Parallel Wireless has launched its O-RAN compliant GreenRAN™ xApps Suite, which uses intelligent components to reduce energy usage while maintaining the quality of the user experience. “By leveraging Open RAN capabilities, we can identify the needs of individual handsets and lower resources, such as moving from MIMO 4×4 to 2×2 without impacting the user’s experience,” Baruch Navon, President and COO of Parallel Wireless, said.
The GreenRAN software works on any chip architecture, from x86 to Arm. It will also work independently of Intel’s Flex RAN software, according to Joe Madden, Principal Analyst at Mobile-Experts.
“Parallel Wireless’ approach migrates much more easily to different hardware and different foundational software platforms,” Madden said. “It’s the most open of all the Open RANs on the market.”
The RAN industry has used energy-saving techniques for some time. Traditionally, sites are allocated with bandwidth based on expected usage patterns, which reduces resources during low demand. However, the network components can only be turned down one hour at a time, based on the amount of traffic on the network, according to Madden.
“All the RAN vendors in the market are working on speeding up the networks’ power consumption reactions to make decisions minute by minute or even second by second as to which radios should be shut down and which channels should be shut down,” Madden said. “Some of the processing bandwidth or CPUs may be able to be shut down.”
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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