The Open RAN MoU Group
formed by TIP participants DT, Vodafone, Telefonica, Orange and TIM, is working to define and develop Open RAN solutions that can bring the connectivity that the world needs today, and in decades to come.
Open RAN Technical Priority “Release 3” Documents – March 2023
TIP is extremely pleased to publish the third Release of Technical Documents from the Open RAN MoU Group; their work is a prime example of the steady progress and commitment of Open RAN in the industry. Same as with the previous releases, the Technical Documents will constitute a valuable input into TIP’s OpenRAN Release Framework and its continuous iterations. TIP will build on the Group’s work with the industry at large to harmonize a community-driven roadmap, avoiding fragmentation and continuing to accelerate Open RAN adoption. TIP would like to take this opportunity to encourage the wider Open RAN ecosystem to actively participate in this process, with the potential to develop industry-led requirements that could be used as the basis for certification, promoting an efficient supply chain.
This Open RAN Technical Priorities Release 3 is an update of the documents published in June 2021 (Release 1) and March 2022 (Release 2) respectively. It is the result of the work carried out under the MoU on Open RAN signed by Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange S.A., Telefónica S.A., TIM S.p.A. and Vodafone Group Plc.
While Release 1 focused on the main scenarios and technical requirements for each of the building blocks of a multi-vendor RAN, Release 2 mainly focused on intelligence, orchestration, transport and cloud infrastructure, addressing also the energy efficiency goals and targets to support sustainable Open RAN.
This Release 3 has primarily focused on developing further requirements on SMO and RIC while other areas have been significantly enhanced such as Cloud Infrastructure, O-CU/O-DU and O-RU. Moreover, this new release focuses in more detail on security topics and various challenges introduced by the disaggregation promoted by the O-RAN architecture. In particular, the security requirements are now contained within a dedicated section of the MoU Technical Priorities document. Energy efficiency (EE) topics were also analyzed in more detail, with new requirements identified in various streams, e.g., Cloud Infrastructure, O-CU/O-DU, RIC use cases and RAN features
The overall objective is to promote a fast pace for the development of competitive Open RAN solutions in Europe, across other regions and ultimately accelerate the global adoption of the technology. The Open RAN MoU Group technical priorities, as with any industry-driven requirements developed through TIP, will evolve over time following the progress of Open RAN standardisation, in the respective standardization bodies, and market development of Open RAN solutions.
Open RAN Technical Priorities Focus on Security
Open RAN Technical Priority “Release 2” Document – March 2022
TIP is extremely pleased to publish the latest Technical Documents from the Open RAN MoU Group; their work is a prime example of the steady progress and commitment of Open RAN in the industry. Same as with Release 1, the Technical Documents will constitute a valuable input into TIP’s OpenRAN Release Framework and its continuous iterations. TIP will build on the Group’s work to harmonize a community-driven roadmap, avoiding fragmentation and continuing to accelerate Open RAN adoption.
This Open RAN Technical Priorities Release 2 is an update of the document published in June 2021. It is the result of the work carried out under the MoU on Open RAN signed by Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange S.A., Telefónica S.A., TIM S.p.A. and Vodafone Group Plc.
Release 1 focused on the main scenarios and technical requirements for each of the building blocks of a multi-vendor RAN. Release 2 builds on those requirements and focuses in particular on intelligence, orchestration, transport and cloud infrastructure, with the aim of promoting a fully automated and interoperable Open RAN system.
The energy efficiency goals and targets to support sustainable Open RAN deployments have also been addressed. It is expected that Open RAN networks will gradually become more energy efficient than traditional RAN, benefiting from Open RAN concepts such as cloudification, disaggregation and native AI.
The overall objective is to promote a fast pace for the development of Open RAN solutions in Europe, across other regions and ultimately accelerate the global adoption of the technology. These requirements will evolve over time following the progress of Open RAN standardization and market development of Open RAN solutions.
