For a long time, the virtualized RAN (vRAN) has been something more of dream than substance. It has been discussed ever since China Mobile’s seminal white paper, a decade ago, launched the concept of a RAN whose digital functions were run as software in the cloud. But commercially, it has remained the preserve of a few very expensive, hand-crafted deployments, mainly in South Korea, Japan and China; and some roll-outs of small cell or secondary networks, where it has often proved less risky and disruptive to test the new technology without touching the primary macro network. Now, several factors are conspiring to turn on the accelerator. The start of the gradual shift to full 5G, with a 5G sliceable core;…