The advent of 5G will transform the digital landscape, offering faster data speeds, lower latency, and more reliable connectivity. With the rise of IoT devices and the need for high-speed connectivity in industries like manufacturing and healthcare, businesses are increasingly turning to private 5G networks. HCLTech is at the forefront of this movement, leveraging Intel’s FlexRAN™ reference software to accelerate the deployment of private 5G networks.
Companies are at various stages of implementing Industry 4.0 technologies, including but not limited to digital twins, big data and analytics, AR/VR, IoT, etc., to improve service delivery. Still, they face the challenge of managing a complex and evolving private network space. Add to this the fact that multiple wireless and wired networks often coexist within an enterprise, including 5G, LoRaWAN, Wi-Fi, and wireless mesh. Planning, deploying, operating, and scaling all these networks requires resources (software/hardware and human resources) with different skill sets.
The introduction of private 5G networks will revolutionize the way enterprises innovate their strategies and implement operational ecosystems. These networks offer high-speed connectivity and low latency, allowing companies to implement real-time control and monitoring of production lines, machinery, and equipment. This allows you to optimize operations, reduce downtime, and improve overall efficiency. This has led companies to focus on rolling out their own private 5G networks, which are more secure than ever before. Private 5G has many benefits, with sub-millisecond latency that enables URLCC use cases, large-scale machine-type communication capabilities, higher interference immunity, wider coverage footprint, and inherent security. It has emerged as a suitable successor to the current enterprise wireless networks in the industry. HCLTech views this transformation as a significant change to our business model, creating new opportunities for the entire industry.
*According to IDC, the global private LTE/5G wireless market infrastructure market is expected to reach $8.3 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 35.7%.
HCLTech’s next-generation network expertise combined with Intel’s FlexRAN reference software provides a powerful platform for enterprises to leverage the benefits of private 5G. This technology allows organizations to build dedicated high-speed networks tailored to their needs and requirements.
FlexRAN reference software enables network operators to quickly deploy and manage virtual radio access networks (vRAN), enabling faster and more efficient deployment of private 5G. This means businesses can take advantage of the increased speed, security, and reliability of private 5G networks without spending long deployment times.
Use cases such as 5G RAN’s enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low latency (URLCC), and massive machine type communications (MMTC) capabilities make 5G RAN an attractive option for enterprises to replace all networks. It is promoted as a network that can offer you the option to integrate. Connection needs. In addition, the open source nature of RAN provides enterprises with greater flexibility and avoids vendor lock-in through vendor independence.
Advantages of private networks
Enterprise needs are growing and are focused on the following requirements:
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Warranty scope and management: Enterprises need to improve coverage while maintaining control over data and user policies. In remote and underserved areas, indoor/building coverage is provided with warranty.
Performance and reliability: As the number of users and devices increases, they require reliable and high-performance connectivity, depending on their needs and QoS (defined profiles that support demanding applications and QoS guarantees).
Network control and security: Businesses have greater control compared to public networks. Security, privacy and data integrity are very high compared to public networks.
Operational flexibility and integration: Every company has different needs and resources. Therefore, we expect you to have the flexibility to choose the operating model that suits your needs. The ability to integrate with your current IT infrastructure is also important to reduce operational and maintenance complexity.
HCLTech and Intel ecosystem play a critical role in private networks
HCLTech, a member of the O-RAN Alliance, is a leading systems integrator and leader in the virtualized network space. We leverage Intel’s FlexRAN Reference Architecture combined with Intel® Smart Edge Solutions to deliver flexible cloud-based or fully on-premises scalable (containerized) solutions that reduce the complexity of deploying flexible deployment models from 4G. We are committed to providing enterprises with a private network deployment model. LTE, 5G, CBRS technology.
At a very high level, the key components of a private network are virtualized RAN, backhaul, core, and edge, where virtualized network functions are hosted on-premises/on-cloud and support industry 4.0, including ultra-reliable, low-latency communications. Realize your use case (URLLC) usage example. Virtualized RAN allows the separation of baseband units (BBUs) into distributed units (DUs) and centralized units (CUs). The DU manages real-time L1 and L2 scheduling operations, and the CU oversees non-real-time higher level L2 and L3. Cloud-native virtualized RAN allows you to host DU servers and associated software on-site or in the edge cloud (either in your data center or central office). CU servers and related software can be shared with either DU On-Premise/EDGE/Cloud. This allows scaling of independent components compared to monolithic (proprietary hardware) scaling.
FlexRAN reference software provides a reference architecture for virtualized RAN-based private networks, providing complete L1 functionality with Intel® FPGAs connected to the RU. HCLTech onboards and integrates vNF (DU, CU) into the FlexRAN Reference Architecture powered by Intel® processors. Combine this technology with the LTE/5G core and Intel Smart Edge, the Intel software platform for distributed edge computing, and you have a private network. FlexRAN is powered by Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors. The combination of HCLTech and Intel technologies provides a powerful solution for private 5G networks. By leveraging Intel’s FlexRAN reference software, HCLTech is accelerating the deployment of private 5G networks and helping enterprises take advantage of the benefits of 5G without long deployment times.
HCLTech leverages its vast partner ecosystem to procure components, software, and tools for various streams such as radio, transport, core, SIM management, cloud, infrastructure, apps, and MEC to build private 5G networks. We customize end-to-end solution development for This is complemented by end-to-end system integrator services such as planning, preparation, deployment, integration, optimization, and operations.
The image above is HCLTech’s POV of a typical end-to-end private network/OvRAN architecture leveraging Intel components.
References:
*Global private LTE/5G wireless infrastructure market expected to reach $8.3 billion by 2026, according to IDC
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