5G Technology + Network Solutions
Samsung Electronics announced on October 17 that it has acquired a 100% stake in Zhilabs, a company based in Barcelona that specializes in solutions for analysis of next-generation network traffic and service quality. This is the first time Samsung Electronics took over a network business-related company.
The takeover is expected to boost Samsung Electronics' competitiveness in 5G, which is picked as one of the company’s four future growth engine items along with artificial intelligence (AI), electronic devices for cars and biotechnology. The acquisition price was not disclosed. Even after being acquired by Samsung Electronics, Zhilabs will remain independent under the current management.
Founded in Spain in 2008, Zhilabs focuses on solutions that measure service quality and automate network operations by analyzing network operation and performance, and data traffic on networks. Its solutions are used by more than 50 carriers around the world including the UK’s Vodafone and Spain’s Telefonica. "Zhilabs’s solutions effectively carry out analysis of basic causes which applies artificial intelligence to network traffic analysis, automatic recoveries and optimization among others," Samsung Electronics said.
Samsung Electronics plans to meet the needs of global telecom operators by combining its leading 5G technology with Zhilabs’s know-how in network analysis. "5G is expected to expand indefinitely into new services as well as services for smartphones as a fourth industrial revolution platform," said Kim Young-ki, president of the Network Business Division at Samsung Electronics. "Samsung Electronics will actively expand its 5G infrastructure with global telecom operators based on cooperation with Zhilabs."
"As a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, we will maximize business synergies through technology cooperation between Zhilabs’s software solution technology and Samsung Electronics's 5G end-to-end solutions," said Joan Raventos, CEO of Zhilabs.