SoftBank Corp. and Red Hat Initiate Joint Research
and Development to Advance AI-RAN Technology

SoftBank Corp. (“SoftBank”) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on October 25, 2024, with Red Hat Inc. (“Red Hat”), the world's leading provider of open source solutions, to collaborate on advancing AI-RAN technology. Through this MoU, SoftBank and Red Hat will jointly engage in research and development aimed at enhancing the virtualization infrastructure of AI-RAN, as well as strengthening the functionality of the orchestrator to drive further progress in this field.

Implementing AI-RAN requires running AI and RAN (Radio Access Network) applications on the same virtualized infrastructure while optimizing their resources. To operate distinct types of AI and RAN applications on a unified computing platform, the virtualization infrastructure and orchestrator play a crucial role.

SoftBank therefore developed the orchestrator^*1, which efficiently manages resources by building a virtualized infrastructure using Red Hat OpenShift, the industry's leading hybrid cloud application platform powered by Kubernetes^*2. Red Hat OpenShift will provide the foundation for AI-RAN and ensure faster data processing and real-time resource optimization for service providers to achieve enhanced performance, intelligent automation and enhanced multi-layer security for both AI and vRAN applications. With the signing of this MoU, SoftBank will establish a joint project team with Red Hat to accelerate the development of new functionalities for both the virtualization infrastructure and the orchestrator.

[Notes]

1. *1
   Refer to this press release for more on the orchestrator
2. *2
   Kubernetes is a portable, extensible, open source platform for managing containerized workloads and services, that facilitates both declarative configuration and automation.

SoftBank and Red Hat will primarily focus on the following areas of collaboration:

• Formation of a joint project team between SoftBank and Red Hat
• Investigation of use cases leveraging Red Hat open source solutions
• Optimization for multi-architecture platforms, including Arm architecture CPU
• Establishment of methodologies for managing computing resources deployed across Japan
• Development of strategies for GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) provisioning and efficient GPU resource allocation

Red Hat has joined the AI-RAN Alliance as part of this initiative and will participate in the AI-and-RAN Working Group moving forward.

Chris Wright, Senior Vice President of Global Engineering and Chief Technology Officer, Red Hat, said:
“AI has the potential to revolutionize how service providers operate and what services they can deliver. A standardized platform that optimally supports the rigorous demands of both AI and RAN workloads is crucial to enable cost-effective, efficient and automated operations. Through collaborations like this one, Red Hat and SoftBank are able to help service providers navigate this terrain by making AI easier to develop and deploy from the edge to core to hybrid cloud and back, all on the trusted foundation of Red Hat OpenShift. This joint effort will help service providers leverage AI models within the RAN, as part of RAN operations, and as new revenue generating services are offered through the AI-RAN infrastructure.”

Keiichi Makizono, Executive Vice President, and CIO of SoftBank said:
“SoftBank has initiated the AI-RAN project to enable mobile networks to address the diverse needs across industries. Through this joint R&D partnership, we believe the synergy between Red Hat's and SoftBank's core competencies will accelerate AI-RAN development, allowing us to bring this innovative service to market sooner.”

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