VMware added Viavi Solutions to its open radio access network (RAN) intelligent controller (RIC) ecosystem, bringing standardized framework and metric testing to its platform targeted at the open RAN environment.

The deal calls for the two vendors to provide compliance and RIC-related requirements to the ecosystem. This will supply service providers with help in validating and scaling VMware’s RIC deployments.

Viavi is providing its TeraVM RIC Test platform tied to VMware’s RIC for a joint testbed-as-a-service for testing, profiling, and validating third-party xApps and rApps. These are microservice-based applications operating in near-real time (xApps) and non-real time (rApps) that provide an operator with more control over their open RAN environments. VMware runs two RICs: a Distributed RIC for xApps and a Centralized RIC for rApps.

The vendors are also working toward an industry consensus on testing methodology and performance metrics.

The RIC operates in the middle of an open RAN deployment as a kind of linkage to the wider network. It allows operators to deploy xApps and rApps that then allow operators to design and control RAN functions, providing administrative RAN sovereignty over functions that are typically implemented as proprietary features on base stations.

“The RIC represents a huge opportunity to the industry: Applying AI/ML techniques allows operators to simplify the management of complex 5G configurations and dynamically optimize the network to cater for new use cases, energy efficiency, and changing traffic patterns,” Ian Langley, SVP and GM for Viavi’s wireless business, noted in a statement on the partnership.

Carlos Estepa, senior product marketer for VMware’s RIC, added in a blog post that the “VMware RIC will enforce policies down to the RAN elements to change the behavior of the network. Doing it wrong could undermine performance and quality.”

VMware unveiled its RIC plans last year tied to an operator trial with Vodafone. It has since rolled it into its Telco Cloud Platform, launched general availability, and added an SDK partner program to entice developer participation.

ABI Research cited VMware’s RIC work in ranking the vendor’s Telco Cloud Platform as a top industry offering.

The VMware RIC news comes on the heels of rival Juniper Networks scoring a deal with Rakuten Symphony to be the sole RIC available as part of Rakuten’s Symworld Platform. The Juniper RIC will be embedded in the Symworld Platform application, which includes the horizontal operational layer that provides open interfaces for the further deployment and integration of accessory services and systems.

Juniper has also trialed its RIC with Vodafone.

However, the overall market remains muted.

A recent report from LightCounting Market Research explained that the RIC market and its accompanying service management and orchestration (SMO) framework have so far not matured as quickly as it has expected.

LightCounting Chief Analyst Stéphane Téral wrote in a note that RIC “is being pushed out by the global open RAN market lull until 2024,” while SMO is hindered by “a need to cover all radios rather than just shiny open RAN radios is emerging and delaying its adoption.”

Instead, the firm is seeing continued expansion of centralized self-optimizing network (C-SON) and distributed SON (D-SON), which are currently handling the rApp and xApp responsibilities, respectively.