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Qualcomm’s new award-winning Open RAN tech is coming to a 5G network near you

Written by
Gerardo Giaretta
Written by
Mohammed Al Khairy
Oct 25, 2022

Your new norm is connected. Day-to-day life, global industries, and nearly everything in between rely on 5G innovation — and this fuels our ongoing, relentless commitment to innovate as we develop the architecture of the modern network. Last week, the Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card won the 5G Innovation of the Year Mobile Breakthrough Award, and this recognition affirms our leadership as we continue to push the 5G innovation envelope and shape the networks of the future. 

This award comes at an exciting time, following our sampling announcement of the Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card and Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN Platform. This is significant in the evolution and commercialization of full-scale open and virtualized 5G networks as these technologies aim to bring innovative, cost-effective, and power-efficient Open radio access network (RAN) solutions to the marketplace and boost the infrastructure ecosystem.

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Open RAN global adoption

The next generation of 5G is quickly being adopted and advanced industry-wide. However, it’s only through industry collaborations that we will unlock the full potential of 5G Open RAN. We have played a pivotal role in the adoption of 5G, and our collaborations include many of the world’s top telecommunications companies. Within the past year, we’ve announced many exciting milestones and initiatives to advance network infrastructure and services across the globe. This includes:

Airtel: Collaborating to utilize the Qualcomm 5G RAN Platforms to rollout virtualized and Open RAN-based 5G network in India.

DISH Network: Collaborating on the development of the Nation’s first Open RAN compliant 5G network.

Fujitsu: This collaboration will commercialize 5G open and virtualized integrated distributed unit (DU) and RU solutions with powerful 5G mmWave performance capabilities.

Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE): Together with HPE, we will deliver the industry’s first fully optimized (vDU) solution with up to 60 percent lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

Mavenir: Our collaboration will expand Mavenir’s OpenBeam Open RAN portfolio of 5G Radio Units. In addition, this collaboration will help develop vDU RAN software based on the Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card.

NEC Corporation: We are partnering to develop a 5G open and virtualized DU under the 5G Open RAN Ecosystem (OREC) initiative.

NTT Docomo: Joining forces to add a new type of flexible and highly scalable virtualized base station to its verification environment for Open RAN, using the Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card to improve system performance and power efficiency.

Rakuten Mobile, Inc. (Rakuten Symphony’s parent company): We’re partnering to develop a next-generation 5G RU with massive MIMO capabilities and DUs.

Reliance Jio: Expanding our efforts to develop open and interoperable interface-compliant architecture-based 5G solutions with a virtualized RAN. This work is intended to fast-track the development and rollout of indigenous 5G network infrastructure and services in India.

Viettel Group: Working together to develop a next generation 5G radio unit (RU) with massive multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) capabilities.

Vodafone: Collaborating to develop, test, and integrate next generation 5G DUs and RUs with massive MIMO capabilities, ultimately to deliver the commercial deployment of Open RAN in Europe.

Our 5G infrastructure partnerships are ongoing, and new achievements are being announced regularly. Together, with key global partners, we’re transforming how networks are designed and deployed through the use of high-performance, Open RAN-compliant, energy-efficient, virtualized, cloud-native 5G solutions.  We are very excited to see commercial deployments with these products which are expected to take place beginning the second half of 2023.

As the global proliferation of 5G continues, we remain at the forefront, creating the networks of the future in collaboration with partners around the world. Building on decades of wireless research, thought leadership, and industry-defining milestones, the future of 5G infrastructure is bright with Qualcomm at the helm. 

What is Open RAN

Open RAN is a new way to build cellular networks that no longer rely on specialized hardware and software from a single major infrastructure company. Instead, networks can mix and match RAN components from different vendors, including using off-the-shelf servers enhanced by hardware accelerators like the Qualcomm X100 to make them 5G-ready. This allows 5G providers to set up networks faster, for less money and using less energy to run.
5GNetworking

Opinions expressed in the content posted here are the personal opinions of the original authors, and do not necessarily reflect those of Qualcomm Incorporated or its subsidiaries ("Qualcomm"). The content is provided for informational purposes only and is not meant to be an endorsement or representation by Qualcomm or any other party. This site may also provide links or references to non-Qualcomm sites and resources. Qualcomm makes no representations, warranties, or other commitments whatsoever about any non-Qualcomm sites or third-party resources that may be referenced, accessible from, or linked to this site.

About the Authors
Gerardo Giaretta
Gerardo GiarettaVP, Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
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Mohammed Al Khairy
Mohammed Al KhairyDirector, Product Marketing, Qualcomm Technologies
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Qualcomm relentlessly innovates to deliver intelligent computing everywhere, helping the world tackle some of its most important challenges. Our leading-edge AI, high performance, low-power computing, and unrivaled connectivity deliver proven solutions that transform major industries. At Qualcomm, we are engineering human progress.

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