Samsung Electronics has acquired the services of Zhilabs, an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based networks analytics startup based in Barcelona. The company bets the acquisition will ease its transition to 5G technologies and further enhance its 5G capabilities.
Earlier in August, Samsung had announced an initiative to invest KRW 25 trillion (about $22 billion) in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, automotive electronics components and biopharmaceuticals over the next three years. The acquisition of Zhilabs is part of that initiative, Samsung says. Financial details of the deal, however, have not been disclosed.
“5G will enable unprecedented services attributed to the generation of exponential data traffic, for which automated and intelligent network analytics tools are vital. The acquisition of Zhilabs will help Samsung meet these demands to assure each subscriber receives the best possible service,” said Youngky Kim, President and Head of Samsung’s Networks Business.
5G will make way for greater possibilities in the field of Internet of Things (IoT) and connected cars. Samsung plans to utilize Zhilabs’ capabilities to create new cutting-edge technology to ease-out this transformation from 4G to 5G. AI-based transformation can be used to analyze user traffic, classify application being used, and improve overall service quality, Samsung says.
Samsung itself will continue to strengthen its automation solutions while working jointly with Zhilabs. The company, meanwhile, also plans to invest in more emerging technologies that foster its offerings.
About Zhilabs
Founded in 2008, Zhilabs is quite popular in the networks analytics industry. Big names like Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Vodafone, and Telefonica use the services of the Barcelona-based company to analyze and test network performance in real-time. It’s AI technology allow service issues to be automatically detected and fixed.
Zhilabs is now fully owned by Samsung but will continue to operate independently under its own management.
