Thread by @disruptivedean

In Madrid for #fyuz2022 to hear about #openran #openwifi and #metaverse connectivity

Curious to hear more about indoor wireless, enterprise, neutral host, disaggregated FTTX & 6G directions

Kicking off #Fyuz22 now…

It’s a 3-way event between @TelecomInfraP @Meta_Cx & #ORANalliance

The slightly clunky construction of this event - days on openran, broad TIP/telco domain, metaverse connectivity discussed

Frankly the metaverse thing is a bit of a weird bolt-on, given how niche/fragmented it is (& almost irrelevant to 5G RAN)

The food angle is fun but tenuous

Good to have both O-RAN and TIP at the same event

Alex Choi & Yago Tenorio (respective heads of those orgs) sharing the stage. Referencing supply chain diversification as the key driver for Open RAN

Wonder if anyone will mention Small Cell Forum as well?

O-RAN Alliance has now published 86 specifications, plus lots of emphasis on testing, interop

Now focusing on detailed plans for features for specific use-cases. More "top down planning" vs. bottom up from working groups

Choi references adoption of specs by ETSI as endorsement

Early focus at the event on O-RAN security (unsurprisingly). Trying to front-run inevitable questions about that topic

I lost count of the number of times "secure" was mentioned in a 2-min slot.

Tenorio noting that ETSI publication moves O-RAN fronthaul from spec to standard

Claims @VodafoneUK "getting on really well" with #OpenRAN in UK. First site was early this year. Now expecting to light up a cluster of more cells before end-2022

Will probably do an RFQ in 2024

VF also doing 2 pilots in Germany with Samsung. Similar stack to UK (so 4G?)

@VodafoneUK Also an MoU between VF and NTT DoCoMo, for systems integration and testing cooperation

Working with Qualcomm on silicon to accelerate mMIMO radios & basebands

Plus with Marvell, using accelerators in Samsung deployments in UK & Germany

Sees x86 + acceleration as optimal

@VodafoneUK Lastly Tenorio noting that @nokia is "fully embracing" #OpenRAN in a way to meet the requirements of the large European MNOs who have been pushing for it

@VodafoneUK @nokia So... what isn't being said in this opening keynote?

No hard number of active, in-production sites

No clear distinction between 4G & 5G

No mention of public vs private cloud approaches

Maybe some more details on this panel with @Omantel @NTTDocomoNews @orange @Telefonica_En

Interesting to see the regional working groups for #OpenRAN - the MoU between major European operators already mentioned, and Omantel panellist referencing another collaboration in GCC (Gulf) countries

Also haven't heard anything substantive yet about brownfield integration of OpenRAN **edit - just mentioned by TEF as I wrote that

Lot of emphasis on TIP helping the industry with the hard work of getting interop & integration up and running.

Omantel speaker wanting to see "kits" that are pre-certified

Basically what I've been saying that OpenRAN will move towards something like reference designs, or combinations that are pre-certed / pre-tested

Runs counter to the fully open plug-n-play philosophy but necessary IMO

DoCoMo however likes mix and match (but probably has large internal skills on test & integration).

This panel could have benefited from someone skeptical on it, I think.

To be fair, Tenorio is asking about remaining challenges

Cloudification & automation mentioned

Ah, good Q on network-sharing and ORAN

Orange speaker sees it as important for reducing costs & also sustainability footprint, as well as encouraging operators' collaboration

Tenorio also sees OpenRAN allowing new RAN-sharing models, with common basebands & radios, own software

Omantel panellist nails it - 5 year timespan for getting ORAN fully deployed will enable it to align with 6G development. Wants to see it baked in to the next 3GPP cycle

Last Q - "is 5G the last generation with incumbent [integrated] architecture?"

Orange speaker "hopefully the world is running towards openness, but we'll have to manage our legacy systems for many years"

Omantel "we'll need to convince traditional vendors to join the train"

Nobody has actually named Ericsson or Huawei yet.

And I've seen no sign that Huawei is moving in that direction, nor whether whatever the Chinese version of 6G turns out to be will embrace it

Next up another panel on deployment - just two speakers from @awscloud and @RakutenSymphony

So - public cloud vs. private cloud, head to head

I like chair Roy Chua noting that both started as inhouse platforms for a specific parent (Amazon / Rakuten Mobile), then opened up

Interesting to hear @RakutenSymphony talking about “the outcome”… recognises brownfield challenges

Also mentions Symphony leans on Rakuten e-commerce / content heritage to pitch the idea of new consumer services irrespective of the RAN

AWS “meet operators where they are”…

… eg brownfield may need different container management

… also pitching things like hosting URLLC applications for leveraging deployment of the telco edge cloud

(I’m v doubtful of the latter)

So far I haven’t heard anyone mention the word “indoors” at #fyuz22

Key takeout of the morning for me - 6G era is real prime time for disaggregated networks. Open question is how far/fast it goes in the 5G / 5G advanced era

I didn’t realise how involved @Meta_Cx was with underlying #openran development

Also: cringe @ “metaverse ready” Evenstar 5G RU

Getting seriously annoyed by the intrusive badge-scanning everywhere at #Fyuz22

Seriously, there’s only one main entrance to the venue & a couple of breakout rooms

It’s totally intrusive, unnecessary & probably linked to the event app (which obvs I haven’t downloaded)

Multitasking with #Fyuz22 & #brookly6G events simultaneously

Huge #OpenRan scaling panel session at #Fyuz22 moderated. By @Gabeuk

A key point made by some vendors - operators need to work together to converge on a few particular solution configurations to help drive scale. Eg 32T 32R Midband or whatever. Otherwise too fragmented to make economic sense