Virtualization of 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) Network Functions (NFs) as microservices or containers makes it possible to implement and manage NFs as cloud-native applications, allowing them to run on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware rather than on purpose-built hardware. This disaggregation of hardware and the virtualization, containerization, and cloudification of RAN NFs enables pooling RAN resources and NFs, such as the Centralized Unit (CU) and Distributed Unit (DU), in a centralized pool to support multiple cell sites, as compared to traditional integrated propriety hardware-based Distributed RAN (D-RAN), where the RAN (CU and DU) is deployed per cell site.
Cloudification of RAN, combined with resource pooling, brings many advantages, including more efficient use of RAN resources, improved energy efficiency across the RAN network, and dynamic, flexible deployment architectures. This white paper explores the advantages offered by Cloud RAN and RAN resource pooling in contrast to traditional integrated proprietary D-RAN, deployed per cell site.