After several years of caution around cloud-based RAN architectures, this year has seen Ericsson get off the fence and seek leadership of emerging mobile platforms. Not only has it expanded its own proprietary vRAN portfolio, but it is contributing to next-generation Open RAN specifications, not just in the orchestration layer, but right down in the radio interfaces. More whole-hearted support for vRAN, and even Open RAN, from the market leader brings a welcome boost of credibility, in a month when Open RAN supporter Fujitsu emulated NEC in warning of the limited commercial appeal of current products. But Ericsson will not join a market it does not believe it can lead, and there are already signs that it will use its…