Since then, Samsung and KT have been preparing for 5G SA launch through multiple tests and trials in KT’s major offices and in urban areas. Today’s deployment will help accelerate KT’s 5G vision to deliver socio-economic value and enhanced consumer experiences across Korea through the advancement of 5G.

“Our 5G SA service will be an important step in unlocking the full potential of 5G and it will bring new value to our customers,” said Youngsoo Seo, Senior Vice President and Director of Network Research Technology Unit, Network Group at KT. “As a digital platform company, KT will continue to make efforts to help drive Korea’s Digital New Deal and ensure our customers enjoy the best experiences and opportunities that 5G has to offer.”

Unlocking 5G’s Full Potential

The implementation of 5G SA networks opens up new business opportunities for service providers, enabling them to reduce time-to-service, and accelerate a new generation of use cases and opportunities for consumers and businesses.

For this commercial launch, Samsung provided KT its end-to-end 5G network solutions from Radio Access Network (RAN) to Core. KT facilitated a smooth transition to 5G SA by using Samsung’s 5G RAN and Core, which can support 5G SA and NSA simultaneously.

“Samsung is proud to play a leading role in placing Korea at the forefront of network technology innovation,” said Seungil Kim, Vice President and Head of Korea Business, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “Our reliable and flexible 5G SA architecture, powered by our 5G RAN and Core, will enable KT to offer its users the next generation of enhanced use cases and mobile experiences. By introducing 5G SA services in Korea, we are taking a meaningful step in 5G journey, and look forward to delivering more transformative experiences to customers and businesses with KT.”

For more information on 5G SA, please refer to Samsung’s whitepaper: 5G Standalone Architecture

Samsung has pioneered the successful delivery of 5G end-to-end solutions including chipsets, radios, and core. Through ongoing research and development, Samsung drives the industry to advance 5G networks with its market-leading product portfolio from fully virtualized RAN and Core to private network solutions and AI-powered automation tools. The company is currently providing network solutions to mobile operators that deliver connectivity to hundreds of millions of users around the world.

This superior performance of Samsung’s 5G SA Core was accomplished using the 2^nd generation Intel^® Xeon^® Scalable processor and the Intel^® Ethernet Network Adapter E810 with Enhanced Dynamic Device Personalization (DDP).

The capacity of 305Gpbs is equivalent to hosting more than 200,000 users that are live-streaming standard definition (SD) videos simultaneously.

The resulting performance advancement will not only help increase cost-efficiency for 5G Core network deployments, but also help accelerate the delivery of next-generation, high-capacity networks. This will foster more immersive 5G use cases that require much higher data volume processing with low latency. These include augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X), experiences, which can be enjoyed without impact to performance through greater capacity.

5G’s Expanding Capacity

Normally, data processing requires a complex path using multiple cores, including packet distribution, transmission, and processing cores. With the Intel Ethernet Network Adapter E810 with Enhanced DDP, the data distribution and transmission functions are better optimized across the network adapter and the CPU cores, resulting in higher performance. Samsung and Intel were able to implement a simplified system configuration and boost packet processing and overall network performance.

“Through close collaboration with Intel, we were able to achieve an industry-leading performance with our 5G SA Core,” said Sohyong Chong, Senior Vice President and Head of Core Software R&D, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung’s cloud-native 5G SA Core, through its highly flexible and scalable design, will enable our customers to launch 5G services more swiftly and cost-effectively.”

“The transition to 5G Standalone Core is essential to achieve the full potential of 5G,” said Alex Quach, Vice President and General Manager, Wireline and Core Network Division, Intel Corporation. “This milestone achieved with Samsung is a verification of how strong industry collaboration and the use of innovative technologies can enhance performance to accelerate this transition and pave the way to new network and edge services.”

For more complete information on the performance results, refer to our white paper: Samsung Achieves 305Gpbs on 5G UPF Core Utilizing Intel Architecture.

Samsung has pioneered the successful delivery of 5G end-to-end solutions including chipsets, radios, and core network technologies. The company supports 5G commercial services in the world’s leading markets, including Korea, the U.S. and Japan. In addition, the company is rapidly expanding its global footprint to new markets including Canada and New Zealand.