Searching Weekly Analysis
Searching Weekly Analysis
Nokia has embraced open RAN to a far greater extent than its two main rivals, Ericsson and Huawei, and with Samsung is the biggest supplier driving the platform forward. This is likely to bring several benefits to the Finnish vendor, despite the potential damage to its own traditional RAN business model and margins. It provides it with a new way to engage with large operators, at a time when it is still undoing the damage done by mistakes with its first-phased 5G silicon and consequent loss of some contracts. It may, if Open RAN takes off in macro networks, make it easier for Nokia – whose market share is smaller than that of the other two big vendors – to…
Cohere Technologies has been an often-heard name throughout the stages of defining 5G standards and use cases, most recently because of new trials with Deutsche Telekom. Last month, the RAN start-up announced new functionality for its key technologies – Massive MIMO scheduler and Delay-Doppler channel software. It also said it had received new funding (without specifying how much), and said its offering would be launched commercially later this year. CEO Ray Dolan, who previously headed up mobile broadband chip start-up Flarion as well as Sonus Networks, may be hoping he can repeat Flarion’s achievement of attracting a high-priced acquisition from Qualcomm – now that the mobile chip giant is moving back into network infrastructure chips. Flarion contributed highly valuable patents…
Early deployments and trials have already shown productivity and efficiency benefits enabled by private 5G in industrial settings and in some cases demonstrated these could not be achieved through alternatives, such as 4G/LTE or the latest WiFi 6. They have also exposed the challenges facing operators as they attempt to gain a foothold in the private enterprise 5G space and avoid being cut out of the loop by infrastructure providers going direct to the customer, as Nokia has been actively pursuing in Germany especially. Indeed, German airline Lufthansa recently opened the lid on two deployments that highlighted the challenges faced both by itself in exploiting private 5G effectively for aircraft engineering processes in its hangars, and by its suppliers in…
Deutsche Telekom’s VP of core network development, Franz Seiser, heads up the telco’s multiyear program to implement a 5G, cloud-native core. This will run in parallel with converting 900 of its telco locations in Germany into edge cloud centers, or cloudlets, which could host distributed core as well as other virtual network functions (VNFs) for DT’s own network, or to support customer or partner services. Seiser is keen to use open source technologies wherever possible, to ensure interoperability, reduce time to market, and to access the widest base of innovation in equipment and developers. However, he acknowledges open source may not, in the early years, save deployment cost because of the need for integration, and work to ensure the systems…
Only a few years ago, the idea of open source processors being credible for equipment as specialized and demanding as a mobile RAN or core would have seemed unrealistic for mass market commercial adoption. But the shake-up of the telco chip ecosystem by open networks such as Open RAN on one hand, and by the impact of US-Chinese tensions on the other, are putting open systems in the spotlight. This was highlighted last month when 5G-on-a-chip start-up EdgeQ announced that two former Qualcomm leaders – former CEO Paul Jacobs and former CTO Matt Grob, both more recently co-founders of XCOM – had joined its advisory board. EdgeQ is one of a group of start-ups, focused on advanced applications like 5G…
Also from Linux Foundation, the organization is rationalizing some of the projects within its umbrella group of network-focused activities, LF Networking (LFN). It will merge the Common NFVi Telco Taskforce (CNTT) and the Open Platform for NFV (OPNFV) into a single project called Anuket (named after the ancient Egyptian goddess of the Nile). OPNFV was the Foundation’s first fully telco-focused project, launched back in 2014, while CNTT was initially a joint venture with the GSMA, set up in 2019, but brought fully under the LFN wing late last year. There may be integration with further projects to come, with the common aim being to create a full, open source infrastructure platform for cloud-based networks, enabling operators to innovate and compete…
It may be tough for vendors and operators to convert complex 5G technologies to a pure open source model, but that doesn’t mean the open source giants are not having a significant influence on 5G platforms and processes. The Linux Foundation has, over the past several years, established or hosted a growing number of projects that impact directly on telecoms networks, including the LF Networking umbrella super-group of projects. Earlier this month, the Foundation announced that it plans to launch an industry collaboration to enable an open source converged cellular core network stack. Its starting point will be an existing platform, Magma, which was developed by Facebook and open sourced in 2019. It will now be managed under a neutral…
