NEC has revealed it is working with Intel on a joint proof of concept trial to virtualise the functions of mobile base stations.
The two tech companies said the trial would start in “early 2016”.
They explained that plan was to separate the digital functions of the base station from the radio ones.
This would enable multiple units of the radio to be centrally controlled from one general-purpose server.
NEC and Intel said the result would be improved communication performance through more precise control of radio interference between the radio units, while cutting down on power and space consumption by consolidating the digital hardware.
Vendors across the board are looking at cloud/virtualized RAN solutions.
Earlier this week, for example, Alcatel-Lucent announced it was adding Red Hat, Advantech and 6WIND tech to its offering.
Intel is also working with the France-based vendor on its solution, which is slated for commercial launch next year.
Nozomu Watanabe, General Manager, Mobile Radio Access Network Division, NEC Corporation, said: “We have been working with Intel on the virtualisation of mobile core networks and customer premises equipment (CPE) and are very pleased to extend our collaboration in Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) to mobile base stations.
“Looking forward, NEC will further strengthen its relationship with Intel for the advancement of NFV, which is the core technology supporting 5G and other forms of next generation wireless communication.”