Spidercloud has pioneered what it dubs the Enterprise-RAN (E-RAN), which sets up a network of small cells to deliver mobile coverage, data capacity and voice quality around a business building. The firm sees itself providing mobile operators with a much-needed vehicle to increase their strategic position in the enterprise market, while allowing the company’s IT department to retain control via the E-RAN’s on-premise controller.
The latest step in E-RAN’s evolution is a multimode small cell which can support LTE and HSPA voice and data simultaneously. Current Spidercloud networks can mix and match 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi but the cellular standards had to run on separate hardware.
The new cell, the SCRN-310, runs on an integrated 3G/LTE baseband system-on-chip from Broadcom along with SpiderCloud’s patented software, and can be upgraded in software in future to operate in two LTE bands at once. It supports 32 3G/HSPA+ channels, 32 active LTE users and 128 LTE connected users plus VoLTE. There will be two variations, one for 1.9GHz and AWS spectrum, the other in 2.1GHz and 2.6GHz. Additional frequency bands will follow later in 2014.
The integrated cells will be easier to deploy and reduce cost and footprint, the company said, and will be available in the second quarter of next year.
If that sounds a way off, it is likely to be sensible timing, given that most early enterprise small cell deployments are geared to improving voice coverage, something that is achieved easily with 3G access points while Wi-Fi provides data capacity hotspots. However, there are signs that LTE will enter the mix more prominently from 2014 as companies move onto different applications, such as video calling, which require greater capacity and lower latency; and in some countries, as cellcos start to switch off 3G.
Other vendors are eager to tap into this trend as it evolves. Cisco has taken a stake in fast Wi-Fi pioneer Wilocity (see separate item) and aims to combine that technology with its existing Wi-Fi platforms and with its small cell purchase Ubiquisys, to create an LTE/WLAN small cell. While Spidercloud focuses heavily on a controller within the enterprise, Cisco is increasingly keen on cloud-based services, and another of its recent acquisitions, of Meraki, points to more activity there.
Ericsson recently announced what it dubbed an enterprise small cell offering, Radio Dot, although this uses technology closer to miniaturized DAS (distributed antenna system), an approach mirrored by Huawei.
Spidercloud argues the case for its particular approach, saying that, by establishing central control and self-organizing network (SON) capabilities within the enterprise, it can enable broader coverage than conventional small cells; and lower cost, more easily deployable capacity than DAS. It also boasts of its scalability ‘ up to 100 self-optimizing 3G/LTE/Wi-FI radio nodes can be supported by one central services node (SCSN) linked to the operator’s network. The system can handle over 100,000 data sessions and hand-offs a day with just one connection to the carrier’s core, allowing for scalability in large enterprises or venues.
The access points themselves support Power over Ethernet and have transmit power options from 100mW to 250mW. Existing options consist of the SCRN-200 with 16/32 channels and 3G small cell; the SCRN-300 with 16/32 3G channels and dual-radio Wi-Fi; and the SCRN-210 with 64 LTE channels supporting 2×2 MIMO. Operators can co-deploy the various nodes and manage them with a single SCSN, which makes all the cells appear as a single node to the evolved packet core (EPC) in LTE; and the 3G Iuh-standard gateway. The SCSN acts as the local control point for the small cell enterprise network, handling functions like cell coordination and inter-small cell signaling (soft handover signaling for 3G and X2 signaling for LTE). This saves every small cell having to connect back to the cellco’s gateways individually. The architecture also enables Local IP Access (LIPA), for local switching and local break-out, which is needed to ensure inter-small cell mobility, and localized services or content caching.
‘As mobile data usage migrates from 3G to LTE in the next five years, SCRN-310 provides mobile operators with the flexibility they need and protects their investment in small cells,’ said Amit Jain, VP of product management. ‘Our partnership with Broadcom allows us to introduce the first flexible multi-access small cell to market.’