The Open Core Network (OCN) Project Group

is focused on developing an open, cloud-native, and converged core, running on standardized software and hardware infrastructure, and supporting 4G, 5G, and Wi-Fi access technologies for deployments in licensed, unlicensed, or shared spectrum.

background

The Open Core Network group is working to develop an open, cloud-native, and converged core that is a collection of microservices implementing various core network functions (“open, flexible and extensible”):

  • Running on standardized software and hardware infrastructure (“infrastructure agnostic”)
  • Supporting 3GPP 5G Core (5GC) and LTE Evolved Packet Core (EPC) for licensed, unlicensed (e.g. Wi-Fi), and shared spectrum (e.g., CBRS) networks (“access agnostic”)
  • Enabling seamless migration from 4G EPC to 5GC in both Non Stand-Alone (NSA) and Stand-Alone (SA) modes

The goal is to innovate on the packet core technologies across any access wireless networks operating on licensed, unlicensed and shared spectrum; develop microservice, orchestration and automation frameworks on OCN platform, and support an ecosystem of developers, OEMs, SIs, MNOs, and ISPs around OCN based solutions.

Join the Open Core Network Project Group to collaborate with Mobile Operators, Service Providers, Technology Providers, System Integrators, Research Institutes, and Industry Associations in conceiving new ways of building, testing and deploying core network infrastructure.

Group leadership

Co-chair

Iain Wilkinson

Vodafone

Co-chair

Fabrice Guillemin

Orange

Key partners

Amdocs

British Telecom

CPQD
Entel

Facebook

FreedomFi

MATRIXX Software

Mirantis

Orange

Rakuten Mobile

Vodafone

Wavelabs

Subgroups

 
The Open Core Network project group activities are currently sub-divided in three parallel work-streams:

Applications and Services

Led By:

Fabrice Guillemin (Orange)

The goal of this work-stream is to design, develop and deliver a set of production-grade microservices implementing 3GPP 4G/LTE, 5G, shared spectrum (e.g., CBRS) and Wi-Fi core network functions and APIs between such functions as well as between these functions and RAN elements or Network Management Systems.

Orchestration

Led By:

Iain Wilkinson (Vodafone)

The goal of this work-stream is to design, develop and deliver an orchestration framework for integrating, deploying and managing OCN microservices, including FCAPS, metrics, analytics and monitoring.

Automation

 

The goal of this work-stream is to design, develop and deliver an infrastructure and test automation, i.e., CI/CD framework for testing OCN microservices.


 

Deliverables

 
FWA Use Case & Technical Requirements Document v1.0
Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) use cases have become an attractive alternative to providing internet connectivity to a wide range of consumers in place of fiber or copper access. This document describes the FWA use case and requirements on OCN to support the use case. It can be easily converted to an FWA solution RFP to facilitate the vendor selection and procurement process.
Download here

 
Open Core Network Private 5G Scenarios Whitepaper
Private Network’s market segment is highly competitive and major equipment providers are already proposing pre-packaged solutions to realize isolated private networks on 26 GHz spectrum. On the basis of this existing ecosystem, the present document describes four private 5G network scenarios which are addressed by OCN group. The goal is to facilitate the prioritization of two of them to drive the implementation.
Download here

Applications and Services Technical Requirements v2.0
This document describes technical requirements for network function applications and services of an open core network implementation. It describes the necessary software functions, and the requirements that the implementation needs to meet to be deployed in the networks of the specific operators participating in this specification
Download here

Orchestration Technical Requirements v1.0
This document describes the technical requirements of an orchestration framework to manage the services and resources related to TIP open core network components and provides use case examples of the expected functionality.
Download here

Continuous Delivery and Continuous Deployment Infrastructure Technical Requirements v1.0
This document describes the Open Core Network continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD)—the development workflow and tooling used to build and deploy OCN microservices—starting from initial code commit all the way to deployment in a lab or proof of concept (POC) environment of an operator.
Download here

Cloud-Native Infrastructure Technical Requirements v1.0
This document describes the best-of-breed infrastructure to deploy and run the microservices that comprise the open core network. The purpose of this document is to describe requirements for cloud-native infrastructure for running open core network components on an individual Kubernetes cluster.
Download here

Videos & Talks

Open Core Network Webinar – Telecom Infra Project

Watch this informative session about ongoing and upcoming work for the Open Core Network project group with presentations from the co-chairs and workstream leads. This group focuses on developing a cloud-native and converged core, running on standardized software and hardware infrastructure, and supporting 4G, 5G, and Wi-Fi access technologies.

Speakers:
David Hutton, Telecom Infra Project
Sagiv Draznin, Rakuten Mobile
Shah Rahman, Facebook
Iain Wilkinson, Vodafone
Alla Goldner, Amdocs
Boris Renski, FreedomFi
Tassos Michail, Facebook

Want to learn more?

If you are interested in learning more about the Open Core Network Project Group or have a project you’d like to propose to the group, please fill out the contact form below and we will contact you to discuss next steps.