The aim is to demonstrate the potential of enabling open, agile resource management and mobile data delivery in any software-driven RAN environment
Juniper Networks, Vodafone and Parallel Wireless are conducting a multivendor RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) trial for tenant-aware admission control use cases.
The trial is running in Vodafone’s test labs in Turkey but there are plans to move into its test infrastructure. It supports O-RAN interfaces.
More granularity
The trial’s aim is to deliver more programmable, automated, granular-by-user traffic management. The initial focus is on tenant-aware admission control capability, that is, enabling operators to personalise services and provide better user experiences.
Real-time tracking and “enforcement” of radio resources across the RAN prioritises mission-critical user – like hospitals and schools – through Juniper’s rApp/xApp cloud-based software tools. They manage network functions in near real-time, along with Parallel Wireless’ cloud-native Open RAN functions.
This approach is intended to manage, optimise and automatically mitigate services and applications through the RAN, built on real-time data insights from its own performance.
All three organisations are active in the O-RAN Alliance and the Telecom Infra Project (TIP).
In the RIC
Juniper’s RIC solution is architected as an open platform supporting north- and south-bound open interfaces to support easier integration with Open RAN partners in the ecosystem. The RIC platform is designed to enable easy integration of third-party rApps/xApps, using onboarding through the user interface and deployment tools coupled with flexibility to select between either network-based or SDK-based APIs.
Parallel Wireless brings cloud-native Open RAN solutions, which are integrated with the RIC-based on O-RAN Alliance specifications from Juniper Networks.