Samsung and KDDI Successfully Demonstrate Network Slicing Capabilities in Tokyo Field Trial.

Samsung Electronics (KRX: 005930) and KDDI (TYO: 9433) successfully demonstrated the capabilities of service level agreements (SLA) to ensure network slicing in a field trial in Tokyo, Japan.

This is the first time in the industry that multiple network slices have been generated using a RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) in a commercial 5G standalone (SA) network.

The RIC, provided by Samsung, is a software-based component of the Open RAN architecture that optimizes the radio resources of the RAN to improve overall network quality.

Network slicing allows multiple virtual networks to be created within a single physical network infrastructure, with each slice dedicated to a specific application or service.

For example, operators can create a low-latency slice for automated vehicles, an IoT slice for smart factories, and a high-bandwidth slice for live video streaming – all within the same network.

This means that a single network can support a wide range of use cases simultaneously, accelerating the delivery of new services and meeting the unique needs of different businesses and consumers.

The field trial, conducted in Q4 2022, demonstrated that KDDI and Samsung can generate multiple network slices that meet the requirements of SLA and guarantee specific performance parameters such as low latency and high throughput for each application.

Samsung also demonstrated the technical feasibility of multiple UE-based network slices with quality assurance using the RIC, which performs advanced control of RAN as defined by the O- RAN Alliance.

Samsung and KDDI have been working together for more than a decade.

They have achieved major milestones in 5G networks, including KDDI’s selection of Samsung as a 5G network solution provider, the end-to-end demonstration of 5G network slicing in the lab, the launch of the 5G network at 700 MHz, and the launch of 5G vRAN on KDDI’s commercial network.