Kontron has announced that its SYMKLOUD hardware portfolio now includes a line of carrier grade commercial off the shelf (COTS) ME-1100 platforms. The new SYMKLOUD hardware design is inspired by a joint effort with Altiostar, which is an open vRAN provider.
Altostar enables wireless operators to maximize their spectrum bandwidth while lowering costs. The market for open vRAN solutions is gaining rapid acceptance as operators seek more cost-effective approaches to lay the network foundation today that can simplify the transition to 5G. According to analyst firm Research and Markets, the growth of the vRAN market is expected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 125% during the next three years.
Kontron is an open source cloud and integrated infrastructure platforms provider. The newly unveiled SYMKLOUD ME-1100 platform is a cost-effective whitebox 1U high – 12-inch-deep platform designed to meet NEBS/ETSI certifications for carrier grade environments with limited rack/cabinet space. Powered by the Intel Xeon D 1500 Series processors (8C, 12C, 16C options), the ME-1100 is available with either AC or DC power, multiple storage options, and features two front 10G SFP interfaces.
The true versatility of the platform lies in its single x16 PCIe 3.0 (8GT/s) slot for full-height, half-length cards that can support various Video and Content Edge Caching, AI, or IoT use cases that depend on FPGA, storage or GPU technologies. SYMLOUD turnkey OpenStack or Kubernetes solutions enable the ME-1100 to become a compute resource for virtualized or containerized edge services. This helps deliver highly scalable intelligent mobile or multi-access (MEC) services at the edge.
“While the world of telco services are increasingly becoming virtualized, Kontron has shown us that, to a certain extent, designing the right hardware is a key factor in deploying next generation network solutions such as vRAN,” said Kuntal Chowdhury, VP Marketing, Altiostar. “We anticipate that the ramp-up for new vRAN opportunities will increase significantly as the economic benefits of open vRAN far outweigh classical RAN solutions.”
Kontron during the Mobile World Congress will showcase MEC/vRAN joint demonstration with Altiostar along with the new SYMKLOUD ME-1100 platform.
