In 2018, the ideas of open RAN have really gained prominence. A year ago they seemed abstruse and confined to small cells. Now the activities of the Open RAN (ORAN) Alliance and Facebook-initiated Telecom Infa Project (TIP) have recruited major vendors and operators to the cause of an open network based on commoditized hardware; open interfaces between the elements of a disaggregated RAN; and a heavy dose of virtualization. If these two initiatives succeed in converging next year, the proprietary RAN market really could start to change. Just before the year ends, the ORAN Alliance – formed from the merger of the AT&T-founded xRAN Forum and the China-oriented C-RAN Alliance – finally signed up Verizon. Although the US carrier had…