Qualcomm Fuels Global 5G Infrastructure Momentum as Leading Operators Begin Large-Scale Open RAN Deployments
Qualcomm Technologies announced that its Dragonwing Cellular Infrastructure platforms for 5G Open RAN (O-RAN) solutions are gaining significant momentum with leading network operators and infrastructure providers around the world. Viettel, Vietnam’s largest mobile network operator, has deployed a live 5G O-RAN Massive MIMO network using Dragonwing Cellular Infrastructure platforms. In addition, NTT DOCOMO, INC., Japan’s largest mobile network operator, is using the high performance and power efficiency of Qualcomm Dragonwing™ X100 Accelerator Cards for its nationwide 5G vRAN network deployment.
“We are energized by the accelerating Open RAN adoption and commercial traction using our Dragonwing Cellular Infrastructure solutions,” said Gerardo Giaretta, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Large-scale nationwide rollouts mapped out for Japan and Vietnam is itself a huge success, but the engagements have global potential. OREX SAI, a new entity of NTT DOCOMO Group, is creating opportunity for global telecom operator adoption. Viettel is also expanding to international markets where they already operate. We expect this momentum to continue and for Qualcomm Technologies to be a key enabler of these modernized networks.”
The Qualcomm Dragonwing 5G Open RAN platforms are a key part of the company’s strategy to promote the global adoption of 5G. The platforms are designed to meet the needs of operators of all sizes and are supported by a broad ecosystem of partners. Qualcomm 5G Open RAN solutions also have the ability to enable a competitive and interoperable ecosystem of networking equipment, providing optionality for operators as they look to modernize their networks.
The live network deployment in Vietnam draws from Qualcomm Technologies’ efforts to drive Massive MIMO and energy efficiency by integrating the benefits of Qualcomm Dragonwing™ QRU100 Platform for O-RAN Radio Units together with O-RAN virtualized Distributed Units (vDU) powered by Dragonwing X100 Platforms, streamlining processing of compute-intensive tasks. Both the vDUs and RUs were developed in collaboration with Viettel High Technology Industries Corp. (VHT), the research and production arm of the Viettel Group.
NTT DOCOMO’s selection for their deployment includes an NEC vDU with Dragonwing X100 Accelerator Card with integrated Layer 1 software. The selection was made after rigorous interoperability, compliance and performance testing, substantiating the solutions commercial readiness. The end-to-end ecosystem solution for commercial O-RAN deployment also includes HPE with the HPE ProLiant Compute DL110 server. Beyond NTT DOCOMO’s plans of nationwide O-RAN deployment in Japan, the full O-RAN solution is primed for further global deployment growth via OREX SAI – an organization supporting Open RAN verifications for global telecom operators to help realize more open mobile networks around the world.
Dragonwing Cellular Infrastructure platforms for Open RAN offers enhanced 5G massive MIMO network performance and improved energy efficiency, while reducing operators’ costs for modern 5G network deployments. In addition to Qualcomm Technologies’ O-RAN Radio Unit and Distributed Unit momentum, the company is further facilitating network modernization with Open RAN and RAN AI with the Qualcomm Dragonwing™ RAN Automation Suite. This RAN automation suite, designed to enable autonomous networking with powerful AI-driven features, supports more scalable and cost-effective network management, facilitating a smooth roadmap of network modernization spanning multiple vendors and tech generations.
The accelerating commercialization and global adoption of Open RAN solutions is made possible because of the strong collaborations between Qualcomm Technologies and network-RAN ecosystem partners including AWS, Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Mavenir, NEC, Tejas, and VHT.
