Samsung is setting itself up to be the full 5G link for both telcos and consumers with a lineup of 5G products that constitutes a direct pipe to the home from network core to router.
In a Sunday evening presentation, the company touted its portfolio of commercial 5G products, which are slated to become available at the end of this year. They include Samsung’s virtualized network core infrastructure for a centralized point of control and direction for traffic; network management systems that leverage Maintenance and Operation (MANO) and Element Management Systems (EMS) to ensure peak network efficiency; and a small, dense 5G Radio base station that supports 28 GHz millimeter wave spectrum and is capable of delivering 10 Gbps speeds.
Interestingly, Samsung’s portfolio also crosses the threshold into consumers’ homes with a 5G Home Router. The company indicated the router can be placed in a window facing a nearby 5G Radio to deliver peak data rates of up to 1 Gbps. Samsung said the device offers an alternative to fiber-to-the-home deployments. Executives on Sunday touted the router as “compact” and simple enough that “consumers can install it themselves.”
All of these elements come in complement to the company’s recently announced 5G RF Integrated Circuit. Unveiled earlier this month, the RFIC includes a high-gain, high-efficiency power amplifier for extended coverage in the millimeter wave band, boosts to transmission and reception performance, and a chain of 16 low-loss antennae. Like the products announced Sunday, the RFIC is geared toward use in the 28 GHz range that is favored for 5G use.
“Samsung has been focused on 5G R&D for nearly half a decade, and this portfolio launch represents the culmination of a lot of hard work and industry engagement,” Paul Kyungwhoon Cheun, Samsung EVP and head of the Next Generation Communications Business Team, commented. “With pre-commercial deployment of our 5G products already underway in the U.S., we’re starting to see some of the earliest evidence of the potential for new and compelling 5G-driven services. It will be exciting to see it evolve as we move forward on our roadmap.”
On Sunday, Samsung paid no small bit of attention to those commercial trials – Verizon EVP and Chief Information and Technology Architect Roger Gurnani even hopped up on stage to chat about them.
Though the overview of Verizon’s trials was already announced, Gurnani provided a few more details, noting the carrier is onboarding its 5G trial customers over the next 60 days. In addition to fixed wireless, Gurnani said the trials are also experimenting with other use cases, such as virtual and augmented reality teaching tools in a handful of trial schools.
One other important tidbit Gurnani shared is that Verizon is planning to release an updated iteration of its 5G specifications later this year. Unlike the first version, which included only fixed wireless, the next version will include mobile specs.
But back to Samsung.
The company said the first commercial deployments using its 5G technology are headed down the pipe early next year.
