5G hardware and software provider Ericsson and VMware, a network function virtualization company, first established an alliance in 2019. The goal of the alliance was to help communication service providers (CSPs) who had chosen to deploy a combination of Ericsson and VMware technology to successfully help their customers transition their networks to 5G technology. Fast-forward to today, and the two companies collaborate on about 20 projects that aim to simplify joint deployment to operator networks by validating the interoperability of technology configurations and pre-testing product combinations. In addition to these projects, 35 Ericsson products and Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) are certified as Ready for VMware Telco Cloud Infrastructure, a precursor to such in-depth technical collaborations.
How do these collaborations help with 5G deployment? Increasingly, CSPs are turning to cloud-native principles, moving away from hardware-based architectures to software-driven frameworks for better scalability, reliability, and agility, according to a recent article cowritten by Måns Burman, Head of Partnering and Alliances, Business Area Digital Services at Ericsson and Rod Gilbert, Senior Director of Global Telco Alliances for VMware.
“Together, we work to deliver predictable outcomes, mitigating the risks to customers experience in their network implementations,” wrote Burman and Gilbert. “At the same time, Ericsson and VMware take their individual responsibilities from a business, delivery and support perspective. Ericsson’s and VMware’s commitment to openness, flexibility and choice is what got us started on these in-depth technical collaborations. This work ensures product compatibility and production readiness for operator networks, identifying optimal architectures as well as simplifying deployment by testing reference configurations.”
The latest announcement from the two companies is the news that Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core is actively undergoing system validation on VMware Telco Cloud Platform to confirm that the platform can onboard and host the 5G Core cloud-native network functions (CNFs). Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core offers customers the ability to operate 4G and 5G networks concurrently without sacrificing network performance or efficiency. By bringing to market Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core on VMware’s Telco Cloud Platform, CSPs can benefit from accelerated core deployment while lowering TCO and mitigating risk.
For more information about the technologies that will usher in 5G, plan on attending 5G Expo, part of the #TECHSUPERSHOW, a mega event focused on enterprise communications, IoT, mobility and wireless, blockchain, AI, AR and more. The event will take place June 21 - 24, 2022 at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. For more information or to register, visit the show website.
