5G vRAN with Open RAN saves 92% over LTE

Traditional LTE Radio Access Networks (RANs) are expensive because of their high usage of expensive physical components. The use of a virtualized RAN (vRAN), orchestration, and automation in 5G dramatically decreases deployment and support costs while increasing network capacity. Open RAN (O-RAN)  also allows greater flexibility in procurement decisions as equipment can be sourced from multiple vendors rather than just 1. 

These factors along with vRAN and Open RAN overall benefits incentivizes network providers to quickly deploy 5G.

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The full report is available as part of membership and/or license to tools for specific Unified SEP Zones. In addition to economic reports, Unified provides a 5G and LTE landscape (OPAL) with the world’s largest human evaluated training set.

VVC's Adoption Hampered by Patent Uncertainty and Low Value

Unified Consulting’s Craig Thompson has written an article covering the potential risks and uncertainty around the adoption of Versatile Video Coding (VVC). VVC is entering a competitive codec market where its future will depend more on royalty demands than on its technical specifications. As is detailed in an VVC economic report recently published by Unified Patents and authored by Charles River Associates, VVC is faced with strong competition from MPEG's new Essential Video Codec (EVC), and existing HEVC, AVC as well as from Alliance for Open Media's Advance Video 1 codec (AV1). The royalty pricing pressure on VVC is exerted, first, by MPEG-LA's AVC pool, which is viewed by courts in the United States and in Europe as being a fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) rate, and, second, by AV1 and EVC, which have been developed specifically to incur less if any royalties.

Click HERE to read the rest of the article published by Streaming Media.

HEVC Royalty Stacking and Uncertainty Threaten VVC Adoption

IPWatchdog today published an article on the independent economic study that Unified Patents conducted with Charles River Associates on the economic value of the newly released Versatile Video Coding standard. The study points out that “[f]or VVC to capture market share among cellular device manufacturers, [its] royalty rates will have to be very attractive compared to the rates for AVC and AV1.” VVC is entering a fragmented, multi-codec market and its adoption is uncertain in the face of competitive video solutions that are subject to lower or no royalties. Much of this is due to the excessive royalties and licensing uncertainties that continue to plague VVC’s predecessor, HEVC.

Click HERE to read the full article.

5G RAN Developments: A Look at Licensing Defenses

Changes in the 5G radio access network (RAN) – and in particular network disaggregation – could make the monetization of patents essential to RAN equipment and operations (5G RAN SEPs) more challenging. Some of the challenges arise from identifying directly liable infringers in a disaggregated, multi-component system.

“Non-practicing licensing entities should find [the 5G RAN] market attractive provided they are able to source quality patents focusing on discrete functions performed by single entities. Traditional RAN vendors with licensable portfolios are likely finding the new market disconcerting, leaving them with existential questions.”

This final part of the three-part series (read Part 1 and Part 2) addresses other challenges to the monetization of 5G RAN SEPs such as the implementation of parts of the 5G RAN using open source software, patent exhaustion, and vendor indemnifications.

Continue reading the full article on IPWatchdog’s website HERE. This article is the third part in a series written by Craig Thompson, General Manager and COO for Unified Consulting.

5G RAN SEPs Likely to Encourage a Frenzy of Activity

The rapidly changing 5G RAN and the growth forecasts for the equipment market promises to attract 5G RAN SEP monetization. The large number and diverse ownership of 5G RAN SEPs should encourage a frenzy of monetization activity.

As of January 2021, nearly 33,000 active patent families have been self-declared to 5G. Of those families, over 63% or 20,750 families have been self-declared specifically to 5G RAN infrastructure. These families comprise nearly 70,000 active patents and applications. The pie chart below developed from Unified Patents’ objective patent landscaping tool (OPAL) shows the top 20 ownership of those families.

Continue reading the full article on IPWatchdog’s website HERE. This article is the second part in a series written by Craig Thompson, General Manager and COO for Unified Consulting.