• Working to define the 5G NR stack reference architecture
• Collaborating with AT&T, China Mobile and Intel on the project
• Aim is to create open RAN architectures for 5G deployments

The O-RAN Alliance received a boost this week with the news that Radisys will be contributing its Open 5G Software seed code for its 5G NR Stack Reference Architecture. Radisys says its contribution will help accelerate the O-RAN ecosystem and enable the delivery of open APIs and open architectures that mobile operators can use to accelerate their 5G network build-outs.

There is significant interest amongst CSPs to open up the radio access network infrastructure market to avoid the historic reliance on a handful of vendors. Enabling a multi-vendor ecosystem would, they hope, lead to reduced costs as well as improved efficiencies.

Radisys is the co-chair with China Mobile, AT&T and Intel of the Alliance’s Work Group 8, whose role is to define the 5G NR stack reference architecture. Radisys is the first contributor to this effort with its seed code, having made it available as open source code during last week’s MWC Shanghai event, where it was demonstrating a number of O-RAN solutions.

“We share a common vision with our WG8 co-chairs – China Mobile, AT&T and Intel – to accelerate RAN evolution through the principles of disaggregation and openness, while laying the groundwork for 5G networks that are being built today,” said Neeraj Patel, VP & GM of Software and Services, Radisys. “We thank our mobile operator co-chairs for welcoming us as co-chair, re-affirming our own commitment to the open telecom revolution, and we call on other vendors and operators to make their own contributions to this important work.” 

These new disaggregated and virtualized networks are being built with open source software and white box hardware to accelerate solution development and 5G deployment. With AT&T and China Mobile as founding members, the Alliance carries significant weight and buying power.

“The Alliance’s success depends on key contributions from our members, both mobile operators and vendors,” said Dr. Chih-Lin I, Chief Scientist, CMCC. “China Mobile is glad to see key O-RAN members including Radisys have begun actively contributing seed codes. We are also committed to contributing code to the O-RAN SC community. China Mobile believes that the open source RAN software will play an important role in promoting the prosperity of an open ecosystem.”

Also worth noting that the O-RAN Software Community was launched in April by the O-RAN Alliance and the Linux Foundation to provide open software aligned with the O-RAN Alliance’s open architecture. You can watch a short interview with AT&T’s Main Gilbert about its contribution to the RAN intelligent controller (RIC) component here.

“Intel is collaborating with O-RAN Alliance members to specify hardware and software reference architectures for virtualized RAN with standardized interfaces,” said Cristina Rodriguez, VP & GM of Data Center Group, Wireless Access Networking Division, Intel, “expanding the ecosystem, and ultimately enabling service providers all over the world to speed up RAN deployments.”