TOKYO—NEC Corporation has launched a North American 5G innovation unit in New Providence, New Jersey that will work to expand its product development and cater to the growing global demand for Open RAN or open radio access network solutions.
The new entity, NEC Advanced Networks, was born out of the company’s recent acquisition of Blue Danube Systems, Inc., and will provide a critical base of operations for the company’s product innovations and solutions delivery activities, NEC said.
Developments in 5G was one of the hot topics at the 2022 NAB Show and developments in Open RAN 5G promise to have an important impact on such issues as newsgathering, video streaming, 5G broadcasting and partnerships with telcos for NextGen TV datacasting efforts.
They also will allow wireless companies to better compete with cable operators in the consumer broadband market.
NEC also announced that the new NEC Advanced Networks innovation unit is being led by Rahul Chandra, a longtime technology and business development leader in the telecommunications industry.
“We know that the demand for Open RAN-compliant networks and solutions is going to continue growing,” Chandra said. “We have aggressive plans to deliver Open RAN solutions all over the world – and bulking up our presence in North America helps customers by increasing our footprint in the Western Hemisphere and expanding our reach by leveraging the robust talent pool at our disposal.”
NEC is using the former Blue Danube resources to create the center.
The company said that its creation is an important development for NEC’s support of Open RAN 5G solutions built on multi-vendor ecosystems.
This will help NEC Advanced Networks drive developments in the Radio Unit business, with a focus on spectrum optimization and AI/ML-based massive MIMO products.
“Adding resources in the Eastern US helps us serve our customers better and work closely with our ecosystem partners,” Chandra explained. “It also provides us a stable platform to build from as demand for Open RAN-compliant products and solutions grows exponentially over the coming years.”
