Cloudera Joins AI-RAN Alliance: A New Era for AI in Telecommunications

Cloudera, the enterprise data cloud company, today announced its membership in the AI-RAN (Artificial Intelligence Radio Access Network) Alliance which was founded to accelerate the development of Intelligent RAN intelligent RAN by the utilization of big data technology and artificial intelligence technology.

This announcement places Cloudera in the company of other industry leaders, such as NVIDIA, Dell, SoftBank, T-Mobile, KT, and LG U+, who are dedicated to forcing the digital transformation of radio access networks (RAN) into intelligent, revenue-generating engines fueled by real-time data and artificial intelligence.

The AI-RAN Alliance was established to address the challenge of implementing AI at scale across distributed edge networks in telecommunications. Its primary goals are to normalize AI integration, open a common infrastructure for AI optimization, fast-track the development of edge AI applications and translate them into real-world proof points for trusted AI deployment in telecom networks.

With the telecom operators adopting virtualization and next-generation architectures to improve network operations, AI has the potential to provide unprecedented opportunities to increase efficiency and offer innovative services.

Cloudera’s deep specialism in scale-data management, edge-to-AI orchestration, and an open-source-first strategy are highly aligned with the Alliance’s aims. Cloudera, as a member, will participate in the ‘Data for AI-RAN’ working group and lead the efforts to standardize data orchestration, enable Large Language Model (LLM)-driven network automation, and build new types of hybrid Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) optimized for the unique requirements of the telecommunications industry.

According to Cloudera’s Chief Strategy Officer Abhas Ricky, the significance of the partnership cannot be overestimated: “AI has the potential to unlock significant value from telecom networks by driving a step-change in margin and service innovation.” We are excited to be working with AI-RAN Alliance to define the necessary SLA interworkings and data models that are necessary to perform AI-RAN operations.

Cloudera would help to realize the broader objectives of the Alliance, delivering AI-for-RAN (RAN enhanced with AI), AI-and-RAN (AI for RAN co-hosting of software and algorithms to share deployment), and AI-on-RAN (embedded AI service for network edge).

This partnership is designed to shorten the trial-to-market and time-to-market for AI use cases, including SLA-based network availability and real-time anomaly detection, driving faster innovation and deployment across the global telecommunications industry.