The 3 consortia fostering the Open RAN ecosystem
Posted on October 7, 2020 by Pivotal Commware
In May this year, the Open RAN Policy Coalition was established to advocate for “vendor choice and flexibility in next-generation network deployments,” as Executive Director Diane Rinaldo put it at the time. This is necessary, she said, “from a security and performance standpoint. By promoting policies that standardize and develop open interfaces, we can ensure interoperability and security across different players and potentially lower the barrier to entry for new innovators.”
The founding members were: Airspan, Altiostar, AWS, AT&T, Cisco, CommScope, Dell, DISH Network, Facebook, Fujitsu, Google, IBM, Intel, Juniper Networks, Mavenir, Microsoft, NEC Corporation, NewEdge Signal Solutions, NTT, Oracle, Parallel Wireless, Qualcomm, Rakuten, Samsung Electronics America, Telefónica, US Ignite, Verizon, VMWare, Vodafone, World Wide Technology, and XCOM-Labs.
Shortly after its launch, Nokia joined the group. Brian Hendricks, Nokia’s VP of government relations in the Americas, in discussing the incumbent vendor’s move to join, described an emerging narrative wherein the Open RAN ecosystem has created a falsely adversarial relationship between legacy vendors “and, on the other side, folks that wanted to create a new ecosystem.”
There is a sense among policymakers, he continued, where, “They felt like they’d be making a choice. If they did things that were more supportive of an acceleration of openness that they’d be harming us. We don’t think that’s true either.” In joining the Open RAN Policy Coalition, Hendricks said, Nokia is saying, “Let’s eliminate the point that we’re not together as an ecosystem and, perhaps, that provides an impetus for action.”
The initial slate expanded in June with new members Ciena, Cohere Technologies, Crown Castle, DeepSig, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, JMA Wireless, Marvell Technology Group, Nokia, Pivotal Commware, Quanta Cloud Technology, Radisys, Reliance Jio, Robin.io and U.S. Cellular.
Read the full article or download Open RAN editorial report (registration required) at RCR Wireless
See also: Pivotal Commware Joins Open RAN Policy Coalition (June, 2020)