MWC24: Ericsson and Intracom Introduce New E-Band Backhaul Gear, While Ceragon Teases a Major New Product Arriving This Year

by edgubbins, posted in Net Transformation, Ultra Broadband
Ed Gubbins, Principal Analyst

Summary Bullets:

• At Mobile World Congress (MWC), Ericsson introduced a new E-band radio with increased power output to extend the length of backhaul connections, and Intracom added a beam-tracking antenna to maintain link alignment.
• Wireless backhaul specialist Ceragon promoted a long-awaited product it hopes to unveil later this year, the first product based on the vendor’s new in-house silicon: an E-band radio promising a capacity of 100 Gbps.

At MWC, network equipment vendors introduced a wave of new products to help operators continue their 5G rollouts, including a large number of new radios. Wireless backhaul vendors followed suit, though with far fewer new products.
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MWC24: Nokia’s Nvidia Deal: CPUs to Diversify the vRAN Ecosystem and GPUs to Disrupt

by edgubbins, posted in Net Transformation, SDN/NFV
Ed Gubbins, Principal Analyst

Summary Bullets:

• Nokia will use CPUs from Nvidia to bring more choices to the vRAN space, following the former’s ‘anyRAN’ concept.

• Nokia also aims to use Nvidia’s GPUs to transform telecom networks using AI – an aspirational future vision.

Nokia announced this week that it will collaborate with chipmaker Nvidia in two ways – both focused on virtual radio access networks (vRAN). Nokia will use Nvidia Grace CPU Superchip for processing vRAN functions at Layer 2 and above, together with Nokia’s RAN software and hardware accelerators (PCIe cards that boost vRAN performance). It will also use the graphics processing units (GPUs) Nvidia is most known for to handle AI applications and vRAN acceleration.

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AT&T Gives the Open RAN Movement a Helpful Push, but Much of its Plan Remains Unknown

by edgubbins, posted in Net Transformation
Ed Gubbins, Principal Analyst

Summary Bullets:

• Ericsson’s joint announcement with AT&T this week of plans for high-scale open RAN deployment represents an important milestone for the open RAN movement and could help stimulate the ecosystem.

• But it’s not clear exactly how widely and quickly AT&T plans to put in place true open RAN in the most meaningful sense – multi-vendor base stations that invigorate supplier competition and software innovation.


Source: Ericsson, AT&T

Ericsson’s joint announcement with AT&T this week of plans for high-scale open RAN deployment represents an important milestone for the open RAN movement, which AT&T helped launch to begin with, but which has not yet seen dramatic acceleration in operator networks. AT&T’s moves in that area could help alter the movement’s trajectory.

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At its 5G Summit, ZTE Advances RIS and Introduces ‘RAN Composer’

by edgubbins, posted in Het Nets, Net Transformation
Ed Gubbins, Principal Analyst

Summary Bullets:

• At the ZTE 5G Summit in Bangkok (Thailand) in November 2023, ZTE continued its focus on RIS with a next-generation prototype that consumes less power than its predecessor.

• ZTE also introduced ZTE RAN Composer, a solution that inserts general-purpose computing into the baseband unit to aid AI-based RAN optimization applications.

At the 2023 ZTE 5G Summit in Bangkok (Thailand), ZTE presented a range of views on 5G’s continuing and future evolution, including presentations from operators and analysts in addition to ZTE representatives. The company also highlighted two forward-looking technologies that stood out: reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) and what ZTE has branded as ‘RAN Composer.’

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Ericsson’s Router 6000 Expansion Provides Intelligent Connectivity to Support its 5G RAN Vision

by Glen Hunt, posted in Net Transformation, SDN/NFV
Glen Hunt, Principal Analyst

Summary Bullets:

• Ericsson brought the finishing touches needed to optimize its mobile access portfolio – tying together its RAN compute portfolio, cloud-native capabilities, transport controller, and new Router 6000 variants to leverage RAN innovation and spectrum efficiency with AI/ML to automate services.

• Ericsson brings to market two new Router 6000 variants: the Router 6671 designed for cell site deployment, which supports 10G and 25G Ethernet connectivity, and the 4.8 Tbps Router 6678 to support large scale centralized RAN deployments.

Ericsson’s two new Router 6000 family additions are designed to seamlessly integrate with its RAN portfolio to deliver the capacity, efficiency, and operational support needed to satisfy 5G service demands. With the recent uptick in the use of mid-band spectrum, operators will need to scale up their transport and RAN networks to leverage new Ericsson software features such as carrier aggregation data steering (which switches users from the FDD to TDD); and automated carrier aggregation, which automatically selects and configures carriers for aggregation.

