NEC Debuts North American Innovation Hub for Open RAN

NEC Corporation has created a North American 5G innovation unit in New Providence, New Jersey, to expand product development and cater to the growing global demand for Open RAN solutions.

The new entity, NEC Advanced Networks, was born out of the company's recent acquisition of Blue Danube Systems, Inc., and provides a critical base of operations for the company's product innovations and solutions delivery activities.

NEC Advanced Networks is led by Rahul Chandra, a longtime technology and business development leader in the telecommunications industry. "We know that the demand for Open RAN-compliant networks and solutions is going to continue growing," Chandra said. "We have aggressive plans to deliver Open RAN solutions all over the world - and bulking up our presence in North America helps customers by increasing our footprint in the Western Hemisphere and expanding our reach by leveraging the robust talent pool at our disposal."

Using the former Blue Danube resources to create a center of innovation and product development is an important advancement as NEC continues its push for Open RAN 5G solutions built on multi-vendor ecosystems. NEC Advanced Networks will drive developments in the Radio Unit business, at first, with a focus on spectrum optimization and AI/ML-based massive MIMO products. These are areas of significant expertise within the existing team. This hub expands NEC's capabilities and will be a focal point for future expansion as the market matures.

Chandra continued, "Adding resources in the Eastern US helps us serve our customers better and work closely with our ecosystem partners. It also provides us a stable platform to build from as demand for Open RAN-compliant products and solutions grows exponentially over the coming years."

Mayuko Tatewaki, NEC's senior vice president for 5G strategy and business, said, "NEC aims to be a global leader in Open RAN 5G and we've recently made significant progress, building off several important project wins with Tier 1 operators in Europe, including key achievements with Orange and VMO2."

Tatewaki continued, "As the Open RAN market rapidly grows, we need to expand our presence to achieve global goals. The industry shift to Open RAN is a large undertaking - given our focus on providing solutions and system integration services, creating a home base for Open RAN 5G resources in the US will help us better serve the global market."