LIVE FROM MWL UNWRAPPED: THE 5G EVOLUTION: Executives from notable open RAN advocates Telecom Infra Project (TIP) and Rakuten Symphony expressed optimism on the future direction of the architecture, playing down the fact media hype around the technology has calmed.

During the morning keynote, TIP executive director Kristian Toivo (pictured) and Rakuten Symphony CMO Geoff Hollingworth provided a positive take on the benefits of open technology, as the former praised recent operator developments discussed at the organisation’s FYUZ event last week.

Toivo said the “glass was half full” when it came to open RAN progress.

When asked about the initial hype the technology received, which has since calmed, he put the “overhype” down to “the underestimation of the timelines, complexities and integration efforts that always go with any sort of technology shift in the telecoms industry”.

A middle-aged man with a receding hairline and gray beard, wearing a gray blazer over a black shirt, faces the camera. Behind him, two black-and-white framed photos hang on a plain white wall. A black pillow is visible on the left.

During his interview, Hollingworth (pictured, left) noted “these kinds of changes always get very hyped up at the start of the wave,” then for “general media that aren’t directly working with it … the energy seems to go elsewhere”.

“Underneath though, always there is a core group of people who were driving on the basic principles of why it started”.

Culture shift
To unlock the general shift towards openness, both in the RAN and other areas, Hollingworth indicated momentum had to “come from the operator community not the vendor community”.

Highlighting a changing role around infrastructure for operators in an open ecosystem, he added “one of the big discussions we need to have as an industry, in the operator community, is how do you manage the change of responsibility and risk? Because if you don’t then a vendor can ‘open’ but it won’t translate to benefit to the operator”.

Hollingworth added the change in culture was bigger than that actual technology change.

The shift to openness goes beyond RAN, with both praising the benefits of open architecture for the industry.

Toivo noted there had been success in the open optical transport domain as an example, “particularly the optical pluggable modules are disaggregated with different hardware and software vendors”.

“Many leading operators [are] purchasing independently … and ensure they get the best of breed” he added. “This is what we wanted to happen in open RAN, and eventually we will probably move in that direction”.