AirHop Communications Joins Open Networking Foundation

January 12, 2021

AirHop Communications has become a member of the Open Networking Foundation (ONF), a non-profit, operator-led consortium that promotes the transformation of access and edge network infrastructure and business models that make use of network disaggregation, open source software and software-defined standards.

A supplier of 4G and 5G network intelligence software platforms and solutions, Airhop will join ONF’s software-defined radio access network (SD-RAN) project community, which is composed of operators and technology companies that focus on building open source components for the open RAN space in compliance with the O-RAN architecture and specifications. A key aspect of SD-RAN is the development of an open-source near-real-time RAN intelligent controller (n-RT-RIC), along with a set of exemplar xApps for controlling the RAN.

AirHop solutions provide RAN intelligence using real-time coordination for performance optimization of 4G and 5G networks, delivering applications for automated configuration optimization, interference management, mobility optimization and extensibility for new customer-driven optimization.

“Open RAN is all about creating the ability to build multivendor solutions in the RAN space, and the SD-RAN community is committed to leveraging the open source µONOS-RIC platform as a unifying element to help build solutions combining RU/CU/DU elements with xApps from a mix of vendors,” said Timon Sloane, ONF’s vice president of marketing and ecosystem. “It is positive to see AirHop embracing this approach and their commitment to build xApps that are compatible with this vision in collaboration with the broader SD-RAN community of operators and vendors.”

On behalf of Airhop, the company’s vice president of business development, Joe Thome, said that ONF is recognized as the leader of open source software solutions in SDN, NFV and cloud technologies for telecom operators. “We share a common goal with the ONF community to bring O-RAN-based, open-source n-RT-RIC solutions with mission-critical, high-value and commercial-grade xApps to operators as quickly as possible.”

Source: Airhop Communications