Small cell articles

Huawei Blogs Huawei 2/20/2014

http://www.lightreading.com/experience-centric-operations/hetnet-integration-solution-helps-telcos-improve-user-experience-and-increase-revenue/d/d-id/707836?f_src=lightreading_editorspicks_rss_latest
The proliferation of smart phones and the mobile Internet results in massive data and network traffic growth. Total mobile data traffic is widely forecasted to exceed 10,000 PB per month in 2015, with an expected annual compound growth rate of over 100% from 2011 to 2015. Network traffic is now converging on hotspot areas. 20% of sites in high-traffic areas carry 80% of the total network traffic. The traffic rates of sites in high-traffic areas are 6.5 times that of common sites. Presently, telcos' primary concern is to alleviate network traffic pressure and deliver excellent mobile user experience. Based on a profound understanding of hotspot areas and rich industry experience, Huawei provides the HetNet Integration Solution to help telcos improve user experience and increase revenue efficiently.

Coordinated indoor and outdoor coverage in built-up business districts, delivering a first-class network while enhancing user experience
A large number of large buildings, shopping malls, and commercial streets are often found clustered in crowded built-up business districts. Signals receptions in these buildings where many high-end subscribers reside are garbled and susceptible to interference and signals on the streets between these buildings are weak because of the building sizes.

Huawei adopts the industry-leading indoor/outdoor traffic analysis technology to address weak or excessive coverage, improving traffic absorption. This technology assesses hotspot coverage and implements coordinated indoor/outdoor coverage simulation and capacity planning to enable seamless coverage and improve traffic absorption.

Huawei provides diversified solutions and customized product portfolios based on network requirements. For example, micro cells can recover bottom-layer coverage holes in built-up business districts and the LampSite indoor coverage solution can improve traffic absorption in shopping malls.

Coordinated coverage of multiple networks for large-sized stadiums, carrying ultra-large traffic and improving telcos brand competitiveness
During a sporting event, large-sized stadiums have dense spectators and ultra-large traffic and signals in these stadiums are subjected to strong interference. For example, in a large-scale stadium designed to accommodate 70,000 spectators, tens of thousands of voice calls are made and some hundred GB of data traffic is generated during the event. Calls and data traffic peak at the beginning, during half-time, and at the end of the event. Dozens of cell sectors are used to process the ultra-large traffic. Any interference between these cell sectors may increase background noises and then cause network congestion.

With rich experience in serving over 400 major sporting events, Huawei provides dedicated solutions tailored to large-sized stadiums. These solutions can accurately estimate the capacity of an event and customize traffic bearer policies based on empirical traffic models for large-sized stadiums. These solutions can also interwork with the G/U/L/WLAN Offloading Solution to dynamically balance traffic between GUL base stations and Wi-Fi hotspots, improving traffic absorption and enhancing resource utilization.

Based on experience accumulated from serving over ten well-known stadiums, Huawei provides a high-density cell sector solution designed to eliminate strong interference. This solution employs three-dimensional simulation to calibrate models, power, and layout positions of antennas, effectively controlling interference between cell sectors and maximizing the traffic capacity of each network.

Multi-telcos and multi-standard sharing in the metro, delivering high-speed service and achieving double win
The metro operates in narrow and enclosed underground areas which provide limited space for installing telcos devices. Usually, the metro is served by multiple telcos and thus has high requirements on interference control.

Based on technical indicators of different telcos, systems, and frequencies, Huawei provides a dedicated solution to detect and analyze interference sources in a multi-system environment and customize interference control measures. Besides, Huawei provides a modular SingleDAS solution with flexibly installed device modules to meet coverage requirements of different systems which can enable long distance transmission and reduces device space occupation, allowing end users to enjoy high-speed data services in express trains.

Based on the analysis of airport subscriber behavior and traffic models, Huawei accurately determines the coverage and capacity requirements of different functional areas and then takes corresponding measures. For example, the parking apron area is fully covered with signals to ensure passengers' fast access to the network. This measure helps telcos win high-end international roaming subscribers. Based on current and future traffic requirements, Huawei appropriately plans cells for areas such as departure halls and VIP lounges that generate large traffic and also uses the remote capacity expansion feature of the LampSite indoor coverage solution to dynamically expand capacity on demand.

