Nokia and Broadcom are collaborating on the development of advanced semiconductor technologies, including new custom system-on-chip (SoC) processors, which will be integrated into Nokia’s “5G Powered by ReefShark” portfolio. The collaboration further expands the range of Nokia ReefShark chipsets available for 5G solutions and will improve both the system performance and energy footprint of 5G networks.
The collaboration will leverage Nokia’s wireless technology and Broadcom’s expertise in ASIC technologies.
Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: “This important collaboration highlights our continued commitment to developing our “5G Powered by ReefShark” chipset portfolio and ensures that our 5G solutions deliver a best-in-class performance to our customers. We are delighted to bring Broadcom’s silicon technology leadership and best-in-class ASIC capability to the table, allowing us to deliver a high performance and serve our customers’ needs as the demand for 5G services increases.”
Frank Ostojic, SVP and General Manager of ASIC Products Division at Broadcom, said: “We are excited to partner with Nokia to develop and deploy highly integrated custom silicon solutions for 5G infrastructure. Nokia and Broadcom’s collaboration accelerates silicon innovation and enables operators and end users to realize the unprecedented benefits of 5G.”
Nokia collaborates with Intel on 5G New Radio and cloud infrastructure
Nokia announced a collaboration with Intel for its 5G radio portfolio.
Specifically, the companies have worked closely on the new Intel Atom P5900 processor that combines compute, connectivity and acceleration technologies. The jointly developed custom silicon solutions are included in Nokia’s AirScale radio access products being shipped worldwide as part of its 5G “Powered by ReefShark” portfolio.
The partnership also calls for using the latest Intel Xeon processor technology in Nokia’s cloud infrastructure. Nokia’s AirFrame data center solution for edge and core also uses the latest second generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor with built-in AI acceleration. The processor is also included in both Nokia’s AirScale all-in-cloud virtual RAN (vRAN) and 5G core solutions to meet the requirements demanded by 5G technologies. Nokia’s AirScale Cloud RAN virtualizes radio functions to deliver ultra-low latency and high bit rates for demanding services, as well as providing the flexibility to deliver scalability, agility and operational efficiency to meet demand.
Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: “This partnership highlights our continued commitment to ensuring our 5G portfolio is underpinned by best-in-class technology. 5G networks need to support billions of devices and machines, and this massive increase in volume and scale means that existing infrastructure and components must evolve rapidly, adopting technologies and techniques to enable to deploy 5G networks quickly.”
Nokia looks to Marvell for 5G silicon development
Nokia is working with Marvell to develop 5G multi-RAT (Radio Access Technology) silicon, including multiple generations of custom silicon and infrastructure processors.
The new generation of custom system-on-chip (SoC) and infrastructure processors will expand the range of Nokia ReefShark chipsets. Marvell brings its multi-core Arm processor platforms.
Nokia said these new chipsets are designed to be deployed in several building blocks of its AirScale radio access solution.
Matt Murphy, CEO and President of Marvell: “Marvell is excited and honored to partner with Nokia to enable next-generation solutions for 5G networks. Our platform of semiconductor solutions for data infrastructure in combination with Nokia’s technology and market leadership will enable wireless networks of the future to deliver on the promise of 5G and open a world of new business opportunities.”
Nokia’s ReefShark silicon cuts massive MIMO antenna size and power consumption
Nokia unveiled its ReefShark 5G chipsets for radio frequency (RF) units such as the radio used in antennas. The chipsets, which were developed in-house, significantly improve radio performance resulting in halving the size of massive MIMO antennas. Nokia says its ReefShark chipsets also reduce power consumption in baseband units by 64%, compared to current technology.
The ReefShark chipsets comprise:
- ReefShark Digital Front End for LTE and 5G radio systems supporting massive MIMO
- ReefShark RFIC front-end module and transceiver: massive MIMO Adaptive Antenna solution
- ReefShark Baseband Processor: All-in-one compute heavy design, capable of supporting the massive scale requirements of 5G. This is the brain power of baseband processing.
