Samsung eyes network virtualization
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Samsung Electronics Network Business Division Vice President Chang Moon-seok speaks during a symposium on network function virtualization and software-defined networking technologies at Samsung Digital City in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Friday. / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
By Yoon Sung-won
Samsung Electronics will enter the network virtualization services business, the company said Friday.
The move comes as the nation’s largest electronics company is working to retain and enhance the profitability of its networking technology and equipment business.
“The shift to network function virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN) is an international trend to develop the next-generation telecommunication technologies such as the fifth-generation (5G) network,” said Samsung Electronics’ network business division head, Park Dong-soo.
“Using these technologies, telecom companies will be able to build a more agile network system and control them far more easily than before. At the same time, customers will benefit from more diverse telecom services that are personalized for each of them.”
On Friday, Samsung Electronics held a symposium on NFV and SDN technologies at the Samsung Digital City in Suwon in Gyeonggi Province.
It invited about 200 officials from global network technology firms such as Intel, Broadcom and Brocade to discuss the development of the networking technologies and international market trends for the services and system solutions.
NFV is about making the functions of hardware networking equipment “virtualized” by introducing universal servers and software systems to replace them.
SDN also optimizes traditional hardware networking equipment by making it conduct data transmission and control functions separately.
NFV and SDN are considered key technologies that can realize the 5G network and support communication among billions of devices in the Internet of Things system.
These technologies will help telecom network operators dramatically reduce expenses in establishing and responding to the expansion in network traffic more quickly and conveniently. This is because network equipment that works on these technologies uses universal servers, not rigid and heavy servers that are more difficult to modify or upgrade.
With U.S. networking service provider VMware in the lead, more enterprises in the global IT and network industry are turning to virtualization technology.
In Korea, telecom operators SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus have pushed for network virtualization technology. Samsung Electronics has teamed with SK Telecom to provide the nation’s top mobile carrier with NFV solutions for the Internet of Things sector.
Samsung Electronics expects that the introduction of new technologies and more agile network systems will allow mobile carriers to launch new telecom services or plans within hours, whereas it has taken from two weeks to several months to do so.
“We expect the NFV and the SDN technologies will take a key role in fostering tailor-made customer services for each customer,” the company said.