Ericsson takes stock of Open RAN standardization, integration and scaled deployment
Before examining what it will take to industrialize Open RAN, let’s look at what it means for a technology to be industrialized. At a high-level, it needs to be standardized, cost-efficient, able to integrate with other technologies and into other systems, and it needs to be deployed at scale. Historical examples include the steam engine, the mechanized loom, Eli Whitney’s concept of interchangeable parts, Henry Ford’s assembly line production methodology, and the telegraph. That last one, the first form of electrical telecommunications, is what started Lars Magnus Ericsson’s eponymous company which, 148 years later, is now considering industrialization of another telecommunications technology—Open RAN.
To understand where Open RAN is on its industrialization arc, RCR Wireless News talked with Ericsson’s Head of Distributed Unit and Infrastructure Matteo Fiorani during the recent Open RAN Global Forum, available on-demand here. To frame the conversation, we talked through with Fiorani the current state of, and outlook for, standardization, cost efficiency, integration considerations, and deployment at global scale.
To the standardization point, Fiorani called out Ericsson’s long association with the O-RAN Alliance, and the company’s significant contributions. “For us, standardization is super important,” he said. “It’s the basis for everything we do.” Looking at current focus areas within O-RAN Alliance, he noted work on the non-real time RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) and R1 interface “which is a fundamental interface to be able to build a multi-vendor rApp ecosystem.”
Fiorani also noted Ericsson’s work on higher- and lower-layer split interfaces; specific to lower-layer split the development of Uplink Performance Improvement (ULPI) specification for open fronthaul connecting massive MIMO radio. Other focus areas he mentioned were the O2 specification for cloud infrastructure management and, broadly, security. “It’s not possible to deploy Open RAN at scale without having proper security solution[s] and proper security controls.”
As to cost-effectiveness, it’s important to remember that one of the original Open RAN thesis statements was radio system disaggregation prompting a rise of specialists, which would increase competition amongst RAN vendors, let operators benefit from the improved economics that flow from heightened competition, and otherwise spur innovation. Worth noting that Ericsson, which is consistently in the top three by revenue globally of RAN vendors—so very much an incumbent–also has the world’s biggest Open RAN deal with AT&T; that five-year deal is worth around $14 billion.
“We have absolutely not given up on the idea of creating a multi-vendor ecosystem,” Fiorani said. “We think that Open RAN and multi-vendor are going hand-in-hand…There will be a multi-vendor ecosystem enabled by Open RAN.” He said the rise of specialists, and scaled deployment of multi-vendor systems “is maybe not exactly what was expected maybe two or three years ago” in terms of modular, plug-and-play, any-to-any solutions. This idea segues directly into the next characteristic of industrialized technology—the ability to integrate with other technologies and slot into larger existing systems.
Back to this vision for any-to-any, plug-and-play RAN, Fiorani said, “It’s not that simple to connect different vendors’ products…There is always a system integration/lifecycle management aspect that creates a certain level of complexity.” In practice, this usually means either the operator will take on the system integrator role or give that responsibility to a primary vendor. He said that’s a “pragmatic” approach, and also called out that different vendors follow different software update cadences, meaning that interoperability has to be re-established and the release schedules need to be coordinated.
Circling back to the outlook for multi-vendor, Fiorani said the nascent xApp/rApp ecosystem is a great way for specialists to bring their unique capabilities into an Open RAN system by way of the service management and orchestration (SMO) platform. Another way into multi-vendor Open RAN is radio specialization. AT&T, for instance, has integrated Ericsson’s baseband with Fujitsu radios, and at the Open RAN Global Forum indicated that it had selected a small cell vendor that would soon enter its network. “So lots of opportunities even if the first entry point from the operator perspective is a primary vendor. And this may smooth out over time as integration becomes simpler.”
With the AT&T deal, and with a coming wave of Open RAN replacements across the European Union, is Open RAN approaching global scale and industrialization? “Yes,” Fiorani said. “I think that the Open RAN revolution will happen.”
