UK cuts ribbon on OpenRAN security and resiliency testing hubs to make sure kit works with 5G infrastructure

The Ministry of Fun* has (virtually) cut the ribbon on its latest 5G testing centre to verify the security and resilience of OpenRAN kit seeking a place among the UK's 5G network infrastructure. Backed with £1m of central government taxpayer funding, the SONIC Labs (SmartRAN Open Network Interoperability Centre) in Brighton …

[Pascal Monett]

Digital Infrastructure minister Matt Warman

"Our investment is a crucial element of our strategy to tackle the world's over-reliance on a small number of telecoms vendors by growing our own cutting-edge solutions at home. "

It seems to me that the buzzword bingo mastery is gaining strength in this one.

[Anonymous Coward]

Huawei was intent on spending $1.2Bn on it's on a Communications Research Facility in UK.

£1 million investment?

I've read enough....Huawei was intent on spending $1.2Bn on it's on a Communications Research Facility in UK.

You don't do infrastructure security for £1m, not in anyone's book.

It took an outsider to point out that "key infrastructure" BT was planning - aka. "pointless G.fast", could be taken out with a cheap low level frequency generator and still Ofcom remained "technology neutral" in their stance.

And we hear this month BT's key person who promoted pointless G.fast tech for years, gets a promotion and and CBE.

[ARGO]

Re: Huawei was intent on spending $1.2Bn on it's on a Communications Research Facility in UK.

Also interesting that these new vendors don't have to run their kit past GCHQ. Presumably ORAN is in some way immune from shoddy coding practices.

[martinusher]

Re: Huawei was intent on spending $1.2Bn on it's on a Communications Research Facility in UK.

A million sounds like a lot to the rubes but it would easily be swallowed up by a leases on small offices in "London and Brighton", especially as the staff needed to run those would need to be paid to live in those areas. Maybe it would make sense to locate this facility away from the South East? Cheltenham, maybe?

[thames]

Re: Huawei was intent on spending $1.2Bn on it's on a Communications Research Facility in UK.

This sounds more like SONIC Labs are providing a building and the vendors will be expected to supply the kit and instrumentation they need to do the testing.

So, if for example company 'x' wants to promote their kit they set up some racks of it at SONIC and other companies bring their own kit and try it out together to see what problems arise.

If you want to have an open multi-vendor telecoms equipment industry, then you need some sort of neutral meeting place where interoperability tests and demonstrations can take place.

I'm not 100 per cent sure that this is what happening, but it's the impression that I get from the story.

[Dante Alighieri]

IHE Dicom Connectathon

Open interconnectivity works and revolutionised the radiology and healthcare environment.

Title points to it all...