Communications Service Providers (CSPs) around the world are beginning to make the much-needed network transformation to accommodate the growing demands of new 5G applications and services that require ultra-low latency and extremely high performance.
This transformation across fixed and mobile networks will need to leverage both open components and a multi-vendor ecosystem, with the goal to break vendor lock-in, reduce costs, and ultimately accelerate service innovation. The 5G rollout will require collaboration among chipset makers, hardware and software providers, mobile operators and more.
Radisys is a global leader in open telecom solutions, enabling service providers to drive network disruption with new open architecture business models through its 5G Software Suite and strategic partnerships, addressing 5G-related obstacles.
Essential to the implementation of 5G rollouts is a seamless path from LTE/LTE-A and multi-access – mobile and fixed wireless. In June 2018, Radisys unveiled the industry’s first-to-market 3GPP-compliant 5G Software Suite.
This software suite provides service providers with a path to 5G with support for both Non-standalone (NSA) and Standalone (SA) deployments, focusing on Next Generation NodeB (gNB), 5G User Equipment (UE) and 5G Core Network (CN). It supports both mmWave (focused primarily on Fixed Wireless Access) and sub6GHz (focused on Mobile Access) frequencies for deployment flexibility; Centralized Unit (CU) and Distributed Unit (DU) split and CUPS (Control User Plane Separation) on F1 and E1 interfaces respectively to address rollout cost.
Partnering for 5G Success
Since announcing the availability of the 5G Software Suite, Radisys has collaborated with global partners to provide 5G solutions and to pave the way to making 5G a reality.
While 5G demands a thorough network transformation to succeed, it is also enabling innovative new use cases for a wide range of industries and applications. Mobile operators and vendors are currently developing 5G products, and they will need to test their solutions in real-world scenarios to ensure that the performance of their deployments and devices are meeting the requirements of 5G networks.
Radisys and NI, a high-performance automated test and automated measurement systems developer, collaborated to create an end-to-end 5G platform, allowing operators and vendors to complete this necessary testing. This 5G solution integrates Radisys’ 5G protocol stack with NI’s 5G PHY and New Radio (NR) test equipment that connects over the air in millimeter and sub-6 GHz radio bands, allowing customers to simulate any 5G environment to test their products and accelerate their time to market.
This solution not only enables mobile operators and chipset
manufacturers to drive 5G use cases, but it can also allow them to validate and begin monetizing their 5G solutions today, marking a major milestone in the 5G evolution.
Through its many partnerships, Radisys is enabling its customers to build and customize networks of their choice while reducing costs and vendor lock-in. One of these partnerships includes PHAZR’s selection of Radisys’ industry-first 5G Next Generation NodeB (gNB) software to power its cloud-native virtualized RAN solution.
By integrating Radisys’ MobilityEngine gNB software within its own highly-advanced RABACK mobile access platform, PHAZR is enabling its customers, including tier-one operators, to accelerate the rollout of their 5G NR services. Radisys’ industry-first 5G-enabling technology solutions allows customers, such as PHAZR, to go to market faster with an all-inclusive, advanced-featured 5G offering as they trial their solutions with operators around the world.
Open RAN – Open Network Disruption for 5G
One of the keys to Radisys’ disruptive approach to the telecom industry includes leadership within organizations such as the O-RAN Alliance, the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) and more. These groups focus on openness, intelligence and evolving how radio access networks are built, including embracing virtualized network elements, white-box hardware and standardized “open” interfaces.
RAN is difficult to “softwareize” and has become the last frontier for open network disruption. Open RAN deployments are already in progress for 4G networks and large-scale deployments are being planned for emerging 5G networks. Through disaggregation of the RAN into separate software and hardware components, mobile operators will be able to break vendor lock-in, reduce costs, and accelerate innovation to meet the demands of 5G networks.
With trials and deployments currently underway, 5G is now finally becoming a reality. Radisys is continuing to collaborate with its global partners to enable end-to-end 5G solutions that will not only enable service providers and manufacturers to deploy 5G products today, but it will allow customers to build a foundation in which their 5G networks and products can continue to evolve with the demands of the ever-changing mobile industry.
