11528 search results for Open RAN

In the run up to Embedded World, perhaps the premier event for silicon hype, a raft of announcements caught Wireless Watch’s eye. Last week, it was BrainChip’s neuromorphic brain-like designs, and this week, we are diving into iPronics’ photonic microchips – which have just started shipping to customers. iPronics is based in Valencia, Spain, and was founded in 2019. It has been plugging away at designing chips that use photons of light, rather than electrons of electricity, to create the required integrated circuits for a functional processor. Unsurprisingly, fiber optic communication and lasers are major draws for photonic chips, and a recent unrelated test at the University of Denmark in Copenhagen demonstrated a 1.84 petabit (Pbps) throughput in a single…

It’s all too easy to write off the wireless efforts of Dish Networks, a mere 8 million wireless subscribers, in a sea of 362 million US subs – after all, what can a tiny $16 billion business do when up against the might of AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile? But anyone who has followed the career of chairman Charlie Ergen will understand that he is all about survival, a value offering, and despite subscribers evaporating over the past year – in TV, in streaming and in wireless MVNO clients – the company still represents a threat. The US actually needs companies like Dish Network. Where else could it have dumped 9 million MVNO customers – which it did in 2020 as…

Since the widespread deregulation of the telecoms industry from the 1990s, MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators) have become an important part of the market landscape in many countries. These companies offer mobile services under their own brand and with their own marketing, customer support, tariffs, devices and SIM cards, but use the spectrum and RAN of a host operator, and usually their core network. There are currently about 2,000 MVNOs active in the world, with half of those in Europe but the USA is both the largest single market with about 135 players. However, the recent history of US MVNOs, especially related to T-Mobile USA, reflects the big questions that surround this business model: How sustainable is it, given that…

Sateliot’s GroundBreaker satellite has been launched into orbit by SpaceX. The first unit in a planned constellation of 250 satellites, Sateliot claims that the 10 kilogram craft is now the first 5G low-earth-orbit satellite. Telefonica, NEC, and BluSpecs have joined the ENABLE-6G project. Under the direction of the IMDEA Networks Institute, the initiative intends to address challenges that 6G will face in adoption. Notably, there is no current justification for 6G’s necessity. Verizon has 1.86 million FWA subscribers, and has so far deployed its C-band based offering to 70 of its target 400 markets. An average of 160 MHz of C-band spectrum will be available, up from around 60 MHz today, once regulatory clearance is secured. Some 393,000 FWA subs…

The more the major networks OEMs embrace Open RAN, the more they have to endorse any x86 chip designs, including plug-compatible suppliers like AMD, and Ericsson this week embraced the top-of-the-line AMD processor range Epyc. It’s no good saying that your x86 system is Open but only supporting Intel’s CPUs. And in the same week that the Swedish 5G core company embraced AMD chips, it also entered a deal with Dell for purely Intel chip versions. Proprietary products can adhere to a single chip architecture, but not Open standards. Under the freshly announced partnership, Ericsson will explore using AMD’s Epyc server processors alongside its T2 Accelerator cards for Open RAN offerings. Ericsson’s gamble is that not all of its rivals…

The virtualization of the RAN provides a significant opportunity for IT and cloud vendors, as well as start-ups and specialists, to enter the formerly closed market for mobile networks. When network functions are deployed in software on the cloud, this clearly opens up a new segment for providers of cloud servers, such as Dell and HPE, and cloud software, such as Red Hat, VMware and Wind River. The opportunity has improved since the large network vendors, with the exception of Huawei, have increasingly moved away from developing their own cloud infrastructure, and towards working with the incumbents in the field. The latest such deal is between Ericsson and Dell, and this highlights two important developments in vRAN. One is that,…

Virtualized RAN has reached a plateau as operators that have been conducting trials take stock, while even evangelists such as Verizon and Japan’s Rakuten Mobile are still weighing up options and sifting products from different vendors as their roll outs continue. One reason for this hiatus is that some operators have been rather underwhelmed by performance of the various vRAN components, notably the BUs (Baseband Units), which process uplink and downlink data traffic while controlling operation of the RUs (Radio Units) transmitting signals over the air after modulation. Another factor may be vRAN’s association with Open RAN, over which some operators have paused activities while waiting for the field to mature around specifications that in some cases are still being…

Media and analyst reaction to the recent Hannover Messe was quite different to the earlier Mobile World Congress, concerning the state of 5G. While many were highly excited about 5G’s mood music at MWC two months ago, the same people were largely underwhelmed by 5G’s presence at the Messe. Yet this dichotomy was superficial. since both shows provided a similar reality check, with a focus on solving practical problems that operators, enterprises or users have now. There was less promise of jam tomorrow, through advanced options such as network slicing and more presentation of proven examples already returning on investment. Furthermore, this is not an apples to oranges comparison anyway, because the Messe is focused on enterprise applications, as the…

So far, only 30-something operators have deployed 5G Standalone (SA) at scale, while 5G is not set to be the most common subscriber connection worldwide until 2027 (by Ericsson’s estimates), so it may seem premature to be talking about 6G. However, assuming the mobile industry follows, at least in part, its usual 10-year generational cycle, 6G – whatever that turns out to be – will be deployable around 2030, which gives a relatively short 6.5 years to carry out most of the thinking, the R&D and the planning. Of course, that process has started, and deep in the labs of universities, governments and mobile giants, there has been research work ongoing for some years in areas that are likely to…