Semiconductor products maker Cavium will showcase SDN, NFV and C-RAN technologies targeting advanced 4G and 5G networks at the Mobile World Congress (MWC 2016).

Cavium’s ThunderX COTS ARMV8 processors, OCTEON Fusion-M baseband processors, OCTEON Multi-Core Processors, LiquidIO Intelligent NICs and LiquidSecurity will be at display.

Network Function Virtualization (NFV) removes the limitations of fixed network components and allows scalable multi-function networks.

Cloud RAN (C-RAN) is a special use case of NFV for centralizing and managing varying Radio Access Nodes, while Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) is for increasing autonomy and decision making at the edge of the network.

“The challenges inherent in next-generation carrier networks will be simplified by virtualization technologies including NFV and SDN,” said Linley Gwennap, principal analyst of The Linley Group.

NFV, a fully OPNFV compliant MontaVista carrier grade NFV, showcases a complete E2E Cloud-RAN solution on a scalable ThunderX ARMv8 NFV server processor.

SDN, NFV Cloud / Centralized RAN is a fully programmable, low latency SDN–based RAN solution for LTE and 5G based on ThunderX workload optimized server processors and single chip OCTEON Fusion-M Smart Radio Head solutions.The demo also showcases RAN orchestration and dynamic resource allocation using SDN control, said Cavium.

Syed Ali, president and CEO of Cavium, said: “The rapid increase in mobile data and the move to NFV and 5G necessitates a new generation of silicon solutions with massive increases in throughput and security for wireless infrastructure.”

Meanwhile, Cavium has expanded its partnership with Argela, a member of Turk Telekom group, to include the availability of ProgRAN on Cavium’s OCTEON Fusion-M and ThunderX network infrastructure processors. ProgRAN is a SDN-based RAN solution for LTE and 5G developed by Argela.

“We have worked with Argela to leverage our experience in NFV / CRAN operator trials both on ThunderX and OCTEON Fusion-M to bring this product to market. As an OCTEON Fusion-M licensee, Argela has access to Cavium’s silicon and software technologies for NFV/CRAN implementations,” said Raj Singh, general manager, Wireless Broadband Group, Cavium.

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