Nokia and etisalat by e& (Etisalat) have announced the successful completion of the first trial of Cloud RAN (Radio Access Network) in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region. This milestone was achieved through In-Line acceleration over Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) ProLiant DL110 Gen11. The trial aims to enhance the 5G experience for end users and utilizes etisalat by e&’s existing mid-band carrier in the n78 (3.5GHz) band over its 5G standalone network.
The successful trial involved an end-to-end Cloud RAN L3 data call, showcasing the flexibility of Nokia’s Cloud RAN solution using In-Line accelerator architecture. This achievement aligns with Nokia’s any RAN approach, ensuring feature performance consistency of Cloud RAN with purpose-built RAN while providing more choices for operators to build Cloud RAN networks.
The project signifies a significant milestone in etisalat by e&’s cloudification ambitions. The trial incorporated Nokia’s virtualized Distributed Unit (vDU) and virtualized Centralized Unit (vCU) on the HPE ProLiant DL110 Gen11 server, utilizing In-Line acceleration. This approach offers unique benefits, including power efficiency, scalability, flexibility, feature parity, cloud naiveness, lower total cost of ownership (TCO), and ease of integration into any server and cloud environment.
Nokia’s any RAN approach enables the creation of virtualized networks tailored to different applications’ needs. This capability plays a crucial role in enhancing sustainability efforts for Industry 4.0, Enterprise, and Private Networks, enriching Etisalat’s portfolio offering and providing flexibility in choosing cloud infrastructure software, hardware, and technology suppliers.
Marwan Bin Shakar, Senior Vice President of Access Network Development at etisalat by e&, emphasized the commitment to technological innovations that directly impact customers, stating, “Nokia’s Cloud RAN solution will enhance our 5G mobile broadband network by combining the power of cloud computing with the flexibility of radio access networks. It’s the first in the region and paves the way for enhanced connectivity and service delivery, ultimately providing end-users with a more robust and responsive 5G experience.”
Fernando Castro Cristin, Vice President and GM of Telco Infrastructure BU at HPE, highlighted the comprehensive and robust Cloud RAN solution resulting from the collaboration. He stated, “By combining our strengths, we can offer a comprehensive and robust Cloud RAN solution that drives efficiency, performance, openness, and scale.”
Mark Atkinson, Head of RAN at Nokia, underscored the importance of the trial, stating, “This important trial with etisalat by e& highlights the maturity of our anyRAN approach using Cloud RAN with In-Line accelerator architecture. Our solution will empower etisalat by e& to meet diverse market demands swiftly, delivering a future-proof 5G network that will enable innovative services through dynamic network slicing and automation.”