SoftBankin collaboration with Nvidiahas created an artificial intelligence radio access network (AI-RAN) capable of handling AI and 5G workloads simultaneously.
The telecommunications industry has widely adopted this new infrastructure, recognizing its potential to optimize network functions and generate new revenue streams. A demonstration in Japan’s Kanagawa Prefecture showcased SoftBank’s AI-RAN solution, enhanced with NVIDIA technology, delivering high 5G performance while utilizing excess network capacity for AI inference tasks.
Traditional networks are built to handle peak loads, typically using only about a third of their potential capacity. With AI-RAN’s shared computing capabilities, telcos can now leverage the remaining two-thirds of their network capacity for AI inference services.
Estimates from NVIDIA and SoftBank suggest that for every dollar invested in AI-RAN infrastructure, telcos could potentially earn $5 in AI inference revenue. SoftBank estimates a return of up to 219% per AI-RAN server added to existing infrastructure, taking into account both operational and capital expenditures.
Ronnie Vasishta, senior vice president of telecommunications at NVIDIA, said: “Moving from single-purpose AI-RAN networks to general-purpose AI-RAN networks can mean 5x revenue for every investment dollar invested. SoftBank’s live field trial marks a huge step toward commercializing AI-RAN with validation of the technology’s feasibility, performance and economics.
Real-world AI-RAN applications
Real-world applications of SoftBank’s AI-RAN were also demonstrated during these trials.
Using NVIDIA AI Enterprise, SoftBank has implemented various AI inference applications, such as remote assistance for autonomous vehicles, robotic control, and localized and automated data retrieval and generation , at the edge of the network. These inference workloads ran seamlessly on SoftBank. AI-RAN system.
Among the technical achievements is SoftBank’s fully software-defined 5G radio stack, perfectly matched to NVIDIA’s AI computing platform. This configuration includes L1 software enhancements developed by SoftBank using RAN libraries accelerated by NVIDIA Aerial CUDA.
Looking ahead, SoftBank plans to integrate NVIDIA Aerial RAN Computer-1 systems into its solution, predicting a 40% reduction in power consumption compared to traditional 5G network infrastructures.
Supply and demand
A crucial feature of SoftBank’s AI-RAN solution is its ability to dynamically adjust computing power in response to fluctuations in supply and demand, while maintaining carrier-grade performance.
SoftBank aims to establish a robust ecosystem that aligns demand for AI technology with supply, facilitated by NVIDIA AI Enterprise’s serverless application programming interfaces and SoftBank’s custom orchestrator. This will ensure that SoftBank can offload external AI inference tasks to an AI-RAN server whenever free compute resources are available.
Ryuji Wakikawa, Vice President and Director of Advanced Technology Research Institute at SoftBank, commented: “SoftBank’s ‘AITRAS’ is the first AI-RAN solution developed through a five-year collaboration with NVIDIA. It integrates and coordinates AI and RAN workloads through the SoftBank-developed orchestrator, improving communication efficiency by running dense cells on a single NVIDIA-accelerated GPU server.
“We are confident that this AI-driven innovation, AITRAS, will pave the way for new business models in the telecommunications sector, serving as a crucial factor in the transformation of mobile operators. »
(Photo by Igor Omilaev)
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