Three Questions With Radisys
Radisys is a global leader in open telecom and digital experience solutions. Radisys delivers transformative networking solutions and advanced digital services to help operators stand apart from competitors and propel their position in the market.
Q1. Your company is a member of Small Cell Forum, so what is your view on the future of small cells as 5G comes in?
Natasha Tamaskar, Head of Global Marketing and Sales Enablement:
Small cells have been around, but we anticipate explosive growth for small cells with 5G.
The benefits of 5G’s high speeds and ultra-low latency will be fully realized in industrial applications and private networks. Small cells are critical for these networks, providing pinpoint capacity and coverage gains exactly where needed whether on a factory floor or across a port. They can be deployed on many spectrum bands, including CBRS, C-Band, and mmWave spectrum, and will enable IIoT by providing connectivity for billions of new devices that are coming online.
5G small cells will also be used by operators to add coverage and capacity in dense urban areas, both indoor and outdoor. Many interesting applications and deployment scenarios are going to be realized with 5G small cells: neutral host, IAB and CV2X to name a few.
Q2. How do you see the industry changing at the moment and what can the Forum do to address/improve/or enhance these changes?
The industry is embracing the transition to open and disaggregated networks built from an interoperable multi-vendor ecosystem. The Small Cell Forum is providing critical support for this transition through the delivery of its next-generation 5G FAPI and nFAPI specifications that are enabling faster time to market for Open RAN solutions, with many small cell and DU products already adopting the broader FAPI suite.
Radisys is helping to lead these efforts by serving as work item leader of the 5G nFAPI working group. Our Connect RAN 5G Small Cell Software Suite is compliant with the Small Cell Forum’s FAPI specifications, with the O-RAN Alliance standards, and with 3GPP Release 16 – with an evolution path to Release 17 and beyond. SCF can continue to champion specification development and provide educational resources to the industry to support commercial deployment of an Open RAN ecosystem. We are looking at synergies between SCF and other SDOs, especially O-RAN Alliance that can hopefully be taken forward by SCF.
Q3. In relation to your business, what are some the key technologies /or policies that are driving the industry (or parts of the industry) forward at the moment, and how can we progress further and faster?
Today, Open RAN is being driven forward globally by service providers and by governments. Omdia has forecasted that Open RAN will generate approximately 3.2 billion in annual revenue by 2024 in both the 4G and 5G markets. To meet this demand for Open RAN-compliant components and an interoperable ecosystem, Radisys has formed a wide range of ecosystem partnerships and is offering its Connect Open RAN software on multiple SoCs and target hardware platforms.
Industry organizations such as the Small Cell Forum should seek to support development of this ecosystem through interop and plugfest events and compliance programs to accelerate commercial deployment. Wider representation of SCF in industry events across different geographies will help further the case of small cells adoption globally.