The ‘open source RAN’ remains the stuff of dreams, even according to some of the challenger vendors that are making progress in opening up the cellular ecosystem. Some of this relates to the difficulty of applying classical open source models, as epitomized by the frameworks of the Apache Foundation, to chips and other hardware (see separate item). But even when it comes to the software element of the virtualized RAN (vRAN), there is very little work being done on RAN network functions that could be downloaded for free to any baseband or radio unit. For those that believe a true open source model is the best way to throw open the doors to the RAN market, a depressing sight is…
For years, organisations that wanted to disrupt the closed market for mobile networks looked wistfully at the upheaval in the enterprise IT industry in the 1990s, when companies like Red Hat turned the ecosystem on its head. Open source platforms enabled a wave of innovation in applications, services and software delivery models. In the 2020s, there is a credible prospect that open platforms will take a strong position in mobile networks, and operators are keen to see the supply chain opened up to a wider range of suppliers and a broader innovation base. However, there is a significant difference between ‘open’ and ‘open source’, and there are many barriers to the latter becoming a dominant model in telecoms networks. Of…
French oil major Total has published its end of year financials for 2020, posting a net loss of $7.2 billion. Having suffered through suppressed oil demand and prices through Covid-19, the company’s earning rebounded somewhat – it pulled in a profit of $1.3 billion for Q4, with much of the annual losses coming from early impairments and write downs of $10 billion. The company also announced that it plans to change its name to TotalEnergies as part of its plans to shift its operations from oil to renewable electricity, with oil falling to less than a third of its sales by the end of the decade. The group has already spent $2 billion on acquisitions in the renewables sector and…
Following a mixed bag of annual results, Vestas has unveiled its largest ever turbine in a bid to regain its position among the leaders in offshore wind. The new 15 MW turbine, which will be ready for action from 2024, will have blade diameter of 236 meters, edging ahead of comparable offerings of Siemens Gamesa’s 14 MW SG 14-222 DD and General Electric’s 12 MW to 14 MW Haliade-X. Vestas’ annual results were released on Wednesday, and despite a 22% increase in revenue to €14.8 billion, the company’s net profit of €771 million fell short of expectations – rising just 10% for the year. Following a surge in orders at the end of December, the company recorded an order intake…
Ember, a mostly UK think tank on climate action, has produced a report on China and its need to get itself off coal. We don’t entirely disagree with it, and we eco its sentiments. The shift is going to be tough. While most headlines marked out the manufacture of aluminum in China, the report is really about steel, cement, aluminum and electricity generation – all of which in China currently rely heavily on coal. The Ember reports highlights how critical it is that China in particular does something soon. China’s industrial recovery means it is producing nearly 60% of the world’s steel, aluminum and cement this year. Actually that’s not quite right, it produces about that much every year and…
Five years ago this week… Boeing and US-based satco ViaSat had announced three new ViaSat-3 satellites to provide high-speed internet of around 100 Mbps to remote areas around the world. Each satellite was to carry a total network capacity of 1Tbps, around triple of what the yet-to-be-launched ViaSat-2 had. What’s more, ViaSat claimed that it would be able to offer twice the network capacity of all 400 commercial communication satellites that were in orbit at the time. Expected to launch by the end of 2019 at the time of writing, Viasat has since pushed this back to 2021, with SpaceX now contracted to assist with the launch. — Apple is working with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) to develop so-called ultra-advanced…
