Eight 5G solution providers have joined an OpenRAN initiative led by the UK telecoms regulator Ofcom and the innovation centre Digital Catapult, forming a programme called SONIC.
OpenRAN delivers vendor-neutral, interoperable equipment that can challenge the dominance of large telecom vendors. By fostering competition and modularity, OpenRAN aims to accelerate innovation, strengthen security, increase flexibility, and lower deployment costs for mobile networks.
SONIC (SmartRAN Open Network Interoperability Centre) is a joint programme from Ofcom and Digital Catapult designed to test interoperability and integration across open-networking solutions for 5G.
Joe Butler, Chief Technology Officer at Digital Catapult, said:
“SONIC will foster an ecosystem in the UK of large and small telecoms suppliers, with multiple providers for each element in the technology stack.
Providing a neutral environment for testing and demonstration with eight solution providers will surface the opportunities and challenges of interoperability.
We will collectively learn what works and what does not in terms of integration, technology, and processes.”
The initial eight providers joining SONIC are Accelleran NV, Phluido Inc, Effnet AB, Benetel Ltd, Mavenir, Foxconn, NEC, and Radisys. The programme expects more vendors and integrators to participate over time.
Simon Saunders, Director of Emerging & Online Technology at Ofcom, added:
“With the first vendors on board and more expected to follow, this is an exciting step in the journey of the SONIC project.
SONIC offers a unique opportunity to shape what the UK’s supply chains of the future could look like and support innovation. So we encourage companies across the telecoms industry to express their interest in participating.”
Participants in SONIC will collaborate to develop and share best practices for building products and integrating solutions. The centre enables experimentation with multiple OpenRAN 5G deployments across diverse architectures, including cloud-native and virtualised approaches, helping stakeholders assess integration challenges and performance trade-offs.
SONIC was scheduled to become operational in May 2021 and continues to serve as a testbed for interoperability, demonstration, and industry learning.
Organisations interested in joining SONIC can register with Digital Catapult to participate in the programme.
(Photo by Hudson Hintze on Unsplash)
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