American multinational giant Dish Network will leverage Dell Technologies Inc for crucial parts of the new 5G network, which is being built in the United States. The information was revealed back on Tuesday. As reported by Reuters, Dish is eyeing to cover 70% of the country’s population with its network by 2023. Not only this, but Dish is gearing up to launch its first 5G service in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the coming period. One of the unique features of Dish Network 5G infrastructure is a development from scratch. Unlike other operators, Dish Network is not upgrading its existing network for newer 5G speeds.
Dish Network is Leveraging Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN)
The decision by Dish Network to build a 5G network from scratch will allow the operators to reap multiple benefits in the near future. To develop the network, the operator is leveraging the Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) technology. If you are not aware, the O-RAN technology uses software to run network functions on standardised computer hardware instead of purchasing all the gear in the network from specific telecommunications gear providers like Nokia, Huawei and more. The step taken by Dish Network allows them to blend hardware services from different vendors. To trace back, the company has already joined forces with Fujitsu Ltd and Amazon Web Services for cell tower gear and cloud computing services.
Dell Gets a Flagship U.S. Customer for the Technology
Under the terms of the deal, Dell will provide computer servers to Dish Network that will sit in the centre of cell towers or somewhere near to crunch data while sharing it towards the central data centre would cause too much delay. Marc Rouanne, who is the Executive Vice President and Chief Network Officer at Dish, stated that the company could put servers at the bottom of the tower, or it can centralise up to 50 sites. He also stated that the unique feature of the software is flexible placement as per the needs of the company. With the agreement, Dell also gets a flagship customer on U.S. soil for its technology. Earlier this week, Vodafone stated that Dell would assist them in developing Europe’s first O-RAN 5G network.