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Ericsson’s New RAN Compute Gear Steps Up Capacity, Efficiency for Mid-Band 5G Expansion

by edgubbins, posted in Net Transformation
Ed Gubbins, Principal Analyst

Summary Bullets:

• Ericsson introduced four new radio access network (RAN) compute baseband processing products, including two products with varying capacity levels and outdoor versions of each one.

• The vendor also introduced new software features to optimize carrier aggregation and the quality of users’ experience.

Ericsson announced a range of new products this week spanning the RAN and transport network domains.

In the RAN category, Ericsson introduced four new products in its RAN Compute portfolio of baseband processing products: The RAN Processor 6672 is a one-rack-unit 4G/5G baseband unit, and the RAN Processor 6655 is a lower-capacity version of that product. In addition, the Radio Processor 6372 and 6355 are ruggedized outdoor versions of the 6672 and 6655, respectively. Continue reading “Ericsson’s New RAN Compute Gear Steps Up Capacity, Efficiency for Mid-Band 5G Expansion” →

Nokia Brings the Family Jewels (FPcx) to the Access Network – Raises Expectations

by Glen Hunt, posted in SDN/NFV, Ultra Broadband
Glen Hunt, Principal Analyst
Summary Bullets:

• Operators are challenged to build access networks that transition from the 1G era to meet 10/100/400G service expectations. It is not only a bandwidth issue, but one of sustainability, flexibility, and the adaptability to deliver 5G services.

• Nokia’s move to adapt its FPcx silicon to fuel a new range of access and aggregation routers elevates the access layer as an integral part of the intelligent network and changes the game.

The access and aggregation routers of the past were based on platforms designed to deliver effective access and aggregation services for 1G to 10G services. Most were based on merchant silicon, which hosted a vendor’s network operating system and networking features, including platforms such as Nokia’s 7250 IXR. In contrast, the higher-scale IP services edge and IP core have been based on proprietary silicon, which delivered high-scale switching capacity, rich telemetry, and programmability needed to meet automate and meet stringent performance, power, and security requirements. The use of merchant silicon was widely adopted by equipment vendors to deliver solutions that kept pace with market demands, and a few vendors also leveraged programmable silicon such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Part of the draw for merchant silicon was driven by operators who desired to minimize vendor dependance – i.e., the white box era.

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Verizon Explores P2MP mmWave – A Bright but Not-so-New Idea

by Emir Halilovic, posted in Ultra Broadband
Emir Halilovic, Principal Analyst

Summary Bullets:

• Verizon recently announced that it has tested point-to-multipoint (P2MP) millimeter wave (mmWave) radio for providing broadband to multi-dwelling units (MDUs) in urban areas.

• The idea is good, but practical issues abound – a startup ISP Starry, which fielded a similar solution to lackluster response, is just emerging from Chapter 11 restructuring.

In its bid to make the process of expanding its broadband footprint more efficient, Verizon announced it has tested a new use case for its mmWave network in Texas (US). In the proof of concept, a centralized rooftop radio site (“donor” cell) was connected to a radio atop a simulated MDU with multiple endpoints requiring separate broadband connections. The signal was then transmitted via coaxial cable to a data processing unit equipped with a corresponding modem. The building’s existing wiring was used to transport the signal to end-user routers that provide broadband coverage to endpoint devices. Unlike “traditional” FWA, the solution uses a simplified broadband network gateway (BNG) instead of the company’s 4G and 5G core – Verizon claims this allows for “excellent” latency and capacity while reducing the load on the CSPs 4G and 5G mobile cores.

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MWC23 Shanghai Showcases RAN Vendors Eager to Usher in 5G-Advanced

by edgubbins, posted in Net Transformation
Ed Gubbins, Principal Analyst

Summary Bullets:

• 5G-Advanced and energy efficiency were two prominent themes among RAN vendors at MWC Shanghai.

• ZTE introduced a new offering for private networks that features integrated RAN and core functions.

In June 2023, Mobile World Congress (MWC) Shanghai celebrated its 10th anniversary as an Asian counterpart to the MWC held annually in Barcelona, Spain. As usual, China’s two biggest RAN vendors, Huawei and ZTE, loomed large over the proceedings, but neither vendor made major new RAN product announcements at the show.

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RedCap is About to Get a Boost from 5G-Advanced

by , posted in Internet of Things
Ed Gubbins, Principal Analyst

Summary Bullets:

• Advances in reduced capability (RedCap) technology could help operators monetize 5G by enabling IoT use cases.

• RedCap commercialization is set to increase in 2023 on both the network and device side, establishing the ecosystem needed to support new businesses.

As a marketing term, ‘reduced capability’ technology may not sound inherently enticing, but the technology is designed to help bring to life a diverse array of IoT use cases that could bring much-needed monetization possibilities to 5G networks.

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