Open RAN Technical Priority “Release 2” Document
Open RAN Technical Priority Document, by the Open RAN MoU signatories
(Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica, TIM and Vodafone) – June 2021
TIP is delighted to publish the “Open RAN Technical Priorities Document” and remains committed to supporting the advancement and adoption of standards-based Open RAN solutions. We will build on the valuable work done by the Open RAN MoU Group to mutually beneficial industry effect. TIP’s robust Test & Validation framework can support this effort, accelerating the readiness of solutions for the different use cases, and making Open RAN happen at scale, in Europe and beyond.
This Open RAN Technical Priorities Document is the result of the work carried out under the MoU on Open RAN signed by Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange S.A., Telefónica S.A., TIM and Vodafone Group Plc. This document offers a comprehensive list of technical requirements that the signatories of the Open RAN MoU consider priorities for Open RAN architecture to guide and foster a competitive open RAN ecosystem, promoting openness and flexibility. It includes the main scenarios and radio configurations targeted for operators’ deployment, providing hardware and software requirements for each of the building blocks of a disaggregated RAN. The overall system relies on open interfaces to allow multi-vendor deployment in a fully interoperable manner, and intelligent radio controllers and orchestration in a cloud-native environment to unleash the potential of a fully automated network. The overall objective is to promote a fast pace for the development of open, virtualized and programmable RAN solutions, and support a timely roll-out of open RAN networks in Europe.
“When you think about turning Open RAN standards into commercial realities, it is clear that we need to avoid fragmentation. This Open RAN Technical Priorities Document will enable a diverse set of suppliers to develop products more effectively, thereby increasing resilience and providing operators with what they need to build their networks based on a minimum set of variants that address the same needs in different regions, and simplifying significantly the subsequent system integration. Organisations like TIP and the O-RAN Alliance have an instrumental role to play in this process” said Yago Tenorio, Chairman of TIP’s Board of Directors.
OpenRAN Technical Priority Document
This document offers a comprehensive list of technical requirements that the signatories of the Open RAN MoU consider priorities for Open RAN architecture to guide and foster a competitive open RAN ecosystem, promoting openness and flexibility
OpenRAN Technical Priority Document
This document offers a comprehensive list of technical requirements that the signatories of the Open RAN MoU consider priorities for Open RAN architecture to guide and foster a competitive open RAN ecosystem, promoting openness and flexibility
As the momentum behind Open RAN continues to grow, it is natural that relevant experts and decision makers want to understand its progress and how the Open RAN industry has risen to the challenges, in particular relating to maturity, security and energy efficiency.
Over the course of 2022, Open RAN MoU Operators encouraged an open dialogue about Open RAN and have taken steps to understand concerns and address valid questions. This paper represents a progress report that helps to showcase the gains and set the agenda for 2023.
The ‘Open RAN Security White Paper’ is the result of the work carried out by the security experts of Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange S.A., Telefónica S.A., TIM S.p.A. and Vodafone Group Plc being the signatories of the Open RAN MoU.
This document starts with an introduction of the MoU framework, and the O-RAN Alliance organisation and activities. It focuses on all security aspects within Open RAN technology, describing the risk-based threat modeling and remediation analysis conducted within the O-RAN Alliance for building an effective security Open RAN security architecture.
In addition, it provides details on the Open RAN Security Focus Group (SFG) activities, which focuses on developing the four security specifications that are the pillars of the Open RAN security architecture. These include threat modeling, security requirements, protocols and tests.
In a November 2021 study, the OpenRAN MoU Group calls upon European policymakers and industry stakeholders to make Open RAN a strategic priority. TIP is pleased to be referenced as a platform to help maximize OpenRAN impact. The study provides a comprehensive overview of the strategic benefits of Open RAN, a snapshot of the Open RAN value chain in Europe, and detailed policy recommendations to advance the Open RAN ecosystem in the region.
