ORAN, Disaggregation Seen Sparking Push to Automation
Open radio access networks and network disaggregation are driving the need for automation, said Ruth Brown, Heavy Reading principal analyst-mobile networks and 5G, during a Light Reading webinar Tuesday. “Disaggregation has happened in all areas across the 5G networks,” she…
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said: “We’re able to avoid vendor lock-in,” Brown said. “We’re able to share network resources, and also it supports a lot of flexibility.” Network slicing, which allows carriers to create multiple unique logical and virtualized networks within their network, requires built-in automation, Brown said. “We want to allow an operator to rapidly provision a network slice, to be able to configure this network slice and to be able to adapt as we get fluctuating demands,” she said. Automation is also more important for edge networks, she said. Automation “would allow people to place applications or functions in the correct locations at the edge of the network,” she said. The benefits of virtualization emerge only when the radio access network is virtualized, said Sandeep Sharma, global head-5G/RAN/ORAN at India-based Tech Mahindra. “We see more and more use cases getting automated in an open environment,” he said. ORAN and cloud technologies are well-developed, but the biggest challenge is a “lack of understanding” among providers, he said. Open networks are complex and automation is “a must to have to achieve all the efficiencies,” he said. Telcos are looking for cost savings and flexibility as they consider ORAN and moving more operations to the cloud, said Srihari Mallavarapu, Intel ecosystem development leader. Carriers “believe that by bringing in more players” it will help them cut costs, he said. With current networks making any changes “takes a long time -- they can’t do much innovation,” he said. ORAN requires automation, since the network itself is disaggregated, with hardware separate from software and multiple vendors involved, Mallavarapu said. Managing the network manually “will cause lots of trouble, and it’s almost impossible,” he said.