According to a recent survey by Analysys Mason of 64 global Tier 1 and Tier 2 network operators, security and integration have emerged as their top concerns regarding vRAN and Open RAN adoption. The study found that 64% of operators cite security and privacy as a major challenge, while 56% point to integration as a significant hurdle. These findings show that operators are now considering operational and deployment-related issues as top priorities as well as total cost of ownership (TCO) and performance.

This change is not surprising, given the critical role that security and seamless integration play in the success of any network deployment. Operators need to have confidence that their vRAN and Open RAN solutions can protect sensitive data and maintain the integrity of their networks, even as they open up their architectures to new vendors and interfaces. vRAN and Open RAN deployment at scale varies in complexity depending on the operator’s network strategy, whether Standalone (SA) or Non-Standalone (NSA), distributed or centralized RAN architectures capable of running on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) servers and/or cloud platforms. To solve this, operators are getting more involved in adapting their processes and investing in developing new skill sets to contribute to interoperability testing and integration among vendors taking full advantage of operation management and automation tools.

Samsung has met the top challenges with interoperability testing done over the last few years with their large vRAN and Open RAN ecosystem of partners, exceeding expectations from the diverse types of network requirements from customers; especially coordinating with partners on hardware and software release management, pre-integration, and validation have lessened the integration challenges. In collaboration with network operators, Samsung has been able to improve deployment efficiencies, achieving tremendous network installation and activation speeds for a massive number of vRAN and Open RAN sites. In addition, security concerns are addressed during these extensive testing and validation process, eliminating the time and cost for operators, and helping them to deploy a more reliable commercial network.

Improved visibility of commercial deployments has already built confidence in vRAN and Open RAN's ability to deliver on solid network performance. Operators are seeing firsthand the potential for taking a software-based, open approach to the RAN can reduce costs and deliver high-performance connectivity.

Network efficiencies will continue to grow as more collaboration takes place, and we have seen several gains across various deployment scenarios and network conditions. These gains include faster time to active sites, quicker rollout of new services, flexibility to share network resources to increase network efficiency, and greater agility to monitor and adjust power levels on the RAN elements to reduce energy consumption and increase network performance.

Samsung continues to lead the way in vRAN and Open RAN, creating and commercializing new features to improve network performance with innovative solutions such as:

• The integration of a containerized virtual cell site router (vCSR) into the vDU. This approach reduces the need for a CSR rack space while taking advantage of the server processing power of the vDU.
• The energy saving features to reduce power consumption of the radios and vRAN servers. Specific features include traffic-aware RAN software capabilities to adjust Dynamic Power Amplifier (DPA) levels and/or set conditions to activate different types of sleep modes of the radio units, control activation of Transmit (Tx) paths of the radios units, and manage Dynamic Core Sleep (DCS) modes of the CPU on the vDUs. By utilizing Samsung’s AI-based Energy Saving Manager (ESM) to enable automation and boost greater capabilities and efficiencies, Samsung successfully demonstrated energy saving features in a region with large number of sites on a commercial network.
• The development of comprehensive network automation based on AI/ML-powered analytics to support open interface evolution of O-RAN standards. Samsung's O-RAN compliant Service Management and Orchestration (SMO), Samsung CognitiV Network Operations Suite (NOS), is capable of expanding the multi-vendor ecosystem to continue reducing the TCO, with an operation powered by O-RAN RIC that support automation for network analysis, troubleshooting, as well as AI-powered network optimization and QoS improvements.

vRAN and Open RAN continues to accelerate flexible programmable network solutions as operators prioritize their abilities to drive critical business objectives beyond cost savings. Samsung’s proven vRAN and Open RAN ecosystem delivers secure, high-performing, automated, energy efficient, and easily integrated solutions to enable operators to confidently harness vRAN and Open RAN’s potential. As the leader in both technologies, as noted by many analyst firms, Samsung is ushering in a new wave of 5G innovation and growth.

For more information, visit Samsung vRAN.