At Mobile World Congress 2015, Barcelona, Alcatel-Lucent, in partnership with Intel, is showcasing its virtualized radio access network technology – vRAN- that can transform ultra-broadband mobile access.
According to Alcatel-Lucent, virtualized RAN will allow operators to take a big step toward 5G and benefit from the advanced features and efficiencies enabled by LTE-A.
By bringing the benefits of Network Function Virtualization to the radio access network (RAN), Alcatel-Lucent can help operators reduce their operating expenditures and implement new service capabilities, company officials said.
The vRAN platform is launched exactly 12 months after the company’s partnership with Intel at Mobile World Congress last year. vRAN comprises a virtualized baseband unit (vBBU) that uses general purpose servers with Intel Xeon processors.
The demonstration is being carried out at the networks of China Mobile and Telefónica.
Catch the live action at Mobile World Congress (MWC 2015)
Alcatel-Lucent’s vRAN will be available for customer trials during 2015 and for commercial operation in 2016.
Over the past few months, Alcatel-Lucent announced the virtualization of a wide range of network functions, including evolved packet core, IMS, Content Delivery Network and service routing technologies. The company’s CloudBand NFV platform has participated in over 30 customer projects.
China Mobile introduced the C-RAN concept 5 years ago. The telco’s partnership with Alcatel-lucent, especially on the vRAN, will help operators to smoothly evolve and meet growing customer demands with a more efficient and effective network structure, said Dr. Chih-Lin I, chief scientist of China Mobile Research Institute.
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