The following are the outputs of the captioning taken during an IGF intervention. Although it is largely accurate, in some cases it may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
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>> Thank you for coming to the open RAN session. We have excellent panelists and moderators from Japan, the U.S. and from around the globe. So first, this session consists of two panel discussions. First one is about a panel discussion on the advantage, challenge, and potential of ORAN, and the second one is a cooperation with OTICs. So I would like to start off from the first panel. So before that, let us have an opening remarks from DJ of global strategy bureau of MIC.
>> Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Taora. It's a great pleasure for us to host the IGF and to hold open secure 5G and supplier diversification here in Kyoto. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all related companies and organizations for their efforts in organizing this session.
I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to all the participants for their interest in this session.
Communications infrastructure such as 5G is becoming more and more important every day, and it's backbone infrastructure that end up being for social and economic activities. In Japan, the public and private sectors are working together to deploy a nationwide networks. So that at the advanced service can be provided while ensuring the safety and reliability of the supply chain of including diversification. In this sense I'm convinced that the public‑private session today are very meaningful. We have two panel discussion in this session. The first panel, the panelists will discuss open RANs advantages, challenges, and potentials. The second one they will discuss cooperation between governments and OTICs and training. Start off briefly by introducing the open ORAN security, which was released in May this year by India, Japan, United States, imagine technologies working groups. Again, the backdrop of growing interest in Open RAN in which security risk pointed out due to diversification of interfaces and the components. Since security is considered to be one of the major challenges in implementing ORAN. This report aim to objectively evaluate security issues and potential mitigation measures. This 100 to 60 pages report analysis ‑‑ analyzes the advantageous, challenges and possibilities of overcoming challenges of ORAN compared to traditional RAN. Will you through objective research and analysis, including technical demonstration. This report points out the following three points.
First one is Open RAN offers important Cybersecurity advantages due to improved transparency or visibility. It means more network operator can control and manage its network more easy. Not depending on system ‑‑ second, most of the risk attributed to ORAN comment to those in traditional RAN as well. Based on our analysis through technical demonstrations, only 4 percent of the security risks unique to ORAN. And finally, these risks which are inherent in ORAN can be mitigated on the managers through recommendations presented in the report. Checklist is attached as appendix. By meeting the security requirements of the standards and checklist, we can achieve the security labels equivalent to traditional RAN. Based on these considerations, this report considers that use of ORAN does not fundamentally alter the security risk landscape for communications. Compared to traditional RAN. This is a brief introduction to this report. In today's session, based on the contents of the report, I hope that representatives of the companies and the organizations from various countries will engage in active discussions on the potential challenges of ORAN from various perspectives.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
>> Moderator: Thank you, DJ. So now I would like to pass the floor to Mitsuhiro Hishida, moderator.
>> Mitsuhiro Hishida: Hello. It's very nice to be here. My name is Mitsuhiro Hishida. Until July I was working for the global strategy bureau and now I'm based in Kanazawa, two hours and a half right from here. This morning I came with this limited terrain express and came here. Great pleasure to be back in the setting.
Well, today we have two panel. First panel I will be the moderator. Second panel will be chaired by Ms. Je, my good friend.
So my first point that I'd like to discuss the advantage, chat lengths and potential of ORAN. As Mr. DJ ‑‑ published the last report which focused on the security aspect of this ORAN. In this panel we talk not only security aspect but also we talk about the ‑‑ for example, the cost respect ‑‑ and also the energy efficiency. So with such a advantage and disadvantage and some challenges, we can ‑‑ I hope we can conclude some positive message from this panel.
Are there any ‑‑ introduce these panelists from my left side. Mr. Umesh.
Next we have Mr. Santiago from Philippine. Next we have Chris.
Next Mr. Satou, and we have Mr. Mahesh. So first I'd like to ask each of the panelists to make some opening remarks and then I'd like to go to the panel discussion. So first Mr. Umesh, please.
>> Anil: Thank you. I have been working on ORAN, the topic of this session, for some time and I'm very pleased to have this opportunity to have this ‑‑ to attend this session today. Yeah.
>> Roderick: Eric from the Philippines. I'm in charge of the fix and wireless network of the fix and wireless smart. We have been doing a lot of trials in ORAN with our partner, NTD in the past several months and we're looking forward for more implementation later on.
Thank you.
>> Maybe you keep that one.
>> Sure.
>> Christopher Price: Hello, I'm representing Eric son from the city office of Eric son. For us they say who follow the news we've recently made some strong announcements about our support for ORAN and our RAN technologies. We have an incumbent portfolio which we are looking to make sure that we can evolve. We can create opportunities for new technologies, for new ecosystems to come into existing networks. We think it's very important that we don't branch off into separate tracks. We think it's very important ‑‑ is it not on?
>> There you go.
>> Christopher: It's very important to make sure that we maintain a cohesive communication infrastructure solution as we merge through new and emerging technologies that bring such as clarification and the enablement of artificial intelligence in networks. So for us we're very pleased to be here to talk about ORAN, to talk about not only the security concerns but also the opportunities that ORAN brings.
Thank you.
>> Naoto: Using the beyond 5G optics wireless and software technology to create solution to 2005. And Kuditzu's key initiative in fact that ORAN technology to create ‑‑ to drive ORAN and virtual RAN and also between the intelligence into that allow various devices of service to be combined by delivering the automation derived from cutting edge AI and planning as well as security technologies. And last one maybe the green technology, we also aiming the limit, increasing the power consumption by building the infrastructure. Today so really happy to discuss together. Thank you very much.
>> Mahesh: Good afternoon.
I'm Mahesh Kasar from Raka ‑‑ it's a subsidiary of Raktan mobile was first virtualized open based network. We launched in 2020. We have 5 million plus subscribers in Japan, counting 98 percent of the population of the Japanese territory. The technology has been proven now and we have also started building a new network in Germany based on ORAN technologies. So we can authoritatively say that this is the technology of the future where we need to lead the democratization of network and communication structure. Looking forward to that discussion today.
Thank you.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much and we have one panelists online. So I'd like to call on Mr. James Grayling. Mr. Grayling, are you there?
>> Konnichiwa, can you hear me?
>> Yes, please.
>> James: Thank you very much everybody. Really a shame I can't be with you today. I'm still in the UK and unfortunately couldn't travel to Japan today. But I'm representing Vodafone and we are market leaders in Open/Secure for ORAN. We've been on this journey for the last seven to eight years, testing many components in the ORAN space, understanding the security challenges and concerns. But we're at the point now where we've deployed a number of sites in the UK in the ORAN stack and evolving that now to other markets across Open/Secure. So very good to be here today. Thank you.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much. We are going to have the panel discussion today. So first question I'd like to pose to each panelist is the relationship between this IGF and this panel. As you know, we are now in IGF and the theme of this IGF is Internet we want. So what kind of Internet we want. In my idea it's a free Internet, free connection, being inclusive, implementation and so on. But actually to achieve such a free Internet accessible Internet, we need to have a secure, stable Internet connection. In the sense I think infrastructure is very important and ORAN is a technology that will enable such a stable, secure Internet. This is my idea. But I want to ask each of the panelists very quickly about how do you think about this relationship between the Internet we want and our ORAN technologies?
