Since its founding in 2018, the O-RAN Alliance has made significant progress in creating a smarter, more open, virtualized, and fully interoperable mobile network, demonstrating the functionality and interoperability of multiple O-RAN-based network equipment vendors. As a white-box hardware vendor, Advantech understands the importance of the ecosystem when deploying disaggregated network solutions and works closely with partners across the value chain to minimize integration risks for service providers. By joining the O-RAN Alliance, Advantech supports the development of a new RAN based on open standards and the promotion of white-box hardware as a potential way to reduce the cost of 5G deployment. Advantech will continue to collaborate with O-RAN companies and contribute to the community with an enhanced range of interoperable white-box hardware options that help optimize network operators' supply chain strategies and are 5G-ready.
Advantech brings its expertise as a white-box hardware provider to the O-RAN ALLIANCE ecosystem, along with the Advantech SKY-8000 series of 5G edge servers. The SKY-8000 commercial servers balance the performance of best-in-class Intel Xeon processors with high PCI Express card payload density to integrate vRAN acceleration, timing synchronization, and I/O technologies into rugged, energy-efficient, and shallow server platforms. NEBS Level 3 compliant SKY-8000 configurations withstand harsh environmental conditions, including shock, vibration, dust, electrostatic discharge, and operating temperature. Internal design improvements, such as redundant AC/DC power supplies, single-fan failure tolerance, and redundant BIOS and firmware images that support fail-safe remote updates via IPMI 2.0-based platform management, enhance the reliability, maintainability, and serviceability of the SKY-8000 series. The servers have been deployed globally on carrier networks and have been selected by service providers for base station deployments, as well as by solution providers for virtual distributed unit (vDU) implementations.
“The O-RAN Alliance is changing the way mobile networks are deployed for the first time since the early days of analog cellular telephony. As with other industries before it, virtualization and open interfaces are lowering barriers to entry and fostering a competitive ecosystem that drives innovation,” said James Yang, Vice President of Advantech’s Cloud IoT Group. “Advantech supports the O-RAN Alliance in taking an ecosystem approach to collectively address the challenges of deploying multi-vendor, disaggregated 5G networks. As new contributors to O-RAN, we will take this opportunity to expand our collaborations in the RAN industry to continue developing 5G-ready white-box base station servers.”.
