Verizon Launches First-Ever Multi-Vendor Open RAN DAS

Verizon Communications is breaking new ground in Texas – and in the drive to further develop Open Radio Access Network (RAN) infrastructure – with its deployment of Open RAN-based distributed antenna systems (DAS) that feature multi-vendor interoperability.

Deployment of the Open RAN-based DAS systems – which Verizon called the first of their kind in commercial operation – are helping to improve communications capabilities at the University of Texas Moody Center and the Austin Convention Center located in the state capital.

“The massive evolution of our network over the past few years including our move to a cloud-based architecture, widespread virtualization and our aggressive adoption of O-RAN standards and capabilities has enabled us to show O-RAN interoperability success in a commercial environment,” commented Adam Koeppe, Verizon’s Senior Vice President of Technology Planning, in a Nov. 21 announcement.

Verizon is one of a number of companies that have been driving Open RAN adoption, and the carrier now has about 130,000 Open RAN-capable radios in its network.

On the architecture front, Verizon said the both of the DAS systems in the Austin deployments “use a Samsung vDU with an O-RAN interface to a Commscope DAS, illustrating how ORAN standards can bring together best-in-class products from the ecosystem to create a highly efficient solution and provide Verizon’s high-performing 5G Ultra Wideband service throughout the venues.”

In addition to paving the way for larger-scale multi-vendor deployments based on Open RAN architectures, Verizon said the Texas projects also eliminate the need for unnecessary RF gear, and cut power, space, and cooling needs.

Added together, the provider said those benefits result in a “gold-standard customer experience for fans and visitors to these venues.”

Open RAN is a multi-vendor solution that decouples software from hardware, enabling different vendors to operate on the same network simultaneously. Open RAN development efforts – which stretch back to at least 2018 when industry began to coalesce around the concept – promises to increase flexibility and scalability within the RAN and pave the way for more efficient management of 5G wireless infrastructure.

“O-RAN offers the promise of a wide range of benefits that should introduce new competition and innovation into the RAN ecosystem with the establishment of open and interoperable interfaces between different hardware and software components,” Verizon said in announcing the two new Texas deployments.

“The transition to Open RAN has the potential to bring many benefits in terms of deployment flexibility, faster innovation in an open environment, and greater service options by increasing the opportunity for new entrants to provide competitive and advanced solutions,” the company said.