>> Umseh: Good question we should think about. From my point of view, in ORAN what we see is ‑‑ yes, first of all, the openness that lead to we think of inclusion in the sense that we want to see more new and innovative vendors and providers come to be emerging and welted also like to see together with the existing vendors that this would help to provide vibrant supply system. And through this we hope to be able to deliver better services like in terms of mentioned secure and stable, but in the end this is our goal and in the requirements getting more diverse we think it's more important to have good supplier consistent to provide this kind of secure stable Internet and we think ORAN is very important for this.
>> Eric: Thanks for the question. For me ORAN can continue to Internet governance by the increase in transparency and accountability. I think those are two very important things as we proceed with ORAN. Transparency and accountability. By doing so, you will increase also the innovation on ‑‑ in the field, right? We will minimize vendor lock‑in. In that way we could also support sustainability later on because of that innovation will trigger more low power consumption equipments and with that competition it will just benefit the end user. Thank you.
>> Christopher: So I'll take a slightly different approach to the question. I think if I look back in time, 3G we first got the Internet to the mobile phone, and in 4G the Internet sort of became utilized through the mobile phone. And 5G we're driving industrialization of the Internet. We're trying to bring new capabilities and enterprise on mobility in the Internet. And I think this is a huge change for us as an industry. The roll ORAN plays and can play here is to create those ecosystems where we're able to compete on capabilities, efficiency, price, of course, but not only that, it could also introduce Artificial Intelligence into the network and into how the network is able to make decisions as we address more and more complex Internet capabilities on the mobile Internet. So I see ORAN playing a number of roles as a technology evolution champion for various aspects of how we bring 5G forward and how we make it easier to use and how we better serve society.
>> Naoto: So openness and ORAN allows us to transfer the mobile network from ‑‑ in fact the one we have the, you know, is really limited vendors and the companies can participate to create the maintain the mobile networks. From in the one which is more open, I mean, that IT technology combining the city, I mean, mobile network kind of communication technology and IT technologies should be more used in communication technology, which mean that the IT technology market is continuous goal. So those kind of engineer can join in the mobile networks, which means that the foundation of the supporting the mobile network can also go. It means that we're reading the inclusiveness and sustainability in the future. I think this is possible. And if that foundation is grow then we have more possibility to have innovation in the future. So this as a consequence this brings good things in our society.
>> Mahesh: In my view, I'm strong believer of the connectivity as a critical factor for development of human potential. And there is a human potential which has not ‑‑ have not accessed to the Internet and the communication it can knowledges yet. It has been dominated by a closed community. It has been dominated and things has not changed whether we change from 1G to 2G to 3G to 4G to 5G. A world which lives in 5G. And there is a world which does not have any G available for connectivity. That is possible. When we do ORAN based deployments and we open the interfaces for everybody to participate in building those networks. This will bring in vendor diversity. This will bring in cost optimization. This will bring in access to the technologies to the lowest part of the world. So I would look at it as a platform to give access to every individual on the planet.
Thank you.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much. Last three online. I'd like to ask Mr. James Grayling that same question. Mr. Grayling, what do you think about this relationship between the Internet we want and this ORAN technology?
>> James: Yes, so I think I agree with the panelists and their comments thus far, but I think, you know, bringing digital communities or digital capabilities to rural communities is key to all of this. You know, what ORAN does, it brings competition into the market. It brings other technologies into the market as well. And as part of that, you can really drive best in class solutions for all the different environments, be it urban, rural, and remote communities where, you know, you wouldn't have that capability before. But that's bringing Internet connectivity to people. But I think the other thing is changing how we operate as an industry going forward as well. So through automation and AI, I think Christopher mentioned, that that brings capabilities through SMO and the capabilities of RIC platforms and X apps and R apps that will actually benefit not only us operators but the enterprise customers and consumers on the ability to be able to drive specific requirements for the customer, be it for dedicated bandwidth, 5G network slicing, whatever that might be but actually bringing certain applications to the customer and putting in the customer's hands.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much. So from the suggestion, I understand that maybe openness will include ‑‑ it will invite more players to this ORAN field and it will be ‑‑ promote competition and also promote innovations and it will maybe set a democratic setting may be beneficial to the Internet we want. This is my understanding.
The next question ‑‑ by the way, I think that this brings about for the next question to ‑‑ for the ORAN discussion, we also hear about the security concern. I read some paper issued by the European colleague mention that since ORAN introduces the new interfaces, it will be a challenge for the security of the ORAN, the networks. So my next question is these security issues. How do you ‑‑ what do you think this ORAN can ‑‑ how do you see that the security of the ORAN? Do you think the introduction of the new interfaces can be a challenge to this ‑‑ the security of ORAN or do you think maybe we can overcome such a challenge by introducing some new technologies? That's my second question.
>> Anil: Thank you for that question. I think this is also very important. The way I see it, so there are, I think ‑‑ well, ORAN is a new way of working. So whenever something new comes in, I guess nowadays security is very important. So that's assessment on security that will always come into play. But in the end I think this is something we would address and if we look at it from a different perspective from the way we see it, it was also mentioned I think also in this open security ‑‑ ORAN security report but we also see having this open interface or open specifications allow for transparency and also having this in the standards many people looking at this topic could make things better and again also I mentioned earlier about having new enters trans, new solutions, hopefully we would also see this for security. So in the end we think ‑‑ at the beginning I think this ORAN is new so that's a new aspect which we need to consider but in the end we think ORAN could be better for security, yeah.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much. So I think you explained that ‑‑ the viewpoint from the viewpoint of the operators who already introduced this multi‑vendor system. So I'd like to ask Mr. Santiago, I think in your company you are ‑‑ I think you're also introducing some POC in your company. How do you think about these security issues? How are the variations so far?
>> Roderick: Thank you. In any new things, hardware, software there will be new issues on the security, right? But as I have been doing my due diligence, there's really only 4 percent of new security issues that can be found on ORAN, right? So with that said, I fully believe that it can be overcome if we focus on three things. No. 1, we really need to have regulatory framework, second there should be that industry collaboration to be able to solve those 4 percent new security issues and the third one it's really dependent on the engagement of all the stakeholders to fully resolve it. So it's doable, I'm optimistic that we could be able to overcome it. Thank you.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much. I'd also ask the viewpoint from the operators and from the online we have James Grayling from Vodafone. James, I think Vodafone is also introduced in introducing the multi‑vendor system. How is the viewpoint so far about the security of ORAN?
