The Next Generation of Wireless Network Design: Keima Launch Composer V1.0

The Next Generation of Wireless Network Design: Keima Launch Composer V1.0

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Cardiff, UK - Wireless network planning and optimisation experts Keima have released Composer V1.0. Composer is a software solution for pre-build wireless network design: it allows engineers planning a new wireless technology to cover more sources of revenue with fewer masts, while also reducing the duration and cost of the planning process. Composer provides a disruptive approach to pre-build network design, equally important for both the low-cost business models of new entrants and the cost reduction necessary for established operators deploying a new technology.

Composer V1.0 allows the user to select mast sites from existing portfolios in order to maximise revenue coverage. Advanced geographic visualisation allows the user to review and understand the implications of plans, evaluate proposed solutions and validate input data. Comprehensive statistical analysis and rapid site selection allows easy comparison of different rollout strategies, technologies, and infrastructure vendors. Composer is designed to work in conjunction with leading propagation, planning and simulation tools.

Dr Simon Chapman, co-founder of Keima, describes the value of Composer:

"When we validated the SPICE site selection algorithm with a global top twenty operator, we were able to show a reduction in site numbers of more than 30% compared to their existing process, while still covering the same population. This improved plan (which passed a manual review) represents an estimated £4 million in infrastructure capex reduction, plus future savings in opex through reduced equipment maintenance and electricity costs. We have also shown that the tool can significantly increase population coverage compared to existing solutions when using the same site numbers. Since January this year we have used Composer on fee paying projects to select more than 20,000 sites for technologies including mobile WiMAX, proving the scalability and usability of the application".

Richard Edge, co-founder of Keima with responsibility for product management and business development, added:

“We learnt many lessons from the experiences of 2G and 3G wireless network planning: manually intensive simulation based approaches to planning are time consuming and cannot be understood by non-expert end-users; black-box automatic optimisation can be difficult to validate and integrate into a process; overly complicated software solutions are slow to deliver and struggle to keep pace with the rapid development of wireless technology. With Composer we have taken a new approach to pre-build wireless network design, drawing on these lessons. Composer is a decision support solution that increases engineer productivity, rather than an analysis and simulation centric tool. Composer is a focussed pre-build design solution: the user is not paying for the unnecessary complication of integrating drive test measurements only applicable after network build, or network statistics only applicable for mature networks. Composer is technology neutral, allowing experts to specify design processes without the need to work around assumptions that are technology or vendor specific, and as such invalid. Composer is simple to use for junior engineers optimising the plan of a town or city, yet powerful and flexible enough to support complicated nationwide scenario planning by technology experts evaluating rollout strategy”.

Composer is available now for wireless network operators, infrastructure vendors, technology consultants and network engineering service providers. It can be used for applications including overlay planning, network merger integration, site portfolio evaluation, technology evaluation and infrastructure vendor evaluation. While designed for the next generation of technologies including WiMAX and outdoor Wi-Fi, Composer’s technology neutral approach means that it can also be applied to 2G and 3G technologies including GSM, CDMA and UMTS. Future releases planned for 2007 will expand the range of parameters which Composer optimises. For more information contact [email protected] .

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CONTACT INFORMATION

EDITORIAL NOTE

Keima is a UK limited company, founded in January 2006 and based at the Cardiff Business and Technology Centre. Keima’s founders have been key to the delivery a large number of innovative and industry leading planning and optimisation solutions to the wireless industry since the days of GSM. Focusing on the needs of new technology operators, Keima are developing the next generation of network planning and optimisation solutions based upon their Overture Framework. The expertise of Keima employees enables the company to be both self-financing and profitable. Keima is currently expanding its operations in both Europe and North America.