| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Wireless Software |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Founder | Ashraf Dahod |
| Owner | Rakuten |
| Website | www |
Altiostar is a company that provides open virtual radio access network (vRAN) technology. The company is headquartered just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, with offices in Japan, Italy, the U.K., Mexico and India. The company is a subsidiary of Rakuten. Founded in 2011 by President and CEO, Ashraf Dahod, Altiostar is focused on open, virtual RAN software that they claim can integrate operation of equipment from multiple vendors.
History
Altiostar was started by the founders of Starent Networks, a startup bought by Cisco in 2009. Altiostar came out of stealth mode in late 2014 after raising $70 million in funding starting in 2012. The company's initial offering was a virtualized Cloud-RAN (C-RAN) solution that connected radios with controllers with Ethernet, instead of dark fiber. In 2015, the company introduced a virtual radio access network (vRAN) product. In 2017, Altiostar released an Open vRAN Development Platform, allowing independent radio equipment manufacturers to develop a vRAN solution utilizing Altiostar technology. Since its debut, the company has raised $357.5 million from Cisco, Rakuten Mobile, Qualcomm Ventures, Telefonica and Tech Mahindra among others.
Rakuten
In 2019, Rakuten Mobile invested in Altiostar. In 2020, Rakuten commercially launched its 4G network in Japan, using Altiostar as a software contributor for its 4G RAN, with plans to also use the software for its 5G network. In August 2021, Rakuten acquired Altiostar.
Partners
Altiostar has collaborated with a wide variety of partners to enable 4G and 5G network transformation through its open vRAN solution, including:
2011 – Cisco
2015 – Texas Instruments, Qwilt and Wind River
2016 – TIM
2017 – Corning and Dali Wireless and SK Telecom
2018 – Amdocs, Deutsche Telekom, GCI, Sercomm, Telefónica and Vodafone
2019 – Qualcomm, Rakuten, Telecom Infra Project (TIP) and Ubicquia
2020 – Airspan, Bharti Airtel, NEC Corporation (NEC) and World Wide Technology
Awards
2015 – Fierce Innovation Awards (Telecom Edition) - Next-Gen Deployment for NFV C-RAN Solution
2016 – GLOTEL Global Telecoms Awards “Highly Recommended” for Innovative Use of Spectrum
2017 – GSMA GLOMO Award - Best Mobile Technology Breakthrough and Outstanding Overall Mobile Technology – The CTO's choice for vRAN Solution
2019 – GSMA 100
2019 – Intel Network Builders Winners’ Circle 2019-2020 Leaders Board
References
- "Cisco, Altiostar, WWT team for Open vRAN blueprint". Light Reading.
- "Altiostar: Open RAN, virtualization 'not pie in the sky'". FierceWireless.
- "Rakuten Group to Acquire Mobile Industry Innovator Altiostar". Altiostar.
- "Altiostar CEO: Open RAN Will Dominate in 3 Years". SDxCentral.
- "ATelefónica building partner ecosystem for 4G, 5G Open RAN solutions". RCR Wireless. 24 March 2020.
- "Altiostar: Open RAN, virtualization 'not pie in the sky'". FierceWireless.
- "One of Boston's Best-Funded Companies Just Came out of Stealth Mode". American Inno.
- "Altiostar's C-RAN Steps Into the Light, Junks Dark Fiber". Light Reading.
- "Altiostar Intros vRAN". Light Reading.
- "Altiostar Unveils Open vRAN Development Platform". The Fast Mode.
- "Altiostar CEO: Open RAN Will Dominate in 3 Years". SDxCentral.
- "Rakuten invests in Altiostar as part of virtualized network drive". TelecomLead.com. 12 February 2019.
- "Rakuten's 5G network will be built with containers". FierceWireless.
- "Rakuten Group to Acquire Mobile Industry Innovator Altiostar". Altiostar. Archived from the original on January 25, 2023.
- "Cisco's early bet on RAN virtualization propels Altiostar". FierceWireless.
- "Altiostar and Texas Instruments Collaborate to Bring the Most Advanced LTE eNodeB Solution to the Market". Yahoo Finance. 2 March 2015.
- "Qwilt, Altiostar Form Go to Market Partnership with Open Caching & NFV Cloud RAN Technologies". The Fast Mode.
- "Altiostar & Wind River Develop NFV C-RAN". Light Reading.
- "TIM and Altiostar extend ambitious vRAN plans in Italy". Rethink Technology Research.
- "DAS vendors look to VRAN to enable the enterprise". RCR Wireless News.
- "Altiostar, SK complete vRAN field trial, partner on SDRAN". Telecompaper.
- "Altiostar, Amdocs & Wind River Collaborate on End-to-End vRAN Solution: New Services, New Customers, New Revenue". Light Reading.
- "Deutsche Telekom partners with Crown Castle, Altiostar on 3.5 GHz test bed". Wireless Business Group.
- "SDxCentral's Weekly Roundup — February 23, 2018". SDxCentral.
- "Sercomm, Altiostar launch virtualised small cells". Telecompaper.
- "Vodafone and Telefónica Will Trial TIP's OpenRAN Platforms". SDxCentral.
- "Altiostar to Demonstrate Disruptive Open, Virtualized 4G & 5G RAN Solutions at Mobile World Congress 2019". Markets Insider.
- "Rakuten invests in US vRAN vendor Altiostar ahead of mobile launch". RCR Wireless. 13 February 2019.
- "TIP Project Group Feature: OpenRAN". Telecom Infra Project. 19 February 2019.
- "Ubicquia & Altiostar Expand Partnership to Accelerate Rural Broadband". Broadband World News.
- "Airspan, Altiostar package lessons from Rakuten". FierceWireless.
- "India's Bharti Airtel Deploys Altiostar's Open vRAN Solution". The Fast Mode.
- "NEC, Altiostar to Jointly Work on 4G/5G Open vRAN Business Development". The Fast Mode.
- "Cisco, Altiostar and WWT team on open vRAN". FierceWireless.
- "Fierce Innovation Awards 2015" (PDF). Fierce Markets.
- "Glotel Global Telecom Awards 2016". Telecoms.com.
- "GSMA Congratulates Winners of the 2017 Global Mobile Awards". GSMA.
- "GSMA Welcomes New Telco Cloud Companies to the 'GSMA 100'". Telecom TV.
- "Intel Network Builders Winners' Circle". Intel.