>> James: Yes, so I think if I can reframe the question slightly. Vodafone have already introduced ORAN into our network and based on that we have got deployments in the network which are take live in commercial traffic. Vodafone takes security very seriously. Through working with the ORAN alliance and working group 11 providing standards to the vendors that specifications need to be met. I think Anil actually touched upon it as well. What it does, ORAN actually brings more opportunities to really address some of the security challenges that we've got in any RAN network because, you know, from working with traditional RAN, it's almost a black box to the operators. But what this does, it allows the operators to really unpick each component of the ORAN stack and ensure that the standards are met through secure by design and that could be secure by design internal requirements but also secure by design from an industry perspective as well. And, you know, any testing that we do within Vodafone has to go through a resilient third party penetration test. And by which, you know, we're breaking down all of the components and ensuring that we've got the capability of that transparency. So I think what it does, it actually ensures that the security is not only driven by the vendors and specifications would be provided into vendors to say this is what the security requirements would be up front, but also puts the responsibility on the operators themselves to actually ensure that what is being deployed in the network is secure and secure by design.
So I think ‑‑ yeah, I think it's working as a community to ensure that all security specifications are agreed and tested up front. And actually some of that testing should be driven by the vendors in advance before coming into the operator. So I see ORAN really opening up the box want of a better term on security and putting more of a spotlight on it and ensuring that all components are secure throughout the architecture.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much. So I heard from James that the security by design. So in my understanding, security by design, the operator is going to test each component but through such process the collaboration within operators and vendors. I ask the opinion from the vendors. So Mr. Saoto, I think you're ICT vendor producing the ORAN components. How do you think about this challenge?
>> Naoto: In fact, from vendor point of view, we also focusing on secure by design. Process in order to develop software and also how we ‑‑ our solution is secure enough to the market. This is also the challenge but we think that this is ‑‑ most important thing is the resiliency for the security, which means that once transparency is on, then each vendor has to have the responsible for the security. Then which means that more ‑‑ you know, it's kind of competition of the vendors will be more high and then finally that good consequence to have the good security and open transparent network will be. So this is what we are thinking.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much. So I'd like to ask another vendor's opinion from Chris. I think also providing some components for ORAN. How do you evaluate the security issues?
>> Christopher: Security mobile networks is extremely important. We take 5G technology, for instance. There are over 100 open interfaces which are standardized and secured in that technology. ORAN brings three new interface areas that didn't need to under go the same due diligence, same hardening, require the same effort in order to bring them up to the same level and establish them as global standards. So Eric Son, for instance, is the leader in the ORAN community as far as contributions are concerned. We believe strongly in building security by design. So you'll see with the open interfaces that we're bringing on the SMO side and through the cloud RAN to radio side, the same due diligence we see on existing 5G interfaces will be applied and the same levels of security and trustworthiness can be expected. There are challenges, of course, in the AI area and in some of the automation pieces where we are addressing new concepts that we're not masters of yet and building this on top of the 5G network that we have today for which we are not masters of yet. I think is an added complication. But I think due diligence and good testing interoperability work is critical to driving technology. Thank you.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much. Lastly I'd like to ask Mr. Mahesh, kind of working as a system integrator to enable this ORAN technologies. So I think in this space you are dealing with many vendors and doing ‑‑ leading with security by design concept. How do you now evaluate such a security of ORAN so far?
>> Mahesh: Well, from Ratken ‑‑ both actually. We have built a mobile network. We have experience building the world's largest fully virtualized ORAN network with security inbuilt. So security was part of the design itself. Our approach is pragmatic. We take zero trust and zero touch approach to the security. From telecom perspective, I may say that we have been a lager in terms of security approaches. But IT and enterprise IT has been gone ahead. So we learn from those practices, best practices speak from the enterprise IT segment and we have deployed those practices in the network. So that 45 the network security by resilience, privacy, user and the data integrating in mind. At the same time if we look at the parameters which have been considered for the security fortification, where the strong identity certificates, the validation of the security limits every time you get a validated nonsecurities we did a certification of the network elements and at the same time all the network activities has been made visualized. So whatever activity happens you have vigilance on that. That also limits the access to like network elements from various parties. So through these different practices, we have secured or network. We have done that. So in terms of these discussions on ORAN not being secure, we would invite them to see it and if they still believe that seeing is believing, they'll definitely believe it.
>> From previous speakers, I understand that the issue of securities is now being addressed by each viewpoint at some point from the vendor's perspective, from the operator's perspective and I think it's kind of the collaboration among the vendors and carriers and also sometimes the entities such as ORPC who not setting some specification for security. With such a collaborative works, I think the security of the ORAN will be at ‑‑ bring about the open and secure infrastructure. Now, next I'd like to turn to the next question. It's about the cost. Since ORAN is kind of the multilayer structure, it might ‑‑ there's an argument that it cost higher, it's more costly than the ordinary integrated networks. So how do you think about this cost effect? How do you think about this cost aspect of ORAN?
>> Anil: Thank you. Yes, as mentioned, we have introduced ORAN since our start of 5G in 2020. And then also very recently last month we announced that we also started introduced virtual networks. On the cost we believe also from cost point of view on ORAN and VRAN would be beneficial. We have seen actual aspects, like obvious would be having ‑‑ with ORAN we have more choices the way we see it. So cost there is competition and there's also we would be able to choose the best solution where cost is one of the factors. So among others like performance or schedule and that is obviously one thing. And there are as mentioned, this is also a little bit comment what I mentioned for security but there are new aspects in ORAN. So there are especially in the beginning there may be some factors where there could be additional costs but in the total we are ‑‑ I think we are expecting cost to be also ‑‑ to receive benefits from cost and we also think that as ORAN and VRAN, as they scale we expect to see even further benefits. That's the way we see it, yeah.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much. Next I'd like to ask another carrier who is introducing ‑‑ Mr. Samesh, this introduction with multi‑vendor is promote the competition and reduce the cost? Do you think so?
>> Mahesh: Until now the mobile networks were dominated by the mobile infrastructure providers and they have all the vertical stack which was proprietary and has been cost ‑‑ not has been cost effective so far. So in Rakuten mobile our approach was multi‑vendor ecosystem which will bring in all the sale components which are available in the market so we can pick and choose from which companies we want. The second aspect was we did hardware and software disintegration. Most of the network components were virtualized and put on to the cloud. So whenever you have a scalability problem in the network, you need to put a cost to it now that cost is gone because the scalability is managed by the cloud infrastructure itself by the ‑‑ it will manage your parts and the containers itself so how much allocation needs to be done. The AI approach put into the software will also manage what are the components to utilize. So cost goes down there. Your cost goes down for operating the network itself. In Rakuten mobile traditional approach we would end up spending more on the capitol. Today we are saving 40 percent. Operational expenditure is 30 percent if we would have done it additionally. So cost is another area where we have already championed the aspect here.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much. Next I'd like to ask the vendor's perspective. Naoto?
