[February 26, 2019]

Benetel, Phluido, Aricent and Tech Mahindra Partner to Create Virtualized LTE RAN for Cable Networks

An industry first demonstration of a non-ideal fronthaul solution is being showcased by partners Benetel, Phluido, Aricent (News - Alert) and Tech Mahindra at #MWC19. This Disaggregated Network demonstration provides a first hand look at a Virtualized LTE RAN Reference solution that the respective partners, under the guidance of CableLabs (News - Alert)® and the TIP vRAN group have developed for evaluation. The reference solution will provide 4G RAN services over existing cable network The Telecom Infra Project (TIP), launched in 2016, is a collaborative telecom community started with the goal of accelerating the pace of innovation in the telecom industry.

A DOCSIS® cable network is susceptible to variations in delay and throughput in the data path. This innovative reference solution relies on a functional split known as 3GPP Option 7-x and includes a combination of advanced features including protocols for fronthaul. Enhancements to RAN Layer 1 and Layer 2 implementations from Phluido and Aricent allows cable operators to overcome common challenges with DOCSIS network, such as latency, jitter, and variable capacity to make it an effective means for fronthaul transport. In this way, cable operators can benefit from RAN virtualization and centralization, while reusing existing DOCSIS network infrastructure as transport.

Aricent is the lead software integrator in this initiative. The reference solution utilizes Aricent LTE (News - Alert) RAN software framework based on Cloud-RAN architecture. The solution has LTE Layer 3 and Layer 2 integrated with Phluido's virtualized Layer 1 and fronthaul protocols and compression, along with Benetel's Remote Radio Unit (RRU). The RRU provides a platform that is capable of supporting both 4G and 5G networks. Network Equipment Provider (NEPs) can monetize the reference solution supported on General Purpose Processor (News - Alert) (GPP) and RRU to provide LTE solutions that leverage today's cable network and future advancements. Tech Mahindra carried out end-to-end vRAN integration and end-to-end network testing under varying fronthaul impairments and traffic conditions. Tech Mahindra carried out these tests in collaboration with Communication Service Providers (CSPs).

"According to CableLabs, cable operators have boosted speeds drastically and in 2018, 80% of households enjoyed gigabit a second speeds - that's up from 4% in 2016. To help cable operators compete more effectively in wireless space, our group created an easy to deploy solution that allows operators to deploy new services faster - using existing architecture. That provides them with a significant cost advantage - that's critical in ultra-competitive telecoms landscape," said N Mohan Rangan, Chief Engineering Officer at Aricent. "Deployed on the cloud, the solution can truly deliver the promise of 4G and 5G."

The (RRU) Remote Radio Units, developed to support the functional Split 7-x, embrace a modular architecture with selectable features in keeping with the flexibility and versatility required by these end market applications. "We are extremely excited to participate in such a development ," said Adrian O'Connor, Benetel CEO. "This opportunity provides Benetel the chance to showcase a new line of innovative products and work alongside excellent partners and sponsors to deliver real market solutions."

"Phluido has been at the forefront of the RAN virtualization and open fronthaul interfaces since2014," said Alan Barbieri, Phluido CEO. "We strongly believe that virtualization, disaggregation, and open interfaces are finally disrupting the traditional approach to deploy radio networks. The live reference design showcased at Mobile World Congress demonstrates such an advanced approach in a multi-vendor, disaggregated scenario over non-ideal fronthaul."

"As a trusted intermediary, we are truly excited to be the system integrator and the deployment partner for TIP's RAN ecosystem. Open, virtualized and dis-aggregated RAN will be an essential building block of the 5G network. Bringing the economies-of-cloud and automation to RAN significantly lowers the CapEx and OpEx. We are continually investing and collaborating with our partners to make vRAN solutions ready for large scale network deployments," said Manish Mangal, Tech Mahindra's Network Services CTO.

About Aricent

Aricent is a global design and engineering company innovating for customers in the digital era. We help our clients lead into the future by solving their most complex and mission critical issues through customized solutions. For decades, we have helped companies do new things and scale with intention. We bring differentiated value and capability in focused industries to help transform products, brands and companies. Based in San Francisco, frog, the global leader in innovation and design, is a part of Aricent. Aricent is a part of the Altran Group.

Learn more about Aricent at www.aricent.com.

About Altran

Altran ranks as the undisputed global leader in Engineering and R&D services (ER&D), following its acquisition of Aricent. The company offers clients an unmatched value proposition to address their transformation and innovation needs. Altran works alongside its clients, from initial concept through industrialization, to invent the products and services of tomorrow. For over 30 years, the company has provided expertise in aerospace, automotive, defense, energy, finance, life sciences, railway and telecommunications. The Aricent acquisition extends this leadership to semiconductors, digital experience and design innovation. Combined, Altran and Aricent generated revenues of €2.9 billion in 2017, with some 45,000 employees in more than 30 countries.

About Benetel

Benetel develops leading edge Hardware Platform Solutions for 4G LTE eNodeB Small Cells. Benetel offers off-the-shelf baseband and RF modules in a variety of different output powers and frequency bands, enabling OEMs to radically increase the speed to market of the newest 4G LTE eNodeB Small Cells. As an early market innovator Benetel is actively providing disruptive product solutions for Public safety, Private LTE and telecom infrastructure markets. This is reflected in its participation within TIP (Telecom Infrastructure Project) where Benetel has leveraged its industry knowledge and strengths of its ecosystem relationships to develop high performance next generation RAN RRU (Remote radio units) specifically designed for next generation telecommunications networks. Benetel Ltd, is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

Learn more about Benetel at www.benetel.com

About Phluido

Phluido, a technology and software company based in San Diego, California, is a pioneer in Radio Access Network (RAN) virtualization and disaggregation. Phluido demonstrated the world's first fully-virtual live C-RAN system over cheap, readily-available Internet Protocol (IP) fronthaul, thanks to Phluido patented "fronthaul-over-IP" protocol. We believe virtualization and open interfaces can be successfully brought to the traditionally closed world of mobile networks. As such, Phluido is a member and active contributor of several consortia whose mission is to enable multi-vendor collaborations and API-based disaggregation, such as the Telecom Infra Project (TIP). Phluido fully software-defined 4G implementation has been successfully incorporated into multi-vendor RAN implementations, trialed, and commercially licensed. Phluido is well equipped to deliver disruptive reference solution for 5G-NR virtualized Layer-1 suitable for a variety of use cases.

Learn more at www.phluido.net.

About Tech Mahindra

Tech Mahindra represents the connected world, offering innovative and customer-centric information technology experiences, enabling Enterprises, Associates and the Society to Rise™. We are a USD 4.9 billion company with 121,840+ professionals across 90 countries, helping over 935 global customers including Fortune 500 companies. Our convergent, digital, design experiences, innovation platforms and reusable assets connect across a number of technologies to deliver tangible business value and experiences to our stakeholders. Tech Mahindra is the highest ranked Non-U.S. company in the Forbes Global Digital 100 list (2018) and in the Forbes Fab 50 companies in Asia (2018).

We are part of the USD 21 billion Mahindra Group that employs more than 200,000 people in over 100 countries. The Group operates in the key industries that drive economic growth, enjoying a leadership position in tractors, utility vehicles, after-market, information technology and vacation ownership.

Learn more about Mahindra on www.mahindra.com / Twitter (News - Alert) and Facebook: @MahindraRise

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