In cooperation with

Lenovo joins forces with
Orange enabling E2E
Deployment Orchestration
Scenario in Open RAN
PlugFest
Abstract
Lenovo’s MotoEdge, ThinkEdge and ThinkSystem solutions power User Equipment (UE), Open RAN DU &CU, 3GPP 5G Core (5GC) Network services demonstrating End-to-End (E2E) deployment orchestration in adisaggregated multi-vendor 5G Stand Alone (SA) environment at Open RAN PlugFest event hosted byOrange in France in November 2023 as continuation of Joint Innovation Program.
Infrastructure Solutions Group Sales Support

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Introduction

Purpose of Study

Open RAN (Radio Access Network) is adisaggregated,
software-based
andprogramableversionofradio
accesstechnologies driven by Communication Service
Providers themselves to meet the needs offuture communication systems. It proposes
more
intelligent,
highlyautomated,disaggregated and fully interoperable mobile
networks ensuring a diverse supply chain, [1]. It
is already being addressed as an option forgreenfield deployments, identified as a further
accelerator for brownfield deployments over thenext 2 years and is a key enabler for PrivateNetwork Deployments.

Lenovo and Orange collaborated to verify
deployment of a fully disaggregated 5G System(5GS) in the Orange Open Testing andIntegration Center (OTIC) Lab in Rennes.
Several vendors participated in ensuring theinteroperability of a multi-vendor environment.
Furthermore, deployment orchestration of OpenRAN workloads on Lenovo’s Commercial offthe-shelf (COTS) hardware was scoped in thisProject. This activity is a significant milestone
for continuous integration, deployment andtesting processes of telco workloads throughout
their lifecycle. It accelerates the capability
enablement and reduces Time-to-Market (TTM)of new features in Telco networks. Open-source
technologies were used in this study todemonstrate the power of openness andflexibility of the ecosystem in the new era ofdisaggregation.

Open RAN is promising, but it also has several
challenges.
Lifecycle/configuration
management and multi-vendor interoperability
are presently two of the major concerns of OpenRAN. Deployment automation and orchestration
are critical to eliminate these risks and perform
successful Open RAN deployments which shallbe further supported by a continuous testingprocess. This is a complex and continuous
activity requiring the validation of thousands ofartifacts as part of installation, configuration,integration and testing of each new service orE2E stack release.
O-RAN Alliance is the Standards Development
Organization (SDO) for Open RAN technology
aiming to ease the efforts in multi-vendor
environments via PlugFests. PlugFest events
provide feedback on
the standardization
process for solving the potential issues. Thoseare organized by hosts, providing access to lab
facilities, with the support of O-RAN Alliance toaddress the most common complexities ofOpen RAN.. Participation from vendors, system
integrators & institutions enable all parties towork in a highly collaborative environment.
Lenovoiscommitted
tosupporting
disaggregation in Telco and open, flexible,
multi-vendor enabled technology stacks helping
service providers to achieve greater operational
agility while lowering Total Cost of Ownership(TCO). Lenovo supports Open RAN and similar
projects; one example is Project Sylva, [2].

Lenovo and Orange are working on a Joint
Innovation Program, [3] to advance research on
new technologies including energy consumption
and power utilization monitoring. Recently,
Orange and Lenovo joined their forces as partof this program, [4] in a fully disaggregated lab
setup orchestrating the E2E 5G SA network
powered by Open RAN technology.
Lenovo and Orange Disaggregation Study - Open RAN PlugFest Whitepaper

Scope of Work
Lenovo and Software Radio Systems (SRS)
come together with Orange to setup an E2E
5GS network powered by Open RAN in Rennes
Lab as part of PlugFest scope. The target wasto integrate RAN and further 5GC cloud nativeworkloads
intotheNetwork Function
Virtualization (NFV) Orchestration layer toautomate the entire network with a single click.
Orange assumes the role as prime system
integrator managing the physical installation,
networking and E2E integration of RAN, CoreNetwork (CN) and attached user terminals tothe network. User terminals and theinfrastructure layer are provided by Lenovo
where Radio Units are from Foxconn and OpenRAN software, CU/DU, was provided by SRS,[5]. Remaining technologies are integratedusing open source solutions, such as Project
Sylva Kubernetes; RKE2 for container runtime,
Open5GS for CN and again Project Sylva for
NF Orchestration and Management. Finally, thetransport layer among RAN, CN andOrchestration layers are provided by Lenovo
being integrated to a Precise Time Protocol(PTP) master. A layered partner, technology
view of project scope is given in Figure 1.
In In the setup, Open Front-Haul (OFH) isintegrated between Foxconn, RPQN 7801 andsrsRAN Project Distribution Unit (DU) via 7.2
split. The system is configured to serve 2x2
Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) channels
utilizing a 50 MHz bandwidth at 3.7GHz for enduser communication. The Central Unit (CU) isas well provided by srsRAN pre-integrated to
DU and it is further integrated to Open5GS over
3GPP’s N2/N3 references interfaces. On top,
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Figure 1 – La yered Deployment Blueprint

Orange integrated Linux Foundation’s Sylva
Project into the RAN Container Network
Function (CNF) deployment orchestration. All
these are powered on Lenovo’s ThinkEdge andThinkSystem
portfolio
providing
E2E
connectivity for real user terminals. Devices are
Lenovo’s MotoEdge products performing
downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) test cases in linewith O-RAN Testing and Integration Focus
Group’s (TIFG) E2E test specifications. Further
details about deployment architecture overview
are given in Figure 2.

enterprise workloads’ mission-critical demands
with legendary quality and reliability. deliver
high value with a small, organized footprint.
These servers are easily expandable andscalable, while able to handle most data center
workloads at telco grade reliability, 99,999%.

