Samsung Is Elected to the Technical Oversight Committee of the O-RAN Open Source Project

At a recent online meeting, Samsung Electronics was elected as an official member of the Technical Oversight Committee (TOC) for the O-RAN open source project, the top decision-making body of the O-RAN Software Community (SC).

Over a term of office that begins this April and extends through to 2023, Samsung is set to play a key role in the decision-making undertaken by the O-RAN open source project’s TOC.

Active Participation for the Future of Telecommunications Technologies

Through its participation in the O-RAN Alliance, Samsung has been expanding its influence in the Open RAN domain, an area that is currently in the spotlight thanks to its potential to be the next generation of radio access network (RAN) technology. Over the past two years, the company has been continuously developing open source code for RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC).

Thanks to this pioneering work, Samsung has been elected as an official member of the TOC, the top voting body of the O-RAN SC, along with 11 other companies. JinGuk Jeong, Vice President and Head of Advanced Solutions Team at Samsung Research¹‘s Advanced Communications Research Center, has now begun his term as the company’s representative to the TOC following the membership offer. [¹ Samsung Electronics’ advanced R&D hub, which leads the development of future technologies for its Device eXperience division.]

Setting Standards for Global Specifications and Open Source Software

The O-RAN SC TOC has twelve seats comprised of six global telecommunications operators — AT&T, China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, NTT Docomo and TIM — and 6 telecommunications equipment and components providers — Samsung Electronics, Ericsson, Nokia, Windriver, Radisys and Viavi.

O-RAN SC is sponsored by O-RAN Alliance, which releases specifications, and it develops and releases their specification compatible software as open source. As a member of the TOC, Samsung is set to play a role in the final approval of the bi-annual open source code release, the establishment of a development roadmap, and in making decisions necessary to ensure alignment with the O-RAN Alliance.

Through the open source leadership secured with this TOC membership, Samsung plans to continue strengthening its advanced research in Network AI (Artificial Intelligence) / ML (Machine Learning) based on O-RAN technology as it expands its influence in other related industries.