O-RAN ALLIANCE Global PlugFest Fall 2024 to Continue Supporting the Open RAN Development

• O-RAN ALLIANCE Global PlugFest Fall 2024 initiated in August with 31 hosts in 24 labs around the world
• Progress expected in focus areas including testing of energy efficiency, testing of systems with L1 acceleration, E2E DevOps and test automation, repeatability of testing, and more
• Testing and integration at O-RAN ALLIANCE Global PlugFests efficiently supports the industry in accelerating the move from specification to commercialization

BONN, Germany, Sept. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The O-RAN ALLIANCE (O-RAN) recently initiated its second PlugFest of this year  – the O-RAN Global PlugFest Fall 2024.

O-RAN Global PlugFests are periodic events organized and co-sponsored by the O-RAN ALLIANCE to enable efficient progress of the O-RAN ecosystem through well-organized testing and integration. PlugFest participants gain early experience in many areas relevant for developing, deploying and operating O-RAN based solutions. Achievements made at O-RAN PlugFests pave the way to O-RAN certification and badging of concrete products, proving confidence in commercially available O-RAN technology.

Hosted by 31 operators and vendor-independent institutions, the O-RAN Global PlugFest Fall 2024 takes place in 14 venues and 24 labs around the world. It brings together a diverse community of operators, vendors, service providers, research, academic and government institutions.

PlugFest activities are planned from August till November 2024, followed by presentations and demonstrations of results to the O-RAN community. O-RAN ALLIANCE plans a public announcement of the PlugFest Fall 2024 outcomes in late November. Details from all completed O-RAN PlugFests are publicly available in the O-RAN PlugFest Virtual Showcase.

O-RAN Global PlugFest Fall 2024 focuses on six themes prioritized within the O-RAN ALLIANCE:

• O-RAN Energy Consumption, Efficiency and Savings Testing – planned by nine PlugFest venues
• O-RAN E2E Deployment Templates, DevOps, and Test Automation – planned by eight PlugFest venues
• Demonstration of consistent and repeatable open fronthaul testing in multiple labs – planned by six PlugFest venues
• O-RAN System Testing with Layer 1 Acceleration – planned by six PlugFest venues
• O-RAN White-box Hardware diversity ecosystem – planned by two PlugFest venues
• Open Fronthaul Transport Testing with multiple O-RUs – planned by three PlugFest venues

"Achievements made at O-RAN PlugFests prove to efficiently support the industry in accelerating the move from specification to commercialization," said Brian Daly, Co-chair of O-RAN Technical Steering Committee, and AVP, AT&T Services Inc. "High interest from the O-RAN community is promising to build on achievements in the PlugFest focus themes, which started in Spring this year."

Hosts of O-RAN Global PlugFest Fall 2024 include: 
AT&T, Auray Technology, CableLabs, CPQD, Digital Catapult, DISH, EURECOM, ETRI, i14y Lab (supported by Deutsche Telekom and EANTC), Iowa State University (ARA), KDDI, LG Uplus, NTT DOCOMO, North American OTIC in the Raleigh-Durham Research Triangle Park Area (AERPAW), Northeastern University, Orange, Rakuten Mobile, ritt7layers, Rutgers University (COSMOS), Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), SK Telecom, SoftBank, TELUS, TIM, TTA, University of New Hampshire (IOL), University of Utah (POWDER), Verizon, Vodafone, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, YRP R&D Promotion Committee.

About O-RAN ALLIANCE
The O-RAN ALLIANCE is a world-wide community of more than 300 mobile operators, vendors, and research & academic institutions operating in the Radio Access Network (RAN) industry. As the RAN is an essential part of any mobile network, the O-RAN ALLIANCE's mission is to re-shape the industry towards more intelligent, open, virtualized and fully interoperable mobile networks. The new O-RAN specifications enable a more competitive and vibrant RAN supplier ecosystem with faster innovation to improve user experience. O-RAN based mobile networks at the same time improve the efficiency of RAN deployments as well as operations by mobile operators. To achieve this, the O-RAN ALLIANCE publishes new RAN specifications, releases open software for the RAN, and supports its members in integration and testing of their implementations.

For more information, please visit www.o-ran.org .

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