Summary Bullets:
• Ericsson brought the finishing touches needed to optimize its mobile access portfolio – tying together its RAN compute portfolio, cloud-native capabilities, transport controller, and new Router 6000 variants to leverage RAN innovation and spectrum efficiency with AI/ML to automate services.
• Ericsson brings to market two new Router 6000 variants: the Router 6671 designed for cell site deployment, which supports 10G and 25G Ethernet connectivity, and the 4.8 Tbps Router 6678 to support large scale centralized RAN deployments.
Ericsson’s two new Router 6000 family additions are designed to seamlessly integrate with its RAN portfolio to deliver the capacity, efficiency, and operational support needed to satisfy 5G service demands. With the recent uptick in the use of mid-band spectrum, operators will need to scale up their transport and RAN networks to leverage new Ericsson software features such as carrier aggregation data steering (which switches users from the FDD to TDD); and automated carrier aggregation, which automatically selects and configures carriers for aggregation.
The Router 6671 targets distributed RAN deployments and delivers 10G/25G Ethernet, supports SRv6, and uses 25% less power than its predecessor. The Router 6678 is optimized for centralized RAN aggregation and delivers twice the capacity, a 20% reduction in rack space, and is 3X more energy efficient than its predecessor. Although cell site routers and aggregation switches are not new to the mobile network architecture, the new devices are more tightly integrated with the recent Ericsson Transport Controller for management and the Ericsson RAN Compute Portfolio, which together maximize spectrum utilization, add additional automation, and further reduce overall network energy consumption.
Source: Ericsson
The new Router 6000 variants are both 1RU form factors, which comply with stringent space requirements (such as 250 mm depth). The Router 6678 can deliver up to 4.8 Tbps of switching capacity per unit and be clustered to meet the higher capacity requirements required for centralized RAN aggregation. The new Router 6000 variants complete Ericsson’s recent 5G RAN and transport capabilities and address three key issues facing mobile operators – scalable capacity, energy savings, and automation.