SmartRan Open Network Interoperability Centre Live webinar

Date: 24 June 2021 10:00 - 24 June 2021 12:30

DCMS and Ofcom have funded the SmartRAN Open Network Interoperability Centre (SONIC Labs) as part of the 5G Diversification Strategy, focusing on key areas of interoperability and integration to examine the reality of Open RAN and successive, relevant technologies and enable and encourage innovative vendors to participate in the UK ecosystem.

Following on from the introduction to SONIC Labs earlier this year, join us on Thursday 24 June when Digital Catapult and Ofcom, with our SONIC Labs consortium partners – Accelleran, Mavenir, Radisys, Benetel, Phluido, Druid and Effnet – present SONIC Labs Live. This is the official centre launch and experimentation will begin in new end to end mobile solutions to support DCMS’ diversification strategy.

Open networks and Open RAN in particular is an area of considerable interest and activity with huge potential, and it will be key for the future of networking, and opportunities for innovators in the UK and beyond.

Who should attend

SONIC Labs Live event is focused on Open RAN and open networks, in particular it will be of interest to:

Companies with Open RAN products, solutions and services in development who seek integration with others
Startups and scaleups developing early stage Open RAN products looking for ways to mature and improve their offers and find routes to market
Companies looking to collaborate on Open RAN and 5G integration and interoperability with SONIC Labs and with each other
Businesses evaluating the adoption of Open RAN technologies

Companies of relevance within the telecoms and wider ecosystem who should consider attending include:

Network operators of all sizes
System integrators
Test and measurement products and services
Investors in the telecoms, 5G, Open RAN and private network space
Infrastructure providers
Government and public organisations
Open RAN and 5G organisations

Why attend

This event will showcase activities and lessons from the first phase of the SONIC Labs, including demonstrations of three end to end functional Open RAN systems.

Our aim is to understand the limits of interoperability, potential for swapability, and end to end impacts. We continue to seek new and interesting products and integrations to form SONIC Labs’ next cohort, as well as developing improvements to the open network / Open RAN testbed with specialised test and measurement solutions.

Agenda

10:00 – Welcome and introductions

Paul Ceely, Director of Technology Strategy – Digital Catapult
Jeremy Silver, CEO – Digital Catapult
Simon Saunders, Director of Emerging & Online Technology – Ofcom
Joe Butler, Chief Technology Officer – Digital Catapult

10:20 – SONIC Labs in the policy context

Louise Sheridan, Head of Operations. and International in the. Diversification Unit, DCMS
Matt Warman, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Minister for Digital Infrastructure)

10:40 – Technical presentations and Demos of the SONIC Labs Open RAN build

Dritan Kaleshi, Director of 5G Technology, Digital Catapult
Demo: Acceleran & Mativision
Simon Burley, Principal, Emerging Technology, Ofcom
Demo: Mavenir & BBC
Demo: Radysis

11:15 – Coffee break

10:40 – Panel discussions and Q&A: Challenges and opportunities associated with deployment and integration of multi-vendor Open RAN chains

Federico Boccardi, Emerging Technology Programme Director, Ofcom
Natasha Tamaskar, VP Business Strategy and Global Marketing, Radisys
Arnaud Polster, VP Sales, Accelleran
Stefano Cantarelli, Chief Marketing Officer, Mavenir
Dritan Kaleshi, Director of 5G Technology, Digital Catapult

moderated by Evie Ioannidi, Senior Interoperability and R&D Lead, DCMS

12:25 – Closing remarks

Paul Ceely, Director of Technology, Strategy, Digital Catapult