It’s great to be back in person at MWC Barcelona 2022. If you missed our previous roundup of Open RAN Policy Coalition member activities and demonstrations; here you go!
Today we’re highlighting a few more of our members’ exciting announcements from this week:
- Cisco and Rakuten Symphony announced in Barcelona that they are combining strengths to help global service providers prepare the Internet for the Future. The companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding to accelerate the delivery for cloud-native, virtualized 4G/5G mobile networks based on Open Radio Access Network (ORAN) technology.
- Fujitsu announced that it has successfully developed new software virtualized radio access network (vRAN) technology. The newly developed vRAN technology addresses one of the key challenges of conventional vRANs, delivering high-performance with low-energy consumption. Fujitsu estimates that this approach offers the potential to reduce overall system CO2 emissions by 50% or more compared to conventional base station systems by 2025, while offering users high-quality, stable communications.
- Mavenir will be showcasing Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) cloud-hosted 5G core network for various 4G/5G use cases at MWC, booth #2H60. The company also announced it has been selected by Türk Telekom for an Open virtualized RAN (Open vRAN) pilot.
- Mavenir and Qualcomm Technologies announced a collaboration towards commercialization of Massive MIMO RU and DU for next generation 5G Mobile Infrastructure. New solutions from Mavenir will be powered by Qualcomm 5G RAN Platforms, designed to simplify network deployments, and accelerate the adoption of cloud-based, Open RAN mobile networks globally.
- NTT DOCOMO announced that it has begun allowing overseas mobile operators to access its Shared Open Lab environment, located in DOCOMO’s R&D Center in Yokosuka, Japan, to verify their virtualized radio access networks (vRAN), effective immediately. The lab is one of the initiatives of the 5G Open RAN Ecosystem (OREC) project under which DOCOMO and 13 leading global vendors are working to develop truly flexible Open RAN capable of incorporating interoperable equipment of multiple vendors.
- Samsung Electronics Co. announced a collaboration with industry-leading innovators—including providers of chipsets, cloud platforms, and servers—to expand the 5G vRAN ecosystem. This is an effort to drive multiparty collaboration and innovation for the advancement of software-based networks. With this ecosystem, the parties continue to advance vRAN towards a more scalable, flexible network that delivers carrier-grade performance, management and reliability.
- VMware unveiled products and partnerships at Mobile World Congress 2022 that will help service providers more quickly modernize their networks and monetize new services. This includes innovations in the areas of modern apps, the RAN, and the edge. Additionally, Safaricom has selected VMware Telco Cloud Platform to build out a greenfield network in Ethiopia.