Ericsson launches Open Lab to drive virtualised 5G RAN technologies

Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson launched the Ericsson Open Lab to drive virtualized 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) technologies.

The lab is virtually accessible to customers globally and it is co-located with the company’s Cloud RAN expertise at Ericsson’s R&D site in Ottawa.

Ericsson Open Lab will enable interactive collaboration and will seek to help service providers in pursuing and realising new deployment and 5G use case scenarios, as well as create opportunities for network automation.

The lab will also support in exploring Open RAN technologies, including aspects such as virtualization, management, and orchestration.

The lab will further seek greater cooperation in areas such as Machine Learning (ML), network automation, and optimisation with communications service providers (CSPs), and industry partners, Ericsson said in a statement.

These service providers include KDDI, Ooredoo, Orange, Softbank Corp, Turkcell, and ecosystem partners such as Intel, Nvidia, Red Hat, and Wind River.

Ericsson said it will aim to engage more customers and partners in conjunction with evolving Cloud-RAN network requirements.

“With Ericsson Open Lab, we invite our customers and partners to co-create and bring new cloud innovations to 5G. We have created this collaboration to develop architectures and common operating standards that complement existing 5G-ready technology. This initiative will help to test the limits of 5G connectivity, working closely with operators and enterprise customers globally, as the industry continues to adopt more open architectures,” said Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Business Area Networks, Ericsson.

At the Ottawa site, 100MHz of indoor mid-band spectrum and 60MHz of indoor/outdoor mid-band spectrum is available for testing and co-creation activities, which will enable customers and partners to test Cloud RAN capabilities basis their spectrum holdings and use case requirements across both indoor and outdoor networks.

The lab supports Ericsson’s Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) approach to Cloud RAN technology development to ensure seamless integration of features which helps in taking the software live quickly.

The lab also enables further development of Ericsson Cloud RAN solutions on COTS hardware.

Last year, Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia became the first company to commit to adding open interfaces to its portfolio that will enable mobile operators to build networks not linked to a vendor.