By Bill Beesley, Fujitsu
As MSOs continue to transform their networks to be more wireless centric, many are considering the architectural map provided by the Telecom Infrastructure Project's Open Radio Access Network or ORAN project. ORAN has defined a set of open interface specifications that allow vendor neutral disaggregation of the radio access network software and hardware that delivers increased flexibility, via best of breed vendor options and eliminates the issues of vendor lock in that currently burden the wireless infrastructure ecosystem. This paper will outline what ORAN is and how it can be implemented in an operationally sustainable fashion sharing examples from existing operator implementations. The paper will provide how MSOs can and should use an ORAN architecture to increase flexibility in vendor selection, take advantage of virtualization and containerization of software, provide innovation via adoption of new technologies and maximize supply chain diversity.