Ericsson announced that its 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) software, based on the recently approved first 3GPP 5G New Radio (NR) standard, will be commercially available by Q4 2018, paving the way for operators to launch commercial services in 2019. The 5G radio network software complements Ericsson’s already launched baseband and 5G radios. The company says all of the base radios from the Ericsson Radio System delivered since 2015 will be 5G NR-capable by a remote software installation.
Ericsson’s 5G radio network software promises multi-band support for global deployment and will allow operators to use new frequency spectrum as it becomes available. It also introduces a new category of radio products called Street Macro – a new site type that addresses the need of operators to grow in cities with limited available radio locations. The idea is to place radios on building facades with a smaller footprint but the necessary strength to secure network efficiency and coverage. Ericsson is also adding new radios with Massive MIMO technology.
Ericsson also announced enhancements to its Distributed Cloud architecture, which support cloud application deployment across multiple sites – central, distributed, and edge. The design can be managed, orchestrated, and perceived as one solution in what the company calls “Software Defined Infrastructure (SDI) to the edge”. In addition, the Ericsson Distributed Cloud will add support for hardware options in a multi-vendor framework.
Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Business Area Networks at Ericsson, says: “Operators who want to be early with 5G now have the essential pieces for launching 5G networks already this year. With our expanded platform, they will get more efficient networks as well as opportunities to create new revenues from emerging consumer and industrial use cases.”
