Huawei to collaborate with Telefónica on 5G development

Mobile equipment maker Huawei and operator Telefónica have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) over joint development of 5G networking technology.

The MoU, signed in Hong Kong on November 5th, relates to joint evaluation and research into the requirement of 5G network architecture, with a focus on key air interface technology, performance evaluation and prototype verification.

Huawei has been researching 5G since 2009, claims to have wealth of experience in lab and field tests and already works on 5G with China Mobile, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Japan’s NTT DoCoMo and Korean operators LG U+ and KT. In June, Huawei was recognised for making the ‘Biggest Contribution to 5G Development’ at industry event the LTE Awards.

Meanwhile another frontier of mobile networking has been rolled back as Huawei and Intel subsidiary Wind River have announced the completion of their joint investigation into network function virtualisation (NFV) Integration.

The tests, conducted at the NFV/SDN Open Labs in Xi’an, China, aimed to verify the potential for integrating different layers of the NFV network architecture. Wind River, which Intel created to address the IoT market, submitted its carrier grade NFV software platform Titanium Server to be validated with Huawei’s FusionServer E9000 server, vEPC/vIMSsoftware and MANO. The verification involved six types of use cases and 56 test cases. All test items passed the verification.

Service providers are looking for validated and market-ready end-to-end NFV systems for the IoT, explained Jim Douglas, senior vice president of marketing, Wind River. “Collaboration across the ecosystem is essential,” said Douglas.

Lastly Huawei announced it will open a new research and development lab in Dublin, Eire, in 2016. The new research facility will create 50 new R&D jobs, bringing Huawei’s total number of employees across Ireland to 120. The facility will research into business innovation, network services, cloud and customer experience and the ICT transformation of service provider operations. It will be the lead R&D office in Ireland, working in conjunction with Huawei’s other R&D locations in Dublin, Cork and Athlone.

The project is supported by Ireland’s Department of Jobs through IDA Ireland. Huawei has invested €35m in R&D in Ireland in 2015.

Discover the latest developments on the road to 5G at 5G World in London 28-30 June 2016