The future of O-RAN and 5G – Part 1
31 August 2022
Analog Devices’ Dr. Greg Henderson – Senior Vice President, Automotive, Communications, and Aerospace – answers key questions on how open RAN (O-RAN) and network disaggregation will impact the 5G communications world.
1. What's your view on the future of O-RAN and why do you think the network is becoming disaggregated at this particular point in time?
Henderson: 5G networks open the possibility to have a significant amount of the network virtualised. Instead of having proprietary hardware and software running through custom interfaces, significant parts of the network can be virtualised and run through open interfaces on computer hardware, which will provide for a much more open network architecture. The vision of O-RAN is that by leveraging virtualisation coupled with open/standard interfaces, you can have a much more flexible, multi-vendor network. Through the open interfaces, the ecosystem has the potential to develop a network with a broader array of features. For the carrier, this provides opportunities for new network capabilities, new business models, supply chain resiliency, and a lot more rapid evolution of the network.
2. What are the biggest challenges with O-RAN today?
Henderson: O-RAN presents a unique set of challenges, but these challenges are also opportunities for the vendor community. Multi-vendor interoperability is fundamentally one of the big challenges. In order to make this vision work, you're going to have lots of parts of the network that come from different suppliers, and you’ll need to make sure that the network can perform at the robust standards expected of 5G networks, across all of the network use cases.
There are really three threads to managing that challenge. The first is about open standards and defining the interfaces carefully and clearly, and making those open standards so everyone can operate within them. At ADI, we are contributing to key working groups in the O-RAN Alliance to help define these standards and create reference designs from them. The second thread is about interoperability, which is really incumbent upon us in the vendor ecosystem to make sure we can demonstrate multi-vendor interoperability. At ADI, we are working with system integrators, DU vendors, and network test equipment providers, to ensure interoperability between our lower layer PHY and DUs.
And the third is partnerships. In order for an ecosystem to create advanced solutions like 5G O-RAN, you need a lot of partnerships to bring high-performance, carrier-grade products to market. As a major solutions provider in the radio unit, we directly engage with other suppliers in and adjacent to the signal chain. We have announced partnerships with Intel and Marvell in developing 5G O-RAN solutions, and also with test equipment providers like Keysight to ensure full coverage of not only the technology but also its interoperability. Working cooperatively, we’re creating connections needed for the ecosystem to thrive. By leading in these three areas—open standards, interoperability and ecosystem partnership—we think the challenges O-RAN faces can be managed and this can be a success.
This story was adapted from the “Network Disaggregation: Disruption & Opportunities in Communications” event sponsored by the Boston Business Journal.
More on this topic here. More on Analog Devices available here.
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