IBM and Airspan Networks Plan to Work to Accelerate 5G-enabled Open RAN Adoption in Europe
21 September 2021 - 2:01PM
Business Wire
Via IBM and Airspan’s planned testbed in
Germany and France, European telco customers would have ability to
trial edge applications and network slicing over long distances
using 5G-enabled Open RAN
IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Airspan Networks Inc., which provides
groundbreaking, disruptive software and hardware for 5G network
solutions, today announced plans to collaborate on the launch of a
5G-enabled Open RAN testbed across the IBM Watson IoT Center in
Munich, Germany and IBM’s Global Industry Solution Center (GISC) in
Nice, France, to showcase long-distance control over 5G-enabled
edge computing.
The goal of developing this testbed is to help clients across
Europe innovate and develop multi-vendor solutions designed to
address different customer use case requirements, based on open,
interoperable standards, while optimizing performance. IBM Global
Business Services and Airspan plan to work together to accelerate
the adoption of Open RAN technology and its ecosystem incorporating
IBM’s leading global hybrid cloud and AI orchestration services.
IBM Global Business Services, a leading systems integrator in the
telco industry, is focused on processes, methodologies, and edge
experience to deliver value and transformational projects with
emerging technologies.
The Open RAN testbed is intended to advance the development of
Open RAN software and hardware solutions, and end-to-end
interoperability testing with private 5G stand-alone core networks.
The two companies plan to provide partners and customers with the
opportunity to collaborate, integrate and test features for next
generation campus networks.
As part of the intended collaboration, Airspan Networks is
providing its Open RAN AirVelocity 2700 indoor radio unit and
virtualized Open RAN Centralized Unit (vCU) and Distributed Unit
(vDU) OpenRANGE software to help customers test and validate 5G
private network solutions using Open RAN. IBM is expected to
provide its Global Business Services technology integration
services, as well as IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation and IBM
Cloud Pak for Watson AIOps, to allow customers to more efficiently
manage and orchestrate edge cloud implementation and applications.
In addition, the IBM Global Business Services team is planning to
implement a visual inspection application for customers to further
extend Industry 4.0 5G edge computing use cases on Open RAN.
“Open approaches and standards-based technologies are vital to
help unleash the full potential of 5G and edge computing. That’s
why, in collaboration with Airspan, we hope to work to advance
emerging use cases that harness Open RAN and bring new value to
telecom clients. The planned expansion of the Open RAN testbed will
allow us to demonstrate these capabilities as we accelerate 5G and
edge computing innovation,” said Marisa Viveros, Vice President of
Strategy and Offerings, Telecom, Media and Entertainment Industry
at IBM.
“Through critical collaboration with leaders like IBM and
testing in these labs, which could help accelerate the development
of Open RAN and 5G solutions and the open architecture ecosystem,
we believe Airspan can continue to be at the forefront of
innovation and industry disruption through end-to-end Open RAN
solutions,” said Airspan Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Henrik
Smith-Petersen.
This year, IBM announced the Open RAN Center of Excellence in
Spain to accelerate the progress of Open RAN and standards-based
technologies in Europe. In May 2021, Airspan announced the opening
of a 5G Innovation Lab in the UK as a showcase and demonstration
facility for partners, customers and government institutions, to
focus on the development of Open RAN software, 5G sub 6 GHz and
mmWave indoor and outdoor equipment, and private network use
cases.
IBM Global Business Services and Airspan are working toward
definitive agreements detailing joint plans to accelerate the
adoption of Open RAN technology and its ecosystem incorporating
IBM’s leading global hybrid cloud and AI orchestration services.
Statements regarding IBM's future direction and intent are subject
to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and
objectives only.
About IBM Global Business
Services:
To learn more about IBM Global Business Services, please visit
https://www.ibm.com/services
About Airspan
Airspan Networks Holdings Inc. (NYSE American: MIMO) is a
U.S.-based provider of groundbreaking, disruptive software and
hardware for 5G networks, and a pioneer in end-to-end Open RAN
solutions that provide interoperability with other vendors. As a
result of innovative technology and significant R&D investments
to build and expand 5G solutions, Airspan believes it is
well-positioned with 5G indoor and outdoor, Open RAN, private
networks for enterprise customers and industrial use applications,
fixed wireless access (FWA), and CBRS solutions to help mobile
network operators of all sizes deploy their networks of the future,
today. With over one million cells shipped to 1,000 customers in
more than 100 countries, Airspan has global scale. For more
information, visit www.airspan.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210920005972/en/
IBM Media Contact: Charlotte Bergmann
charlotte.bergmann@ibm.com
Airspan Media Contact: Howie Waterman
hwaterman@airspan.com 917-359-5505
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