The beginning: a new approach to 5G experimentation
In 2022, BubbleRAN unveiled MX-PDK, its Multi-X Platform Development Kit for 4G/5G experimentation and validation.
The vision was to make advanced mobile network technologies more flexible, programmable, and accessible to researchers, engineers, and innovators. Rather than relying on isolated components and complex integration processes, MX-PDK brought together software-defined radio access and core network capabilities, including Open RAN functionalities such as the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) and Service Management and Orchestration (SMO). Designed to operate across bare-metal and cloud infrastructures, MX-PDK introduced a controlled, consistent, and reproducible environment for research and development, proof-of-concept prototyping, testing, and validation of next-generation mobile networks.
The objective was clear: simplify the development and experimentation of multi-vendor 4G/5G networks while providing the flexibility to customize, integrate, and evolve the platform.
Bringing intelligence into the platform with AI-RAN
In July 2025, the BubbleRAN Crimson release marked an important step in the olatform evolution, introducing AI-RAN capabilities and bringing artificial intelligence closer to network control, automation, and optimization. Moving towards intelligent and increasingly autonomous networks, MX-PDK evolved beyond cloud-native Open RAN.
The platform expanded its capabilities around programmable RIC and SMO functions, observability, automation, and intelligent network operations. AI-driven applications, reusable agents, and development capabilities progressively became part of the MX-PDK ecosystem. This evolution opened the door to new experimentation scenarios, where developers and researchers could explore not only how to deploy and control a 5G network, but also how to make it more intelligent, adaptive, and autonomous.
MX-PDK was evolving from a cloud-native Open RAN development platform into an integrated environment for both O-RAN and AI-RAN innovation.
From lab to campus: the MX-PDK product family
In 2026, BubbleRAN presents MX-PDK as a complete product family, designed to support the evolution from laboratory experimentation to campus-scale deployments. Rather than being a single development kit, MX-PDK now offers a progressive environment adapted to different levels of experimentation, development, and validation.
The family brings together four complementary offerings:
- MX-PDK LAB: A ready-to-use 5G and O-RAN laboratory environment for hands-on learning, research, experimentation, and proof-of-concept development.
- MX-PDK O-RAN: A multi-vendor O-RAN platform for network development, interoperability testing, RIC applications, and advanced 5G/6G experimentation.
- MX-PDK AI-RAN: An extended environment combining multi-cell O-RAN infrastructure with agentic AI-RAN capabilities, intelligent observability, automation, and AI application development.
- MX-PDK CAMPUS: A campus-scale platform integrating enterprise computing, indoor and outdoor radio coverage, synchronized fronthaul, GPU acceleration, agentic AI-RAN, Network Digital Twin, and optimization capabilities.
This product-family approach makes it possible to start with a compact laboratory setup and progressively extend the same software foundation towards more advanced multi-cell experiments, AI-driven network operations, and campus-scale infrastructure. Throughout this journey, the underlying philosophy of MX-PDK has remained unchanged: openness, flexibility, programmability, and reproducibility.
From the initial 4G/5G experimentation environment revealed in 2022, through the integration of AI-RAN capabilities in 2025, to the complete MX-PDK family presented in 2026, BubbleRAN has continuously expanded the possibilities for advanced R&D teams. The same evolution also reflects the broader transformation of telecommunications: from traditional mobile networks to cloud-native Open RAN, from programmable infrastructure to agentic AI-RAN, and from isolated laboratories to connected, intelligent campus environments.