Since November 2023, O-RAN WGs and FGs published 69 technical documents, bringing the total to 112 titles in current version and 561 documents overall. 11 documents represent new titles.

Newly released ETSI documents cover the O-RAN Architecture description and the O-RAN A1 interface

‍

O-RAN ALLIANCE participants will present 41 demos of latest improvements to open and intelligent Radio Access Networks (RAN) throughout MWC Barcelona 26-29 February 2024 and at the O-RAN Virtual Exhibition.

‍

This is the fourth O-RAN security post from the O-RAN ALLIANCE's WG11 - the Security Working Group, describing the current state and plans for O-RAN security.

The O-RAN ALLIANCE's next Generation Research Group (nGRG) is delighted to publish first three research reports.

• Joint workshop of the two communities took place on November 14-15 in Boston
• Members of both communities agreed to work closely on the open source implementation of O-RAN, including SMO, O-Cloud and other open source RAN functions
• Open source software plays an important role in supporting companies in development, testing and integration of their commercial open and intelligent RAN solutions

The O-RAN ALLIANCE recently accredited two new Open Testing and Integration Centers (OTIC) and extends warm welcome to the O-RAN Ecosystem to:

• Korea OTIC
• North American OTIC at MITRE

‍

• Fall 2023 PlugFest is hosted by 18 companies in eight countries in Asia, Europe and Americas
• 56 registered companies, many of which participate at more than one venue, bringing the total to 100 registrations
• Focus on progress with intelligent RAN solutions based on O-RAN Radio Intelligent Controllers as well as integration of open and interoperable interfaces

Since March 2023, O-RAN WGs and FGs published 57 technical documents, bringing the total to 101 specification titles in 438 versions.

Four documents represent new titles:

• O-RAN Cloud Conformance Test Specification v1.00
• O-RAN Application Life Cycle Management (LCM) for Deployment Technical Recommendation v1.00
• O-RAN Network Energy Savings Procedures and Performance Metrics v1.00
• O-RANTopology Exposure and Inventory Management Services Use Cases and Requirement Specification v1.00

‍

• O-RAN ALLIANCE (O-RAN) participants will present demos on-site and at the O-RAN Virtual Exhibition, most of which feature intelligent management and control
• O-RAN representatives will speak at MWC Las Vegas 2023 on interoperability, security, sustainability & standards

The workshop is jointly organized by O-RAN next Generation Research Group (nGRG) and O-RAN Industry Engagement Focus Group (IEFG).

‍

O-RAN companies plan to showcase 3 on-site and 15 virtual demonstrations, including innovations such as indoor positioning applications, cloud economics with 5G and AI applications, intelligent RAN control, machine learning load balancing, and energy-efficient network deployment solutions.

O-RAN Release 003 includes enhancements to RAN Slicing and SMO features, and several new features.

It also includes 10 new specification titles.

Next Generation Research Group (nGRG) is a task force within O-RAN ALLIANCE, which focuses on research of open and intelligent RAN principles in 6G and future network standards.

The nGRG plans to hold its 2nd workshop on February 16, 2023 in Prague, Czech Republic, complementing the O-RAN ALLIANCE F2F meetings running in that week.

‍

58 O-RAN ALLIANCE members and participants present 65 demonstrations of their O-RAN based technology and solutions at MWC Barcelona 2023 or the O-RAN Virtual Exhibition

‍

The next Generation Research Group (nGRG) is a newly founded task force within O-RAN ALLIANCE, which focuses on research of open and intelligent RAN principles in 6G and future network standards.

The nGRG held its first face-to-face workshop on October 20, 2022 in Madrid, Spain, complementing the O-RAN ALLIANCE F2F meetings running in that week.
‍

▶️ Session Replays

‍

O-RAN ALLIANCE Work Groups and Focus Groups recently published 53 new technical documents completing its Release 002. It includes 2 new specification titles:

• A1 interface: Use Cases and Requirements – the first dedicated A1 interface use case specification with stage-2 level flow chart
• The specification on a new E2 Service Model (E2SM), Cell Configuration and Control – covering Cell and slice-level resource configuration and control for network slicing use case

‍

‍

O-RAN ALLIANCE has published a new set of 52 specifications for open and intelligent RAN, as the first batch of the O-RAN Release 003 specifications.

