The Linux Foundation and the operator-driven Next Generation Mobile Network (NGMN) alliance are joining forces to collaborate on 5G, including the “end-to-end 5G architecture and beyond 5G”.
The two bodies managed to tick just about every 5G buzzword in their joint statement, saying that “specific areas of alignment may include sustainability, network automation and network autonomy based on AI, security, edge cloud, virtualization, disaggregation, cloud-native and service-based architecture, to name a few”. They even pointed to future cooperation around 6G.
NGMN’s main function is to collect and distil operators’ requirements and priorities and translate these into something readily understandable by vendors, in order to guide their development priorities. In this case, it is likely to be tapping into the Linux Foundation in order to enrich its outline of requirements for open source support for disaggregated elements and for autonomous network operations.
LF Networking, one of the umbrella groups where the Foundation gathers multiple related projects, last week published the latest release (Honolulu) of ONAP (Open Network Automation Protocol), along with its new 5G Super Blueprint, which brings together open source 5G-related projects such as Magma 5G Core, O-RAN SC and LF Edge Akraino.
Honolulu adds to cloud-native functionality and adds increased support for the O-RAN A1 interface, supporting policy management between RAN Intelligent Controllers (RICs) in the O-RAN architecture. Honolulu also adds new functionality around 5G network slicing with three network slicing components for RAN, core, and transport and “better” compliance with 3GPP standards.
Anita Döhler, CEO of the NGMN Alliance, said: “Open source is gaining increasing relevance for the strategic topics of our work programs, such as mastering the route to disaggregation, green future networks and 6G. We are delighted to partner with the Linux Foundation to jointly drive our mission for the benefit of the global ecosystem.”