Open vRAN Ecosystem – Enabling a Better Mobile Architecture

We launched the Open vRAN Ecosystem in February of this year with a vision to accelerate the viability and adoption of open virtualized RAN (vRAN) solutions and ensure their extension into a broader network architecture. We’ve had a busy six months architecting and building solutions, executing operator demos and trials, helping to define open interfaces and management, building business models to compare costs of various solutions, partnering with the UK government to help address the digital divide with 5G, and much more. There’s more to come on many of those items. In this update we’ll focus primarily on our activities around this week’s MWC Americas show in Los Angeles.

Solution Showcase

We can talk about new innovations but there’s nothing like actually showing them in action. The solution showcase that we’ve put together with several of our ecosystem partners for MWCA does just that.

Industry First 5G SA Data Call

Starting with big news on the 5G front – we’re showing an industry first end-to-end 5G NR Standalone (SA) live data call at 28 GHz, using PHAZR’s virtualized RAN and Cisco’s cloud native 5G Core. We’ll be showing an end-to-end solution including MEC and a Cisco (soon to be Synamedia) video server. This live showcase is a great example of how we are enabling innovation in the age of 5G.

End-to-end Open vRAN System

Next, with our partners Tech Mahindra, Altiostar, Intel, Redhat and Qwilt, we are showing a pre-certified, pre-integrated, end-to-end Open vRAN system that is ready to deploy now. This multi-vendor solution includes a disaggregated radio system, virtualized packet core, policy, NFVI, IP transport, multi-access edge compute, and IMS. With the help of Qwilt’s Edge CDN solution as the application, we will demonstrate an end-to-end solution, including MEC and network slicing to deliver enhanced video experiences over a mobile network.

Tech Mahindra’s vnfXchange team, Cisco, and Altiostar took the lead to bring this vision to reality in a few short months, proving that open multi-vendor vRAN solutions are possible today, and are a viable alternative to monolithic, single-vendor solutions.

Cisco Ultra on Google Cloud

In the spirit of open and flexible deployments, we are demonstrating how Cisco Ultra Packet Core is supported on public clouds, specifically the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) by instantiating a full 5G SA Cisco Core on GCP.

Blue Danube Massive MIMO

Finally, our partners from Blue Danube will be there showing their BeamCraft 500/600 series Massive MIMO HDAAS (High Definition Active Antenna Array) with 3D beamforming capability for LTE and 5G networks. Blue Danube Systems’ Ma-MIMO solution disrupts the wireless industry by accelerating RAN disaggregation by being both BBU and UE agnostic.

Speaking Out: Fierce Wireless Breakfast Series RAN Innovation Panel

I’ll be joining several of my colleagues at the Fierce Wireless event on Sept 13th to discuss industry innovation in the RAN. Would love to connect up with you live there!

New Ecosystem Partners

We have two new members that have joined the ecosystem – ASOCS and Radisys. Both are committed to accelerating innovation and solutions in the open vRAN ecosystem and each brings unique assets.

About ASOCS

ASOCS is a pioneer in virtual Radio Access Networks (vRAN) and a provider of fully virtualized, NFV-compatible virtual Base Station solutions for In-Building Wireless and macro-networks.

Their virtual Base Station technology transforms the traditional base station into a software centric solution, providing full virtualization of all base station layers and functions. ASOCS is working with leading carriers to support the move to 5G with full network virtualization, while implementing open interfaces such as xRAN, TIP and ONAP.

“We are excited to see Cisco take the lead on creating an ecosystem that will accelerate the adoption of open vRAN solutions, giving operators the agility and performance they need while reducing capital and operational expenditures” said Eran Bello, Corporate CCO & GM, ASOCS Inc. “We share Cisco’s vision for the future and are excited to join the ecosystem to further accelerate the deployment of an open RAN architecture.”

About Radisys

Radisys, a global leader in open telecom solutions, enables service providers to drive disruption with new open architecture business models.

Radisys believes that vRAN is a fundamental element in the 5G roadmap, and they are committed to collaboration for developing an Open Virtualized RAN ecosystem.

Radisys’ MobilityEngine 5G Software Suite is the industry’s first-to-market 5G Software Suite focusing on Next Generation NodeB (gNB), 5G User Equipment (UE) and 5G Core Network (CN), offering 3GPP Release 15 compliant gNB. The solution enables virtualized RAN deployments that increase CPU efficiency and deliver 10x performance improvement overall for NFV infrastructure. It supports emerging 5G services at the network edge and enables network slicing as part of a MEC architecture to enable new use cases, increase operational efficiencies and reduce costs.

Meet up at MWCA

I’ll go ahead and end the update here but there’s much more to come. In the meantime – please stop by (we are located at S 2.303B) or reach out to meet up with us in L.A. this week. Our team would be happy to show you around and talk more about what we’re up to.