>> Naoto: From budget integration point of view I think of course integration is not eligible. In fact, has to be smart enough. Besides that from hardware point of view, we believe that a portion of the device is the speed of the device. And also that we like to take advantage of this means that our solution is also thinking that with like to have the solution on top of the cutting edge devices which means we can take advantage of the evolution of the devices and also from traditional RAN point of view, it will really optimized in terms of the energy savings and as well. We understand that, you know, the speed of the ‑‑ and I think that can be ‑‑ afford to do that because of the ‑‑ investment in fact that for traditional RAN to invest hardware it's really hard for us and device evolution and the servers which used by as an industry area this means that this ‑‑ you know that the cost effectiveness for those things that we like to take advantage of those things into the mobile networks.
>> Thank you very much. I think ‑‑ vertical integrated works and also you were providing some of the open component. How do you compare the cost between the different types.
>> The cost is a question of opportunity. And I think one of the things that Anil said it's a matter of choice where am I going to choose to deploy different technologies and why. What am I trying to achieve by using this area and where are my potential savings or not? At Eric Son we believe in the most efficient and most effective work we can produce. In other words, we want to leverage their interface as much as we can. That's the critical thing we want to solve. Technologies to leverage a frequence up to five or six times more than you do in the traditional radio is extremely important. Bringing that technology and those capabilities into the ecosystem is something that we're striving to achieve and really want to bring forward. That provide then choice for operators to be able to leverage technology and be able to be deployed either in a cloud solution or in a standalone solution where that makes sense to the operator. There's no right answer I think on how best to approach this as the technologies emerge we'll see more synergy between the two. The ability to integrate different components in different ways. But that makes time. We know it's not so simple as to expect the national network to work. Takes effort, global standards and takes ecosystems and that's I think where we're spending time to bring in for us.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much. Next I'd like to ask Vodafone's point of view, Mr. Grayling: I heard from your previous comment that actually introducing ORAN in some areas and you're kind of taking the position to compare now vertical into the system and also ORAN system. So far in this point of view how do you evaluate the cost between the traditional vertical system and ORAN.
>> James: So I think again many of the points have been touched upon already but I think, you know, we're fairly advanced as an industry in ORAN and when you compare it to traditional RAN I think there is still some way to go in total cost of open from a competition perspective, ecosystem, maturity perspective. But I think what we're seeing is that ‑‑ and I think Kumar touched upon it is the automation. We can talk about ecosystem competition best in class but what automation will do is it will drive down our operating cost significantly and I mean that not only from an operational and maintenance perspective through Artificial Intelligence of identifying when components may fail but also driving down the capabilities or pushing up the capabilities to actually mentioned so on and so forth. But also it brings automate the way we optimize networks as well and driving through song capabilities and to ensure that the networks and the ORAN stacks are performing to the best of their ability. I think it's not only competition but it's also automation and what SMO brings will also drive down that TCO model. And I think just to finish for me is on around what this will do is it not only drives down what ORAN is doing is creating competition not only to drive down costs for the vendors and the hardware providers but also from a traditional ORAN perspective because it's creating that competition in the market. So overall TCO costs for the operators will be benefited through ORAN and the competition that ORAN brings.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much. Next I'd like to ask from the operator's point of view. Mr. Santiago, how do you evaluate ‑‑ I think you're introducing some POC. How do you think so far about this cost comparative ‑‑ the cost of ORAN compared to traditional RAN?
>> Eric: We did a cost‑benefit analysis to start with. What I have seen so far is during the transition or the short‑term it will be a little bit higher on the ORAN as typical, right? But if I look at the overall lifespan of the hardware, right, I will benefit why because the flexibility, I will have that also that resource optimization. I will also have the capability to be able to do virtualization and more innovative ways on how to maximize my investment. So pretty much it. Thank you.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much. So I heard the total cost of operation. So even if in a short time introduction in the system might be costly but from the long‑term maybe as a viewpoint of TCO maybe it might be more cost effective. I think this is kind of the conclusion from this panel. Now I'd like to turn to another prospect of ORAN. Next I'd like to focus on the energy efficiencies. So I also heard from the opponents from the ORAN that introduction of the new interfaces and maybe the ‑‑ maybe have a bad effect on the environment. So it will cost ‑‑ in the efficiency point of view it is more costly than the traditional one. What I heard from the opponent of the ORAN but how do you see this energy efficiency argument? First I'd like to ask from Tokomo. Please.
>> Anil: Also from energy efficiency, we see ‑‑ well, two aspects, one is from the hardware perspective and one is from software and on the hardware as mentioned in the previous discussions, the hardware is really I think evolving. So being able to take on new hardware, I think this is kind of the idea from virtualization but that does help to bring in better component with ‑‑ also from energy efficiency point of view. One is the CP US and servers. For RAN, this component, the hardware accelerator component taking care of the very delay strict processing that play's big role and also there we are seeing new components coming into the market. We think from hardware perspective we are expecting this will get better, energy efficiency for ORAN will also get better and also for the software perspective, I think there was mention of SMO and automation but this is also an area where we also have actually have some implementation or in the current network some parts of it mainly initially is on reducing radio ‑‑ turning off the radio which are not news but that helps and we are also seeing studies in the industry which also tries to optimize hardware also in the base so this is also another area we are hoping that will come.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much. I understand that the hardware and also software will improve the energy efficiency. I think this can be either kind of the future direction for improving the efficiency of ORAN. So I'd like to ask Mr. Mahesh, do you also think this improvement of hardware and software can reduce the energy consumption of ORAN?
>> Mahesh: Yes. Obviously, this integration of software and hardware has led us to less usage of hardware which is obviously one way of ‑‑ we have been conscientious about sustainable innovation in the hardware. Also we have deployed some of the best practices to reduce the energy consumption in the network. We are committed to reducing the carbon footprints and approaching towards the net zero future by some of the examples I would say that there are some intelligent controllers which have been in place which will basically monitor the consumption of the radio which is the largest consumer of the energy. Another largest consumer of the energy would be the data centers and the servers which are being optimized. For example, on the radio side we have developed the IOT based smart meters which will continuously monitor the consumption of the networks. Also has such a development and they are in place. At the same time we also monitor the traffic on the network so that we can manage the radios. They can put some radios on hibernation or on this low consumption so that you don't consume more energy on the network. So with this some of the aspects which we have already deployed and those are not sufficient I would say sitting in KYOTO talking about sustainability is a touchy topic. So these are not sufficient enough so we will continue to innovate ways to reduce that carbon footprint and compel towards the net zero consumption.
>> Thank you very much. Mentioned ‑‑ I understand that Latke is also using the component. So I'd ask Saoto point of view.
