OBSAI Completes Full Spec

HELSINKI -- The Open Base Station Architecture Initiative (OBSAI) -- the leading industry forum of over 50 telecommunications companies creating open specifications for base station architecture -- announced today the availability of the OBSAI interface specification for the radio and baseband functions within the base station.

The addition of the radio module interface specification means that OBSAI has now defined a complete set of interface specifications to cover the functions of all key base station modules: control; transport; baseband and radio.

"This completes the industry's first comprehensive set of open, internal interfaces between all major base station modules," says John S. Csapo, Senior Vice President, Samsung and OBSAI Secretary. "We have successfully reached the challenging targets we set our members last year and they have all contributed extensive time and effort to arrive at the best solution for each interface. We would like to thank them all -- this has been a truly co-operative industry effort. We are now working on the next stage of the OBSAI roadmap and we look forward to similar commitment from our members in reaching our next targets."

Comments Jason Chapman, Principal Analyst, Gartner, "With the OBSAI interfaces now specified, the member companies can focus on developing compliant products. With targeted R&D spend; vendors can look to address the mobile operators' need for timely and efficient radio infrastructure. With standardised internal interfaces the structure of the infrastructure value chain will be challenged, as solution vendors seek to integrate best-in-breed modules providing value added integration, management and optimisation services on top of the core hardware."

Commented OBSAI member, Alcatel, "Alcatel supports the definition of open interfaces and believes that OBSAI is one of the ways forward in base station evolutions." Jochen Seiss, Product Manager, Alcatel.

Greg Aasen, Chief Technology Officer, PMC-Sierra commented, "The establishment of standard interfaces will lead to the development of interoperable and highly integrated base station components which will, in turn, lower total system costs and stimulate the wireless industry. PMC-Sierra's involvement in OBSAI enhanced our understanding of our customers' needs. We expect to have our first OBSAI compliant product ready for release very soon."

The key value proposition of OBSAI is that it provides a well-defined, fundamental framework for the creation of complete specifications, ultimately leading to high quality base stations. An architecture that provides a clear functional split and detailed internal interface specifications allows companies to create modules that are truly compatible in all OBSAI compliant base stations. OBSAI enables a new, competitive market for interoperable modules, which will ultimately lead to PC-like economies of scale, resulting in significantly lower costs.

"RadiSys is pleased with the fast progress that OBSAI has made on the specifications. We strongly believe in and participate in industry initiatives such as OBSAI to gain interoperability and economy of scale." said Venkataraman Prasannan, senior director for RadiSys. "We have been implementing these concepts in prototype modules and are working closely with our current base-station customers in transitioning to the newer specifications."

Open Base Station Architecture Initiative (OBSAI)