Vodafone collaborates with Lime Microsystems to develop software-defined cellular radio platforms

Lime Microsystems today announced that Vodafone Group will collaborate with Lime Microsystems to develop software-defined cellular radio platforms that support Vodafone´s OPEN RAN vision.

The app-enabled LimeNET platform aims to bring together a large community of developers to provide innovative and tailored cellular applications more quickly and cost effectively than today. The applications are aiming to cover all aspects of Radio Access Network (RAN) functionalities and services on top, ranging from 4G, NB-IoT to Enterprise specific applications.

Francisco Martin, Head of Radio Product, Vodafone Group Technology said, "Lime Micro is at the forefront of Software Defined Radio wireless technology development, and the platform being app-enabled brings the concepts of agile and feature-rich systems together, unlocking new applications that leverage this radio flexibility and openness to build new services and a completely different Radio.”

Lime CEO Ebrahim Bushehri commented, "LimeNET is the next phase in virtualizing wireless networks and bringing products that operators can use for future real-world deployments. The radio was limited before in terms of the flexibility of providing various frequencies and modes, but we've solved that with our field programmable radio that can adapt dynamically to multiple bands.

"Wireless innovation has been limited by access to affordable, easy-to-use, maintainable and upgradeable hardware. By making radio networks software configurable, LimeNET is changing this and is aligning well with Vodafone's Open RAN initiative to virtualize RAN functionality and enable decoupling of hardware, software and third party applications using general purpose platforms. We already have a great community developing apps, and together with innovative operators like Vodafone (with whom we demoed low cost radio in MWC17), we are exploring the commercialization of these platforms."