NEC Open Networks is an ecosystem that provides operators with choice in every category with best-of-breed solutions and services from both NEC and its partners in Open RAN radio units, software, open transport, converged packet core, automation, and orchestration. 

This new vCU/vDU software suite guarantees seamless migration from 4G to 5G and beyond. It also ensures standards based interfaces for integration with ORAN Radio Units (O-RUs) and other components of the multi-vendor ecosystem. The virtualized CU/DU features pre-integrated NEC radio units, core, and transport blueprints, and is also certified with a range of third-party RUs, allowing quick time to market.

The cloud-native vCU/vDU software suite is fully open and automated for deployment and consolidated operation, supporting 3GPP and O-RAN interfaces on private and public cloud infrastructure. It leverages the benefits of cloud-native architecture, including horizontal and vertical scaling, auto-healing, and redundancy; and is architected for mobile network evolution, including the next-generation radio technologies (i.e., 5G-Advanced and 6G). The high-performance, power-efficient system enables flexible control over resource allocation in the RAN and is designed for easy integration with the O-RAN defined near-Real Time RAN Intelligent Controller. This allows the embedded vCU/vDU control logic with Artificial Intelligent (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to dynamically optimize RAN network performance.

NEC’s advanced, customizable Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) feature-set complements NEC’s OvRAN offering with the NEC RAN Domain Orchestrator Suite. Its support for open, standardized interfaces and integrated non-Real Time RIC platform means that it can host use-cases developed by 3^rd party application ecosystem vendors. NEC is also developing high value-add RIC Apps to complement its OvRAN vCU/vDU software suite such as dynamic mMIMO (massive multiple-input and multiple-output) resource and power optimization.