Vodafone Selects Dell Technologies to Help Build First Commercial Open RAN Network in Europe

Dell Technologies and Vodafone will build Europe’s first commercial Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) network, bringing more broadband access to European businesses and communities. Vodafone has selected Dell Technologies to provide the network’s open infrastructure foundation to help Vodafone drive connectivity across Europe.

“Open and standardized networks will power innovation and new revenue opportunities for the telecommunications industry and businesses of all kinds,” said Dennis Hoffman, senior vice president and general manager, Dell Technologies Telecom Systems Business. “We’re applying our decades of experience in open standards and digital transformation to help Vodafone accelerate its network deployment and deliver new levels of innovation that can only come from an open ecosystem.”

Vodafone will deploy Dell EMC PowerEdge servers at base station locations with an initial focus on the 2,500 sites in the UK. Designed to thrive in harsh environments and at extreme temperatures, Vodafone will use ruggedized servers to support Open RAN applications and tackle the demands of data-intensive workloads at the edge. Dell platforms also futureproof Vodafone for next-generation Open-RAN compute requirements to provide more capacity and throughput.

“Open RAN provides huge advantages for customers and communities through a diverse and open vendor ecosystem,” said Francisco Martin, head of Open RAN, Vodafone. “Partnering with Dell Technologies gives us a platform for innovation and the ability to further extend connectivity, bringing new opportunities to industries and communities alike.”

Dell Technologies is creating infrastructure solutions, services and an open ecosystem of partners uniquely designed to help communications service providers modernize their networks, unlock innovation and create new revenue opportunities.