Ericsson signaled its interest in the growing carrier Wi-Fi business when it acquired BelAir Networks, and it has followed up with a platform for cellular/Wi-Fi integration.
This consists of two cloud controllers for integrated Wi-Fi/cellular networks indoors; a control and management platform; and network optimization features such as real time traffic steering.
Clearly targeted at Cisco’s move into Ericsson’s territory via multi-network platforms, the Swedish vendor portrays its new offerings as a step towards the future HetNet (heterogeneous network).
It says its solution will enable cellcos to incorporate Wi-Fi easily into their networks and Ovum analyst Daryl Schoolar pointed out that the system ‘should yield a better end user experience by preventing some of Wi-Fi’s well known bad habits from being imposed upon users’.
The controllers provide 3GPP interfaces to the mobile core so that Wi-Fi can be added into the main cellco platform and managed in the same way as cellular base stations. The first adds a Wi-Fi controller blade, the WIC 8030, to Ericsson’s existing Evo Controller, while the second is a standalone product, the WIC 8100, which supports up to 10,000 access points and 500,000 concurrent subscribers, allowing operators to consolidate multiple Wi-Fi networks from a centralized location.
The real time traffic steering capability is a software upgrade that constantly monitors key performance indicators in both the mobile and Wi-Fi networks before dynamically shifting the user’s smartphone connection between networks according to criteria like signal strength and congestion. This appeals to carriers because it is network driven, enabling them to promote a superior user experience which they control, and which requires no new device software or user intervention.
The platform also supports access selection and automated load balancing between Wi-Fi and 3GPP networks and Ericsson is offering an access point based on the new 802.11ac gigabit Wi-Fi standard, to boost indoor coverage and capacity either on its own or integrated into the cellular network.
Ericsson says its management platform supports emerging standards but also promises additional benefits. Standards supported include ANDSF, IP session mobility and Wi-Fi Passpoint (based on HotSpot 2.0).
Thomas Noren, head of product area radio at Ericsson, said: “By coordinating licensed small cells with the macrocell, as we announced earlier this year, and intelligently integrating Wi-Fi and 3GPP throughout the network, we’re providing operators with the most effective way to deliver consistently high performance consumer connections.”
At Mobile World Congress earlier this year, Ericsson announced a new Wi-Fi Gateway application on its Smart Services Router (SSR), which also supports integration of Wi-Fi networks with mobile broadband infrastructure.