Cellwize’s acquisition makes Qualcomm a “processor company for the connected intelligent edge”
Qualcomm Technologies on Monday announced that it has acquired Cellwize. Qualcomm said that it’s acquired the Israeli network service management and orchestration (SMO) specialist to accelerate 5G adoption, and to spur intelligent network edge infrastructure innovation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Cellwize’s offerings include the CHIME platform, a cloud-based RAN automation and orchestration platform that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) for network optimization. It supports Open RAN, virtualized RAN (vRAN) and traditional RAN setups.
Qualcomm said that acquiring Cellwize is part of its overall 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) strategy around what it calls the “connected intelligent edge.” Cellwize will help Qualcomm bolster its RAN automation and management on 5G private and public networks, it said.
Cellwize CEO Ofir Zemer differentiates Open RAN hype from reality. Different carriers offer different expectations of what they hope to achieve with O-RAN deployments.
“What it delivers is in the eye of the beholder,” he told RCR Wireless News in a February interview. “We are working with some carriers that are really buying into the reduction of the RAN [operating and capital expenses], but honestly, some other carriers we’re working with said according to their calculations, it won’t reduce a thing. Who’s right here? I don’t know; maybe both of them because it might depend.”
From Zemer’s perspective, three main factors limited Open RAN’s more widespread adoption. First, he cited a lack of serious buy-in from traditional RAN equipment vendors or open hostility to it O-RAN; secondly, vendor lock-in with existing equipment remains crippling; and finally, an absence of relative O-RAN product maturity.
Cellwize’s solution was to build a backward and forward-compatible SMO. This, Zemer claimed, will allow carriers to have an O-RAN stack and launch it wherever they want, so that they’re two different architectures — O-RAN and non O-RAN— talk to each other seamlessly.
Acceleration O-RAN adoption
Qualcomm first invested in Cellwize in 2020. Qualcomm Ventures dipped into its 5G Ecosystem Fund to help capitalize Cellwize and several other firms. At the time of the investment, Durga Malladi, SVP and GM, 4G/5G at Qualcomm, said the investment effort would pay off with new 5G enterprise network evolution.
On Monday, following the announcement, Malladi outlined Qualcomm’s reasons for acquiring Cellwize in a separate blog post. Malladi said that Qualcomm has moved to become a “processor company for the connected intelligent edge.”
“This acquisition allows us to accelerate Open RAN [Radio Access Network] global adoption, 5G private network deployments, and cloud-based cellular infrastructure innovation,” he said.
Cellwize’s technology will help Qualcomm customers simplify network management, he said. It supports tradition and modernized open networks, provide better support to enable a multivendor ecosystem, and is eminently programmable to enable customization and differentiation.
“The solution also offers intelligence-driven RAN operations including a non-real-time radio intelligent controller (non-RT RIC), which will help drive the 5G connected intelligent edge,” he added.
Filipino telco Globe Telecom in March picked Cellwize’s CHIME to improve network parameter auditing, it said in a statement. The platform will help improve Globe’s network parameter audit process through intelligent automation, said Cellwize. Cellwize said it expects Globe to be able to improve customer experience, reduce capital and operational costs using CHIME.