Telecom Argentina has switched on its new CDN as-a-service, based on open caching technology from Qwilt and edge compute networking infrastructure from Cisco – in a project which has been at least a decade in the making. Has the Argentine operator finally got the right ingredients? This is an intriguing example of an operator striving for CDN excellence. A decade ago, Telecom Argentina was building its original in-house CDN with Broadpeak, which lasted up until around 2014/2015 when the OperatorCDN approach failed to take off. After then, Telecom Argentina was working exclusively with Cisco on networking infrastructure, although soon after this Cisco famously stripped itself of pure video delivery assets as Synamedia was spun out. Fast forward a few more…
Going against the grain of current content distribution trends, US entertainment group Cinedigm has inked a deal with US streaming service Rockbot – which plies its trade distributing channels to brick and mortar venues such as bars, restaurants, gyms, colleges, and even your average waiting room. Cinedigm is evidently envisaging a strong resurgence of consumers to the hospitality sector once the US population is sufficiently vaccinated and restrictions lifted. But this isn’t a future deal, this deal is now, and Rockbot’s out-of-home TV network boasts over 20 million monthly viewers, although we’d be interested in seeing how Rockbot’s pre-Covid-19 viewing figures compare. But with many brick and mortar venues remaining closed, or restricted to limited capacity, while plenty of the…
Test automation in OTT video is yet another topic that has taken an understated backseat while the broader video streaming boom of the past year has played out – one that is becoming increasingly important for application providers in a world of growing device fragmentation. Tests such as quality assurance (QA) are vital ahead of any OTT video app launch or software update, while the automation of these processes is saving companies weeks of manual labor. However, those that have made the switch from manual to automated testing will be the first to admit this a costly business decision. A major company to have recently embarked on this manual to automated testing migration journey is UK-based broadcaster Channel 5, recently…
Messages of disdain are being directed towards policymakers in Europe, as industry observers urge political and regulatory figureheads to scrap technology and communications policies that have been left virtually redundant in the pandemic’s wake. These messages could also ring true in the US as a Biden-led FCC prepares to overhaul Trump-era policies. There is no way to sugarcoat this. It has been hugely embarrassing for regulatory bodies the world over that Covid-19 has achieved in one year what some have spent their entire careers campaigning for. From start-ups right through to global conglomerates, it is the innovations of actual technology companies that have driven online economies to new heights over the past year, and it is those organizations that should…
In the week running up to the Super Bowl, the announcement was made that a lawsuit that will decide whether the NFL and its broadcast partners are engaging in anticompetitive practices will go ahead – in February 2024. A lengthy evidence gathering and discovery process, as well as the impact of Covid-19, is being cited for the lead time, but the roadmap is notable. The case is being brought by a group of bars, restaurants, and retail establishments, which are arguing that they are paying a “supracompetitive” price for access to DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket service. Their collective argument is that if the 32 teams that comprise the NFL were effectively competing with each other, by providing streams for out-of-market games…
Following the merger of pay TV vendors Amino Communications and 24i Media, the formation of the umbrella group Amino Technologies has reinforced the notion that the Amino branding is here to stay, while the much smaller 24i was tipped as the underdog to emerge as the new face of unification. In the meantime, Amino and 24i Media are continuing to carve out their own separate deals while making the merged entity a stronger and more sustainable business in this strange new world. Faultline has voiced in the past how this merger came at a vital time in Q3 2019, as reflected in the latest balance sheet with revenues growing by a solid 7% in 2020 to $82.7 million. Not bad…
UK concerned over lack of 5G supply chain diversity after cutting out Huawei The UK decision to remove Huawei equipment from its emerging 5G networks out of concerns over security and US sanctions has left the country vulnerable to delays and higher costs through having to rely on just two other vendors of this critical technology. This is the conclusion of a parliamentary committee, which also warned that pinning all hopes on the UK government’s 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy proposing technology based around open standards, including Open RAN, was risky. The committee did not spell out what alternatives there were, but the concerns raised will also apply to some other countries. Orange to open nine 5G labs in Europe…