EchoStar recently announced the opening of the Open RAN Center for Integration and Deployment (ORCID), a facility offering trusted participants in the U.S. and around the world the opportunity to test and validate Open RAN solutions using a live Open RAN 5G network.
The project is supported by a $50 million grant, awarded to EchoStar (parent company of DISH Wireless) in January by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund. ORCID’s “living laboratory” features a real field test setup with the goal of helping to drive the Open RAN ecosystem from the lab to commercial deployment and allow participants contribute to the development, deployment, and adoption of open and interoperable standards-based radio access networks.
EchoStar is the lead partner on the consortium, with collaboration from Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc., Mavenir Systems, Inc., and VMware by Broadcom, and a variety of other technology partners. The test facility is located in EchoStar’s data center in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
ORCID is the only lab that offers end-to-end testing on a live, commercial grade, Open RAN 5G network that has been deployed nationwide. Vendors interested in participating in ORCID may now submit applications using the ORCID web portal at orcid.us/.