How 5G ORAN affects the communications market

5G has become a globally recognized broadband network technology standard, but what impact does the rapid popularization of 5G have on the global telecommunications market? As 5G use cases continue to grow, people are beginning to use Open RAN (ORAN) to achieve faster innovation and greater flexibility. Driven by the development of new technologies such as cellular network virtualization and software-defined networks, the application of ORAN in 5G deployment has grown rapidly, completely changing the way telecommunications companies build networks.

What impact does the rapid adoption of 5G and ORAN have on the telecom market? Lattice discussed this and several other related questions in a recent LinkedIn online conversation with industry experts from TECHnalysis Research and Secure-IC.

Below are the main highlights from the workshop and some further thoughts on ORAN deployment in 5G infrastructure.

Understanding the Importance of 5G ORAN in the Telecommunications Industry

On the surface, the development of 5G in the mobile space is simply an upgrade to the next generation of networks, providing faster speeds and better services. But take a deeper look and you will find that 5G has already had a huge impact on the industry, accelerating the development of network architecture. One of the biggest changes expected is that telecom providers are gradually moving away from the traditional model of large vendor closed systems. Instead, telecom companies have begun to disaggregate networks, or break components into separate parts, to achieve 5G's advanced features, such as lower latency and higher bandwidth. In addition, cellular networks are moving towards virtualization and software-defined, so new mechanisms and other technologies for implementing 5G features are constantly emerging.

As network components are disaggregated, the radio access network (RAN), which is the core of cellular networks, is becoming more "open" through standardized interfaces, allowing companies to combine different components from different suppliers when developing networks and systems. This is a fundamental shift in the way the telecommunications industry operates. With the deployment of ORAN, closed systems with limited supplier selection are rapidly being replaced by open, flexible systems with more powerful features and a wider range of equipment providers.

ORAN solutions not only provide operators with a wider range of optional supplier ecosystems, but also stimulate 5G technology innovation in enterprises. This shift can further accelerate innovation, help select the best solutions, and reduce the company's capital and operating expenses. As new innovation opportunities emerge, more feature-rich solutions are being brought to market at a faster pace.

The need for end-to-end zero-trust security, flexible fronthaul synchronization, and hardware acceleration

As networks become more open and software-defined, the attack surface for hackers is also increasing. A more open network means that the "perimeter" in the network architecture is disappearing, and the "open" interfaces create more opportunities for criminals to invade. Therefore, it is critical to protect the network from attacks at the network and platform level. Data protection in the control plane and user plane is also very important. Data communicated between two endpoints must be protected at the endpoint and during transmission. This is what Lattice calls "protecting the line." As operators interact with third-party vendors in the new disaggregated environment, protection must be implemented at both the software and hardware levels.

Since telecom companies pay great attention to network reliability, very strict timing control must be performed between networks. Without highly synchronized timing control, performance may be impaired and customer experience may be affected. In addition, telecom companies must also consider the power consumption of new devices and features. Advanced functions usually require higher energy consumption, which makes power consumption budget another issue faced when implementing 5G bandwidth-intensive applications. Therefore, the demand for hardware acceleration will also increase when implementing complex functions and use cases in the network.

To help customers solve these challenges, Lattice has launched the Lattice ORAN™ solution set. Lattice ORAN enables secure and efficient 5G ORAN deployment by providing strong security (encryption, authentication, root of trust), flexible fronthaul synchronization (ORAN function split options, IEEE 1588, eCPRI, TSN), and low-power hardware acceleration for functions such as MACsec/IPsec and small cell DFE. As wireless networks converge to the new paradigm of software-defined networking (SDN), these functions are necessary, and disaggregation helps customers deploy secure 5G ORAN solutions with optimal performance.

Lattice has a strong portfolio of security devices, providing multi-layered hardware security solutions, including state-of-the-art encryption, authentication, and root of trust (RoT). Lattice also provides a variety of software solutions to provide network resilience and data protection mechanisms based on platform firmware protection recovery (PFR) in applications such as data center servers. Lattice's network resilience and PFR solutions are included in the Sentry™ solution set and SupplyGuard™ service, and since the open fronthaul components are virtualized in data center servers, these solutions are very relevant to the implementation of ORAN.