Unlocking Open RAN’s value

Engineered to deliver the networks of the future

Ericsson is at the forefront in the industrialization of Open RAN, combining the latest cloud based technologies to deliver the very best open network architectures for the industry – at scale. Service providers partnering with Ericsson trust in our commitment to delivering unparalleled performance, reliability, security and efficiencies, all engineered to deliver value at every level.

Future networks need to be resilient, open, sustainable, and intelligent. Open RAN plays an important role in achieving this vision, and Ericsson is leading the industrialization of the three pillars of Open RAN: cloudification, open interface and open management for network programmability.

Every service provider must weigh the benefits and drawbacks of Open RAN in terms of performance, deployment, interoperability, long-term costs, security, environmental performance, integration and complexity.

Open RAN is an exciting but new concept and paradigm – a CTO office must work with trusted partners in the ecosystem to bring this new reality to life. Dive into the new technology, benefits and challenges with Ericsson below.

See how Ericsson is driving progress in Open RAN

Tech Unveiled: Open RAN - Scaling multivendor openness with the best performance

Tech Unveiled: Open RAN - Addressing the challenges

Addressing the adoption challenges

Open RAN is still a relatively new concept, with limited deployments and questions around products and product support. Only a handful of service providers have begun to test and roll-out the technology. How can a new technology paradigm be trusted so quickly? The answer lies in the innovation, and collaboration of the vendor ecosystem. Ericsson is one of the key players in this ecosystem. We have a clear vision, strategy, and portfolio that support Open RAN and cloudification. Our Open RAN solutions are proven by our collaboration with leading service providers in the industry. Ericsson helps service providers deliver better performance, security, and efficiency with Open RAN.

Addressing the deployment challenges

It isn’t only about the technology itself, rather how to bring that technology into your current network. Open RAN is a promising but challenging solution that requires careful integration and orchestration. Ericsson is a leader in Open RAN. We have more than a million Ericsson radios in the field which are hardware-ready for the next generation of open fronthaul technology. This means that service providers can upgrade their radios with software updates, without the need to replace or add new hardware. We can accelerate a massive Open RAN deployment and configuration through our solutions. Ericsson's Intelligent Automation Platform (EIAP) enables service providers to automate and orchestrate the deployment and configuration of Open RAN components across multiple vendors and domains. rApps will provide advanced features and capabilities for Open RAN centralized automation. With these advantages, Ericsson helps service providers leverage Open RAN for more flexibility, innovation, and cost-efficiency.

Addressing the interoperability challenges

The underlying principle of Open RAN is to create a multi-vendor environment. The approach poses issues with interoperability between vendors, security threats, and possible performance degradation. To address these challenges, service providers need a trusted partner who can offer a complete Open RAN solution. Ericsson collaborates with partners to deliver high-quality products, cost-effective deployment and operations, and new revenue streams through transformation. We adhere to the O-RAN security specifications, which aim for a Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) for Open RAN networks. Our Cloud RAN solution has built-in security features that comply with ZTA. We also provide Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) capabilities that enable service providers to govern and optimize the use cases and applications on Open RAN networks. SMO ensures resource efficiency, conflict resolution, and performance monitoring. Ericsson helps service providers deliver the best network experience to their customers.

Open RAN explained

Through its leadership in the O-RAN Alliance, Ericsson, together with the industry, has reached the critical milestones in defining the next-generation open fronthaul interface required to bring performance at scale to Open RAN.

Cityscape with graphic illustrating 5G connectivity.

Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform

Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform plays a key role in improving network performance and enhancing customer experience while delivering operational savings through industrial scale automation in the radio access network.

Cityscape with graphic overlay representing connectivity.

rApps

The value of the service management and orchestration (SMO) concept is delivered by the RAN automation rApps. These rApps enable service providers to evolve, deploy, optimize and heal the network automatically.

Ericsson and AT&T strategic agreement to pioneer networks of the future

Ericsson and AT&T are collaborating in an industry-defining roughly USD 14 billion five-year network transformation and digitalization strategic agreement to pioneer the path to programmable and intelligent networks of the future. The deal is the largest financially in Ericsson’s history.

Driving Open RAN forward

A new industry-wide agreement on open fronthaul interfaces enables communication service providers, CSPs, for the first time, to achieve full performance with Open RAN in commercial network deployments at scale.

SMO enabling intelligent RAN operations

Telecom network operations are becoming increasingly complex, owing to increasingly diverse and demanding use cases, increased frequency band choices, virtualization, network slicing, as well as the ongoing disaggregation and distribution of the radio access network (RAN) functions, such as through Open RAN.