History
Most of the CAPEX required to build a wireless network is related to the RAN segment, reaching as high as 80% of the total network cost. Any reduction in the RAN equipment cost will significantly help the bottom line of wireless operators as they...
In my previous blog, I covered the promise and potential of network slicing. Another deployment use case which has seen tremendous interest and demand is the use of private networks. With the increasing digital connectivity of devices and equipment across different industry verticals and...
History
In 2G and 3G, the mobile architectures had controllers that were responsible for RAN orchestration and management. With 4G, overall network architecture became flatter and the expectation was that, to enable optimal subscriber experience, base stations would use the X2 interface to communicate with...
According to Cellwize, 5G networks should be born automated
Cellwize, a network automation and orchestration company, worked with Verizon to develop Chime, an AI-powered RAN automation platform that provides an open, centralized layer that enables an orchestrated ecosystem of automation, allowing MNOs to manage and...
In my last blog, we briefly touched upon the advanced use cases that are possible in 5G. One such use case is Network Slicing. 5G cellular services should broadly support use cases including enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications (URLLC) and Massive Internet...
History
Software has been “eating the world” for a while now: from consumer, then enterprise and now the telecom value chains. Open RAN is a great example of how software is “eating” telco. What we have learned from the data center approach is that after...
Open RAN deployments seeing traction is rural markets
Parallel Wireless on July 16 announced it is working with multi-national carrier Orange to use its disaggregated Open RAN technology to expand coverage in the operator's Central African Republic network footprint. In addition to the coverage boost,...
Is open RAN right for near-term rip-and-replace?
Huawei equipment has been ordered removed from networks in the United States and the United Kingdom with speculation that other European markets could soon follow. Advocates of open radio access network technology see this an opportunity to take...
We left off in our series having looked at the virtualized and cloud-based open RAN. Now we move on to consider the orchestration part, deploying and managing these cloud-based implementations.
Orchestration, or service management and orchestration (SMO), has been used in the enterprise world for...
History
Some estimates put the telecom industry, especially the RAN segment, between seven and ten years behind a normal innovation curve due to the lack of competition in the market. This is a similar situation to the state of the data center industry in the...
Although 2020 has brought numerous challenges to the telecom industry, including geopolitical stresses, the COVID-19 pandemic, and 5G deployment challenges, these events have also highlighted the critical role of fixed and mobile telecom networks in providing economic resilience and national vitality during a period...
In conjunction with a wide swath of industry stakeholders, the United States federal government is working to form and implement the creatively-titled National Strategy to Secure 5G. Signed by President Trump in March, the strategy has three primary goals: “facilitating domestic 5G rollout; assessing...
In previous blogs in this “Who Disaggregated My RAN? series, we have looked at the benefits of a disaggregated Open RAN, including the growth of an ecosystem to support the deployment of an Open RAN. We have also looked at how these disaggregated solutions...
As it continues to gain 5G infrastructure market share, Samsung this week announced a virtualized 5G RAN solution comprising virtualized central and distributed units and updated radios. And in keeping with the RAN vendor trend toward “open,” Samsung said the new vRAN solution will...
History
Functional splits are nothing new. They were initially outlined in 3GPP Release 14 and defined in 3GPP release 15 and where new terminology, interfaces and functional modules were introduced. But why is this RU, DU, CU functional split concept becoming so fundamental in Open...
The virtualization of cellular networks has been ongoing for some time. But virtualizing the Radio Access Network (RAN) has always been an enigma and was the final frontier for the trend. The rising star of 5G infrastructure business—Samsung—jumped on to the virtualized RAN (vRAN)...
Nokia expects “full suite” of O-RAN interfaces available in 2021
Adding on to a recent refresh of its virtualized, cloud-based RAN solutions, Nokia today, after weeks of building up to it, made clear its position on open RAN and its role as a global, incumbent...
In this series focused on the benefits of a disaggregated Open RAN, we have had a chance to see how an open RAN has helped expand the ecosystem and led operators to consider new vendor solutions that meet their needs. Standards have emerged which...
The decision is being seen by some as an attempt to better align itself with Japanese firm Rakuten
Dish Network will use Altiostar’s cloud-native O-RAN compliant solution for its 5G network buildout, providing the carrier with openness, modularity, agility and scalability. The Altiostar solution leverages...
FCC cuts off Universal Service Fund money to buy and maintain US networks that use Chinese kit
It's been a long time coming but, despite the protracted journey, reaching the destination still stings for the small and rural domestic mobile network operators that use network...
History
The entire telecom industry is going through a dramatic change that can be only compared to the change that data centers went through in the 2000s, all driven by Moore’s Law. This is driving the need to move from costly, proprietary RAN solutions to...
Inland using Parallel Wireless RRHs connected to virtualized baseband running on Dell EMC servers
Open radio access network technologies, which disaggregate hardware from software potentially creating a cost benefit to operators, have been discussed as a potential solution for smaller U.S. operators looking to move...
Open RAN, as the name implies, is meant to be open to multiple vendors, both hardware and software, that work together to achieve interoperability in accordance with an operator's needs. But as incumbent radio vendors like Nokia throw out terms like "open but integrated,"...
The arrival of RAN disaggregation and the corresponding standards for open interfaces, hardware, software decoupling, network intelligence and automation has led to the expansion of a diverse ecosystem of RAN component players, specifically Radio Unit (RU) vendors. While this ecosystem allows operators to pick...
In my last article in this “Who Disaggregated My RAN?” blog series, we covered the advances made by the O-RAN Alliance to deliver an open Fronthaul specification that supports multiple ways in which the base station will connect to the radio and ensures interoperability...
