VMware Inc. and Intel Corp. today said that they’re developing a joint software platform to help telecommunications providers adopt vRAN technology, a core component of 5G.

To deliver on the massive connectivity speedups that 5G promises to enable, carriers are having to make major changes to their infrastructure. One of the biggest changes is the shift to so-called virtualized radio access networks. The radio network access is the collection of antennas and base stations responsible for providing connectivity to users, while a virtualized radio access network or vRAN is a new way of setting up this infrastructure that offers better efficiency.

The basic idea is to replace expensive proprietary hardware with lower-cost commodity gear and use software to automate management tasks. It’s a similar to the concept of software-defined networking in the data center. The partnership between VMware and Intel draws on the former company’s strength in the software-defined networking market, where it’s one of the leading players.

Intel also brings relevant expertise to the table. In many cases, the commodity gear with which companies are replacing their expensive property hardware runs Intel processors under the hood.

Under the partnership the companies will integrate two of their carrier solutions into a single platform. The first is Intel’s FlexRAN, a set of specialized software building blocks for building carrier vRAN infrastructure atop its processors. The other technology is VMware RAN Intelligent Controller, a platform for managing radio equipment in carrier networks.

Combining the two technologies should make them easier to deploy by reducing the amount of manual software integration providers need to do. “With an integrated vRAN platform, combined with leading technology and expertise from Intel VMware, CoSPs are positioned to benefit from accelerated time to deployment of innovative services at the edge of their network,” said Dan Rodriguez, the corporate vice president of Intel’s Network Platforms Group.

The chipmaker and VMware will also work to build what they describe as open interfaces for their joint platform. Open, that is to say easily accessible, application programming interfaces are important because carrier networks often incorporate components from numerous suppliers. APIs enable those components to communicate with one another.

“The announcement by Intel and VMWare signals that the VRAN and Open RAN spaces are rapidly expanding,” commented Dimitris Mavrakis, a research director at ABI Research. “The two companies are partnering to create a horizontal software platform on which existing companies and new entrants can focus on innovating, rather than spend effort and capital to create these platforms themselves.”

Photo: Intel