>> Yes, the point of view that once the data center is centralized and it's ‑‑ we have more possibility to have the smarter control for the hardware resources software resources can be optimized and stopping the Servers and so on so forth. Of course would be part of the advantage and also the ‑‑ I'm feeling that currently for example in ORAN Aru and base station that we have some kind of the energy saving sleeping mode or something like this. We're thinking it's kind of ‑‑ we're chasing the sophisticated operation every time means that ORAN digitalization has been defined but we have another sophisticated technology to control assumption like this but I think the more ‑‑ the standardization and sophisticated radio control has to be well balanced in order to define more implemented ORAN standardization because openness has to be, you know, simply is best. So simpler open standardization and having the ‑‑ and certain level of sophistication of the control or something like this. So we're thinking these would be important things.
>> Thank you very much. I'd like to ask the Vodafone's point of view. So Chris, more sophisticated way of control the hardware can introduce ‑‑ can bring about the cost efficiency, how do you feel this way?
>> Christopher: So from the Eric Son point of view I think we set ourselves some targets when 5G was announced. We'd seen from 2G that the costs had gone up basically with every bit that gone through. The cost hadn't changed significantly. Set ourselves some target to support 5G through put but reduce the power consumption on the bay stations by 40 percent from what we got in 4G. We're currently at 37 percent. So we're absolutely striving for much better efficiency and sustainability. These are industry targets. There is work across industry in improving standardization and implementation. These targets that we find can be met with dedicated silicon solutions, general purpose processers haven't been able to deliver the types of power performance savings that we have been striving for but it doesn't put them out of the question, right? There's room in a network for different types of implementations and different trade‑offs you might need to make in different deployment scenarios. For Ericson, we expect to see an improvement in the ORAN performance we have for instance over a million radio devices have AI built in to turn on and off antenna micro second time in the market are ORAN capable. We haven't updated the software but will be doing that for 2024. We already have hardware capabilities that are extremely energy efficient. We expect to hit that 40 percent target not only ‑‑ also on the ORAN networks as the technology evolves and the standardization continues.
>> Moderator: I'd like to ask Vodafone's point of view. Mr. gray Grayling, you also consider the energy issues when you're designing the woks. So how do you evaluate this environment effect of ORAN so far?
>> James: So I think all the published have mentioned the different components and the different energy draw that each component brings and I think I'm right in saying 80 percent of the energy on the site is down to the IUs and what we've found through some of the testing that we've done in our live environment, the IUs are contested to traditional ORAN used today. Those energy savings that we're receiving or energy benefits in ORAN are coming to fruition now. But I think the area of focus needs to be on two areas. One is the digital units, the cop service and you know that's where much of the energy draw is and also around this ‑‑ what ORAN does it gives us the opportunity to develop the chipsets to be far more efficient from a processing perspective from a layer one perspective as well. So from Vodafone's point of view, the RUs we're seeing are actually contested in from an energy perspective now but the area that needs to be focused as an industry is the servers and the DU areas.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much. So lastly I ask Mr. Santiago's point of view. So far what we hear from the argument that it's an improvement of the software and hardware there is a possibility to approve the energy efficiency, each component. How do you feel about this kind of argument? Do you think it's possible that we can achieve more energy efficient open network.
>> Eric: Energy management is one of my pillars in my network and vision. So further reduce energy consumption and with that said, I could see ORAN similar to what I'm doing in 4G 5G to implement the same self optimizing network, AI algorithms in order to further reduce the power consumption in the most smart and efficient way but at the same time provider ‑‑ providing still that increase coverage and capacity as you go along. So I could see that one as really doable by implementing ORAN. Thank you.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much. So we're almost coming to the end of the time we are allocated but we still have I see five minutes. Seven minutes. Okay. So lastly I'd like to ask each panelist about the human aspect. The argument I hear from this ORAN discussion, my impression is so far the system is on the responsibility of the city vendors. So carriers can just ask the vendors, vendors can set up everything, not so much required for the operator, but since ORAN is introduced maybe my understanding is there's going to be more responsibility for the operators. They have to know more about this system is going to be more transparent need to see each of the component based on clarity also human capability is also required for the operator side also. So lastly my last question is how ‑‑ between the carriers and vendors and how ORAN and change such an oversharing between vendors? So first I'd like to ask companies.
>> Anil: Thank you. This is also one very important aspect. As you know, we have deployed ORAN also VRAN recently but especially we have been seeing this system integration. This is happening more. We used to do it also from 4G times but now with VRAN as mentioned by previous speakers we are seeing more IT vendors coming into play and we are having ‑‑ currently we are seeing more communication with these new players vendors for system integration. So this is happening. I think in general this could be done by the operators. I think that's what we are trying to do. I think many of that maybe the bigger operators are trying to do this. But at the same time this could be also maybe challenging for ‑‑ with operators with less resources. So from our point of view we are trying to do two things to get ORAN to participate globally. One is to share the experiences, share what they have been done on the integration. With other players, people or operators or vendors in the world. So that we don't have to do the same testing integration each time which would help hopefully reduce these costs also from the human resources point of view and then the second point of view, we are also trying to take on also not only system integration role but also trying to do this also for other operators who would demand this ‑‑ who if by request we are also trying to provide this kind of service. So we are ‑‑ system integration is new this is important and it is a collaboration between operators and vendors but at the same time we are doing this.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much. I'd like to ask how do you feel this kind of ‑‑ how do you see ‑‑
>> Mahesh: If you do something first time and if you leave the part, you need to create the part. So we knew that when we were going to deploy ORAN based architecture in our network, we knew that we need to develop that human capital if you look at the structure today we have engineers and skilled professionals from 70 different countries which we to accumulate Rakuten mobile. We knew these solutions and architectures and the platforms to our customers. Our customers also will need to build or reskill their resources for ORAN deployment. We helped build a platform called learning hub through which we train our resources for ORAN based technologies. We have moved one step further in Philippines to train engineers, telecom engineers on ORAN technologies. That platform is available. It has been supported by USAID as well and it might seem as a supporter of that activity. So we have done enough work in order to secure those resources for our own deployment as well as when other operators will go for ORAN deployments we would definitely create that resource. Be it in the radio technologies, be it in the cloud native technologist, the orchestration of the technologist, the automation, the AI all these different aspects have been covered under that training in ORAN academy as well as under the platform which we are providing to the operators.
>> Thank you very much. Mr. Santiago, mentioned about the open academy in Philippine. How do you think about this human resource capacity building? That is going to be required for the ‑‑ coordinated actions necessary for the promotion of ORAN?
>> Eric: Yeah, continuous learning is very important. Knowledge, sharing just like what we're doing with NTDacamo would be critical and not repeat the same efforts they did but being more efficient in focusing more on the implementation and operation of it. So to answer your question, yes, I mean, I have been very involved in a lot of ORAN discussions around the world and focusing to really what can be implemented and how we could be more cost effective moving forward. So with regards to HR. So that's part of my vision this year and next year is really to have that set of engineers that I could call experts in this field.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much. Next I'd like to hear from the vendor's point of view. Naoson, how do you think about this.