To date, Huawei has provided indoor coverage services to 115 telcos in 64 countries all over the world and set up over 26,000 hotspot networks. Huawei's indoor coverage solutions are adopted in many landmarks such as the United Nations Headquarters, Mall of the Emirates, Brazil World Cup stadium, Baku Crystal Hall, Paris metro, and Zurich Airport.

Steve Perlman's Amazing Wireless Machine Is Finally Here

By Ashlee Vance February 18, 2014

“That will shock people,” Perlman said in an interview. “It means we have hundreds of millions of devices out there that are ready to go.”

The problem Perlman is trying to solve revolves around how current wireless networks are built. Companies like AT&T and Verizon will put up a cell tower that sends out a signal, which must then be shared by any people in range. The idea is to have the signals overlap at the edges of their range like a series of circles nudging up against each other. The arrangement must be done very artfully because the circles cause interference if they’re too close. As a result, there are spots in cities like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco where you often have tons of people in the same cell all placing calls and pulling down data to their devices at the same time, and their connections slow because they’re all sharing the bandwidth in that given area. The congestion issue is expected to get worse and worse as people keeping adding wireless devices and downloading larger and larger media files.

Story: What's Better for Wireless, Faster Infrastructure or Lower Prices?

Under Perlman’s pCell system, interference from the cells is not an issue. Instead of blasting out a dumb signal across a given area, Perlman and his team of researchers have developed a smart transmission system. Their networking equipment locates a device like a smartphone and uses complex mathematical operations to create a unique signal—hence the personal cell idea—just for that device. The upshot of this is that you can place the pCell transmitters anywhere and not worry about their signals bleeding into each other. And instead of sharing a signal, each person gets to tap into close to the full capacity of the transmitter. “We believe this is the largest increase in capacity in the history of wireless technology,” says Perlman. “It’s like the wireless equivalent of fiber-optic cables.”

Artemis Networks is the company Perlman has formed to sell this technology. It’s in the process of putting pCell transmitters on about 350 rooftops in San Francisco, and Perlman is looking to work with a telco or technology company like Google (GOOG) or Microsoft (MSFT) to get a commercial service running in the fourth quarter. “We’ll do San Francisco first and then do New York, Chicago, Dallas, and other congested cities,” says Perlman.

To work properly, a company backing the pCell technology would need to build out a large data center in addition to deploying the transmitters. It’s in the data center where servers constantly crunch away on the algorithms that form the unique wireless stream aimed at each device. As people move about, the servers must keep recalculating and processing a new stream. Perlman expects that a single data center could satisfy the needs of a city like San Francisco.

Perlman has spent about 10 years working on this technology with a handful of employees. I paid a recent visit to their San Francisco laboratory and saw the technology working firsthand. Perlman had put a few of the transmitters up near the ceiling and was able to direct a wireless beam right at a device in my hand. Despite such demonstrations, Perlman has been unable to tempt venture capitalists with the technology. “They invariably bring in experts who say it doesn’t really work,” he says. “I am showing them a demo, but they remain convinced that it’s something else.”

Perlman, who made millions selling WebTV to Microsoft, has funded all of this himself, and he declines to reveal the exact amount spent so far. He will show off the pCell technology at Columbia University on Wednesday during a midday lecture

AT&T, Cisco promise Hotspot 2.0 Wi-Fi roaming for MWC attendees

February 17, 2014

Read more: AT&T, Cisco promise Hotspot 2.0 Wi-Fi roaming for MWC attendees - FierceWirelessTech http://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/story/att-cisco-promise-hotspot-20-wi-fi-roaming-mwc-attendees/2014-02-17#ixzz2ttusUQAH

The backers of Hotspot 2.0 want the mobile industry to know that the technology is ready for prime time, and there probably is no better way to make that point than to deploy Hotspot 2.0 for automatic use by at least a portion of the attendees at next week's Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona.

