Vodafone and Mavenir have completed the first data and Voice over LTE (VoLTE) call across a containerised 4G small cell Open RAN solution in a lab environment.
The completed tests are the latest steps forward to delivering an open and vendor-interoperable 4G connectivity solution for small to medium-sized office locations.
Having first started work on a containerised indoor enterprise connectivity solution in January 2021, Vodafone has completed tests for an important stage of the technology roadmap. The plug-and-play small cell equipment can ensure comprehensive mobile coverage in every corner of the office. The solution will provide 4G coverage initially, making use of radio hardware from Sercomm and software from Mavenir (Open RAN).
This demonstration of a containerised solution is a major milestone in the evolution of connectivity equipment away from physical infrastructure to a digital cloud-based environment. Containerisation provides greater flexibility for customers, but also significant benefits in terms of speed and cost of deployment.
Containerisation means that software can be seamlessly transferred between equipment, platforms, and applications. The Containers as a Service (CaaS) software is provided by Wind River Studio.
Moving forward, Vodafone and Mavenir will focus on finalising the packaging and automation of the solution before beginning trials with selected customers.
Andrea Dona, Chief Network Officer, Vodafone UK
Open RAN is opening doors to simplified and intuitive connectivity solutions. For our wider network deployment strategy, Open RAN is enabling us to work with a wider pool of suppliers and to avoid vendor lock-in scenarios that might prevent us from taking advantage of the latest innovations. The same could be said for enterprise connectivity solutions.
Stefano Cantarelli, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Mavenir
Cloud Native and Open Solutions are becoming the new reality of the mobile world, and these include Radio Access and its containerised implementation. Open vRAN is a very flexible architecture that can serve any type of segment and Mavenir is really pleased to work with Vodafone in the enterprise business and achieved another first together.