>> Yes, I don't know if I can answer the question but I think that the key fact would be we have to use IT technology much more and ‑‑ software desegregation would be key to bringing another stage and budget integration.
>> Christopher: Very briefly I'm looking forward to the next panel but regardless of whether I would have bought it myself or whether I were to buy it from a vendor, security is becoming increasingly important. Cyber ‑‑ work with your partners, work with your vendors and competitors to find the best solutions, get in the ecosystem, contribute. I'd love to see everyone at the security forum. There's plenty of seats there for people to join and also at the IGF on Tuesday there are a number of sessions on infrastructure in Cybersecurity that people can participate in. But the best I can do is make your decision business the network that you want to and contribute, collaborate and learn from your peers, thank you.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much especially on the online ask Mr. Grayling's point of view. Mr. Grayling, this is last question. You're last to speak up on this panel. How do you think about this human capacity building aspect of ORAN in the introduction of the ORAN do you think there's a special need for the human capacity building?
>> James: I think just to wrap up for me is each operator, each vendor can't do this alone and, you know, we're on an innovation path that we're all learning from and I think what I've seen certainly over the last few years has been a huge change in the way that the industry worked collectively and collaboratively. We've got a number of different MOUS with different vendors and supplies which actually wouldn't have been the case going back to three years ago. So knowledge transfer is going to be key to this and I don't mean this in an ORAN perspective but in an open way. Really learning off each other and knowledge transfer and skills transfer because as I say each operator, each vendor can't do this alone, got to do it as an industry. I think I'll leave on that note.
>> Thank you very much. Comes to the end of our session. I need to close this session. Thank you very much for today very fruitful discussion. I'd like to thank all the panelists and also the panelist the Online and Mr. James Grayling. Thank you very much for today's discussion. Thank you very much.
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>> Thank you for the Introduction and also thank you very much for organizing this very timely session. I'm Yushi leading ‑‑ general association for promoting R and D on ICT with MICYoko and Raul and others.
Now I'd like to speak about efforts and Japan automatic in response to 5G and ORAN. Could you display ‑‑ yes, please. So next slide, please.
Thank you. So what is ORAN, open radio access networks. ORAN is setting open specification for segmented parts RAN so that each RAN part can be union advertised. In the figure from the right in green, RU, radio unit is a unit that communicates with the user terminal such as your smartphones and IOT terminals, using radio waves by amplifying carrier wave power controlling antenna activity among others. DU, distributed unit, is a unit moderate and signals to be transmitted, demodulators and decodes signals to be received and performs communication control. Depending on the form of communication demand it is often attached to the area. Center unit is a unit controls connected to DUs and RUs that are connected via Dus connects to encrypt packet and manages resources through terminals. And the next ‑‑ what are the benefits of ‑‑ excuse me, this is another one. What are the benefits of ORAN? First, reduced cost, fast technology called development, ORAN can read to reduce fast technological development. Second, participation of ventures. Can lead to participation of venture companies through the development of its capabilities. Third, solving supply chain safety and concern. Safety and supply concern with solve by promoting participation of other vendors. If there is a supply or technical program with a single supplier or set of RAN equipment there is a known substitute for equipment and a possibility that the communication network is that area that will be affected. As a result people living in area may be unable to communicate the Internet. Next what is ORAN alliance? The ORAN alliance was established in 2018 with the aim of building next generation open and advanced networks including 5G. Five mobile networks operators of Open/Secure, America and Asia are the founding members of the ORAN alliance. At present more than 30 network operators and more than 300 companies in total including vendors and others around the world would participant and contribute to develop interoperable specifications for open and intelligent radio access networks.
And then what's the role of OTIC, open testing and integration centers? Provides an open collaborative vendor independent and impartial working environment to support the progress of the ORAN industry ecosystem including awarding ORAN certificate and ‑‑ hosting ORAN proof of concept, interoperability ORAN products and solutions. Demos, community events or trials and workshop or tutorials, among others. So far 15 have been established in the world. 4OTICs in Open/Secure, six in North America and five in Asia. In Japan eighth in the order of establishment. About Japan OTIC. It was established in December last year, located in YRP. YRP is an area where ICT rated research institutes and basis in other fields are concentrated since it's established in 1997. Japan OTIC jointly managed and operated by R and D promotion committee and all four mobile network operators in Japan. This joint operation by multiple operators is the first in the world. The purpose of OTIC is to contribute to approve ORAN communications which leads to open intelligent and highly secure radio access networks. In establishing operating Japan OTIC, knowledge from research and development and surveys conducted by ministry of affairs and communication sincerely utilized.
Here's the picture of laboratories and equipment of Japan OTIC. Currently has two testing laboratories. One operated by NTDDokomo. The photos were taken at the time of opening. There are more testing equipment. So this is the ORAN certification ‑‑ ORAN alliance sets up sessions of functions of hardware and software that make up the base station equipment and the interfaces that connect the equipment. Conducted by OTIC can only be granted by ORAN alliance members. First, certificate is to verify compliant to the ORAN specifications using ORAN conformance test. In this figure, ORU green at the right, ODU at the middle, and ODUOCU set the middle and the left conform and certificate as shown.
Second, interoperability IOT is to provide interoperability of products connected by an open ORAN interface or ORAN profile by 3GPP interface using ORAN interpretability test. In the figure ORU and IOT and pair of OIU and ODU slash OCU set IOT as shown. Third end to end is badge is to demonstrate system or subsystem meets minimum requirements on the functionality and security using ORAN and end to end test. It can also provide an indication of performance or other end to end functionalities. In the figure the scope of ORU/ODU/OCU set badge is shown.
And after efforts of ‑‑ this is the explanation also. After efforts of constructing test facilities and conducting OTIC operations, Japan OTIC issued its first certificate in June this year. This is the world first certificate for global vendors like NAC. The certification by Japan OTIC is expected to expand market entry opportunities for equipping manufacturers and innovator features reduce time to market and reduce cost for communication services. So here's the Web site and videos, Japan OTIC is working to raise awareness of ORAN specification and promote use of OTIC. As you see, we establish Japan OTIC Web site containing outlines, introductory videos, news and events. We have conducted first ORAN seminar in July to promote the benefit of ORAN and auto certification badge and visit with test laboratories. We also participate various contribution and speaking opportunities. Please contact us through contact us page on your Web site if you're interested in using Japan OTIC. Thank you.
>> Thank you so much.
now over to Mr. Perera, the floor is yours.
>> Perera: Actually I have a slide but they're not there but going to speak. First thank you for the invitation to be part of this panel. Represent North America OTIC in Washington, D.C. Metro area. Actually, we became OTIC three, four months ago, okay. We are located in the Washington, D.C. area. OTIC is designed in two sites, an indoor laboratory that is located in Washington, D.C. Metro area and outdoor in the field as well where we would have real deployment. That is located in main campus deployment. This complication was primarily support by three carriers in U.S., ATT, Verizon and ‑‑ I, okay. We are mainly focused and performance tests interoperability test. For short‑term we have no plan for now to emit but for long‑term using our plan first we want to guarantee that that we have the overall capability and expertise to test and verify the perform test before making any commitment to make badge certifications. Another specific quality of this OT in Washington DC that is led by me is that different for others OTIC across of the world, this OTIC has been issued by an academia. At the same time we have an academia environment, we have a laboratory where we have been using to leverage the work force development in ORAN because we really have a platform where we can train engineers in hands on‑experiment. I think that's all for my introduction so far. Thank you.
