There are many vendors from the IT sector that see Open RAN as a way to break into the closed world of the RAN. In particular, the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) provides a potential way in, because it abstracts the control functions embedded in the traditional RAN and runs them as apps on a RIC platform. Several vendors have already announced plans to develop a RIC platform, in the hope of making it into a de facto standard that would support third party xApps (for near-real time RIC functions) and rApps (for non-real time). Juniper’s and Nokia’s have been particularly prominent efforts that have moved beyond slideware and into real trials and partnerships. Now VMware has joined the race, unveiling…