
The open RAN
Open RAN or open RAN?
The future of the RAN is open. An open RAN is more than Open RAN, and benefits all operators and the entire RAN ecosystem, even those who are still on the sidelines. Openness in the RAN starts with open interfaces and disaggregation but goes beyond this.
An open RAN has to be an energy-efficient RAN.
Energy efficiency has become a key requirement for new RAN deployments. Opening the RAN cannot be done by sacrificing sustainability. On the contrary, energy efficiency has to continue to improve as the RAN becomes more automated, disaggregated and virtualized. We looked at energy efficiency in Open RAN in the context of wireless networks in the report “Energy efficiency in wireless: RAN and beyond” on how sustainability is an opportunity to decrease costs without compromising network performance. See also “Is Open RAN more energy efficient than traditional RAN?”, “Energy efficiency in 6G”, and “Will Open RAN increase power efficiency in the RAN?” a Sparring Partners with Deutsche Telekom
Open RAN needs a new ecosystem. It is here.
Read our Deep Dive report “The Open RAN ecosystem gathers steam. The future RAN is open” where we tried to address many of the outstanding questions, with the help of eleven vendors and operators: NEC, Vodafone, Ciena, Analog, Fujitsu, Rakuten Symphony, Picocom, Dish, Verizon, TIP, and Radisys. You can get the report for free, and read or watch the conversations here.
Is there a business model?
We also looked at the topology and deployment options that optimize the TCO. There is no single path to Open RAN. How can operators pick the one that optimizes their TCO? Each operator has different spectrum assets, demand distribution, transport and site costs, and technology strategies, and these are crucial factors in choosing the path to Open RAN that leads to the largest cost savings.
We built a detailed TCO model to explore different scenarios that mobile operators may face and published two papers to present some of our analysis.
The first paper, “Which Open RAN is best for you? TCO tradeoffs: transport versus location”, looks at the impact of transport costs in choosing the RAN topology. Should an operator put the DU at the cell site, in a data center at the edge, or in a centralized location with the CU? If the operator has high transport costs, it is more cost effective to deploy the DU at the cell site. As transport costs go down, a centralized DU becomes the best option.
In the second paper, “What’s the best way to get to Open RAN? Optimizing pooling gains can reduce TCO by up to 42%”, we went one step further to see how operators facing different transport costs can maximize pooling gains for different 5G cell profiles. There are pooling gains for operators that deploy DUs at the cell site, and for those that co-locate DUs and CUs in remote data centers, but they come from different sources.
Open RAN or open RAN?
A conversation with Ravi Sinha at O-RAN ALLIANCE and Monica Paolini at Senza Fili on the evolution to an open RAN as we move to 6G
A conversation with Rob Hughes, Head of Wireless Marketing at Fujitsu Network Communications
A Deep Dive report with conversations with Fujitsu, VMware, Keysight, Wind River, CommScope, Intel, ConnectiviTree, Satellite Applications Catapult, and Deutsche Telekom
A conversation with Dr. Mike Short, Chief Architect at Satellite Applications Catapult Communications
A conversation with Alex Choi, Senior Vice President at Deutsche Telekom and Chairman at the O-RAN Alliance, and Gorden Witzel, Senior Partner Manager, Vendor Strategy Access at Deutsche Telekom
A conversation with Lorcan Burke, Global Field CTO, Communications Service Provider at VMware
A conversation with Mark Gilmour, CTO at ConnectiviTree
Will 6G be more energy efficient than 5G? How? What will make the difference? Will sensing and RIS push energy efficiency further?
An automated 5G Network – not if, but when, what & how? |
October 10, 2023 |
A panel at Fierce’s Network Automation Summit |
Sparring Partners | Getting RIS off the ground with AI and ML |
October 19, 2023 |
Senza Fili Sparring Partners on how AI and ML drive the development of RIS, with Melike Erol-Kantarci at the University of Ottawa, Marco Di Renzo at the Paris-Saclay University, and Monica Paolini at Senza Fili |
Is RIC compatibility a concern to the O-RAN ecosystem? |
October 23, 2023 - October 26, 2023 |
Panel at Network X, Paris, France |
Wireless Global Congress |
October 23, 2023 - October 26, 2023 |
Paris, France |
E5G Summit |
November 1, 2023 |
Panel at the Fierce Wireless E5G Summit |
Energy efficiency, every little helps |
November 22, 2023 |
Panel at the Total Telecom Congress, 2023, Amsterdam |
The value of inclusivity |
November 22, 2023 |
Roundtable at the Total Telecom Congress, 2023, Amsterdam |
MEF CONNECTS Omnichannel |
November 28, 2023 |
Inclusively panel, London |
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