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Huawei envisages a 5G era free of hardware

Posted June. 29, 2018 07:35,   

Updated June. 29, 2018 07:35

한국어

Located in Pudong, Shanghai, X Labs is a 5G research hub run by Huawei, where the Chinese communications equipment giant is working together with its partner companies to envisage the future of information and communications technologies (ICT).

Visiting the X Labs, this journalist played the video game Tomb Raider with a controller proffered by an employee in Huawei. It took me a while to finally realize that there was no hardware console that runs the software of the video game.

“It used to cost 3,000 to 4,000 yuan (510,000 to 680,000 won) to play video games as you need a console and a PC, but in an era of cloud computing, you can play video games anytime and anywhere only with a display device,” explained a researcher at Huawei.

For such 5G content to spread, however, network infrastructure or 5G equipment must be prepared first. This explains why there are utility poles across Huawei’s R&D center. The Chinese company developed a technology to maximize the operation efficiency of communications equipment by cutting the size of a base station from 20 m² to 2 m².

But South Korean wireless service carriers are hesitating to adopt 5G communications equipment for the risk of information leakage and other security issues. Seemingly aware of such concern, the officials from Huawei spent a significant amount of time on explaining the high level of security of their ICT equipment during a meeting with journalists.

Huawei says that there is no risk for “information leakage” as they are complying with the industry standard recommended by the global 5G O-RAN Alliance, as well as the security requirements of South Korean communications companies. Claiming to have gotten certified by a British security accreditor, the Chinese company said it is immune to security issues. Asked if they can go through a test conducted by an authorized security accreditor for Korea, however, Huawei refused to provide an answer.


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