The company plans to employ 500 professionals in a new ‘hub’ around OpenRAN technology.

IBM has selected Spain to establish a centre of excellence in telecommunications for the whole of Europe. The US multinational has announced the creation in our country of a hub specialising in the OpenRAN open technology standard that will provide solutions and services to operators based on this new architecture for mobile networks.

IBM plans to employ more than 500 highly qualified professionals over the next three years in this centre, which will be built around innovation hubs in Madrid, Cáceres and Málaga. The track record of these last two centres, where IBM employs a thousand professionals, has played in favour of the choice of Spain, since the links established with the universities will facilitate access to talent and allow IBM to gain traction.

«It is a very innovative technology that requires highly specialised profiles, so we are going to see a battle to attract talent. Our proposal with three locations will facilitate this task,» explains Javier Olaizola, Director of Services for IBM Spain, Portugal, Greece and Israel.

IBM is positioned to capitalise on the opportunities opened up by OpenRAN, which will enable new entrants to the telecommunications industry by limiting operators’ dependence on traditional providers such as Ericsson, Nokia and Huawei. This technology will lower the cost of mobile network infrastructure and will drive a new ecosystem, as these intelligent mobile networks are based on open and interoperable software, as opposed to the current model of networks built on each manufacturer’s proprietary technology.

IBM will leverage its cloud capabilities, where it has a vertical solution specifically for telcos with an ecosystem of more than 40 partners. The technology companies Juniper and Altiostar have been the first to join IBM’s initiative in Spain.

In addition, the Spanish hub will make use of innovations in this field from IBM’s innovation centres in Nice (France) and Dallas (USA). «Our strength lies in the combination of hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence,» says Olaizola. The centre will work with operators on use cases on this technology, pilot testing and scaling of real projects. The goal is to work with all operators in Europe, says Olaizola.

Source: Expansión.