Telecom Infra Project (TIP) struck a partnership with O-RAN Alliance, in a move to ensure both organisations align in the development of 5G RAN solutions to avoid duplication, while lowering costs and sharing resources.

In a blog, Attilio Zani, executive director at TIP, provided an update on the group’s activities, while revealing the partnership between the pair. A tie-up was mooted for some time, following signs both groups were working on similar solutions.

Zani explained the O-RAN Alliance, which was formed two years ago and counts many of the world’s biggest operators as its members, has a focus area to develop open and intelligent RAN architecture and specifications.

These “intersect” with TIP’s mission to deploy new telecoms infrastructure and increase competition in “varying environments”, said Zani.

“By aligning forces, the comprehensive membership of service providers in both organisations will ensure a clear and unified signal to the ecosystem on the optimal solution set for modern networks,” Zani added.

Described as a “liaison agreement”, the organisations will further look to accelerate development of RAN solutions, along with lowering integration costs by employing shared resources of the TIP Community Labs, among other facilities, which are used to develop infrastructure solutions with partners.

GSMA partnership
In addition to the O-RAN Alliance partnership, TIP said it also struck an agreement with the GSMA to help collaborate and understand service provider requirements.

It hopes this will give operators wider solutions in areas of platforms and open networks.

In addition, TIP said it deepened ties with the Open Network Foundation (ONF), an operator-led group which aims to drive transformation of network infrastructure, and Open Compute Project, an organisation that shares designs of data centre products and best practices among some of the world’s largest technology companies.

Zani said both partnerships were designed to ensure collaboration across the wider industry.