What are three key challenges of Open RAN?

Networks of the future must be resilient, open, sustainable, and intelligent. Open RAN has the potential to shape such networks.?

However, apart from benefits, new technologies and new network architectures come with questions and considerations.?

So, before discussing the benefits, it’s good to capture and address challenges service providers might face when adopting an Open RAN architecture. That’s what we will do in this edition!?

We split the challenges in Open RAN into three main groups:

• Adoption: Open RAN is a relatively new concept, with limited deployments globally. Therefore, questions about solutions related to Open RAN are often raised. How can a new technology paradigm be trusted so quickly??
• Deployment: It isn’t always about the technology itself but rather how to integrate it into your current network. Questions on investment cycles and product roadmaps in the Open RAN space raise concerns about the deployment of Open RAN at scale.??
• Interoperability: The underlying principle of Open RAN is to create a multi-vendor environment, and it sounds rather straightforward. But in reality, the approach causes concerns about interoperability between vendors, security threats, and performance. How can this ecosystem approach make Open RAN live up to its hype??

What solutions does Ericsson have to address these challenges? Find out ??

Open RAN adoption – how Ericsson can help?

With a complete Open RAN-ready offering, with Ericsson Cloud RAN, open fronthaul support across our Massive MIMO and remote radio portfolios combined with our Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) solution, the Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform (EIAP), we offer industrial-scale Open RAN deployments. We provide service providers with flexibility and scalability in network architecture based on Open RAN.?

In this interview with Dr. Sibel Tombaz, Head of Cloud and Purpose-built 5G RAN at Ericsson, you will learn about accelerating the move to open, disaggregated radio access networks and how to do it without compromising network performance in this architectural shift.?

The value of a service partner is increasingly important when the RAN is cloudified.? The right services partner should collaborate with their CSP customers to reduce hurdles and minimize complexity. Read this paper to learn more about what CSPs should expect from their service partners.?

Open RAN deployment – how we can help?

Deployment of Open RAN is a challenge that service providers face when deciding to use disaggregated virtualized RAN in their networks. The process can be quite demanding as configurations are teased out and tweaked to ensure that the result delivers the performance users require.??

A solution to lower the barrier for deploying Cloud RAN is the deployment of pre-integrated solutions - where vendors get together and perform fundamental integrations between virtualized RAN application and a cloud platform comprising both cloud software and the hardware it runs on, for service providers to use in their network as the basis of the integration. Read more about pre-integration in the blog: Lower the barrier for Cloud RAN deployment.?

Let us tell you at this point that Ericsson has already deployed over one million hardware-ready radios for the open fronthaul technology. And some of the leading service providers such as AT&T, Verizon, Telstra, Telefonica, and more, are working with Ericsson to plan their future Open RAN networks.?

Pre-staging can solve some of the major multi-vendor challenges in deployment projects from the very beginning – let's take a look at how this can be done in this blog: Pre-staging solutions for Open RAN deployments.?

With Open RAN, a new way of thinking about deployments comes into the spotlight – bluefield deployments. The bluefield way of thinking enables service providers considering an introduction of Cloud RAN to capture the benefits of what they already have in place and add on new, cloud-based technologies. This approach offers service providers a seamless evolution toward cloud-native technologies and open network architectures while leveraging existing infrastructure. Read more in the blog: Bluefield deployments in telecommunications.?

Open RAN interoperability – how Ericsson answers?

When you shift to Open RAN from a traditional RAN network, it is a different network architecture. You need to bring new technology and new vendors into your network, and you need to integrate multiple vendors systems and solutions. And, of course, you must make sure performance remains the same or improves. Ericsson is active in solving interoperability, through our leading role in the ecosystem and as a key contributor in standardization forums, such as O-RAN Alliance, 3GPP, etc.?

When building high-performing networks with different vendors and components, fronthaul stands out as one of the most critical interfaces in Open RAN. This paper dives into the Open RAN fronthaul interface, zooms in on the specifics of Open RAN fronthaul, as well as on Ericsson’s commitment to high-performing Open RAN: Bringing performance at scale to Open RAN.?

Network security is one of the key challenges highlighted in the context of interoperability. O-RAN security specifications have made significant advancements over the past two years to achieve a Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) incrementally. When vendors implement the security requirements, it helps service providers deploy a secure Open RAN. Ericsson has built-in security for Cloud RAN with ZTA in mind. Read more about Open RAN security in the paper: Evolving Open RAN security.?

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