3G femtocells created the first fully open interface in cellular history, with Iuh providing both control/data functionality and a management protocol on open standards. Plugfests and individual operator efforts have built on these foundations. Yet experience shows that there is a big gap between open standards and open interoperability, with a true multivendor environment still not being at anything like the level of, say today’s DSL modems. Is such open interop possible, or even desirable at this stage in the market?
While operators have called for interoperability between LTE metro/microcells and the macrocell network, the X2 interface has many different incarnations so a true open standard is not in place. Many vendors have small cell implementations which require tight coupling between their macrocells and small cells, sacrificing interoperability for claimed performance benefits. Operator initiatives have instead sought third-party SON ‘glue’ to unite the macro and small cell layers. Another level of interoperability is provided internally via interfaces such as FAPI (Femto Application Platform Interface) which aim to help vendors deliver consistent interactions between individual small cell subsystems.
Held at PwC London offices and kindly sponsored by Microlease & Keysight Technologies, this insightful half-day event will explore the need for interoperability, highlighting both the potential benefits and the associated sacrifices from both an operator and vendor viewpoint. It will capture current best practice, current challenges and chart the needs for the future. As with all CW events, there will be ample networking opportunities.
Speaking at this event:
- Nick Johnson, Chief Technical Officer, ip access
- David Swift, Marketing Director, Wireless Networks Marketing & Strategy, Alcatel-Lucent
- Neeraj Gupta, Senior Manager and Kreso Bilan, Telecommunications Systems Architect NEC UK
- Bert Esser, Northern European Applications Engineering Manager, Keysight Technologies
- Phil Claridge, Chief Innovation Architect, JDSU UK
- Alessandro Bovone, Senior Manager, Network Strategy, EE
The Small Cell SIG is championed by Paul Kenworthy of Ranplan, Simon Saunders of Real Wireless, Simon Fletcher of NEC Telcom MODUS, David Chambers of ThinkSmallCell and Zahid Ghadialy of eXplanoTech.
We are also extremely grateful to Microlease & Keysight Technologies for sponsoring this event and to PwC for hosting it at their London venue.
To follow this SIG on Twitter, @CambWireless, please use #CWSmallCell