Cavium and Argela to Deliver ProgRAN, a Fully Programmable, SDN–based RAN Solution for LTE and 5G

SAN JOSE, CA, BARCELONA, SPAIN Feb 22, 2016 – Cavium, Inc., (NASDAQ: CAVM), a leading provider of semiconductor products that enable intelligent processing for enterprise, data center, wired and wireless networking, today announced that it has expanded its partnership with Argela, a member of Turk Telekom group, to include the availability of ProgRAN on Cavium’s OCTEON Fusion–M™ and ThunderX® network infrastructure processors. ProgRAN is a fully programmable, SDN–based RAN solution for LTE and 5G developed by Argela.

The tremendous growth in wireless Internet use is showing no signs of slowing down. The explosion in this demand is not only due to the increase in the number of connections but also due to the multimedia–rich applications, which form the majority of these connections. Existing cellular networks will be insufficient, in part due to their inflexible and expensive equipment, as well as the complex and non-agile control plane of today’s wireless networks.

Argela’s newly announced ProgRAN solution paired with Cavium’s leading OCTEON Fusion–M baseband processors and Cavium’s ThunderX, a 64–bit ARMv8 SoC for next generation Data Center and Telco Cloud Applications, is applicable for both typical BTS and Cloud RAN deployments.

Using ProgRAN, MSPs may deploy, modify or introduce different scheduling, admission control and handover management algorithms to different flows in different parts of their network and conduct such controls via a simple programming interface.

Next Generation 5G technologies will include new, higher–frequency spectrum, including millimeter wave, Massive MIMO and optimized modulation, coding, and multiple access technologies for the new spectra to satisfy the growing demand in wireless connectivity as well as associated data rates using technologies like:

• Network Function Virtualization (NFV)
  The industry trend away from vertically integrated, inflexible and non–scalable equipment within the network towards software running on off–the–shelf ThunderX ARM servers in the cloud.

• Software–Defined Networking (SDN)
  For both the Core and Radio Access Networks, so that MSPs may develop new revenue sources via programmable control of the network.

The key differentiator for 5G systems will be the orchestration of the overall system (CN+RAN) control to realize the benefits of Telco Cloud while taking full advantage of the transport capacity over a multitude of spectra and distributed over a large geographical area.

“We have worked closely with Argela to leverage our experience in NFV/CRAN operator trials both on ThunderX and OCTEON Fusion–M to bring this very exciting product to market. As an OCTEON Fusion–M licensee, Argela has access to Cavium’s leading silicon and software technologies for NFV/CRAN implementations,” said Raj Singh, General Manager, Wireless Broadband Group, Cavium, Inc. “We are very excited by Argela’s innovative architecture and look forward to working closely with them to enable rapid adoption of this exciting new technology.”

“Cavium’s OCTEON Fusion–M baseband CNF75XX solution coupled with its world class ThunderX 64–bit ARMv8 SoC for next generation Data Center and Telco Cloud Applications is a perfect platform for our SDN/NFV implementation,” said Dr. Oguz Sunay Chief Technology Officer, Argela. “Together we provide an excellent integrated solution that addresses the needs of the rapidly developing 5G marketplace while providing scalability, reliability and performance.”

About Cavium, Inc
Cavium is a leading provider of highly integrated semiconductor products that enable intelligent processing in enterprise, data center, cloud and wired and wireless service provider applications. Cavium offers a broad portfolio of integrated, software–compatible processors ranging in performance from 100 Mbps to 100 Gbps that enable secure, intelligent functionality in enterprise, data–center, broadband/consumer and access and service provider equipment. Cavium’s processors are supported by ecosystem partners that provide operating systems, tool support, reference designs and other services. Cavium’s principal office is in San Jose, CA with design team locations in California, Massachusetts, India and China. For more information, please visit: http://www.cavium.com.