- The O-RAN ALLIANCE Certification and Badging Program aims to
accelerate the adoption of open and intelligent Radio Access
Networks (RAN) through building confidence in O-RAN products and
solutions world-wide
- First O-RAN Certificates and Badges issued by Japan OTIC, Korea
OTIC and the European OTIC in Berlin, adding to total of 23 issued to
date
- 16 companies currently offer products or solutions with O-RAN
certification on the open RAN market
BONN, Germany, April 25,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Since its launch in June 2022, the O-RAN ALLIANCE's (O-RAN)
Certification and Badging Program has been set out to accelerate
the adoption of open and intelligent Radio Access Networks (RAN)
through building confidence in O-RAN products and solutions
world-wide. As such, the certification process supports the O-RAN
ecosystem to efficiently progress with O-RAN product
deployments.
Certification of O-RAN products and systems
brings clear benefits to both operators and vendors
Two Open Testing and Integration Centres (OTICs) – the European
OTIC in Berlin and Korea OTIC –
have recently issued their first-ever O-RAN Certificates and
Badges. Japan OTIC issued its first O-RAN Certificates and Badges
in June 2023 and continued with five
more awarded in 2024.
The portfolio of certified O-RAN products currently counts 23
solutions from 16 companies, awarded by 5 OTICs, with more being in
progress around the world. All awarded O-RAN Certificates and
Badges, including company names and concrete products, are publicly
available in the O-RAN ALLIANCE's Certification and Badging
Catalogue.
"Japan OTIC is committed to support testing and integration
efforts in the industry to promote implementation of open,
interoperable, intelligent, virtualized and secure RAN,"
said Masataka Kawauchi, Representative Director, Japan OTIC
and Chairman, YRP R&D Promotion Committee. "Since its
establishment in December 2022, we
have worked with Japanese operator members to prepare environment
and capabilities for testing based on O-RAN ALLIANCE specifications
and are pleased to have issued two conformance certificates and E2E
system badge to six products to date. The certified/badged
equipment has been deployed to the commercial market. We expect
more to follow with ongoing activities and additional requests
received for the program and are also working to enhance our test
capabilities and coverage. Together with other engagements like
PlugFests and workshops, Japan OTIC will continue contributing
towards realizing Open RAN together with the industry."
"Deutsche Telekom, as the host of the European OTIC in
Berlin facilitated by i14y Lab is
thrilled to celebrate this significant milestone of the first O-RAN
certificates in Europe together
with the O-RAN community, and especially with the award recipients
for their commitment to O-RAN compliance," said Petr Ledl, VP Network Trials and Integration
Lab, Deutsche Telekom. "The value for operators in having certified
solutions is the confidence that their conformance has been
rigorously tested and assessed, which will minimize the integration
complexity of open RAN solutions going forward. For vendors, O-RAN
certification supports promotion of products and solutions. Both
operator and vendor communities benefit from minimized repetition
of tests and savings on testing efforts."
"We are glad to see the 1st O-RU certificate in Korea
this year following the establishment of Korea OTIC (KOTC) at the
end of last year," said Geunwoo Park, Representative of the Korea
OTIC. "With the issuance of the 1st certificate, we will
not only provide testing and certification services for domestic
companies' O-RUs but also interoperability between various open RAN
equipment in Korea and beyond."
The O-RAN Certification and Badging Program runs in
collaboration with OTICs that are authorized to issue O-RAN
Certificates and Badges. The O-RAN authorized OTICs are
vendor-independent, ensuring the award of impartial O-RAN
Certificates and Badges. Over time, the OTIC community has been
growing in global presence, currently comprising 19 OTICs,
operating in a healthy market-driven ecosystem.
There are three types of O-RAN certifications:
- O-RAN Certificate verifies that a product is compliant to O-RAN
specifications, using O-RAN conformance tests.
- O-RAN Interoperability (IOT) Badge proves interoperability of a
pair of products connected via an O-RAN interface or O-RAN-profiled
3GPP interface, using O-RAN interoperability tests.
- O-RAN End-to-End (E2E) Badge demonstrates and validates that an
end-to-end system or subsystem meets minimum requirements on
functionality and security, using O-RAN end-to-end tests. It can
also provide an indication of performance or other end-to-end
functionalities.
The O-RAN Certification and Badging Program refers to O-RAN test
specifications. To date, 13 O-RAN test specifications have been
published to support driving comprehensive testing of O-RAN based
products, groups of products, and systems. Development of
additional testing specifications goes hand in hand with O-RAN
ALLIANCE's overall specification effort ensuring readiness for
testing of mature areas.
For more details on the O-RAN Certification and Badging Program
please refer to our website and white paper.
"Certification of O-RAN products and systems brings clear
benefits to both operators and vendors," said Alex Jinsung Choi, Chair of the Board of O-RAN
ALLIANCE and SVP Group Technology, Deutsche Telekom. "We
encourage the entire O-RAN ecosystem to consider active engagement
in the O-RAN Certification and Badging Program, which aims to
accelerate the adoption of open and intelligent RAN solutions."
About O-RAN ALLIANCE
The O-RAN ALLIANCE is a
world-wide community of more than 300 mobile operators, vendors,
and research & academic institutions operating in the Radio
Access Network (RAN) industry. As the RAN is an essential part of
any mobile network, the O-RAN ALLIANCE's mission is to re-shape the
industry towards more intelligent, open, virtualized and fully
interoperable mobile networks. The new O-RAN specifications enable
a more competitive and vibrant RAN supplier ecosystem with faster
innovation to improve user experience. O-RAN based mobile networks
at the same time improve the efficiency of RAN deployments as well
as operations by mobile operators. To achieve this, the O-RAN
ALLIANCE publishes new RAN specifications, releases open software
for the RAN, and supports its members in integration and testing of
their implementations.
For more information, please visit www.o-ran.org.
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SOURCE O-RAN Alliance