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Assessment of Open Ran: Difference between revisions
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===Increases diversity=== | ===Increases diversity=== | ||
Open Ran removes the monopolistic behavior that has dominated the industry for a long-time. Traditionally, the supply of hardware and software products was shared among three players, namely Ericsson, Nokia, and Huawei<ref name=":1" />. This made the closed network solution supplied by these vendors expensive. However, Open Ran will create diversity as Dr. Femi Adeyemi, Head of Wireless at Fujitsu Network Communications<ref name=":0" />, said, “The entrance barriers are low, and many new players can enter the environment. But the exit barriers are also low. A wide ecosystem forces vendors to be competitive.” Competition among the different vendors will necessitate innovation in an effort to stay relevant in the market. His words were echoed by Peter Claydon, President of Picocom<ref name=": | Open Ran removes the monopolistic behavior that has dominated the industry for a long-time. Traditionally, the supply of hardware and software products was shared among three players, namely Ericsson, Nokia, and Huawei<ref name=":1" />. This made the closed network solution supplied by these vendors expensive. However, Open Ran will create diversity as Dr. Femi Adeyemi, Head of Wireless at Fujitsu Network Communications<ref name=":0" />, said, “The entrance barriers are low, and many new players can enter the environment. But the exit barriers are also low. A wide ecosystem forces vendors to be competitive.” Competition among the different vendors will necessitate innovation in an effort to stay relevant in the market. His words were echoed by Peter Claydon, President of Picocom<ref name=":0" />, who said, “Open RAN can democratize the ecosystem by lowering the barriers to entry and allowing more players to enter the market.” With more players, supply of hardware and software solutions will increase, resulting in lower prices. | ||
===Enables automation=== | ===Enables automation=== | ||
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===Enables the operator to add virtualization and cloud to its architecture=== | ===Enables the operator to add virtualization and cloud to its architecture=== | ||
Although Open Ran can do without Virtual Ran (vRan) and Cloud Ran(cRan), their addition to the network will enable the operator to reap its full benefits<ref name=":0" />. Virtualization is the separation of hardware and software features. On the other hand, Cloud Ran refers to the realization of RAN functions over a generic computing platform instead of visiting a network site. Any RAN performance issues can cause havoc to the customer; hence its operations need to be handled via a data center approach<ref name=":2" />. This is accomplished via virtualization and cloud-native architecture. It should also be noted that the RAN’s flexibility will not be fully achieved without virtualization. | Although Open Ran can do without Virtual Ran (vRan) and Cloud Ran(cRan), their addition to the network will enable the operator to reap its full benefits<ref name=":0" />. Virtualization is the separation of hardware and software features. On the other hand, Cloud Ran refers to the realization of RAN functions over a generic computing platform instead of visiting a network site. Any RAN performance issues can cause havoc to the customer; hence its operations need to be handled via a data center approach<ref name=":2" />. This is accomplished via virtualization and cloud-native architecture. It should also be noted that the RAN’s flexibility will not be fully achieved without virtualization. | ||
Reduces reliance on one vendor | |||
Open Ran eliminates reliance on one vendor. This was common in single vendor deployments; hence fixing issues were prone to take a long time. With multi-vendor deployments, an issue affecting the network falls on all parties involved<ref>https://www.parallelwireless.com/wp-content/uploads/Parallel-Wireless-e-Book-Everything-You-Need-to-Know-about-Open-RAN.pdf</ref>. This protects the operator's investment and reduces adverse impact on the end-user. | |||