Nokia opens its first OpenRAN centre in the US

Finnish kit vendor Nokia has made sure to get a piece of US OpenRAN mania by opening a facility dedicated to it in Dallas.

In common with the many other such things sprouting like wildflowers wherever governments have made encouraging noises about OpenRAN, Nokia’s Collaboration And Testing Center is designed as a place where various RAN stakeholders can get together, compare antenna sizes and generally chat about how to make this OpenRAN business work.

“In particular, vendors will be able to execute Interoperability Tests (IOT) and end-to-end testing for O-RU/O-DU Open Fronthaul as well as xAPP testing for Nokia’s near-real-time RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC),” said the press release. The project is the latest in Nokia’s continued commitment to O-RAN, vRAN, and Edge Cloud innovation. Nokia plans to open similar facilities at its other global offices around the world in the future.” Sounds like a laugh a minute.

“Our new O-RAN Collaboration and Testing Center highlights our continued commitment towards O-RAN and the development of new solutions,” said Pasi Toivanen, Head of Edge Cloud at Nokia. “At our Dallas offices, we have created a collaborative and secure working environment that offers best-in-class facilities to help our partners achieve their goal.”

Nice one, Pasi. There was no mention one way or the other of US government involvement in this new facility but, given the extent to which it’s committed to OpenRAN as a way of isolating China from the rest of the world, it would be surprising if Nokia hadn’t been generously incentivised to make the magic happen in Texas.