Ericsson completes its 5G platform with new solutions for operators

Ericsson has finalized 5G-readiness for operators by enhancing its 5G Platform with new solutions for the radio and core network. The company has launched 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) commercial software, based on the recently approved first 3GPP 5G New Radio (NR) standard. It also introduces a new category of radio products called Street Macro – a new site type that addresses the need of operators to grow in cities with limited available radio locations.

To capture growth opportunities presented by new 5G use-cases, Ericsson expands its 5G Core System offering with new capabilities to support 5G NR and also enhances its Distributed Cloud solution.

Ericsson introduced its 5G Platform in February 2017 with additions made in September the same year. It comprises the 5G core, radio, and transport portfolios together with OSS/BSS, network services and security.

Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice-President & Head of Business Area Networks, Ericsson, says, “Operators who want to be early with 5G now have the essential pieces for launching 5G networks already this year. With our expanded platform, they will get more efficient networks as well as opportunities to create new revenues from emerging consumer and industrial use-cases.”

To be available from the fourth quarter of 2018, Ericsson’s 5G radio network software provides multi-band support for global deployment. It will allow operators to use new frequency spectrum as it becomes available. It also complements Ericsson’s already launched baseband and 5G radios. Operators can simply activate their 5G networks and take the first steps with commercial 5G capabilities and new applications leveraging advanced mobile broadband services.

This will cater efficiently for growing data traffic and enable access to multimedia content, such as 4K/8K video streaming and virtual reality/augmented reality. According to Ericsson’s new economic study of enhanced mobile broadband, evolution to 5G will enable 10 times lower cost per gigabyte than current 4G.

Additionally, Ericsson also evolved its Distributed Cloud offering for cloud application deployment across multiple sites – central, distributed, and edge. Managed, orchestrated, and perceived as one solution, it improves latency, security, and resilience, and fulfils regulatory requirements for 5G-enabled use-cases. Ericsson Distributed Cloud combines the best of telecom and cloud to enable networks as open cloud platforms for all workloads, including telecom, consumer, and enterprise applications.