AirHop partners with Juniper Networks to accelerate 4G and 5G network deployments
AirHop Communications announced they are joining the Juniper Networks Technology Alliance Partner ecosystem. The partnership will enable the integration of AirHop’s field-hardened Radio Access Network (RAN) automation and optimization applications as O-RAN Alliance compatible eSON xApps and eSON360 rApps on Juniper’s RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC).
The integrated automation and optimization Apps will accelerate and simplify 4G and 5G network deployments and operations, resulting in increased spectral efficiency by up to 30%, contributing to lower OpEx for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) by as much as 40%, and improved end-user quality of experience.
Deployment, management and operations of the RAN become more complex as denser networks are built to expand service capacity and deliver more diverse use cases with 5G. The dynamic nature of radio conditions, especially at cell boundaries, makes real-time, automated, intelligent network optimization mandatory to deliver high-quality network services and contain operating costs through automation. The intelligent automation in the O-RAN architecture is facilitated through a catalog of xApps and rApps operating on the respective RIC platforms.
“We are excited to join the Juniper Technology Alliance Partners program and collaborate on some of the most important challenges that mobile network operators (MNOs) face as they build out their next-generation networks and services,” said Joe Thome, AirHop’s VP of Business Operations and Marketing. “By embracing cloudification and disaggregation of RAN, MNOs will be able to take advantage of Open RAN solutions such as Juniper’s RIC and AirHop’s xApps and rApps to optimize their network resources dynamically in real time and reduce costs.”
“Juniper welcomes AirHop to its ecosystem of partners to address the needs of service providers rolling out innovative services to their customers,” said Mathias Kokot, Juniper’s VP of Product Management. “AirHop’s field-hardened real-time network optimization solutions will complement our RIC solutions in addressing various Open RAN challenges in the 4G and 5G networks.”
AirHop’s AI/ML-based and real-time network intelligence applications deliver RAN automation and performance optimization spanning coverage and capacity, network configuration, mobility optimization and network operations.
AirHop’s eSON provides MNOs with deployment flexibility supporting disaggregated Open RAN architectures as a pre-standard RAN optimization platform and as eSON xApps and eSON360 rApps on emerging near-real-time and non-real-time RIC platforms based on O-RAN standards.
eSON optimizes performance across macro cell, small cell and HetNet coverage use cases and delivers improved spectral efficiency, higher throughput, more capacity and reduced operational expenses through automated configuration, issue resolution, and dynamic balancing of user traffic across the network. AirHop’s eSON360 rApps leverage analytics and machine learning for a multitude of RAN optimization use cases.