NEC said that the acquisition is expected to be fully completed this month

Japanese tech giant NEC has increased its capacity to deliver end-to-end Open RAN (O-RAN) ecosystems with the acquisition of Irish firm Aspire Technology, the former said in a release.

Aspire Technology is a specialized system integration (SI) company with “unique skills” in designing and integrating open networks, according to an NEC release. Aspire Technology provides solutions and services across 2G to 5G for legacy and open architectures.

NEC said that the acquisition is expected to be completed in July 2022.

The Japanese company noted that the addition of Aspire strengthens NEC’s SI offering for Open RAN 5G applications, which require an increased level of systems design and integration when compared with legacy ecosystems.

Aspire Technology provides technology solutions, software applications, consulting and systems integration for Tier-1 telco operators on legacy network architectures. Aspire Technology works with operators, vendors and other SI companies across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Naohisa Matsuda, general manager of NEC’s 5G strategy and business, said, “NEC has made a strong, public commitment to providing leadership in the rollout of Open RAN. Part of that commitment is building out our ability to serve as the prime system integrator for global operators as they adopt Open Networks at their own pace. The SI business is all about people and expertise. The strong capabilities and the deep pool of talented engineers at Aspire Technology, combined with their portfolio of technology solutions and applications, is a big step forward for our NEC Open Networks strategy. NEC is now better prepared than any supplier to integrate disaggregated network componentsa well-tuned ecosystem.”

“We believe the combination of NEC and Aspire Technology will provide tremendous benefits to our customers, both legacy network-based and those evolving to the more Open environment, and also to the broader 5G and Open RAN marketplace, which is growing rapidly. We share a common vision of the 5G and Open RAN market, and a history of delivering complex integration projects with some of the largest carriers in the world. Together, we create a compelling and comprehensive 5G solutions portfolio,” said Bill Walsh, Aspire Technology’s founder and CEO.

In February, NEC Corporation announced it had expanded its open RAN Radio Units (O-RUs) portfolio with the introduction of several new products and configurations. The company said that the 18 new RU products complement NEC’s existing portfolio to help meet the demands of private and public mobile networks that will drive Open RAN initiatives during 2022.