VP of semiconductor company Analog Devices Joe Barry touted 6G as using open RAN from day one during an interview with Mobile World Live, as the company showcased work taking place with partners at its Republic of Ireland research centre.

Barry, VP of marketing, systems and technology for Analog Devices’ communications business unit, believes everything will be open RAN at the point where 6G is deployed, noting the architecture was actually ahead of where he expected.

“If you ignore the hype that was there in the early days we’re now starting to get into the real practical deployment of it.”

“There was a lot of hype it would get to a majority proportion [of the overall market] in a few years. It’s not going to be that fast, it’s going to be slow, steady and obviously we see operators doing greenfield able to deploy very quickly, but brownfield is going to take a little longer.”

Barry noted open RAN, which Analog Devices is a prominent backer of, is “starting to mature”, with most standards solidified with the expectation of greater scale leading up to it being everywhere at the start of the 6G era.

Sensing an opportunity
Analog Devices was earlier this month announced as one of the companies involved in projects set to receive a total of €8.1 billion in funding from European Union member states, as the region’s authorities press on with attempts to boost local manufacturing and R&D.

It has also pumped cash into its R&D in the region, with its ADI Catalyst in the Republic of Ireland, which carried an initial budget of €100 million.

At the site it works with industrial partners on various technologies including use of sensors for smart industrial applications.

Barry noted he expected early adopters of cutting-edge intelligent industrial systems at so-called dark factories where there were practically only machines working on the floors.

He added private networks, 5G and low latency could serve a whole range of business needs, many of which are being tested and developed with partners at its facility.