Tokyo, Japan – NTT Docomo, Inc. and NEC Corporation (NEC) announced the completion of a trial to test energy efficiency and high performance of AWS Graviton2 processors across key elements of the 5G core network (5GC). The trial demonstrated an average of a 72% reduction in power consumption against incumbent x86 processors using NEC’s 5GC software running on AWS Graviton2. The trial tested performance within a 5GC hybrid cloud environment leveraging AWS Graviton2 and DOCOMO’s on-premises network functions virtualisation (NFV) infrastructure.
These results support the future realisation of a hybrid cloud environment for telecommunication networks, which enables mobile operators to provide enhanced disaster-resilient networks to customers.
AWS Graviton2 processors deliver a major leap in performance and help reduce the carbon footprint of IT workloads through energy efficiency. Traditionally, many telecommunication workloads need to reside on edge infrastructure, which have power and real estate constraints. AWS Graviton2 offers efficiency with very low cost, low power, and low hardware footprint. In this proof of concept, the use of Graviton2 was able to reduce power consumption of 5GC by 72%, on average.
Following the completion of this first phase, the companies will now conduct a second phase trial to test the 5GC network function on AWS Outposts equipped with Graviton2 processors on DOCOMO’s premises.
“We are delighted to announce that we achieved significant reduction of power consumption of 5GC thanks to NEC’s advanced, cloud-native 5GC software and AWS’s innovative and highly efficient Graviton2,” says Naoki Tani, executive vice president, chief technology officer, executive general manager of the R&D innovation division of NTT DOCOMO. “We will continue the collaboration on the PoC with NEC and AWS for future delivery of environmentally friendly and disaster-resilient 5G network service to our customers.”
“The significant power reduction achieved through this trial indicates a big step forward in commercialising environmentally friendly, sustainable, next-generation mobile infrastructure. NEC will continue adopting cutting-edge, low-power technologies, such as Graviton2, for its UPF and vRAN domains. Our aim is to further contribute to building a sustainable society through provision of sustainable virtual networks and the realisation of next-generation, low-power mobile infrastructure,” says Atsuo Kawamura, executive vice president, NEC.
“Like many industries, telecommunications companies want to be able to ensure sustainability operations while maintaining the high-performance and quality of service their customers need and expect,” says Adolfo Hernandez, vice president and general manager telecom industry business unit at AWS. “AWS is committed to building a sustainable business for our customers and the planet, and is thrilled to see the power savings Graviton2 delivers in telecommunications. We look forward to continuing to work with NTT DOCOMO and NEC to further expand the use of cloud and AWS technologies to advance sustainability and resiliency goals.”
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