If there is one thing 2020 has shown us it is that life is truly unpredictable. While many of us are eager to put the challenges of 2020 behind us as we begin the new year, many of those challenges have become the driving forces behind what will become some of the biggest successes and growth areas in telecommunications for 2021 and beyond.
#1: Convergence of Wireline and Wireless will Help Bridge the Digital Divide
Networks have been proven to be remarkably resilient, expanding rapidly to deal with the sudden demand of millions of people who were suddenly forced to work, study, shop and play from home. Yet the growth of new high-speed services, including HD video conferencing, media streaming, gaming, IPTV, video surveillance and AR/VR applications, has created a need for greater bandwidth to meet customer needs. Networks must be able to sustain significant traffic and continue to meet the demands from massive growth in mobility and fixed line connections, data usage, and high bandwidth services for the foreseeable future.
Broadband service providers are beginning to realize the benefits of open, disaggregated solutions that improve their access to best-in-class products from their vendor of choice. The range of hardware and software choices enables service providers to mix and match the solutions that are optimal for their specific networks’ performance while delivering cost-efficient network growth, and ultimately driving down total cost of ownership. In addition, service providers can accelerate innovation to deliver new services more quickly when freed from dependance on a single vendor.
Disaggregated broadband access solutions utilize open network design and white box Optical Line Terminal (OLT) platforms to give service providers greater deployment flexibility and manage the OLT in a way that best meets their needs. Because of the open, disaggregated approach to hardware and software, open broadband solutions can be deployed as a distributed control plane on white box OLTs for rural or suburban areas with lower density, or deployed in a cloud-based centralized control plane in high-density urban environments and gain full visibility of multiple OLT nodes. Open network designs provide even greater scalability, allowing service providers to move from the access hardware to the cloud as their network needs grow or change. Combined with 5G small cells over time, the solution will provide coverage where and when it is needed to bridge the digital divide.
Natasha
Tamaskar,
Head, Global
Marketing &
Sales Strategy
Radisys
#2: The Open RAN Train Continues to Roll, Fueled by Interoperability and Policy Advocacy
The year 2021 will be remembered as the year that Open RAN moved to maturity, both in terms of deployments and widespread advocacy. Last year was already a year of change where many operators took significant steps toward deployment, with a number of wider-scale deployments planned for this year. In a recent research survey from Heavy Reading, 28 percent of operators indicated that Open RAN products and architectures are mature for certain use cases while another 13 percent believe that it is mature enough for large-scale deployments. In addition, 16 percent of those surveyed said they are deploying multi-vendor solutions in their networks now and another 45 percent responded that they will deploy Open RAN within the next one to three years.
The work of dedicated standards organizations such as the Open RAN Alliance (O-RAN Alliance), the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), the Small Cell Forum, and the Open Network Foundation (ONF) have been instrumental in not only laying the foundations for the disaggregation of RAN hardware and software, but also establishing standards which enable an expanded ecosystem to define, design and deploy solutions. However, ensuring interoperability extends beyond the standards, and will require a coordinated effort among suppliers to deliver integrated and interoperable solutions. While plugfest activities that were held in 2020 are a start, systems integrators will have a significant role to play in delivering multi-vendor Open RAN solutions to mobile operators. The Open RAN movement gathered even more momentum with the formation of the Open RAN Policy Coalition in May 2020 to spur Open RAN deployments for 5G networks.
Radisys participates in all of these industry organizations and we are working to advance the adoption of open telecom solutions and to expand the supply chain for 5G through active engagement in workgroups and education initiatives. We predict that we will continue to see more governments globally take an active role in supporting Open RAN ecosystem development in 2021.
#3: The Rise of Digital Engagement – The New Normal
The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant changes in a number of societal norms, especially how we interact with each other. Digital engagement - whether for work, commerce, school, healthcare, entertainment, or socialization - is now the new normal and our way of life.
The two big markets that are being transformed at a rapid pace due to current world conditions include Programmable Communications and Collaboration. The combination of low latency 5G and collaboration technologies will enable a number of new immersive media applications to emerge. These applications could include enabling HD video conferencing with biometric authentication, streaming live music and sporting events in 360 degrees, capturing 8K footage from connected drones that support smart farming and other use cases, using video chat bots to support customer service and contact centers, or delivering enhanced mobile advertising in a variety of audio-video formats including VR or AR environments.
In 2021, these immersive media applications will begin to mature with 5G networks enabling the full potential of these applications from 2021 onwards as it unlocks these use cases for the mass market.
#4: 5G Small Cell Deployments and Private Networks Will Be Hot
As 5G Open RAN solutions continue to gain traction, small cell deployments and private networks will be an increasingly important factor in the success of 5G. Operators are addressing the growing need for densification by using small cells, deploying it as both indoor and outdoor 5G small cells. This will give them an immense number of endpoints to provide coverage and capacity where it’s needed most.
While 5G deployments have been initially targeted at the consumer market for mobile broadband, the true power of 5G with its ultra-low latency and high-performance capabilities will be realized by enterprises deploying 5G small cells as a private network. The 5G-ACIA is one such organization that is working to advance 5G deployments for automation use cases in support of Industry 4.0. The Small Cell Forum has developed a program to promote the use of small cells in the enterprise and industry verticals. 5G small cells can be used to augment coverage and capacity in these environments.
Governments around the world are also making it easier for enterprises to deploy their own private networks by making dedicated local spectrum available. Enterprises can either work with a mobile operator to deploy their network or use available dedicated, unlicensed or shared spectrum to deploy 5G small cells on their own. The easy of scalability, coupled with the increased advantages of densification, will make small cell deployments one of the leading 5G focal points for operators and enterprises alike in 2021.
