Ericsson announced the expansion of its long-term partnership with Google Cloud to develop Ericsson Cloud RAN solutions on Google Distributed Cloud (GDC), which provide integrated automation and orchestration, and leverage AI/ML to facilitate other communication service providers (CSPs).
GDC is a fully hosted combination of hardware and software solutions that extend Google Cloud’s infrastructure and services to the edges and data centers. Both teams have successfully demonstrated the comprehensive implementation of Ericsson vDU and vCU on GDC Edge, and the solution is currently running on-site at Ericsson Open Laboratory in Ottawa, Canada, jointly committed to market development.
Deploying Ericsson Cloud RAN on GDC Edge can provide a fully automated, very large-scale distributed cloud, forming an efficient, reliable, high-performance, and secure software centric wireless access network infrastructure. In this setup, the internally deployed GDC Edge is managed through dedicated secure connections between the internally deployed hardware and the cloud, using functions such as fleet management in the public cloud, while also addressing the sovereignty and privacy requirements of CSPs customers. This architecture ensures a clear path for CSPs to implement a fully hybrid cloud solution for RAN.
Running Ericsson Cloud RAN on GDC Edge will enable cloud service providers to leverage Google Cloud Top AI, BigQuery, and other cloud services to improve the availability of massive datasets provided by cloud RAN applications. In turn, this will provide many opportunities for CSPs to control, inspect, configure, and optimize their RAN infrastructure.
Ericsson Cloud RAN provides additional options for CSPs to create networks based on open standards and using interfaces from multiple suppliers. The Ericsson Cloud RAN solution is infrastructure independent and allows RAN applications to be deployed on any infrastructure chosen by CSPs. Ericsson continuously collaborates with ecosystem partners to adapt its cloud RAN applications to different infrastructure and configurations.
In order to further implement cloud native automation methods for network workloads, Ericsson and Google Cloud will jointly enhance the solution through the Linux Foundation open-source project Nephio (a Kubernetes based automation platform for deploying and managing highly distributed and interconnected workloads, such as 5G network functionality), and we will jointly promote standardization of key functions.
Marten Lerner, head of cloud RAN for Ericsson’s product line, stated: This partnership enables us to deepen and expand our valuable cooperation with Google Cloud, and provides new opportunities for operators to leverage the advantages of cloud native solutions and automation. Ericsson will continue to be committed to ensuring the adaptability of its cloud RAN applications on different cloud infrastructure, providing operators with greater flexibility and options to deploy cloud RAN, and working with Google Cloud to support the constantly evolving hybrid cloud architecture.”

Gabriele Di Piazza, Senior Director of Telecom Products at Google Cloud, said, “We are proud to have Ericsson Cloud RAN running on Google’s distributed cloud edge infrastructure, which includes access to our AI/ML features and cloud native automation. We are delighted that Ericsson has become an outstanding cloud partner for Google and look forward to continuing to maintain a strong partnership to support our mutual customers.”