AT&T (NYSE:T) is collaborating with a host of other mobile operators as well as vendors Cisco and Accuris Networks to bring the service to fruition, if only for a week and only within the confines of the Fira Gran Via convention grounds.

In addition to AT&T, participating service providers in the demo include Bell Mobility, China Mobile, Korea Telecom, MEO, Mobily, NTT DoCoMo, PCCW-HKT, SK Telecom and True. AT&T negotiated with its roaming partners worldwide, including the participating mobile operators, to add Wi-Fi roaming to their roaming agreements.

"Customers of the participating mobile operators with the latest compatible phones will securely and automatically authenticate onto the Hotspot 2.0 Wi-Fi network when they walk through the conference doors, just as easily as they roamed onto the mobile network when they landed in Barcelona," said a release from AT&T, Cisco and Accuris.

Cisco is providing the carrier-grade Wi-Fi network, including Passpoint access points and controllers certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance. The platform uses self-optimizing network (SON) technology.

Accuris Networks is responsible for enabling MWC attendees to securely and automatically connect onto the Wi-Fi network. Its AccuRoam platform will enable authentication and billing management via SIM cards, just as they are in the case of cellular-only roaming.

"As the Wi-Fi and cellular worlds merge, developing a common authentication mechanism with standard roaming agreements is a natural next step," said JR Wilson, vice president of partnerships and alliances at AT&T Mobility and chairman of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA).

The companies noted that once users can securely roam onto Wi-Fi as easily as they do onto cellular networks, operators will be positioned to begin marketing new services that take advantage of indoor location information and analytics uniquely provided by indoor small cells.

In related news, the WBA last week unveiled what it calls a comprehensive definition of carrier Wi-Fi, which it noted has been loosely used as an industry buzzword but with no universally recognized meaning.

"Achieving a common vision for the future of carrier Wi-Fi and what needs to be put in place to make it a reality is imperative," said Philippe Lucas, senior vice president of standardization and ecosystems development at Orange, which led the initiative along with Ruckus Wireless.

The WBA guidelines for carrier Wi-Fi capabilities address requirements such as consistent experience, fully integrated end-to-end network and network management, which addresses quality, security and manageability.

The WBA said it will also send the paper to other industry bodies for their feedback. The alliance has started initial consultations with industry bodies including 3GPP, the Broadband Forum, GSMA, NGMN and the Wi-Fi Alliance regarding the carrier Wi-Fi definition.


Analyst Angle: Go-to-market tune ups for small cell infrastructure players

Posted on 05 February 2014 by Aaron Blazar, VP, Atlantic-ACM. Tags

http://www.rcrwireless.com/article/20140205/opinion/analyst-angle-go-to-market-tune-ups-for-small-cell-infrastructure-players/?utm_source=Comcast+-+TWC+Analysis&utm_campaign=comcast+time+warner&utm_medium=email

Tower providers, fiber players, integrators and others are focused on capturing business from the next round of U.S. mobile infrastructure expansion – small cells. In my previous Analyst Angle, I posed the question of whether or not the demand is real (i.e. when it’s coming or what will make it real).

The next step is to understand how vendors can win business from U.S. wireless operators. At this point, with the carrier outdoor small-cell deployment game in the early innings, there is no clear-cut approach to winning business. Therefore, forming an understanding of what the requirements are, who the potential players are and how to approach opportunities will drive wins in the next round of mobile infrastructure expansion.

U.S. mobile operators have yet to fully define small-cell infrastructure requirements, resulting in an ecosystem with a wide array of players lined up and ready to serve rollout needs. As clarity on deployment requirements begins to emerge, business models will take shape and winning approaches to the market will be defined. So, for today, the largest question in the market is which solutions will win small-cell infrastructure business.

Two approaches have emerged for serving U.S. wireless operator needs – turnkey and a-la-carte. Turnkey solutions, also known as small-cell-as-a-service, include site acquisition, site leasing, attachment rights, utility contracting, backhaul and ongoing backhaul network management. Many ecosystem providers are lining up to test the turnkey waters. Potential players are leveraging existing infrastructure (tower operators or fiber providers) or developing businesses as sourcing partners/integrators to deliver turnkey solutions. Advantages to this model include the ability to drive scale/subsidies across existing products and the opportunity to become a one-stop sourcing partner for wireless operators.

