AI-Native Disaggregated RAN #

Communication Service Providers (CSPs) are transitioning to open, disaggregated, and AI-native network architectures to reduce costs, eliminate vendor lock-in, and accelerate innovation in 5G and 6G services. This shift requires tight integration between carrier-grade infrastructure platforms and high-performance RAN software that can run efficiently on general-purpose hardware.

This joint reference architecture documents the technical integration of the OCUDU® RAN stack with SUSE® Telco Cloud, aligned with Project Sylva, enabling deployment of RAN with AI-native workloads. Validated in collaboration with Software Radio Systems (SRS), the technical contributor of OCUDU, it provides a single-node deployment model using Cluster API (CAPI) for hardware readiness validation and resource sizing. The setup focuses on an O-RAN Split 7.2 gNB configuration with an RU emulator, enabling fully software-based testing and repeatable performance measurements. It demonstrates production-grade performance characteristics including low latency, 1,000+ users per cell, and hardware efficiency gains of 30-50% CAPEX reduction compared to proprietary systems.

The telco industry continues to operate under significant structural fragmentation. Most 5G deployments still rely on proprietary, vertically integrated hardware and software stacks from a small number of vendors. This approach creates deep vendor lock-in, inflates both capital and operational expenses, and limits operators’ ability to select best-of-breed components.

Operators face three interconnected problems. First, the lack of standardized reference architectures forces custom, site-specific integration work for every new deployment, binding CSPs to individual vendor roadmaps and increasing complexity. Second, existing open source telco infrastructure has historically fallen short of the extreme performance, deterministic latency, and resiliency requirements demanded by modern RAN workloads, especially those incorporating AI. Third, managing distributed edge environments with consistent operations remains difficult when each site uses different hardware platforms and deployment processes.

These challenges directly constrain operators. They result in prolonged deployment timelines, higher lifecycle costs, reduced innovation velocity, and slower delivery of new AI-native 5G and future 6G services that require sub-millisecond latency and high user density. Without a unified, horizontal foundation, operators struggle to scale efficiently, control their infrastructure choices, or fully capitalize on the business opportunities of edge computing and programmable networks. Also, a key gap has been the lack of validated, carrier-grade Open RAN implementations that operators can confidently deploy at scale.

SUSE and SRS have jointly developed a fully disaggregated, carrier-grade Open RAN stack anchored in the Project Sylva reference architecture. This solution was demonstrated at MWC 2026, validating its readiness for real-world telco deployments.

The stack is structured as a horizontal, integrated platform that begins with general-purpose hardware and extends through the infrastructure layers to the RAN workloads. At the foundation lies high-performance commodity hardware featuring Intel® Xeon® 6 SoC processors and Supermicro edge servers. This choice delivers the necessary compute density and efficiency while avoiding proprietary silos, enabling significant improvements in power consumption and server utilization.

Above the hardware, SUSE Telco Cloud provides the operating system and Kubernetes infrastructure layer. SUSE Linux Micro, an immutable and real-time Linux distribution, combined with RKE2, creates a hardened, Sylva-compliant Container-as-a-Service platform. This layer ensures deterministic low-latency performance, CPU isolation, SR-IOV networking with DPDK, and NUMA-aware resource management, all critical for meeting the stringent timing and throughput requirements of RAN workloads.

Figure 1: SUSE Telco Cloud architecture #

 

SUSE Rancher Prime supplies unified orchestration and management across distributed edge sites. It enables centralized control, consistent policy enforcement, and zero-touch operations through declarative GitOps workflows and Cluster API (CAPI), allowing operators to manage hundreds of edge locations with a single operational model.

At the workload layer, OCUDU delivers AI-native, software-defined Central Unit (CU) and Distributed Unit (DU) network functions. Designed as a cloud-native implementation of the 5G RAN stack (supporting O-RAN Split 7.2), OCUDU brings intelligence directly into the RAN, incorporating native design elements for AI/ML-driven optimization, scheduling, and performance enhancement. This enables operators to run intelligent RAN workloads directly on the SUSE Telco Cloud platform with consistent, carrier-grade behavior. As a foundational component for AI-RAN, OCUDU allows seamless integration of real-time AI capabilities into the RAN stack, accelerating the transition toward intelligent, adaptive 5G and 6G networks.

Together, these components create a complete horizontal solution anchored in the Project Sylva reference architecture and delivered through SUSE Telco Cloud. By using Kubernetes as the interoperability layer where telco software converges, the stack fully decouples RAN software from proprietary hardware. This architecture directly addresses the fragmentation and lock-in challenges outlined earlier by providing operators with a standardized, portable, and consistent operating model. This solution eliminates the need for site-specific custom integrations while delivering carrier-grade performance at scale. It dramatically reduces deployment times from weeks to minutes and lowers CAPEX through hardware efficiency. Additionally, it enables true "Develop Once, Deploy Anywhere" portability.

This reference architecture defines a single-node deployment designed for hardware validation, performance benchmarking, and resource sizing of AI-native RAN workloads. It integrates OCUDU’s gNB implementation with SUSE Telco Cloud, following Project Sylva principles for a consistent, cloud-native telco stack.

Figure 2: Architecture Overview and Deployment #

 

The architecture follows O-RAN Split 7.2, with all CU and DU functions consolidated in a single gNB pod running alongside an RU emulator. This configuration enables complete software-based testing of the DU-to-RU path over the Open Fronthaul interface without requiring physical radio hardware.

This reference architecture demonstrates how the OCUDU RAN stack can be deployed on SUSE Telco Cloud for hardware validation and RAN workload sizing. The measured resource requirements serve as key input for planning and sizing production deployments. The setup functions as a validation environment that confirms whether the underlying platform delivers sufficient performance and correct configuration for a chosen RAN profile.

The deployment validates several key infrastructure capabilities required for carrier-grade Open RAN:

In the single-node scenario, the OCUDU gNB and RU emulator run on the same host. This makes the setup particularly effective for validating CPU allocation, memory configuration, hugepages, SR-IOV device assignment, DPDK configuration, and overall platform readiness without requiring a separate physical RU.

The same validation approach can be adapted to different scenarios, including smaller functional tests, larger benchmark systems, dual-node DU/RU deployments, or multi-cell configurations. The critical consideration is that the RAN configuration and hardware profile must be evaluated together. Factors such as bandwidth, MIMO layers, antenna configuration, traffic model, and enabled features directly determine the required compute, memory, and I/O capacity.

By combining SUSE Telco Cloud’s robust, Sylva-compliant infrastructure with the OCUDU AI-native RAN stack, operators gain a practical path to overcome ecosystem fragmentation. This joint solution delivers standardized operations, reduced deployment complexity, lower infrastructure costs, and the flexibility to scale AI-native 5G and 6G services across diverse edge environments.

Ready to get started? Contact the SUSE Telco Cloud team today to schedule a dedicated technical workshop, review the OCUDU Getting Started Guide, or initiate your own validation deployment with OCUDU RAN on SUSE Telco Cloud.

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