>> Moderator: Thank you. So next we will go to the virtual world and we have Mr. we were online who will be providing remarks.
>> Alex: Thanks. Can I just confirm that you can hear me okay? Great.
>> Moderator: All good.
>> Alex: Good afternoon, everyone. Firstly, thank you for the invitation to participate in today's panel and I'd like to extend that. Thank you to my Japanese colleagues for the organization of the events and also to the panel members who will be sharing their unique insight today. By way of introduction, my name is Alex Weber, acting director of the future connectivity team which sits in the Australian government department of public affairs. My team delivers a suite of programs and policy settings which aim to uplift telecommunication strategies by working Australia has access to a diverse market of telecommunication vendors and providers. What I will say up front is the Australian government is very supportive of emerging technologies with the potential to contribute to a secure and transparent telecommunications market such as ORAN. ORAN shows promise in delivering more mobile telecommunication ‑‑ supporting stronger technology supply chain security and resilience. By the very nature open systems require collaboration and the ability to test integration of bearing systems and technologies which can not be achieved in isolation. So to address this need, the Australian recognizes the crucial role testing facilities including OTIC play in ensuring that there's an open collaborative and vendor neutral environment for vendors to progress developments of ORAN technologies. The Australian government is actively engaged in efforts to support the development and widespread development of ORAN and diversification of Australia's national telecommunication supply chain. We've endorsed a number of statements including the proud proposals on telecommunications supplier diversity and the quad memorandum of five day supply diversification and ORAN to name a few. We're also progressing a number of domestic initiatives and one being the establishment of the secure G connectivity test lab. The security G connectivity test lab in particular once established will provide a primary opportunity for Australia to collaborate with like minded labs to promote telecommunications innovation security and harmony among testing environments. Thank you.
>> Thank you so much. And last but not least we have Mr. Quek over to you.
>> Okay. So I'll just keep my presentation short. I'm Tony. I work at a university. At the same time I'm heading the 5G national program in Singapore which is Phase I 2025 planning for Phase V. OTIC as part of the future initiative which review there's one in the that Singapore wants to drive. I'll just keep our focus on OTIC. Our OTIC was announced in February. We have three focus essentially. Focusing on security, building security capabilities, testing multi‑vendor ORAN solution, energy efficiency. The goal is essentially the use of OTIC to be ecosystems around Singapore. Probably the vendors could actually branch out to us as a market and applications verticals which are essential for Singapore. For example marine time aviation and so on. This is my last slide. So the capability we are playing for expansion is enhanced security testing. Analysis tools which is nonadditional testing capability. We have just set up our tester ability to do RX testing capability as crow the different interfaces. We hope to showcase more next year. More interesting is we're actually expanding our OTIC to include testing capability by next year. We will foresee in the future there will be more opportunities for ORAN vendors to branch into NTN ecosystems. That's all. Thank you.
>> Moderator: Thank you. So we will now move into the Q&A portion and I would welcome any of the speakers to volunteer to provide answers to these questions. So the first one is there a role for OTICs in other research and development labs both public and private to play in promoting the responsible use of AI and emerging technologies, avoiding Internet fragmentation, Cybersecurity, cyber crime and online safety, data governance and trust, digital divides and inclusion, global digital governance and cooperation, human rights and freedoms and sustainability and the environment. So that's a long list of options but the key question here is what is the benefit here of the OTIC and how far is their reach? Any volunteers? Please.
>> Torigoe: Very traditional issue, very important question for IGF. I was part of a past IGF session in maybe Germany but now I'm in the position of OTIC. So to introduce, ORAN is initiative that has only been around four to five years and current scope of certification and budgeting is OTIC's as I explained conformance, extra operability and end to end. Therefore certification and budget currently performed by OTIC is limited to confirming compliance with technical specifications interoperability and meeting minimum requirements for function and security for end to end. Meanwhile like other speakers already explained discussions under way to make security badge as the fourth certification or badge for OTIC. There is a dedicated working group 11 to discuss security issue. I believe that the road of OTIC to be played in promoting responsible use of AI and imagine technology will depend on the future developments. As for digital divide of course it is believed that reducing the cost of procuring a communications infrastructure equipment and regarding sustainability and environment like other speakers in the previous session and this session discussed already energy saving is the key topic of communication equipment and energy saving and will eventually contribute this discussion.
>> Moderator: Thank you. Would anyone else like to chime in?
>> As I mentioned before, our OTIC has a specific designation because we are academia as well at the same time that we provide service for vendors to test their access networking. In our case, what we have been trying to do, what I have been trying to do there despite being director in DC, I am also research faculty department at Virginia Tech and this play a very important role in when we have OTIC infrastructure because I like to say that we have not just infrastructure that ‑‑ provide service for OTIC but we have a transformative infrastructure where we use transformative infrastructure to create the workforce development and wireless communication networking. And just to give you example, six months ago we brought to this laboratory in Washington, D.C. a group of college students that they have never before the understanding of the end to end of communication at work and we make available for then our radio grade infrastructure where this college students we walk them through how to deploy their own communication network, how to deploy their base station, how to deploy the coordinate working, how to connect programmable softer define UEs. This is what I call we are using these as a transformative infrastructure not just for OTIC but to break the digital divide but at the same time to do the inclusion for those students that all colleges students Universites those have not access to this kind of advanced infrastructure they can really bind and train students or experience, I think this is where we have been doing at OTIC so far but at the same time taking Washington, D.C. as well we have what I call end to end open source platform, right? We are aware that the partner today they have been desegregate CDDURDU but or pro priority, we can bring this equipment, this piece of components to our laboratory but this is not open ‑‑ they do not allow these students to train to do really innovations, develop new mechanism, and pass these mechanisms in the closed box CDU and RDU. What you have done is we create in Washington, D.C. OTIC end to end ORAN, okay, open source that allow us to develop new mechanisms and employ and the physical layer and application layer of the base stations and this allow innovation, okay, and allow as well create the workforce development. At the same time that we can portable, this new mechanism that has been training validating open source platform to the equipment because the open source platform is also end to end compliant. If vendor come to us and bring their CU, DU, and RU and tell us this comply with the ORAN specifications, this means that we have developed in our ORAN framework should work as well.
>> Moderator: Thank you. It's fascinating to hear how multidimensional and multistakeholder this work is. Truly in line with our efforts here at the Internet Governance Forum on supporting an equitable and inclusive approach to the Internet. So very interesting.