The a-la-carte model follows the classic macro-cell infrastructure trajectory with fiber infrastructure companies providing backhaul and tower companies providing site acquisition, leasing and other services. This model is simple, yields no changes to the current mobile infrastructure ecosystem and drives deeper competition in sourcing and access to a wider array of providers. It also provides the operator with deeper control of vendors and underlying infrastructure. We note that, as the wireless business has scaled up, operators have favored greater infrastructure control, especially in the backhaul space where dark fiber has become a key backhaul requirement.

The downside of the a-la-carte model is it saddles operators with lots of project management, including the sourcing of multiple vendors across an increasing number of network points, with each point having more than one infrastructure vendor. Since small-cell deployments are expected to occur at a significantly higher order of magnitude than macro-cell deployments, the scope and scale of this management will be challenging.

Early discussions with market players and data from Atlantic-ACM’s 2013 Metro Report Card Survey suggest that a turnkey solution is not a requirement to win small-cell infrastructure business – at least at this point. When we surveyed wireless operator buyers about the services they expect to purchase along with small-cell backhaul, nearly 50% of respondents identified ongoing network management and utility contracting as complementary requirements while the remaining components of a turnkey solution were each cited by 29% or fewer buyers. Hence, while the complexity and scale of small-cell deployments favors single-vendor sourcing, desire for control of the build out process exists with the majority of buyers generating plenty of opportunity for a la carte players.

Three players for the two models

The turnkey and a-la-carte models are both under development by three key supplier groups – tower/real estate providers, fiber operators (ILECs, CLECs, metro fiber providers, cable MSOs, etc.) and integrators.

Tower providers include the big tower companies like American Tower, Crown Castle, SBA and others. The ability of players in this group to complete site selection and acquisition positions them well to help operators procure resources in small-cell market expansion. While this expertise is powerful on its own, some tower operators have gone a step further by investing in small-cell expertise. Crown Castle is the most visible player in this regard as its acquisition of NextG provides it with a large base of distributed antenna system business as well as a fiber footprint in major metro areas. As a result, Crown Castle can provide a turnkey solution that includes not only sites but also carrier services such as fiber backhaul.

Fiber operators are all about backhaul. Participants such as AT&T, CenturyLink, Verizon Communications, Time Warner Cable, Charter, Cox, Comcast, Fiberlight, Fibertech, Tower Cloud, PEG bandwidth, Zayo and many, many others are leveraging their wireline network assets to ride the wireless demand tsunami. Other potential roles for these players in small-cell build outs include providing local market expertise or full, turnkey solutions to wireless operators.

Building metro fiber networks requires local knowledge (i.e. establishing rights of way, negotiating commercial building point of entry agreements, etc.). Fiber operators will leverage this knowledge to provide a broader solution for small-cell deployments to win deals. The best current example is Zayo, which has established a mobile infrastructure team, combining a strong base of fiber network with the ability to provide wireless operators with additional small-cell network requirements. If the turnkey model becomes a winning requirement, we expect other operators to follow Zayo’s footsteps in developing robust mobile infrastructure teams and complete offerings.

Integrators such as ExteNet Systems and EdgeConneX lack underlying infrastructure ownership but deliver the ability to single-source solutions in pieces or as a whole (the proverbial “A-Z” menu). EdgeConneX, for example, combines deep knowledge of fiber networks with deep expertise in site acquisition. These operators have considerable know-how and have successfully built and deployed networks, but their lack of hard asset ownership places them at a potential pricing disadvantage relative to the infrastructure-owning tower operators and fiber providers. However, their vendor-agnostic value propositions, combined with the real-world pressure they can place on suppliers during the bidding process, go a long way toward mitigating those deficiencies. Overall, integrators are fixated on the turnkey opportunity, whereas it’s easier for tower and fiber players to straddle both models.

