Radisys announced today that its open source LTE radio access network (RAN) software will be available under the Apache 2.0 license for On.Lab’s Mobile Central Office Re-architected as a Datacenter (M-CORD) 5G architecture. The software will be available to the open source group in March.

M-CORD, one of a few CORD projects at On.Lab, aims to set the stage for 5G with a disaggregated virtual evolved packet core (vEPC), a programmable RAN, mobile edge computing, and mobile network slicing. The goal is to help bring the CORD framework to the mobile edge of the network for 5G services.

Radisys has contributed to at least two of those requirements. In November, the systems integrator contributed its EPC to the CORD project to create a vEPC, and now its RAN software is in the mix.

With its RAN software for M-CORD, Radisys will enable service providers to migrate to virtualized data centers with open source components as they prepare for 5G.

Specifically, Radisys’ open source LTE RAN software will allow providers to take advantage of things like disaggregation for virtualization, network slicing, and a 5G architecture.

At Mobile World Congress, Radisys, On.Lab, and other M-CORD contributors will be demonstrating M-CORD use cases running on commodity hardware and Radisys’ DCEngine — the platform its EPC is deployed on.