As the open 5G trend provides new opportunities for a crowd of RAN and core start-ups and specialists, so a wave of consolidation can be expected as they establish their positions in the nascent market. Some will be acquired by larger companies, while others will merge with one another to offer more rounded solutions. Sounding the starting bell is Mavenir, which was itself formed from the merger of three companies, and which is prominent in early trials of open, disaggregated and virtualized core and RAN. Now the company is to acquire a veteran of the small cell market, UK-based ip.access. Although Mavenir has positioned itself mainly as a software provider, developing virtual network functions that run on off-the-shelf servers and…