WHY RESISTANCE TO THE OPEN RAN MAY CRUMBLE

In the last couple of months, the xRAN Forum has come up with an alternative to CPRI that promises the freedom and efficiency operators crave. “The specification exists and is fully defined in terms of protocols, and the O&M [operations and maintenance] piece is being added,” said John Baker, a senior vice president with software vendor Mavenir, an xRAN Forum member, during a recent conference in London. “It is based on IP [Internet Protocol] transport instead of expensive proprietary hardware.” (See Mavenir’s Billion-Dollar Blueprint and It’s Alive! Verizon & Friends Deliver First xRAN Spec.)