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My friend: Hi Ibrahim, I have a question for you.
- Me: Go ahead, please.
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My friend: I was wondering what we need to make a successful Cloud RAN implementation in 5G?
- Me: This is a very good question. Actually, to implement a successful Cloud RAN solution, you need to take care of many factors such as COTS HW including accelerators. So, selecting the right COTS server HW including processors, NICs (Network Interface Cards), and HW accelerators is the first step for a successful Cloud RAN solution. For example, the accelerators are having two types which are look-aside and in-line, so selecting any one of them will depend on the network architecture whether we are using centralized or distributed RAN as in-line acceleration is better for centralized RAN, while look-aside is more suited for distributed RAN. By the way, selecting the Cloud infrastructure is a critical step as simply this infrastructure can be shared between RAN, Edge, and Core networks.
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My friend: So, what else can affect the Cloud RAN implementation?
- Me: The 2nd factor is the usage of the Cloud-native architecture, which facilitates RAN functions to be realized as microservices in containers over bare metal servers or VMs (Virtual Machines), supported by technologies such as Kubernetes. So, this deployment increases efficiency, scalability, flexibility, and simplified operations and maintenance with network automation. Also, we can’t forget the network management and orchestration as with the introduction of 5G networks and the usage of Cloud RAN, network slicing, Edge compute, and container-based architectures, the network becomes more complex and so management and orchestration systems are a key factor for a successful Cloud RAN implementation to bring key values needed in 5G networks such as automation, faster time to market, managing complex networks, and better customer experience.
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My friend: So, now we can go and build our successful Cloud RAN, right?
- Me: Just one point is remaining which is making sure that interoperability is achieved. All the above-mentioned items will be from different vendors, so we need to make sure that all of it are working together smoothly with a high performance similar to the purpose-built RAN. That’s why different vendors are doing a lot of tests to validate the various Cloud RAN solution stacks with other vendors including the hyperscalers.
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My friend: Thank you very much, you made it very clear.
- Me: You are most welcome.
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