HCLSoftware and Viettel High Technologies jointly launched a 5G UPF Acceleration Solution powered by Intel to power next generation 5G networks

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA and NOIDA, India, Feb 26, 2024 – HCLSoftware, a division of HCL Technologies, a leading global technology company, announces its strategic partnership with Intel Corporation (Intel) to deliver a joint 5G User Plane Function (UPF) acceleration solution that significantly improves subscriber user experience and reduces costs for mobile network operators.

HCLSoftware 5G UPF Acceleration Solution is a cloud-native, high-performance software solution incorporating configurable hardware offloading capabilities for both network Edge and Core deployments. Powered by Intel’s Agilex 7 FPGA advanced smart NICs (network interface cards)/IPU (infrastructure processing units)/DPU (data processing unit) technologies for wireless core applications, the joint solution optimizes hardware resources and drives cost reduction for operational expenses (OPEX) and capital expenses (CAPEX) by up to 80 percent.

HCLSoftware collaborated with Viettel High Technologies (VHT) a subsidiary of Viettel group, a top telecom infrastructure R&D company based in Vietnam and demonstrated the effectiveness of the joint UPF Acceleration Solution. By integrating with VHT’s UPF Stack and conducting real-world performance scenarios at VHT Data Center Lab, the results show improved 5G network throughput and reduced latency, ultimately expected to enhance subscriber user experiences and reduceg mobile operator costs.

“Our 5G UPF Acceleration Solution, powered by Intel’s advanced technologies, will unlock faster network speeds, low latency and enhanced user experiences. By combining our expertise, we aim to drive innovation in the telecommunications industry and enable our customers to thrive in the era of network transformation. We are thrilled to collaborate with Intel to create an innovative solution for 5G network transformation,” said Shashidhar Krishnamurthy, Senior Vice President and Telecom Industry Solutions Principal, HCLSoftware.

“Intel’s smart NICs/IPU technologies, coupled with HCLs deep telecommunications domain knowledge, will revolutionize network performance, scalability and cost efficiency. Together, we will empower enterprises and service providers to embrace the full potential of 5G and beyond. We are excited to collaborate with HCLSoftware to drive the evolution of wireless core network applications,” said Mr. Mike Fitton, Vice President, DCAI, GM PSG Network business division.

“Viettel High Tech has developed full network elements including Devices, Radio Access Network (RAN), Transmission Network, and Core Network which are forming a strong foundation for digital society. Collaborating with HCLSoftware, we’ve pioneered advanced solutions like deploying UPF products on Intel’s FPGA card platform. These successful lab environment tests, reflect our continued commitment to innovation,” said Nguyen Vu Ha, General Director of Viettel High Tech.

Leveraging Intel’s Intel Agilex 7 FPGA Technology based SmartNIC/IPU/DPU Platforms and HCLSoftware’s 5G User Plane Function (UPF) telecommunication software. The collaboration provides improved 5G network throughput and reduced latency, ultimately enhancing subscriber user experiences.

This joint solution was successfully able to fully offload dataplane processing in hardware, ensuring deterministic performance with no CPU intervention and achieve ultra-low average latency with negligible deviation in all traffic scenarios.