Open RAN: 2020 and Beyond
This new article by Ganesh Shenbagaraman, Radisys VP - Engineering, delves into the changes in Open RAN in 2020 and how a new RAN landscape will emerge in the next several years.
Open RAN has been making news throughout this year and driving constant coverage from all areas: standards organizations, operators, vendors, policymakers, enterprises, industry verticals and more. There is a lot to unpack. This article will dive into the drivers behind the increased momentum, examine whether Open RAN solutions are ready for mainstream deployment, and discuss how Open RAN may impact the future of mobile networks, especially 5G.
As operators solidify their 5G strategies and begin their 5G deployments, they are indicating strong preference for disaggregated and open RAN solutions. While 3GPP standards for 5G specify the architectural options for disaggregation, there is still more work to be done. The O-RAN Alliance has been leading the initiative to define appropriate open interfaces and standards for end-to-end disaggregated radio access networks.