing engine to the physical layer at the base station.

This enables parallel processing of virtualised base stations and edge applications on GPU hardware resources in an all-in-one configuration, Fujitsu explained.

It added the process simplifies operator moves to build a flexible open network with a device configuration which can be bolstered ā€œwith a variety of functionsā€, along with improving radio unit capacity and processing power.

Use cases
Among the use cases touted, Fujitsu said the system will aid enterprises in providing services including automated guided vehicles at manufacturing sites, and video distribution using AR and VR technologies.

The introduction of vRAN systems, which are software-based base stations which do not require dedicated hardware, are gaining increasing attention as they enable flexible equipment procurement and encounter lower costs.

Masaki Taniguchi, SVP of mobile systems business unit at Fujitsu, added the company will continue to work with NTT Docomo, Nvidia and other global partners to develop the ecosystem going forward.

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