Altran and Lenovo are collaborating to empower telecom operators to deploy virtualized RAN architecture using O-RAN.
Altran’s 5G gNB and ETSI-compliant VNFM solutions will be combined with Lenovo’s Cloud OS virtualization platform, lowering costs, accelerating service delivery and ensuring high availability for operators deploying 5G networks.
For the partnership, Altran, the global leader in engineering and R&D services, used its 5G gNB virtualized central unit (vCU) running on general-purpose servers with its VNF Manager. Lenovo, the Intelligent Transformation company, integrated its Cloud-OS Orchestration Platform to demonstrate high-capacity and scalable 3GPP-compliant vCU.
RAN cloudification is a fundamental tenet of O-RAN architecture, which is needed for operators to deliver network functions virtualization infrastructure (NFVI) and virtualized infrastructure management (VIM) to enhance virtualization platforms. NFVI includes commercial off-the-shelf hardware, including servers and switches, combined with virtualization software that enables abstraction as virtual machines (VMs) or containers. The VIM acts as a cloud operating system (OS), weaving multiple servers together and managing them as a single distributed system.
N. Mohan Rangan, Group SVP and Chief Engineering Officer, Altran
Altran is an active member of the O-RAN Alliance and is committed to ensuring that its gNB solution is aligned with the Alliance’s principles of building open and smarter virtualized networks that are embedded with machine learning systems to make the network more intelligent and autonomous.
Dr. Tong Li, Distinguished Researcher and Director, Lenovo
We fully embrace the O-RAN vision and actively develop open, cloudified, and intelligent 5G RAN products based on the O-RAN architecture.
