- Cherry has made significant progress in the end-to-end integration of O-RAN architecture components
- The software now includes new functions that comply with the latest O-RAN specifications, such as E2, A1 or O1 interfaces, and new SMO elements
Bonn, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In December 2020, the O-RAN Software Community (OSC) cooperated with the Linux Foundation to release its third open software version within 18 months. "Cherry".
This press release contains multimedia content. The full press release can be viewed at: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210111005829/en/
Cherry makes the O-RAN ecosystem one step closer to realizing the commercial deployment of global mobile networks. In addition to the E2, A1, and O1 interfaces and other new functions that comply with the latest O-RAN specifications, this version also makes significant progress in the end-to-end integration of O-RAN architecture components to meet the needs of early adopters. In addition, new software projects in the field of service management and orchestration (SMO) have been launched, which will promote the development of automatic configuration and management of O-RAN elements.
The main use cases provided by Cherry include:
- Policy-based flow control using A1 and E2 interfaces
- Automatic monitoring and health check of selected components using O1 interface
- Configuration, fault and performance management services meet the newly approved OAM model and specification requirements of O-RAN
- Lifecycle management framework of rApp and xApp using SMO
- Paired test of O-DU Low and O-DU High in the O-RAN software community laboratory
- Simulators for testing and integration, such as E2, A1, open testing framework, etc.
OSC Technical Operations Committee (TOC) Co-Chairman and AT&T Assistant Vice President Jack Murray said: "It is really gratifying to see the continued momentum of OSC's open source O-RAN implementation. AT&T is proud to be able to achieve RAN through near real-time RIC implementation. AI/ML, and continue to contribute to providing a platform for software testing and integration."
Chih-Lin I, co-chairman of the O-RAN Technical Steering Committee, said: “We are very pleased to see that Cherry built on Bronze has made great strides. It not only implements more 3GPP-defined models, but also makes The interfaces defined by O-RAN, including E2 and A1, are further away from commercialization. More machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies will be implemented in the RIC, RICAPP, and NRTRIC projects to promote the development of e2e use cases for traffic control and make it more Intelligent RAN. The rapid development momentum of the newly created SMO project in just 3 months when it contributes to O-RAN automation and management is also worthy of special mention."
Pasi Toivanen, Head of Nokia Edge Cloud Platform, said: “Nokia is still very active in O-RAN and is a major contributor to the O-RAN specification. Through the Cherry version, Nokia will contribute to near real-time RIC and E2 interfaces. Improve RAN programmability, network openness, and the introduction of AI/ML intelligence into the network. These contributions will also improve higher robustness, provide more xApp framework functions, and enhance the manageability of the RIC platform and xApp."
Ganesh Shenbagaraman, Head of Radisys Integrated Products and Ecosystem, said: "Radisys will continue to make active contributions to O-RAN standardization and open source development. In the Cherry version, Radisys has enhanced the implementation of O-DU L2 to support UE connectivity, and Integrate with PHY (O-DU Low) through FAPI interface to achieve end-to-end testing."
Alfons Mittermaier, managing director of highstreet technologies, said: "highstreet technologies make important contributions to O1/OAM in both O-RAN and OSC. We expect that the decomposed O-RAN architecture will open the door to small and medium-sized enterprises and will be launched in Berlin’s 5G Refer to the Cherry version deployed in the network."
Ramesh Sriraman, Head of HCL Telecom Industry Center of Excellence, said: "Starting with the Cherry version, HCL has contributed to the O-RAN software community of different working groups. We have improved the near real-time RIC platform CI/CD deployment, automation, performance and scale. ; Introduced AI/ML intelligence to the RAN network through xApp; and contributed to the initial deployment of the O-RAN O1 interface in O-DU. HCL is honored to develop together with the OSC team."
For more information about the Cherry version of the O-RAN software community, please read this O-RAN blog post ; to get the code, please visit the O-RAN software community website .
The O-RAN software community will continue to be open to all participants who wish to participate in future RAN software development-for more details, please visit https://www.o-ran.org/software .
About O-RAN Alliance
The O-RAN Alliance is a global community consisting of more than 240 mobile operators, suppliers and research and academic institutions engaged in the radio access network (RAN) industry. Since RAN is an important part of any mobile network, the mission of the O-RAN Alliance is to reshape the entire industry and move it towards a more intelligent, open, virtualized and fully interoperable mobile network. The new O-RAN standard will help a more competitive and dynamic RAN supplier ecosystem have the ability to accelerate innovation to improve user experience. The mobile network based on O-RAN will simultaneously improve the efficiency of RAN deployment and the operational efficiency of mobile operators. To this end, the O-RAN Alliance released new RAN specifications and open software for RAN, and provided support to its members in the implementation of integration and testing.