Mavenir is validating AMD’s technology on its open radio access network (RAN) and converged packet core portfolios, furthering Mavenir’s push for wider open RAN adoption.

Mavenir has worked with Xilinx on its open RAN efforts in the past. Last year, AMD acquired both Xilinx [$49 billion] and Pensando [$1.9 billion] in efforts to to use its 5G network processor support to tap further into sectors like data centers, embedded computing, and telecom.

The recent partnership integrates AMD Zynq Ultrascale+ RFSoC processors into Mavenir’s OpenBeam open RAN portfolio. Additionally, the RAN vendor has validated its cloud-native converged packet core solution to run on AMD EPYC server CPUs to add more VNF options in cloud data centers for telecom operators.

The work validated core and data-storage network functions like access and mobility management function (AMF), user plane function (UPF), authentication server function (AUSF), and user defined routes (UDR). Mavenir noted it will be testing a list of additional network functions “in coming months.”

Mavenir EVP Bejoy Pankajakshan stated in the release that the company is focused on aiding communication service providers (CSPs) in a plug-and-play buildout tailored to their specific needs, both in cell-site builds and in data centers. “Mavenir and AMD are working together to give CSPs multiple options and help them optimize power consumption, network efficiency, and total cost of ownership in the radio access as well as the core network.”

As network requirements grow, the move to cloud-native networks will aid operators with a flexible, easily managed, and scalable system, AMD SVP Salil Raje added.

Open RAN adoption is accelerating. Dell’Oro group found the open RAN space generated twice as much in revenue through the first three quarters of 2022 compared to 2021, and “continues to move forward and accelerate at a faster pace than expected.”

Still, Dell’Oro Group VP Stefan Pongratz stated in the report that the group “remains mixed.” While early adopters embrace the open RAN movement, “there is more uncertainty when it comes to the early majority operator and the implications for the broader RAN supplier landscape now with non-multi-vendor deployments driving a significant portion of the year-to-date open RAN market.”

John Baker, SVP of business development at Mavenir, recently explained to SDxCentral that the vendor has been moving on this market development for years. He argued that because incumbent providers like Ericsson and Nokia don’t interoperate, “what we've ended up with, almost on a global basis, is a monopoly position of supply of networks to mobile operators.”

“This whole diversity of supply issue is becoming a bigger and bigger issue on a day to day basis. …  Look, you've got to consider [the] supply chain, you've got to ensure that no single piece of equipment there will leave you with [a] vendor lock,” he explained.