By Kelly Hill
Keysight Technologies and Viavi Solutions touted their support of the most recent Open RAN Alliance global plugfest event, which was the third such event focused on testing the performance capabilities of O-RAN-compliant systems and interoperability across the O-RAN ecosystem.
“Rigorous testing under real-world conditions is critical to successful end-to-end integration of O-RAN equipment prior to live network deployment,” Keysight said in a release.
The O-RAN plugfest was held as a series of events around the world in October and November. Keysight said that more than 40 vendors, a dozen mobile network operators and five Open Testing and Integration Centers (OTIC) utilized its Keysight Open RAN Architect (KORA) solutions to test multi-vendor network functions and O-RAN specification compliance. Keysight’s portfolio was used at seven of the global Plugfest venues, and in 10 locations and 12 labs across Asia, Europe and North America. Rigorous testing under real-world conditions is critical to successful end-to-end integration of O-RAN equipment prior to live network deployment.
Meanwhile, Viavi Solutions, which worked with hosting operators and vendors at seven locations around the world, observed in a release that this year’s event illustrated “the rapid evolution of the O-RAN ecosystem” and increased focus on the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC). The RIC, as described by Viavi, “changes the way network resources are managed, bringing artificial intelligence and big data into day-to-day operations.” Viavi said that its TeraVM RIC Test was used by participating companies to test RIC performance under a range of Radio Access Network scenarios, to generate the data needed to train AI models, and to test functionality of rApps and xApps.
Participating telecom operators included most of the major global MNOs, including AT&T, Verizon, Telefónica, Rakuten Mobile, Bharti Airtel, Chunghwa Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, Orange, TIM and more.
“With each O-RAN plugfest, we have seen commitment from more service providers, a proliferation of vendors, and clearer signs that the technology is progressing toward maturity,” said CTO of Viavi, Sameh Yamany. “In 2021, the scope of investigation has expanded beyond connectivity between O-RAN elements to automated assurance and optimization using the RIC and xApps.”
