BARCELONA, Spain – VMware unveiled a new project designed to provide more radio access network (RAN) deployment flexibility through its Telco Cloud Platform, updates to its service management and orchestration (SMO) for open RAN, tagged onto a recent virtualized RAN (vRAN) deal with vendor partner Samsung, and expanded its operator work.

VMware’s latest “project” is dubbed Kauai, which supports operators running disaggregated and vRAN functions on bare metal servers. This is targeted at vRAN deployments in far edge locations.

Project Kauai uses the vendor’s Tanzu platform to run Kubernetes on a single server host in an edge location that can support virtualized distributed units (vDUs), virtualized centralized units (vCUs), or any combination of the two depending on need. It also includes a lightweight iteration of VMware’s Tanzu Kubernetes Grid (TKG) runtime running on a real-time version of the Photon operating system. This uses a single-node Kubernetes cluster build that has the Kubernetes control plane and worker node running in a single bare metal server.

Sanjay Uppal, SVP and GM for VMware’s Service Provider and Edge Business, explained in a briefing that VMware still believes customers are best served running their network assets on its ESXi hypervisor, but “in cases where you need bare metal, whether it’s a factory floor, whether it’s a cell site, whether it’s a clinic, then you need to deploy bare metal.”

VMware is also refining its SMO work, tying its Cloud Service Assurance and Telco Cloud Automation for lifecycle management to support operators deploying open RAN into a multi-cloud environment. This is still a new model for operators, but Misbah Mahmoodi, senior director of product marketing at VMware, said the vendor was having “interesting conversations” with operators in North America and Europe on this option.

LightCounting Chief Analyst Stéphane Téral recently wrote in a report that SMO adoption has been hindered because “a need to cover all radios rather than just shiny open RAN radios is emerging and delaying its adoption.”

Mahmoodi noted this SMO work builds on the RAN intelligent controller (RIC) efforts that link back to an initial trial with Vodafone in the United Kingdom in mid-2021. It has since rolled the RIC into its Telco Cloud Platform, launched general availability, added an SDK partner program to entice developer participation, and integrated Viavi as a standardized framework and metric testing to its platform targeted at the open RAN environment.

That work with Vodafone has now expanded to the operator’s Qatar operations adopting VMware’s Telco Cloud platform into its network.

VMware updated the platform last fall to 2.0 status, refining automation and assurance functions within the platform and adding new features targeting 5G deployment models. This included the addition VMware’s Bare Metal Automation service and access to VMware’s ESXi hypervisor. The former allows operators to use zero-touch provisioning and lifecycle management on top of a bare metal deployment, while the latter adds hypervisor management.

VMware this week also announced the first commercial collaboration with long-time vendor partner Samsung. The work integrates Samsung’s vRAN with VMware’s Telco Cloud Platform as part of Dish Network’s ongoing 5G network deployment.

VMware initially linked with Samsung on integration plans in late 2020. That deal called for Samsung to integrate its network core, edge, and RAN offerings with VMware and for Samsung to extend its support for cloud-native architecture by adapting its suite of products for containerized network functions (CNFs) and virtual network functions (VNFs) on VMware’s software stack and network automation services.

Dish Network recently began integrating Samsung’s vRAN equipment into its network, building on a deal announced last year and helping to alleviate an equipment bottleneck for the carrier. Samsung said it plans to initially supply 24,000 open RAN-compliant radios and 5G vRAN software systems to Dish Network. This includes its vDUs, vCUs, and 5G radios that support Dish Network’s diverse spectrum portfolio.