Rakuten Symphony Picks VIAVI to Drive 5G Open vRAN

Rakuten Symphony has chosen the VIAVI TM500 Network Tester to validate performance of its solutions from the lab to the field. The principal objective of this testbed is to maximize resolution of any issues in the lab in order to accelerate deployment at scale, and it has been designed to simulate a citywide network.

Open RAN has become more widely accepted and implemented around the globe, with almost 100 service providers and vendors participating in the most recent O-RAN Global PlugFest. As its technology moves from the lab into the field, Rakuten Symphony is seeking partners with expertise in that transition, including VIAVI for network test and measurement.

VIAVI is supporting Rakuten Symphony with instrumentation strengthened with decades of experience supporting the world’s leading service providers and network equipment manufacturers (NEMs) in the lab and the field. With over 85% of NEMs using TM500 for gNodeB (gNB) development, the company’s solutions offer unmatched scalability, stability, performance and fidelity to 3GPP specifications as implemented in live networks. Key features include:

Testing high numbers of 5G gNB carriers at system level
Testing high order MIMO and Carrier Aggregation features
Complex mobility, handover and I-RAT functionality between 4G and 5G
Testing thousands of UEs over multiple carriers
Testing Public Warning System (PWS) and link adaptation features.

“After working with lab test vendors in earlier stages of our technology development, we turned to VIAVI because of their expertise across lab validation, field deployment and service assurance of mobile networks,” said Srinivas Gudladana, Head of RAN Engineering, Rakuten Symphony. “Our Open vRAN architecture is designed to enable service providers to automate operations and monetize the network, and VIAVI’s test platform is vital to fulfilling that promise.”

“As vendors across the industry develop open, cloud-native and disaggregated architectures, precise testing against user expectations of service quality as well as 3GPP parameters is more critical than ever to ensure success at scale,” said Rajesh Rao, Vice President, Asia Pacific and Japan, VIAVI. “We are excited to help Rakuten Symphony optimize their Open vRAN solutions based on our unique experience from lab to field to assurance for over 200 service providers worldwide.”