O-RAN ALLIANCE has released another set of technical specifications for open and intelligent RAN published since November 2021. This batch of specs, together with the batch published in July 2021, complete the O-RAN Release 002, the first O-RAN Release focusing on enabling Open Intelligence. To access the O-RAN specifications, please visit our website.

O-RAN ALLIANCE is excited to announce 46 new demonstrations of O-RAN solutions, with 22 planned to be presented at the MWC Barcelona 2022 exhibition. Many of those demos plus an additional 24 demos will be available online at the O-RAN Virtual Exhibition.

‍

The O-RAN ALLIANCE Security Focus Group (SFG) is committed to creating O-RAN specifications that enable mobile network operators to deploy and operate an open RAN that meets and exceeds industry expectations for an open, interoperable, and secure system.

‍

The O-RAN ALLIANCE has successfully conducted its O-RAN Global PlugFest 2021 to demonstrate the functionality and the multi-vendor interoperability of O-RAN based network equipment.

O-RAN technical specification effort progresses with healthy momentum. We keep expanding Radio Access Networks (RAN) standards with open interfaces and intelligent RAN functions. All published specifications will soon be available to the general public upon agreement to the O-RAN ALLIANCE Adopter License.

The O-RAN ALLIANCE is open and transparent in its commitment to transforming the Radio Access Networks industry towards open, intelligent, virtualized and fully interoperable RAN.

‍

• O-RAN ALLIANCE is excited to announce the release of 36 virtual demos showcased during MWC Barcelona 2021.

• O-RAN specifications published since March 2021 introduce the initial version of 11 new technical specifications or reports.
• Another 22 newly released specifications bring updates to existing O-RAN documents, enriching them with new functions or updated features according to the O-RAN Architecture.

• O-RAN specification effort, open software development, as well as testing and integration, will from now on focus on priorities set by its operator members.
• O-RAN technical specification effort grows with healthy momentum.
• We keep expanding Radio Access Networks (RAN) standards with open interfaces and intelligent RAN functions.
• All published specifications are available to the general public upon agreement to the O-RAN ALLIANCE Adopter License.

• On December 15, 2020 the O-RAN Software Community (OSC), working with the Linux Foundation, published its 3rd open software release within 18 months, dubbed “Cherry”.

• As O-RAN ALLIANCE’s technical specification effort grows with healthy momentum expanding RAN standards with open interfaces and intelligent RAN functions, its approved specifications are available to the general public upon agreement to the O-RAN ALLIANCE Adopter License.

• The openness and disaggregation of O-RAN has many positive effects on security.
• At the same time the Open RAN faces the same security challenges as today’s RAN or other virtualized architectures.
• The O-RAN ALLIANCE Security Task Group tackles security challenges on all O-RAN interfaces and components, specifying and recommending modern, practical security solutions.

• In summer 2020, the O-RAN ALLIANCE successfully conducted its second worldwide plugfest and proof of concept to demonstrate the functionality as well as the multi-vendor interoperability of O-RAN based network equipment.

• On June 21, 2020 the O-RAN ALLIANCE has announced the “Bronze” release of open source software.
• This latest release of the O-RAN Software Community (OSC) delivers a significant advance towards an open software RAN that is aligned with the O-RAN ALLIANCE architecture and specifications.

• In its specification effort, O-RAN has been extending RAN standards with open interfaces and intelligent RAN functions.
• Recently published specifications bring new or updated features to all parts of the O-RAN architecture, allowing vendors to progress with improved O-RAN based implementations.

• O-RAN ALLIANCE is proud to present the O-RAN Virtual Exhibition! Demonstrations of real O-RAN based equipment in the form of videos, animations, charts or text are now available in one spot.
• Virtual Exhibition is a valuable tool for companies to present their achievements in adding O-RAN based technology into their product roadmaps.