Virtualized RAN: Strategies, opportunities and pitfalls

The transition to 5G is a transition to containers and cloud-native network applications, in particular vRAN, according to a Heavy Reading survey. This transition brings with it several enabling technologies, such as network slicing and edge computing, that in turn set the stage for the dominant 5G use cases: Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), and Massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC). To support these technologies and use cases, the 5G network transformation increasingly assumes a virtualized RAN – one that is container-based and cloud-native.

Topics include:

• Carrier deployment status
• Carrier expectations of RAN solutions
• Obstacles to open/virtualized RAN adoption
• The move to containers and cloud-native