Open and disaggregation have become megatrends for radio access networks (RAN) development in the global 5G industry. Adoption by telcos, particularly in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, will drive Open RAN to about 15% of the overall 2G-5G RAN market by 2026, according to research firm Dell’Oro Group. Open RAN solutions offer flexibility and scalability through the disaggregation of hardware and software, and the utilization of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) hardware.
Powered by 5x Intel Xeon Scalable Processors, Lanner HTCA-E400 is a 4U, short-depth chassis, hyper-converged edge server specifically designed for Open RAN and MEC infrastructure. With support from Intel Tofino P4 and FPGA/GPU acceleration, the scalable HTCA-E400 edge compute platform features programmable, intelligent switching capability that can offload open architecture CPU and is cost-effective in the long term through optimizing protocol-independent and multi-Tbps networking performance, without being compromised by hardware bottleneck. The HTCA-E400 hardware platform recently debuted at Big 5G Event 2022.
Connectivity – HTCA-E400 features two protocol-independent switch sleds HLM-E110, both featuring the Intel Tofino P4 programmable ethernet switch ASICs to offer dual channel, 3.2TB switching capability. The programmable switch sled can offload open architecture CPU, accelerating high-priority applications and packet processing for latency-sensitive workload, in addition to supporting carrier-grade IEEE 1588 Precision Timing Protocol (PTPv2), enabling appliances to achieve a higher degree of time synchronization for mission-critical applications deployed in Open RAN, MEC, SRv6, and 5G Edge Clouds.
Compute – HTCA-E400 can support up to five compute sleds (supporting 5x 1U HMB-E100 compute sleds or 2x 2U HMB-E200 +1U compute sleds), each equipped with a 3rd Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processor (codename Ice Lake). With a total of 200 cores count, PCIe-Gen 4.0 higher bandwidth, and 1.2x memory capacity, HTCA-E400 will deliver unprecedented performance for virtualization workloads, and offering up to 1.94x more secure networking connections to support Open RAN and other Edge Cloud applications.
PCIe, Storage, and NIC Card Expansion – Each compute sled on HTCA-E400 can support up to five PCIe*16 sockets for a variety of acceleration cards, including GPU and FPGA cards, to improve high-volume workloads and total application performance. The HTCA-E400 features a total of ten 2.5” SATA storage bays for low-latency communication and five NIC module slots compatible with OCP NIC 3.0 cards.
“Our goal is to provide a programmable, scalable, and optimized hardware platform that powers a wide range of software-defined applications at the edge, HTCA-E400 is a field-proven NEBS Level 3 Compliant hardware platform to deploy 5G private network and 5G-enabled applications within a single chassis,” said Jeans Tseng, the CTO of Lanner Electronics.
This hyper-converged appliance consolidates compute, connectivity, and storage with rich expansion for FPGA/GPU acceleration, specifically designed for RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC), MEC Server, Consolidated Cell Site Router, and Fronthaul Gateway in 5G and the edge. For detail please visit Lanner website www.lannerinc.com or email [email protected].
