US-based OpenRAN company Parallel Wireless on Wednesday said it has signed a partnership with Afghanistan’s Etisalat to deploy cloud-native O-RAN compliant 5G/4G/3G/2G OpenRAN solutions, in collaboration with Intel and Supermicro.
With the OpenRAN radio hardware ecosystem-based Remote Radio Units (RRUs), Etisalat will be able to replace legacy 2G/3G/4G systems with white box solution that can be upgraded to 5G in the future, while Supermicro’s servers will leverage Intel’s 3rd-generation Xeon scalable processors for a future-proof architecture for Distributed Unit (DU) and Central Unit (CU), deployed at the network edge.
At the same time, the virtual Baseband Unit (vBBU) resources can be shared among multiple RRUs on-site in multi-carrier 1-sector, 3-sector, or 6-sector configurations for optimal resource pooling to drive TCO savings.
Etisalat, on the other hand, aims to assemble viable solutions on an open and modular architecture; improve service agility through cloudification, and reduce operational costs with automation in collaboration with Parallel Wireless.
“Being able to use an Open RAN system will help us not only extend our initial investment but also bring new services much faster. Parallel Wireless together with Intel and Supermicro have become true strategic partners and key enablers in undertaking this Open RAN implementation,” said Chief Technology Officer-International, Etisalat Group, Hatem Bamatraf,.
“We are pleased to be working with Etisalat, Parallel Wireless, and Intel to enable an open ecosystem of disaggregated RAN solutions using vendor-neutral RAN hardware and software-defined technology based on open interfaces and community-developed standards,” said Director Edge/5G Solutions, Supermicro, Jeff Sharpe.
“We believe it is the ideal time to align and collaborate to solve the key challenges to deliver innovative RAN solutions that are ready for commercial deployment. Implementing our world’s leading O-RAN compliant software platform will allow Etisalat to enable new services to be deployed quickly, seamlessly, and more reliably,” said Director of Sales, Parallel Wireless, Amrit Heer.
