11552 search results for Open RAN

Cloud-native technologies will be an essential part of next generation networks, able to deliver some of the full potential of 5G. Very few operators have deployed mainstream network functions in this way yet, but Australia’s Telstra has joined the elite group, implementing a cloud-native evolved packet core (EPC) that will support both 4G and Non-Standalone 5G services. All operators so far have deployed 5G first in Non-Standalone (NSA) mode, which uses the 4G EPC and supports dual connectivity for devices to 4G and 5G base stations. Only relatively minor tweaks are required to the 4G core to migrate to NSA, but some operators are taking the opportunity to replace their legacy EPC with a new virtualized, more functional one, which…

The first regulatory developments of the year highlight the contrast between authorities which are thinking out of the box about efficient spectrum allocation, and those which are clinging to traditional auctions in which operators end up paying huge sums for relatively small numbers of airwaves. Malaysia’s government has published complicated but interesting plans to allocate spectrum in a way that would minimize the infrastructure investment required for 5G, while ensuring return on existing 4G investments. It is not going as far as some European regulators, like those in Germany and The Netherlands, in opening up bands for non-operators, but it believes its proposals would help to improve the business case for Malaysia’s telcos to support diverse industrial use cases, and…

Last year may have officially been the ‘year of 5G’, with initial launches underway from start to finish in many regions, but most of those were limited in geographical and service scope. The US operators were doing something interesting, though not necessarily commercially sound, by deploying first in millimeter wave spectrum, but most MNOs were doing little more than 4G-plus, beefing up data rates and cell edge coverage by installing 5G radios and MIMO antennas on the 4G site grid. Meanwhile, fixed wireless access (FWA) was about as radical as the new use cases got, with a few exceptions, mainly in east Asia’s industrial and municipal services. So 2020 promises to be a great deal more important in terms of…

The Industrial Internet Consortium has announced its new Industry Connect Service (ICS) pilot project, which will see the IIC play matchmaker between industrialists that have a desire and the vendors that can provide that service. Pitching it as open to all, regardless of size apparently, with the lessons learned being fed back to the community by the IIC. The new strategy seems like an attempt to inject some pace into the market, and comes only a week after the IIC released a joint whitepaper with OneM2M – an example of how progress within industry organizations doesn’t necessarily translate into actual progress out in the field. The industrial sector is a bit of a contradiction in the IoT. It is one…

The key to the promise that 5G will be something very different from 4G lies in the convergence of cloud and networks – or of advanced data processing with advanced connectivity, to enable a host of new use cases and revenue streams. Some of these are focused on traditional consumers of mobile network services, including many focused on AR/VR, but the real socio-economic impact – and impact on operators’ balance sheets – will come in the enterprise. Here, operators have battled with several barriers. They are not global, whereas many of the early investors in cloud/5G applications are likely to be multinational, and not want to sign different contracts with operators in each country. Additionally, they, generally speaking, have limited…

  Cisco did a pretty bad job at conveying the scope of Silicon One. Initially, it was all too easy to skip past the announcement, thinking it was just some new marketing gimmick. But buried in the first few paragraphs, Cisco confirmed that it was launching a new unified silicon architecture that would serve as the platform for all of its networking products, from the data center to the very edge of the network. This has potentially huge IoT ramifications, but it also significantly shakes up the current networking market – in Cisco’s favor. Most notably, it cuts out the likes of Intel and Broadcom, as Cisco would not need to purchase processors and networking chips from these two major…

  Ikea has joined the board of the Zigbee Alliance, and with its retail clout and growing smart home portfolio, the titan of home décor might just be able to whip the industry into shape – bludgeoning the crowd into submission on the back of the smart home’s sunk cost fallacy. However, we’re pretty sure we’ve written this story before, and that is quite telling. It has always seemed quite obvious that there should be some sort of unification layer, which would let all manner of IoT devices interact with each other. For a time, it looked like this would be the AllSeen Alliance’s AllJoyn, or the OIC’s IoTivity. Those two groups then merged, and are now the OCF, but…

