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The O-RAN ALLIANCE (O-RAN) and SCF (Small Cell Forum) have announced the expansion of their collaboration through a comprehensive Cooperation Agreement. This agreement extends the longstanding partnership between the two global organisations, marked by shared membership and a commitment to advancing open and interoperable Radio Access Network (RAN) technologies.

SCF’s mission is to support interoperability and ensure architectural and supplier choice across a range of scalable infrastructure for an evolving ecosystem of service providers and network deployers.

The O-RAN ALLIANCE’s mission is to reshape the RAN industry towards more intelligent, open, virtualised and fully interoperable mobile networks. To achieve this, the O-RAN ALLIANCE publishes new RAN specifications, releases open software for the RAN, and supports the O-RAN ecosystem in integration, testing and certification of their implementations.

Addressing Critical Aspects of the O-RAN ALLIANCE and SCF Collaboration

The new agreement between the two organisations formalises the expanded scope, addressing key areas of collaboration, including: requirements, workplans, development of 5G/6G-(n)FAPI interface specification, disaggregated architectures, RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) interactions, management solutions, test and verification, and reference implementations.

Near-term technical goals under the agreement include the continued alignment of specifications and the development of management solutions for Split-6 (FAPI/nFAPI) RAN.

Looking ahead, the organisations aim to tackle longer-term technical goals, including the development of reference implementations and integrated test and verification processes.

Prabhakar Chitrapu, Chair at SCF, said: “We look forward to leveraging our joint expertise to drive innovation and advancement within the Open-RAN industry. The updated Cooperation Agreement marks a significant step towards fostering an environment of shared knowledge and collaboration for the benefit of the entire Open RAN ecosystem.”

“Through its specifications, the O-RAN ALLIANCE effort sets the foundation for the industry to develop open and intelligent RAN solutions for present and future network generations,” said Alex Jinsung Choi, Chair of the Board at O-RAN ALLIANCE and SVP Group Technology, Deutsche Telekom.

He concluded: “Industry alignment is essential to ensure consistency and to avoid fragmentation or duplication of efforts. Close cooperation between the O-RAN ALLIANCE and SCF greatly supports specification development and activities to accelerate commercialisation of small-cell open RAN solutions.”

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