Ericsson is launching enhanced 5G NR options (already)

• Says it’s enabling super-fast response times, and a new feature to rapidly extend 5G coverage
• Is introducing two new Massive MIMO radios  
• Is offering a powerful edge solution for distributed cloud services

Ericsson says it’s launched what it’s calling enhanced deployment options to ease operators on their 4G to 5G transitions. It says it has “cutting edge” Standalone New Radio (SNR) software to support super-fast response times, along with a new feature to rapidly extend 5G coverage. It has new high-capacity Massive MIMO radios to cost-efficiently build 5G performance and coverage and an edge solution for distributed cloud services so operators can support high speed, low latency applications

The last feature, it claims, will enable service providers to offer new consumer and enterprise 5G services such as augmented reality and content distribution at low cost, low latency, and high accuracy.

Business opportunities

Ericsson says the new standalone 5G NR software can be installed on existing Ericsson Radio System hardware. This, coupled with Ericsson’s 5G dual-mode Cloud Core solutions, should provide new business opportunities for service providers.

Most operators will start with NSA and once the 5G coverage has been established, deploy standalone, Ericsson claims. It notes that low bands will play a key role in cost-efficiently extending the coverage provided by 5G deployments and it has also launched ‘Inter-band NR Carrier Aggregation’: a new software feature that extends the coverage and capacity of NR on mid- and high bands when combined with NR on low bands. This will improve speeds indoors and in areas with poor coverage.

Massive MIMO and Edge

Two new Massive MIMO radios have been added to the Ericsson Radio System mid-band portfolio, allowing service providers to build 5G with precision: AIR 1636 for wider coverage which provides optimized performance on longer inter-site distances; and AIR 1623 for easy site build with minimal total cost of ownership.

The vendor is also evolving its cloud solution with the launch of Ericsson Edge NFVI (Network Functions Virtualization Infrastructure), optimized for the network edge. It says Ericsson Edge NFVI is part of the end-to-end managed and orchestrated distributed cloud architecture, which makes it possible to distribute workloads, optimize the network and enable new services in the cloud.  

Certification

Ericsson is also launching a partner certification programme for virtual network functions (VNFs). The service is open to all VNF vendors and grants a certification on the Ericsson NFVI platform using Ericsson Labs. This will create an ecosystem with a shorter time-to-market for working with partners and applications.