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As we wrap up 2020, I wanted to take a moment to look at where the industry is headed and what we’ve learned this year. 

  1. Telecom & Cloud ‘Plumbing’ based on 5G Open Source will drive accelerated investments from top markets (Government, Manufacturing, and Enterprises) 
  1. The Last piece of the “open” puzzle will fall in place: Radio Access Network (RAN)
    • The final closed architecture in the 148- year- old Telecom industry — the RAN — is finally open!  2021 will bring the first build-outs of open RAN technology in close collaboration with Edge and Core. Visit the O-RAN Software Community for more information. 
  1. Remote Work” will continue to be the greatest positive distraction, especially within the open source community
  1. “Futures” (aka bells and whistle features & future-looking capabilities) will give way to “functioning blueprints”  
    • Open source interoperability, compliance & verification for rapid deployment becomes the highest priority in 2021 beyond software. See the latest Blueprints from LF Edge’s Akraino project, as well as information on OPNFV + CNTT’s latest integrations.
  2. AI/ML technologies become mainstream 

What did I miss?

I would love to have your comments on LinkedIn. What do you expect 2021 will bring to the open networking and edge table?

About the Author: Arpit Joshipura is General Manager, Networking, Edge & IoT, the Linux Foundation

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