As seen in Figure 2, RAN functions aredeployed with the ThinkEdge portfolio whereCN, Management Plane and IT functions aredeployed in ThinkSystem portfolio:

This project is an important milestone for Sylva,
as it is integrated for the first time into RAN CNF
deployment orchestration. Project Sylva hasachieved significant milestones since its launchin November 2022, publishing the public versionof the stack and establishing a validation center.
Sylva addresses use cases as 5GC DistributedUser Plane Functions (UPF), Content Delivery
Network (CDN) or Open RAN providing anarchitecture that is able to manage central to faredge sites, Figure 3.

ThinkEdge
are hyperconverged
solutionsthatsimplify
ITinfrastructure and accelerate time tovalue, freeing teams to focus on core businessand new capabilities. It is designed and builtwith the unique requirements for edge
computing for Telco in mind, and it is versatile
enough to stretch the limitations of server
locations, providing a variety of connectivity andsecurity options and easily managed via Lenovo
XClarity Controller or Redfish.
…………………………………………………………………

ThinkSystemaresustainable
computingplatforms
offering
unmatched value, flexibility, andindustry-leading efficiency to meet……………………………………
. ………………………

Lenovo and Orange Disaggregation Study - Open RAN PlugFest Whitepaper

MotoEdge
family pushes
theboundaries of what a smartphone
can do with ultra-fast connectivity
speeds, exceptional cameras, brilliant
displays and embedded Artificial Intelligence(AI) capabilities.

Both Orange and Lenovo are active contributors
to Sylva Project to unify the cloud andorchestration layer that will support reducing
operational costs for Telco operators.
Teams from Lenovo, Orange and srsRAN
collaborated actively during the project. Orange
provided extended remote accessibility to lab
environment on the management plane which…………………………….….

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Figure 2 – Deployment a nd Integration Architecture

ensured installation, integration and troubleshooting activities in an agile manner without need of any
lab visit by any vendor.

Future WorkE2E Deployment Orchestration is a critical
milestone for automated deployment scenarios
in Telco for both accelerating rollouts andenabling new use cases for edge computing.
Additionally, to fully harness the potential ofopen technologies in cellular networks, several
supplementary tasks are outlined below:▪ Deployment and operation of multiple RAN
workloads on a single edge server▪ Enablement of massive Multi-Input MultiOutput (MIMO) scenarios▪ Sustainability
measuresof5GS
deployments in the lab and at network scale▪ Energy optimization with RAN Intelligent
Controller (RIC) and cloud elasticity▪ Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP) of all
network layers▪ ContinuousIntegration/Continuous
Deployment / Continuous Testing integrationin the lab and further integrity toorchestration layer▪ Performance, interoperability testing ofOpen RAN▪ Dynamic E2E network slicing provisioningand enablement on the fly▪ Edge, Private use-cases enablement on
Open RAN powered 5GS networks

Figure 3 – Project Syl va Reference Deployment Options

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4Conclusion
Telco and Information Technologies (IT) have been converging for more than a decade with the helpof IP based systems, cloudification and more. While CN workloads, especially 5GC, are alreadyrunning on cloud over COTS hardware; RAN is the final and largest piece of this convergence
being driven by Open RAN technology. As higher throughput, lower latency and exponentiallygrowing device connectivity is expected with 5G, operators plan to deploy significantly more RAN
sites and workloads (compared to previous xGs) in their networks which brings greater momentum
for Open RAN technology enablement unifying the infrastructure layer to benefit from a diverse
supply chain, multi-purpose computation power and workload/network scale elasticity.

Both Lenovo and Orange are committed to help Open RAN technology to evolve towards
commercially deployable solutions; being either for greenfield or brownfield, and whatever thedeployment scenario is (macro, micro-private networks, etc.). This study proved the interoperation oftruly disaggregated 5GS network fully automated using a MANO compliant open-source
orchestrator to exploit the real potential. Both parties are further committed to support
disaggregation in Telco for any generation, beyond 5G and ready to participate in the upcoming
PlugFest events.

References[1] Innovating Together: OpenRAN Project Group Progress and Future Horizons, Telecom
Infra Project, October 2023
[2] Operators Telco Cloud – White Paper, Sylva Project, 2022
[3] Lenovo show cases next generation composable infrastructure using Intel Rack Scale Designin a joint innovation partnership w ith Orange,
https://www.lenovoxperience.com/newsDetail/283yi044hzgcdv7snkrmmx9o4zd5z4tdvtgkm93egbwu1nce[4] Global PlugFest Fall 2023 Initiated w ith 100 Participating Companies and Institutions,
O-RAN Alliance, November 2023
[5] srsRAN Project, https://www.srsran.com/5g

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