Ericsson's new Open Lab will accelerate network virtualization technology

Ericsson has developed the Ericsson Open Lab, a new space for leading Ericsson Cloud RAN customers and ecosystem collaborators to innovate and build on virtualized 5G Radio Access Networks (RAN) technologies.

Customers all over the world can practically enter Ericsson Open Lab. It is housed alongside the company's Cloud RAN experience at Ericsson's R&D facility in Ottawa. These operations will be supported by the company's global locations.

Ericsson Open Lab facilitates rapid and interactive cooperation, resulting in innovation to supplement current RAN solutions. Ericsson Open Lab also aims to assist service providers in exploring and implementing new rollout and 5G use case scenarios, as well as to build opportunities for greater automation and reduced human interaction. The lab provides a setting for further analysis of Open RAN technology, including virtualization, administration, and orchestration.

The Ericsson Open Lab partnership expands beyond Ericsson cloud-native infrastructure technologies and RAN software advancements on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) servers and acceleration hardware. It will also aim to promote greater collaboration with communications service providers and business partners in fields such as machine learning, network automation, and optimization. KDDI, Ooredoo, Orange, Softbank Corp, Turkcell, and ecosystem partners such as Intel, NVIDIA, Red Hat, and Wind River are among these service providers. As the Cloud RAN network needs to change, more clients and collaborators would be involved, allowing new collaboration practices in the Open Lab.

"Open technology underpins the new mobile miracle, which connects more than eight billion devices today with one set of global operating standards," says Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Business Area Networks at Ericsson. We welcome our customers and collaborators to co-create and introduce new cloud technologies to 5G with Ericsson Open Lab.

"We developed this partnership to build architectures and universal operating standards to supplement current 5G ready infrastructure." If the market starts to embrace more transparent architectures, this project will help to explore the boundaries of 5G networks by collaborating directly with carriers and corporate customers around the world."

Ericsson Open Lab includes the most recent cloud-native technology in the industry, as well as collaboration and interactive meeting software. This will provide augmented users with engaging, dynamic, and interactive collaboration experiences.

For research and co-creation activities, 100MHz of indoor mid-band spectrum and 60MHz of indoor/outdoor mid-band spectrum are available at the Ottawa site. Customers and partners will use this to build and test Cloud RAN capabilities depending on their spectral holdings and use case specifications through indoor and outdoor networks.

Ericsson's Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) approach to Cloud RAN technology development is also supported by rapid and interactive partnerships with service providers and ecosystem partners. This approach means that new features are seamlessly incorporated and ramps up the feedback loop and design of new features. This means the software can be implemented easily, often within minutes of development.

The Open Lab comes on the heels of Ericsson's announcement of the development of its Cloud-RAN product line. The lab allows for the continued production of Ericsson Cloud RAN solutions on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) infrastructure, adding greater reliability and versatility to customer networks.

ABOUT ERICSSON

Ericsson allows communications service providers to fully realize the importance of connectivity. The portfolio of the company comprises Networks, Streaming Platforms, Managed Services, and Emerging Businesses. It is intended to assist their customers in digital transformation, increasing productivity, and discovering new revenue sources. Ericsson's innovation investments have allowed billions of people around the world to reap the benefits of connectivity and mobile broadband. Ericsson's stock is listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm and the Nasdaq New York exchanges.