Ericsson and SoftBank expand AI-RAN collaboration

Ericsson and SoftBank are expanding their joint research efforts towards advancing AI in Radio Access Network (RAN) technology. 

Since the start of their collaboration, the two companies have achieved milestones including:

• Demonstrating a prototype of Ericsson’s Cloud RAN software operating on NVIDIA’s GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip architecture, which features the cutting-edge Grace CPU.  
• Defining a new architecture that allows the orchestration of both RAN and AI applications on the same infrastructure.

These accomplishments illustrate the potential of AI-RAN integration in enhancing network efficiency and capability while paving the way for future innovations.  

Jawad Manssour, President and Representative Director at Ericsson Japan, said: “The progress made in our collaboration with SoftBank underscores our commitment to pioneering innovations in telecommunications.

“These achievements mark significant milestones in our journey to empower communications service providers with more efficient and versatile networks.”

Ericsson and SoftBank are committed to exploring new dimensions in their partnership by expanding their collaborative research. Key areas of the expanded pact include:  

• RAN offloading to GPU: Investigating the feasibility of offloading select RAN functions to the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) using NVIDIA’s powerful GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip platform.  

• Prototyping AI and RAN workload orchestration: Coordinating efforts between SoftBank’s AITRAS*1 orchestrator and Ericsson’s open network management and automation platform to create a seamless orchestration of hybrid AI and RAN workloads.  

• Optimising AI for robotics: Examining the optimal placement of AI computational tasks for robotics applications, leveraging Ericsson’s compute offloading framework.  

With this expanded partnership, both companies aim to drive advancements not only in RAN and mobile networks but across broader industries such as robotics.  

Hideyuki Tsukuda, Executive Vice President and CTO at SoftBank, commented: “Building on our previous activities, this expansion into joint research and development between SoftBank and Ericsson toward future network deployment represents an important step forward in the evolution of AI-RAN technology. 

“We will build SoftBank’s infrastructure with AI-RAN and evolve it into next-generation communication infrastructure that supports AI.”

Ericsson and SoftBank’s ambitions extend beyond their bilateral collaboration. Both companies are among the founding members of the AI-RAN Alliance, a newly established industry group aiming to integrate AI into cellular networks. The alliance, officially unveiled at MWC Barcelona 2024, represents a collective effort by leading organisations to propel progress in RAN technology and mobile networks further.  

Through this industry-wide collaboration, the partners aim to create a shared roadmap for deploying AI-driven solutions to advance telecommunications infrastructure globally.  

The expanded research partnership between Ericsson and SoftBank demonstrates a commitment to unlocking the potential of AI in telecoms. The integration of AI into RAN infrastructure can lead to more efficient networks, better user experiences, and new use cases for emerging technologies.

See also: Ericsson, Dell, and Red Hat aim for smarter multi-vendor networks

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Tags: 5G, ai, ai-ran, artificial intelligence, connectivity, ericsson, mobile, Networks, RAN, softbank, telecoms