The Open RAN testbed is expected to be launched across IBM facilities in Germany and France

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The testbed is expected to help clients across Europe develop multi-vendor solutions. (Credit: F. Muhammad from Pixabay)

IBM has partnered with US telecommunications company Airspan Networks to launch a 5G-enabled Open Radio Access Network (RAN) testbed in Europe.

The Open RAN testbed, which will showcase long-distance control over 5G-enabled edge computing, is planned to be rolled out across the IBM Watson IoT Center in Munich, Germany and IBM’s Global Industry Solution Center (GISC) in Nice, France.

The testbed is expected to help clients across Europe innovate and develop multi-vendor solutions to address different customer use case requirements.

It is aimed at progressing the development of Open RAN software and hardware solutions, and end-to-end interoperability testing with private 5G stand-alone core networks.

As part of the partnership, IBM Global Business Services and Airspan intend to work together to speed up the adoption of Open RAN technology and its ecosystem, with IBM’s global hybrid cloud and AI orchestration services.

IBM telecom, media and entertainment industry strategy and offerings vice president Marisa Viveros said: “Open approaches and standards-based technologies are vital to help unleash the full potential of 5G and edge computing.

“That’s why, in collaboration with Airspan, we hope to work to advance emerging use cases that harness Open RAN and bring new value to telecom clients.

“The planned expansion of the Open RAN testbed will allow us to demonstrate these capabilities as we accelerate 5G and edge computing innovation.”

To support customers in testing and validating 5G private network solutions using Open RAN, Airspan will offer its Open RAN AirVelocity 2700 indoor radio unit and virtualised Open RAN Centralised Unit (vCU) and Distributed Unit (vDU) OpenRANGE software.

IBM will support customers in managing and orchestrating edge cloud implementation and applications, by providing its Global Business Services technology integration services, as well as IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation and IBM Cloud Pak for Watson AIOps.

To speed up the progress of Open RAN and standards-based technologies in Europe, IBM has already announced the Open RAN Center of Excellence in Spain this year.

In May this year, Airspan announced the opening of a 5G Innovation Lab in the UK as a demonstration facility for partners, customers and government institutions.