Project Arana

This innovative project introduces a "Network as a Service" (NaaS) software platform based on Cell-Stack, a product developed by Weaver Labs enhanced in collaboration with industry players Meta (Facebook), Samsung, Capgemini and Madevo, and Research Organisations University of Bristol, and Satellite Applications Catapult. Cell-Stack, leveraging advancements in distributed orchestration, aims to enhance network performance, capacity, and coverage, while reducing capital expenditures in network deployments. The platform integrates advanced solutions delivering a near-market solution that revolutionises service differentiation and user-centric Quality of Experience (QoE) through software components across multiple network segments.

Cell-Stack will enable opportunistic access to telecoms networks and allow application developers to utilise network capabilities. This expansion of NaaS, building on a TRL 5 platform from the ORANOS project, is set to achieve TRL 8, showcasing its maturity and practical application readiness. The platform integrates various technologies, including Mobile Private and Public Networks, Non-Terrestrial Networks, and Fibre backhaul, and is adaptable for expansion into WiFi or LiFi.

The project's core benefits include an integrated management platform for multi-technology and multi-domain networks, demonstrating the integration of diverse network types. It introduces fast-track monetization and innovative commercial models, enabling private networks to monetize as neutral hosts. Application providers can also influence network parameters to maintain specific QoE levels, offering new revenue opportunities for private network owners like MK Stadium and ORE Catapult, and for Meta, which gains direct control of network parameters.

Weaver Labs and Madevo will advance UK-based Intellectual Property, with the backing of multinational corporations. The project also aims to advance interoperability standards across multiple vendors and contribute to new interfaces in O-RAN alliance and TIP working groups. The NaaS market's growth is further catalyzed by this platform's unique features, such as multi-technology and multi-domain integration, developer-accessible networks via APIs, and AI-centered Open Networks.

In conclusion, this project not only marks a significant leap in telecom infrastructure sharing and network monetization but also paves the way for novel IP in NaaS solutions, multi-network integration, private-public network interfaces, and AI-driven network management models, underscoring its potential to transform the telecom industry.