Historically, communication service providers (CSPs) have been the loners of the tech world. They’ve worked with just a handful of specialized vendors, running closed software environments that made it hard to build up ecosystems of third-party developers and innovators. This wasn’t a huge issue in the past. But today, as CSPs struggle to differentiate their offerings and create new value in an increasingly software-driven marketplace, it’s becoming a serious problem. Without open ecosystems, it’s up to CSPs themselves to solve all the industry’s biggest challenges on their own.
Fortunately, industry leaders are keenly aware of the need for fresh ideas, and they’ve created a mechanism to inject them into the heart of the radio access network: the RAN intelligent controller (RIC). RIC provides a platform to run third-party applications right where devices connect. It lets CSPs experiment with new software capabilities, from potentially any startup or developer, to optimize spectral efficiency, reduce RAN power consumption, enable next-generation edge applications, and much more.
At VMware, we believe this open ecosystem model will play a central role in helping tomorrow’s CSPs become more agile, differentiated, and customer-centric. It’s why we’ve been leading the industry in bringing RIC solutions to market. But if you want a sense of how powerful open telco innovation can be, you don’t have to wait. Earlier this year, we joined with Intel® to host the TECHCOnnect Innovation Showcase to spotlight new software innovators. Based on the ecosystem of third-party RIC apps already emerging, the future of open telco networks look bright.
From Telco to TechCo
CSPs have been evolving away from legacy technologies and operating models, seeking to become agile “TechCos” that use open cloud software models to quickly, continually roll out new innovations. While much industry attention has focused on the cloud-native aspects of this transformation, the “open” part is critical too. It’s only by adopting open architectures, interfaces, and standards that CSPs can tap into new ideas originating from new places. And open RAN architectures were designed explicitly to facilitate this change.
What kinds of innovations become possible when CSPs open themselves up to third-party innovation? We decided to find out. Recently, we partnered with Intel to highlight some of the exciting work that’s already happening in this space. The Innovation Showcase sought to identify new use case opportunities in three areas:
- Monetizing telco networks and assets, and making it easier to create new services and generate new revenue streams
- Optimizing the RAN, using novel software innovations to improve user experience, increase capacity, and accelerate rollouts
- Improving RAN efficiency by automating operations, reducing power consumption, integrating renewable energy sources, and more
Organizations were invited to nominate promising new efforts in these areas, and nominees were evaluated by an expert panel of CSP leaders and analysts.
Innovation in Action
VMware has a long history of leadership building vibrant partner ecosystems, and the Innovation Showcase was just the latest example of this commitment at work. A wide range of third-party partners and software providers submitted entries, presenting groundbreaking new software and AI capabilities designed to run in open telco networks. Following are some of the highlights.
TECTWIN: Optimizing Capacity Planning with AI-enabled Analytics
With costs for spectrum and operations climbing, and customer demand continuing to grow, it’s never been more important for CSPs to make smart decisions about how they invest capital. TECTWIN, an AI/ML solutions provider focusing on digital twins, showcased a new tool to help them do it. Their proposed RIC app, Smart CapEx, uses geospatial and human traffic analytics to predict the required RAN investment for various possible deployment choices, and identify optimal scenarios for both present and forecast traffic. TECTWIN won the award for RAN Optimization.
Expanso: Improving Edge Efficiency with Machine Learning
Expanso provides open-source software to efficiently manage and orchestrate compute at distributed edge locations using ML inference models deployed on local hardware. The company showed how CSPs could use their solution to dramatically reduce centralized compute costs, enhance security, and enable new use cases that allow organizations to analyze and act on data generated at the enterprise edge. Expanso won the award in the Efficiency Excellence category.
Aspire Technology: Enabling AI Computer Vision with Edge as a Service
Aspire Technology, now part of NEC, presented a computer vision monitoring solution for industrial enterprise customers. The AI-powered edge app can monitor manufacturing environments in real time to detect faulty components—far more quickly and accurately than human beings. The company showcased how CSPs could integrate the application with a 5G network using VMware and Intel edge technologies to support new revenue-generating use cases, winning the showcase award for Use Case Monetization.
Future Connections: Maximizing Spectrum Utilization and Improving Performance
Future Connections, a provider of custom solutions and services for large network operators, presented the Future Connections Spectrum Efficiency rApp. Designed to run on the VMware Centralized RIC, the app uses real-time traffic data and AI/ML-enabled geospatial analytics to automatically optimize cell coverage and user distribution. By analyzing user distribution, traffic distribution, and network topology, it identifies incorrectly configured cells and adjusts antenna tilt based on policy to achieve optimal spectrum efficiency.
HeadSpin: Improving User Experiences with Automated Testing and Analytics
HeadSpin’s platform draws on data science insights to help software engineers and developers simplify application testing and, ultimately, improve end-user experiences. The company demonstrated how CSPs could use their platform in the RIC to conduct extensive testing and monitoring, and optimize application performance across diverse devices and network conditions. With the ability to collect deep insights right in the heart of the RAN, CSPs can also make more data-driven decisions, improve spectral and network utilization, and resolve real-time problems using AI-driven analytics.
AirHop: Optimizing Energy Efficiency with AI
AirHop Communications, a provider of Open RAN automation and real-time optimization software, presented the Auptim Energy Savings for MIMO Adaptation (ESMA) rApp. The app uses an AI agent deployed in the VMware Centralized RIC to analyze real-time traffic and dynamically switch between different RF configurations to reduce power consumption up to 15%, while maintaining high quality for users. The app uses deep reinforcement learning (DRL) to finely tune RF configurations and grow more effective over time.
Looking Ahead
The Innovation Showcase offered much to get CSPs excited about the possibilities for the RIC apps of the future. But nothing was more encouraging than seeing the breadth of creativity and innovation that’s already possible when we open up CSP networks to outside ideas. It’s a lesson for any CSP leader seeking to unlock new service offerings and revenue streams: if we want to tap into the best new ideas, as quickly as possible, it’s time to commit to openness.
For more details about the Innovation Showcase, including nominees in all categories, watch the full webinar now.
