Nokia is ramping up the adoption of Open RAN (O-RAN) interfaces in its AirScale portfolio, saying it aims to enable an open ecosystem of innovation and a robust telecom supply chain, while ensuring world-class network performance and security.
Nokia’s new O-RAN capabilities, which include open interfaces, build on its existing AirScale software. The company says its O-RAN software delivers the same performance, functionalities and security standards of its current radio products.
An initial set of O-RAN functionalities will become available this year, while the full suite of O-RAN-defined interfaces is expected to be available in 2021.
Nokia notes that it is the only global RAN provider to commit to O-RAN.
Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: “Nokia is committed to leading the open mobile future by investing in Open RAN and Cloud RAN solutions with the aim of enabling a robust telecom ecosystem with strong network performance and security. Nokia’s Cloud RAN solution leads the market and is continuing to evolve to a cloud-native architecture. We have the scale and capabilities to address the increased customer demand for this technology, underpinned by the world-class network performance and security that only Nokia can deliver.”
Nokia moves ahead with 5G Cloud RAN commercialization
Nokia confirmed plans to commercially launch a version of its 5G AirScale Cloud RAN solution that is based on vRAN2.0. The open version will be commercially available this year with general availability expected in 2021.
Open RAN (O-RAN) splits the base station into Radio Unit (RU), Distributed Unit (DU), Radio Access Point (RAP, a combination of RU and DU), Centralized Unit (CU), and O-RAN compliant interfaces between these elements. Nokia’s 5G AirScale Cloud RAN also includes the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) concept to take advantage of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) capabilities to optimize the radio and system performance.
Nokia’s first-generation 5G AirScale Cloud RAN based on vRAN1.0, which has a virtualized Central Unit (vCU), has been in commercial operation on a mmWave network in the U.S. since early 2019.
Nokia’s new vRAN2.0 solution introduces a virtualized Distributed Unit (vDU) as well as a Fronthaul Gateway. The result is a fully cloudified and disaggregated 5G base station that provides scalability, low latency, high performance and capacity, as well as several network architecture options, to meet ever-increasing market demands. The solution helps operators to generate revenue from new 5G services as well as to enable flexible end-to-end network slicing, meet IoT requirements and bring the overall benefits of cloud computing to Radio Access Networks (RAN).
The first Nokia 5G AirScale Cloud RAN solution with a vCU in vRAN1.0 configuration was taken into large-scale commercial use in the U.S. in 2019. Since then, Nokia has evolved the solution to vRAN2.0 configuration with a Distributed Unit (DU) running on General Purpose Processor (x86)-based computing with hardware acceleration in Layer 1 (L1).
O-RAN delivers its Bronze release with 23 new or updated specs
The O-RAN Alliance has launched its second open source software release featuring 23 new or updated specifications.
The O-RAN “Bronze” release also includes an initial set of O-RAN use cases and cloud native deployment support options.
Highlights of O-RAN Bronze:
- an initial release of an A1 policy manager and an A1 controller that implements the Non-Real-Time Radio Intelligent Controller (Non-RT RIC) architecture.
- the Near-Real-Time RIC updated to current O-RAN E2 and A1 specifications with 5 sample xAPPs.
- initial O-CU and O-DU Low/High code contributions that support a FAPI framework and integration between the O-DU and RIC with E2 functionality and subscription support.
- a Traffic Steering and Quality Prediction use case leveraging an E2 interface data ingest pipeline to demonstrate the functionality of RAN traffic steering with an E2 interface KPI monitoring capability.
- OAM use cases that exercise Health Check call flows including the Near-RT RIC and its O1 and A1 interfaces.
“The new use cases, the Bronze software release, and the new O-RAN ALLIANCE members are indications that this global forum is working exactly as intended, reaching across borders to drive innovation and build consensus,” said Andre Fuetsch, Chairman of the O-RAN ALLIANCE and Chief Technology Officer – Network Services, at AT&T. “As this coalition evolves, we look forward to seeing how it continues to broaden access to 5G and other new access technologies.”
“Over the past 6 months, O-RAN working groups and the O-RAN Software Community have extensively engaged to achieve tight alignment between the specifications and the Bronze release open source code,” said Chih-Lin I, the Co-Chair of O-RAN Technical Steering Committee. “Specific progress related to both the Non-RT-RIC and the Near-RT-RIC frameworks and associated key interfaces deserves special mention for its importance in enabling AI/ML capabilities in RAN. The O-RAN virtual showcase further demonstrates the growing momentum towards global adoption and deployment of O-RAN solutions.”
“Ericsson is actively engaged in shaping the future of the O-RAN initiative by enabling Non-RT RIC (Non-Real-Time RAN Intelligent Controller) and A1 interface to support fine-grained intelligent steering of the RAN,” said Per Beming, Head of Standards and Industry Initiative in Ericsson. “During OSC Bronze release, Ericsson continued as the key contributor to Non-RT RIC project by improving support for intent based intelligent RAN optimization using A1 interface. This specific capability allows operators to leverage both RAN and non-RAN data to enrich end user experience.”
