Dali Wireless announced the launch of its Dali Matrix Virtual Fronthaul Interface (vFI) to meet the demand for open RAN that will become a critical component of 5G networks.

Menlo Park, California-based Dali Wireless said the latest version of the fronthaul solution will be solving vendor lock-in issues and lowering network rollout costs.

Major mobile operators in the US and EMEA will be testing the Dali’s vFI later this year. The company does not disclose the name of these mobile service providers.

The company claims that the open RAN enabled by Dali vFI will help mobile operators cost-effectively modernize their networks while protecting the investment in their 2G, 3G and 4G networks.

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Albert Lee, CEO of Dali Wireless, said: “An open RAN, eliminates challenges associated with proprietary RAN hardware solutions and helps to create a more competitive and innovative ecosystem.”

Telecom engineers can use Dali’s core vFI platform to route any baseband resource to any remote radio unit (RRU), similar to how IP data packets are routed in the data network. Dali’s second generation vFI takes this one step further.

Telecom operators can use Dali’s vFI, which features fronthaul protocol translation, for enough flexibility to mix-and-match different fronthaul protocols.

Nick Marshall, research director at ABI Research, said: “The ability to connect any baseband unit to any remote radio unit, regardless of vendor and fronthaul protocol is a very important step to unbundling the RAN and creating the more flexible and open RAN essential for 5G’s success.”

The mobile technology company said vendor and protocol agnostic signal routing in the fronthaul is an important step to unbundling the RAN and creating a more flexible open framework needed for 5G.

Dali’s vFI supports translation between different protocols including CPRI, eCPRI, RoE, and Ethernet enabling seamless communication between RAN elements provided by different vendors.

The company said an open RAN reduces vendor lock-in related issues and decreases the total cost of ownership. Any-to-Any fronthaul connectivity also contributes to sophisticated end-to-end network slicing, and helps operators migrate to 5G networks in a more cost-effective and efficient way while providing maximum investment protection for legacy networks.