As the promise of 5G becomes a reality, one area not to be overlooked is the Radio Access Network (RAN) — an area where Intel sees strong opportunity and growth. Operators are thinking differently as they consider deployment options to achieve the flexibility and adaptability they desire to manage network capacity and prioritize traffic. A virtualized RAN offers a new approach to address new use cases and services, and Intel offers a breadth of technologies for this space including the FlexRAN software reference architecture.
In an opinion column published by Fierce Wireless, CCS Insight analyst Geoff Blaber spoke with operators and key ecosystem players in recent weeks and found a variety of perspectives. He writes: “Despite the different approaches being taken to vRAN and various phases of commercialization, the common theme is the increase in processing requirements and the importance of partners who can deliver at scale while embracing and contributing to open standards and software development. vRAN is closely following the playbook that established the cloud and its notable that Intel is playing a central role in many deployments across hardware and software.”