The year 2022 marked the beginning of SONIC Labs, bringing together top UK and global telecoms players to partner in the development of network disaggregation, diversification and interoperability through Open RAN.
The programme, funded by the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, has released its inaugural annual report, which outlines the substantial headway being made in demonstrating the UK’s position as a productive and profitable environment for international telecoms investment and global vendors. You can read it here, and discover how the programme has successfully contributed to both developing UK technical expertise and building the UK’s reputation as a place to carry out Open RAN work.
Other key highlights include:
- How SONIC Labs is growing the UK’s open network ecosystem and supporting the building blocks for a more diversified supply chain.
- How programme participants are accessing state-of-the-art technical facilities and Open RAN experts to help them collaborate, develop, integrate and test their products and solutions.
- How the established Strategic Advisory Board and three Industry Groups are bringing together core stakeholders, providing expert insights and alignment from across the ecosystem.
- The events and workshops held to share insights and results, as well as specific engagements with earlier-stage innovators.
- How SONIC Labs has worked with 13 vendors as part of SONIC-1, cohorts 1 and 2, with 32 different products, including introducing ARM-based systems.
The impact of SONIC Labs is being felt nationally and internationally. During this first year, the SONIC Labs programme- jointly led by Digital Catapult and Ofcom- focused on interoperability in Open RAN, particularly around private and indoor networks. Year two will also incorporate outdoor and public-scale networks, and future years will extend the scope beyond Open RAN into wider technologies at the forefront of diverse, open and advanced communications.
SONIC Labs is part of the collaborative and supportive environment which makes the UK an attractive market for developing and de-risking Open RAN products, building increasing confidence in Open RAN offerings and the open network ecosystem for potential adopters over time.
Alongside this, Digital Catapult's SONIC Labs team recently challenged innovators to explore the potential of Open RAN. In partnership with Vodafone and Accelleran, the workshop focused on Open RAN’s ability to address network energy efficiency. Learn more here.
