ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation Launches Local 5G Software CYRUS

ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Ichiro Tsuge, President and CEO) has concluded a distributorship agreement with ASOCS Ltd. (headquartered in Israel; Gilad Garon, CEO; hereinafter "ASOCS") and will provide CYRUS, a virtualized local 5G^*1 / Private 5G base station or vRAN, starting today. Initial costs can be cut by building base stations that combine with multipurpose servers. The service is provided as a subscription at a cost of 10 million yen (excl. taxes) per year. The goal is to achieve 2 billion in sales to 30 companies in three years by expanding to telecommunications operators offering local 5G services to manufacturers and construction companies considering introducing local 5G.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of companies and local governments that require local 5G, meaning their own 5G communications infrastructure. Meanwhile, a local 5G base station, which consists of an RU (radio unit), a DU (distributed unit), and a CU (centralized unit), usually requires hardware and software from the same vendor, so that initial and operating costs became high as there is little freedom in hardware choice and sizing. Moreover, a license to set up and know-how to operate radio stations in accordance with the Radio Act, thus making the initial barriers to entry high.

CYRUS is a software product that runs on a virtual machine constructed by the commercial off-the-shelf(COTS) server, having the functions of the DU and CU that consist of the base station. COTS servers are procured according to use and sized flexibly to match network size, thereby making it possible to cut initial and operating costs. Since the pricing of the CYRUS software license is determined by usage size, the system can easily be expanded if the number of users increases or the coverage area becomes bigger, which makes it possible to optimize operating costs. Moreover, CYRUS is Open RAN^*2 based with standardized specifications for radio access networks. As the interface is standardized, it is possible to mutually connect with RUs of products that are not from ASOCS, which makes it possible to opt for a flexible structure according to usage.

ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation also provides network design, construction, trials, maintenance, and so forth. We smoothen the process to introduce local 5G by assisting with documents for license application and reports to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications when setting up the base station. Once set up, ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation helps to ensure stable operation of the local 5G in accordance with Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications guidelines^*3 by measuring radio range and signal strength as well as supporting applications to change the license if the structure needs to be changed during operation. Moreover, ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation created a space dedicated to verifying local 5G technology at the ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation Heiwajima Logistics Center (Ota Ward, Tokyo) in January 2022, which makes it possible to verify several structures before setting up in a commercial environment.

ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation will continue to increase the number of options for local 5G products based on Open RAN, expand operational maintenance, remote monitoring services, and contribute to the further spread of local 5G.