Which model wins

Ultimately, the winning business model will vary by operator, region and individual buyer preference. Look for heavy testing of both sourcing options over the next six months. These tests will drive wider scale strategies that will dictate significant network deployments in 2015, with the winners of the next mobile infrastructure boom beginning to emerge at that time. For infrastructure players, understanding which geographic markets hold the most opportunity and how to position existing assets to win business is key. The next six months will be pivotal in driving the emergence of this ecosystem trend. Atlantic-ACM will further explore U.S. wireless operator small cell infrastructure requirements in an upcoming whitepaper that will be released later this quarter.

http://www.capacitymagazine.com/Blog/3291832/Capacity-Voice/2014-Carrier-Forecasts-The-Good-the-Bad-and-The-Ugly.html?utm_source=Comcast+-+TWC+Analysis&utm_campaign=comcast+time+warner&utm_medium=email

Dec 30, 2013
Like all years in our tech-centric industry, 2014 presents both opportunities and challenges for carriers. Here’s a quick run-down on the Good, the Bad and the Ugly…

Let’s get the Ugly on the table first:

• Total US voice revenues will continue to shrink, driven by the Intercarrier Compensation Reform Order (ICRO). Note the following ATLANTIC-ACM projections:

o US local wholesale voice revenues will decline from $6.1B in 2013 to $5.4B in 2014

• The base of regulated T1 special access will decline as carriers and their enterprise customers shift to Ethernet over everything (fibre, copper, coax). Although revenues for special access bring more money for less bandwidth, Ethernet growth offers great opportunities for prepared carriers. ATLANTIC-ACM expects wholesale Ethernet revenues to grow from $3.5B in 2013 to $4.6B in 2014. While wireless drives $700m of the $900m y/y increase, carrier spending on Ethernet will continue to grow as migration creeps along. (Fibre-to-the-tower will play a major role in this growth, but end office connectivity to other facilities will increasingly play a larger role in connecting facilities.)

Finally, the Good stuff:

• Fibre growth will continue, driven by the myriad of new end-user desires. From medical records and contextual marketing to next-generation analytics, Big Data promises to continue its march forward, driving increased demand for connectivity between users and users, users and apps and, amid the API boom, apps and apps. At the same time wireless carriers facing insatiable demand for wireless data to feed mobile connections for all those services just listed will drive wireless carriers to seek future-proof builds with scalable fibre. And even small-cell deployments will rely on fibre. 

• Carrier investment in API capabilities will increase, driven by cost cutting and the need to interface more effectively with wholesale customers. Carriers will move from adding APIs to their voice platforms over the last two years to opening up APIs for interfacing with their data services platforms. Look for carrier APIs to enable integrations of ordering, pricing and provisioning platforms, making it easier for customers to do business with their wholesale service providers. 

So raise a glass to our changing times, position yourself well, and savour the ride.

Posted on 27 November 2013 by Aaron Blazar, VP, Atlantic-ACM

Small cells may be one of the hottest topics in the wireless infrastructure space today, but their impact has yet to show in the United States and many are beginning to question their relevancy: Do they really matter, and, will they really play a major role in U.S. wireless carrier networks and the marketplace? Or will they go the way of Ethernet exchanges, VoIP peering, microwave backhaul, 40 gigabit wavelengths, WiMAX, and … well, you get the idea.

With the initial LTE builds of Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility nearing completion, the next steps in network expansion will revolve around densification. These efforts, combined with continued capacity expansions, will drive new network requirements, which is where we find the strongest theoretical case for small-cell expansion. This expansion period can’t come soon enough for an entire ecosystem of equipment vendors, tower operators, site acquisition companies, fiber backhaul providers and others, which have little to show two years into what was billed by some as the era of the small cell. As with most new network technologies, adoption has been slower than analysts expect, but expansion needs remain. With business still in the early innings, questions about small cells should be rooted more in whether or not there are alternatives that are more economical or if key market impediments exist that need to be overcome in order for a carrier-deployed, small-cell boom to begin. Let’s dig in further to have a look.