Ericsson has announced a €200 million investment to develop its open network management and automation platform at its Athlone facility in Ireland. Although the funding includes support from the Irish government, this remains a hefty investment into one of Ericsson’s favorite buzzwords: ‘programmable’ networks. The move is a sign of Ericsson’s commitment to be at the fore of Open RAN. Just how meaningful this openness is yet to be seen, but Ericsson is certainly keen to play the part of an Open RAN innovator. The three-year R&D project will focus on developing Ericsson’s flagship platform, called the Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform (EIAP), and the rApps (non-real time apps) that run on the platform. rApps automate RAN management and optimization and are…