A global open source project focused on re-imagining traditional telecom networks has gained its first Canadian carrier member.
Bell announced on Nov. 28 that it is the first Canadian carrier to join the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), an initiative launched in February that was co-founded by Facebook, SK Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, Intel, and Nokia, among others.
The engineering-focused project is bringing together system operators, infrastructure providers, and other technology companies from around the world to speed up the development of new innovative network solutions to foster global connectivity and increase wireless access.
This partnership results from an increase in consumer usage of data-heavy services, such as video and virtual reality. But to keep up with demand, the project says the “best way to accelerate the pace of innovation is for companies to collaborate and to work in the open.” As effort progresses, TIP members will work to develop technologies such as 5G, and make them more accessible.
Facebook, Intel and Nokia “have pledged to contribute an initial suite of reference designs” for infrastructure, while other members will work towards deploying the technology in their markets. The projects — which are divvied into three categories: access, backhaul and core and management — are readily accessible on the TIP website.
The initiative cites the success of the Open Compute Project as a model to follow.