Niche Player: Mavenir
The Richardson, Texas-based company specializes in network software for the telecommunications industry. Mavenir launched a fully virtualized 4G and 5G open RAN solution in 2019 with plans to help CSPs break the vendor lock-in situation and discontinue old legacy business models. Mavenir ranks in the middle of the pack for vision but near the bottom for execution on Gartner’s Magic Quadrant.
Strengths: As one of the major new entrants in Open RAN, Mavenir has already been named as a vRAN partner by Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and VMware. Mavenir’s acquisition last year of ip.access will expand its open RAN portfolio by adding 2G and 3G capabilities.
Weaknesses: While Open RAN standardizations are progressing, multivendor interoperability over interfaces such as Fronthaul, X2, Xn and Xx are not commonly available for CSPs. Mavenir needs to achieve this multivendor integration by working with various stakeholders, Gartner said.
