Virtualization supremo VMware has been increasingly expanding its efforts from the data center and enterprise network into the world of telecoms, and the 5G RAN was prominent in the discussions at the firm’s recent VMworld 2021 event – in a way that it would not have been only 2-3 years ago. CEO Raghu Raghuram reiterated the message that VMware’s experience in virtualizing enterprise networks and data centers would make it a critical partner for 5G operators and enterprises. “Our role in 5G is that we provide the 5G underlay on top of which the 5G RAN software runs,” he said. “One of the critical things that’s happening with 5G RAN is RAN is being turned into software, and so we…