The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded nearly $2 million to Palo Alto-based Open Networking Foundation in the second round of grants from the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund’s first Notice of Funding Opportunity.
The $1.5 billion Wireless Innovation Fund supports the development of open and interoperable wireless networks as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda.
“Bravo to the Open Networking Foundation for receiving an Innovation Fund Program grant. Telecommunications networks are the backbone of our economy and have become increasingly important as Americans transition more of their lives online. Open RAN creates diversity in our supply chains and increases competition, which means lower costs for consumers. As we confront the effects of climate change, it’s critical America’s telecommunications networks are as energy efficient as possible and this grant will allow the Open Networking Foundation to do important research that will ensure they are.”
Rep. Anna Eshoo, Calif.
Open Networking Foundation
“ONF’s Aether SMaRT-5G initiative has been advancing the sustainability of 5G networks, seeding the industry with open source solutions demonstrating advancements in power efficiency with the potential to save billions of dollars annually while significantly reducing the environmental footprint of advanced mobile networks,” said Sarat Puthenpura, Chief Architect of Open RAN, Open Networking Foundation.
“We are pleased that the NTIA is recognizing the value in this work with funding to research and develop methods to measure the energy efficiency of 5G network components, which will allow us to create and demonstrate energy consumption models to help advance sustainability across the industry. This research will augment the Aether SMaRT-5G initiative, helping to advance the Aether open source platform.”
