vRAN (Virtual Radio Access Network)
What is it?
Traditionally, radio access network (RAN) connects individual devices, such as smartphones or laptops, to other parts of the network through the deployment and installation of proprietary hardware, such as base stations and antennas. Although it has been a key component of the telecommunications industry since the early days of 1G networks, RAN is running into limitations in the new era of 5G.
A vRAN (virtual radio access network) seeks to surmount this hurdle by replacing expensive hardware with network functions virtualization (NFV) technology. The vRAN virtualizes the functions of a traditional RAN and offers them on flexible and scalable cloud platforms, greatly reducing CAPEX and OPEX, while adding smart management features such as intelligent monitoring and automation services. This enables the telecommunications networks to support the performance requirements and user scenarios of the 5G era. It will also open a new field of hitherto unexplored communications methods, where new players and developers may find burgeoning opportunities outside of the traditional communications architecture.
A vRAN (virtual radio access network) seeks to surmount this hurdle by replacing expensive hardware with network functions virtualization (NFV) technology. The vRAN virtualizes the functions of a traditional RAN and offers them on flexible and scalable cloud platforms, greatly reducing CAPEX and OPEX, while adding smart management features such as intelligent monitoring and automation services. This enables the telecommunications networks to support the performance requirements and user scenarios of the 5G era. It will also open a new field of hitherto unexplored communications methods, where new players and developers may find burgeoning opportunities outside of the traditional communications architecture.
Why do you need it?
vRAN is especially important in the age of 5G, since its gives network administrators a better overview of and improved control over the network architecture, while reducing the CAPEX and OPEX of purchasing and maintaining so much hardware. The scalability and smart management features of a virtualized network are also important, since more and more mobile devices are uploading an ever-increasing amount of data, while innovative applications like the Internet of Things (IoT) are establishing the connected smart world of tomorrow.
How is GIGABYTE helpful?
In October 2020, NVIDIA announced the NVIDIA Aerial SDK, a software development kit for building and deploying software-defined, cloud-native, and GPU-accelerated vRAN or other services to address rising demand in the 5G era. NVIDIA chose GIGABYTE's E251-U70 E-Series Edge Server to be the hardware platform for this new vRAN solution. The E251-U70 was chosen because of its many outstanding attributes, such as the compact spatial design, scalable CPU, high-redundancy features, low power consumption requirements, ease of maintenance, and multifunctionality due to its many accelerator slots. This edge computing solution successfully augments the benefits of vRAN, which emphasizes scalability and functionality while lowering CAPEX and OPEX.