Last week, we analyzed the telco alliances and edge computing developments that Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced at its re:Invent conference. Wireless Watch’s sister service, Rethink IoT, was examining the event from its own angle, and focused on the expansion of the platforms that AWS hopes will put it in pole position to direct and monetize the IoT, from the cloud. AWS IoT SiteWise was significantly expanded, but the longer list of announcements illustrated the point that all of this IoT advancement is for nothing, from the hyperscalers’ point of view, if they don’t start forcing consolidation among traditional business software providers. The first stages of the IoT journey involve connecting a previously unconnected object to the Internet. This could be a…

The resurgence of private networks has been one of the big themes of 2019 (see lead article) as enterprises look for ways to leverage 4G and 5G quickly, and in the best way to suit their transformation attempts. Nokia is the most active of the large equipment vendors in this space, clearly targeting a new set of customers for its networks and services, as a valuable hedge against pressures in its core operator base (though of course, it may also have to deal with conflicts of interest in scenarios where its MNO customers are competing with private operators rather than partnering with them). In the past week, the Finnish company has announced three new private cellular project, including one in…

The Linux Foundation’s latest project brings together many of the key developments in next generation networks, which the open source organization is taking such a prominent role in shaping. DENT will create an open network operating system (NOS) for disaggregated network switches in campuses or remote offices. This has clear implications for telcos as they build out edge clouds, often in tandem with smaller 5G cells. In doing this, they are targeting enterprise business with on-premise or managed edge/connectivity services, while looking to transform their own network costs with white box and open source architectures. This is the latest example of the Foundation’s growing role in defining telecoms and enterprise networks, as operators move out of their strictly proprietary worlds…

Cisco made its boldest set of announcements for years last week, in an ambitious bid to reverse the decline in its service provider business (down 13% year-on-year in the most recent quarter) and reassert control over the way the Internet platform will evolve in the next generation. The company’s technology was foundational to the early commercial Internet but in recent years, it has struggled to adapt to a world of open cloud architectures and virtualization, and other technologies which break down the dominance of its closed, vertically integrated platforms in enterprise and operator networks. In an event in San Francisco, dubbed ‘Internet for the Future’, the company launched new silicon, software and optics for service providers. At the core of…

As is traditional in the last edition of Wireless Watch for the year, we have been looking back over the developments of the past 12 months, and have selected 12 events which we believe will have a significant impact on the mobile industry, either immediately or in the years to come. There is one selection for each month, and collectively, this trip down memory lane highlights 12 of the most important broader trends of the year, as summarized here: January: Merger of OpenFog and IIC bodes ill for operators’ role in the edge market https://rethinkresearch.biz/articles/merger-of-openfog-and-iic-bodes-ill-for-operators-role-in-the-edge-market/ Wider theme: Rising importance of edge computing as a corollary of 5G and cloud networks, but rising uncertainty over the role of the operator in…

The GSM Association (GSMA) has done a powerful job, over the years, of promoting the interests of its mobile operator members worldwide, influencing regulatory and competitive policy as well as technology developments. However, the more far-sighted operators know they need to accept that their role in the 5G era will change significantly, and they will need to take account of new types of wireless service providers, whether as new competitors or as partners. Arguably, the GSMA is not adapting as quickly as it should do, in order to represent the MNO community in a modern, 5G-centric context, rather than clinging to an old order that will be inadequate to meet the demands of enterprise markets in future. The Association’s reluctance…

Nokia’s private network strategy continues apace, with three deals announced in quick succession in the past two weeks – at Finland’s Fingrid, Germany’s Deutsche Bahn, and a Japanese partnership with Hitachi. As it builds more Industrial and IoT networks, Nokia drives a larger wedge between the MNOs and their former direct customers. Given the scale of MNO IoT revenues, we’re still at the stage that their IoT divisions could be written off without causing major upheavals in share prices. While once they talked about the incredible opportunity that the IoT represented, most MNOs are now extremely muted on the subject. The industrial sector was championed as a standout IoT opportunity, by these MNOs, but as we have seen, major industrialists…