If it's all right, I'll move to the next question and turn to you and Mr. Weber first. So what are the benefits to the vendors or users in terms of cost and the speed of examination due to the competition among OTIC's around the world? Would you like to go first?
>> I would think it's not about competition. What actually is more important is the normalization. So as we foresee there will be more OTICs. How do you actually ensure the standard is main stained? How do you recognize each other testing or badging? I think that's important. That is where different OTICs can come together to help to bring the ecosystem in order to ensure that ORAN is the solution for sequentially beyond 5G and 6G. Another important factor how to even share our testing report, the mechanism. I think these are the things that will actually reduce cost and just is the ability. That's where the opportunities are. I foresee more of a collaboration which is what we have done organizing in August. We hope this will continue so OTICs can work together.
>> Thank you very much. Very interesting. Mr. Weber would you like to address that question and perhaps tell us a little bit more about Australia's plans with regard to OTICs in the future? Is there an Australian government Australian lab that has engaged with the broader ecosystem? Thank you.
>> Alex: To answer the first question I'll leave it to my colleagues on the panel for further explanation but I guess at a high level I think cooperation between labs will reduce development time frames and I think labs could coordinator testing each lab recognizes testing from each other, adds new testing opportunities to promote development and innovation and may also include testing against additional vendors or sharing testing methodologies globally to promote telecommunications globalization and consistency. In terms of the Australian government and our own testing facilities and what options there may be in terms of cooperation with OTIC in the future. As I mentioned in my early yes remarks the Australian government is working to establish its own testing facility known as the secure G connectivity test lab. The key objectives of the lab is to provide an environment of the industry including televendors to test their equipment, standards, software and protocols that underpin emerging interoperable networks with a primary focus on security and interoperability. The lab will be a government led facility with work currently underway to select a prime contractor to design, establish, and operate the lab over an initial period. At this stage where we estimate that the lab will be fully operational by mid‑2024, so next year, in post establishment Australia is very much open to increasing engagement across the broader testing ‑‑ including with OTIC. We currently engage with a number of government partners from, you know ‑‑ with U.S. and the UK and in particular a number of I guess testing facilities within those countries but there is an opportunity to engage with these other testing facilities including OTIC. What I will note as well is that Australia is also engageing with a number of other I guess research institutions in support of our own telecommunications security and diversification objectives. In one particular initiative that we are currently undertaking is some work with Australia's commonwealth scientific and industrial research organization to undertake research and development into next generation telecommunications security requirements. And this particular research will develop security protocols towards interoperable virtualized telecommunications technologies and establish a sovereign evidence based industry if it's to build upon. So I guess to sum up their I think it's the information sharing and the opportunity that is presented to all of us across the testing ecosystem is something we should all embrace and really seek to leverage the opportunity that is presented in this current form.
Thank you.
>> Moderator: I completely agree. Thank you for those remarks. You talked a lot about the opportunities for collaboration here and I'd like to hear from the other panelists about what kinds of additional cooperation is feasible between each OTIC and perhaps even other research and development labs? Any volunteers?
>> Thank you very much for very important questions. Well, first of all, the current challenge for OTIC is to officially conduct test required by ORAN specification and issue certification in an expected time frame. Important of each vendor to obtain OTIC certification and encourage them to obtain OTIC certificate. Therefore, it is possible for OTIC to share the best practices first efficient testing methods and second effective public relation of ORAN certification and raising motivation for obtaining certification bunking of OTIC. And we have started this practice in this ORAN alliance. We have a regular face‑to‑face meeting last meeting was in Osaka hosted by Japanese telecom operator and we have very fruitful exchange of experience and knowledge and we have another meeting regularly three times a year and also we would like to thank the hosting global OTIC summit in Singapore. One of our operator participated this summit discussion and information exchange was very useful. So we will continue this information and experience exchange.
Thank you.
>> Moderator: Thank you. Would you like to address collaboration briefly?
>> I see two folds. First, the OTIC they can share facility resources, okay, because some of the OTIC is they don't have what you call in the field dust, okay? We should not do the testing only in lab. We should test in the field as well with different frequent with different difference range, right? And the second part is that tell take you ‑‑ we need to collaborate a minimal viable testing package. All to make sure that the result that is gearing for our testing is the same that we got in OTIC. What an advantage when you have this because we can create together okay automated testing environment what again the benefits to have end to end automated testing basically you will be able to control the cost to test but in the same time we will also ‑‑ you'll be able to speed up, okay the of time to the market from the CU and RU.
>> And last but not least thank you.
>> We are trying to use remote access. So the first we have connected to the university of Suri as B5G center. So the issue is that we are looking at some of these testing across remotely in accessing this. The second to work with the Philippines. I think there is some discussion on this academy in Philippines trying to let them use our test equipment, developing packages to help them. Panel with OTIC. We are starting with ‑‑ in discuss we can share some resources and advance some of the research capability and how do you actually ‑‑ different vertical surfaces. Thank you.
>> Moderator: Thank you very much. That concludes this panel. Let's give them a round of applause. And we'll move into the final portion of the event.
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>> Thank you for the moderators and panelists. Finally, we have a closing remarks from the moderators.
>> Thank you very much. Thank you for staying through this to the end. It's my great pleasure to be the moderator of the first panel. In my panel, it was very encouraging to see that from all panelists we hear very positive comment from the future of the ORAN, including the European ‑‑ I think this is very worthy because we have a very balanced panelist, panelist from Asia, from the U.S. and also Japan and Open/Secure and we have a panelist from various carriers and vendors and also operators courses in introduction, introducing of the ORAN. I'd like to thank all the panelists for participating and also like to thank all the audience here for listening this panel carefully. Thank you for having me as a moderator here. Thank you very much.
>> Moderator: Thank you. I would just say in conclusion we heard a lot about the opportunities that open radio access present and those include opportunities to address security considerations, opportunities for performance and energy efficiency and lowering cost. So I found it very interesting to hear about the efforts around the world to develop these OTIC which are so critical to addressing and solving the challenges and presenting opportunities and so, for example, expanding market entry, reducing time to market and reducing cost but it can't be done alone. We need to collaborate between the OTICs with the labs, industry collaboration is key and governments have a role to support as well. And finally, I was very impressed between the synergies between this workshop and the Internet Governance Forum. So we are scoping ORAN but it also relates to these broader issues. We heard about AI and workforce and bridging the digital divide and supporting an equitable and inclusive approach to telecom ecosystems and it's also part of the multistakeholder approach involving academic institutions for example and so it all comes together and I'm very grateful again to the Japanese for organizing this important event and to all of you for participating. Thank you.
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>> Thank you very much, two wonderful moderators, thank you very much again.
Open network is a very, very important issue. And a secure network will construct. Such network is very important for future network. So any way, we will strongly promote ORAN privacy issues with our colleagues with countries. Thank you very much. Thank you.
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