Impact of Small Cells on Key Enterprise Markets

I missed the last CW (Cambridge Wireless) Small Cells event 'Are small cells ready for private LTE primetime in the lead-up to 5G?'.

Some excellent presentations at Cambridge Wireless Small Cell SIg today. This one from Ian Taylor of Quortus #CWSmallCell pic.twitter.com/SamiUIQWaP

— thinksmallcell (@thinksmallcell) April 2, 2019

From the CW website:

The limited progress towards excellent in-building cellular coverage is well-attested, and in many enterprise and industrial sectors, this is not just frustrating, but has a tangible impact on productivity and agility. In a wide range of industries, from transport to logistics to healthcare, there is pent-up demand for highly reliable, highly secure cellular connectivity, which often needs linking with localised applications and data.

That demand is only growing even more with the advent of IoT applications and edge computing. This is a huge opportunity for small cells, even before 5G, but these sectors cannot all be served by one generic network. Each has its own particular requirements, which need to be well understood by suppliers and partners, so that the deployment can be carefully aligned to business and performance objectives.

Excellent mobile connectivity indoors and out is the baseline requirement – each sector has its own additional needs, which will help to make the business case add up. For some, low latency may be important, for others, massive device density or enhanced security. All of these can be delivered optimally by small cells, but the design of the network, and the business model to deploy it – e.g. neutral host or private network – must be tailored to the enterprise, if users and suppliers are both to achieve the best ROI.

This event focuses on the real-world issues needed for the success of small cells in the emerging private LTE market.

The presentations are available for a limited time for non-CW members here.

The following presentations are available:

• 'Is private LTE disruptive' by Ian Taylor, Quortus [PDF]
• 'Small cells in private networks: An Overview' by Caroline Gabriel, Rethink Technology Research [PDF]
• 'Bringing connectivity to a mechanical test centre' by Peter Stoker, AutoAir [PDF]
• 'Private Networks for Critical Comms & IoT' by Tadhg Kenny, Druid Software Ltd [PDF]
• 'Business ready applications, not the connectivity solution, will be the driver for private networks' by David Rose, Veea Systems Ltd [PDF]

Related Posts:

• The 3G4G blog: Non-public networks (NPN) - Private Networks by another name

CW Seminar on DAS vs Small Cells

I mentioned about the CW seminar in my earlier post here. The event is over so here are a few takeaways from the seminar.

The good news about CW Small Cells events is that David Chambers (ThinkSmallCell) does a very comprehensive summary. For this one, its available here.

For a limited time (for non-members), the presentations from the speakers is available on CW website here.

I wanted to highlight few takeaways and stats that were quoted during the seminar as follows:

• The 5 challenges of deploying small cells: compelling event, capacity, complexity, coverage, cost
• 90 operators now offer unlimited service with voice, SMS & Data
• Due to European roaming charges having been scrapped, there is 300% growth in European roaming traffic since last year.
• Average consumption is 1.9Gbytes/month forecast to be 15.8Gbytes by 2022. Finish operator Elisa is already running at an average of 18GB/month
• Modern inbuilding systems are 2T2R with many older installation still using SISO.
• 40% of the workforce will be freelancers, temps, independent contractors and solopreneurs by 2020 (Not sure if this is UK or worldwide figure)
• 39% of millenials say they interact more with their smartphones than they do with theur significant others, parents, friends, children or co-workers
• By the end of 2017, around 14000 co-working spaces will be in operation worldwide
• 67% of people around the world use a personal device at work to some degree

I have highlighted Opencell's view on DAS vs Small Cells in the earlier post here. This Tweet below also shows the comparison points

Good comparison between DAS & Small Cells by Graham Payne of @youvegotnetwork at @cambwireless #CWSmallCell pic.twitter.com/wE8MChjPSB

— Parallel Wireless (@Parallel_tw) December 7, 2017

Bob Slorach, from Wireless Infrastructure Group (WIG), drew some clear guidelines about building size, pointing to the needs of buildings between about 50000 to 300000 sq. ft. This represents a huge unmet demand of around 2 Billion sq. ft. in the UK alone.

As can be seen in the picture above, picocells can serve smaller venues while a 5 watt small cell (microcell) with distributed RF can satisfy the 100 - 300K sq. ft. venues. For bigger venues, a higher power unit would be required. It would also justify to have a neutral host solution so the costs could be distributed and coverage is available for everyone.

Adis Omeragic, Special Projects Manager at EE, shared his side of the story. While his slides are still not on the site (they are expected to be available), I have emnedded a tweet below.

Some very clear and concise points made by Adis Omeragic of @EE regarding DAS and Small Cells at @cambwireless #CWSmallCell pic.twitter.com/wNTlmbPNol

— Parallel Wireless (@Parallel_tw) December 7, 2017

Some of the points he made were, while passive DAS may no longer be used, active DAS will be around. Only about 5% of DAS deployments in the UK have all four operators connected as of today.

According to Adis, DAS displacement is slow because of lack of roadmap alignment between macros and small cells. Small cells upgrade path is very limited. DAS allows Carrier Aggregation, Multi-technology and multi-band capability, SON features which are more common in macros, etc.

Due to the new features like 4x4 MIMO and even Massive MIMO, things may start going in favour of small cells.

One final point that was discussed in the panel was whether VoWiFi is good enough so there is no longer a need for residential or enterprise femtocells.

While the panelists agreed that VoWifi is good enough for residential, it may not be good enough for enterprises. I disagree. If the enterprise has designed their WiFi networks properly, this may not be much of an issue.

There is other issue of the lack of devices and operators support for VoWiFi. As EE pointed out, they only support it for post-paid customers, on direct contract with them. So pre-paid, MVNO and partner customers wont benefit. Also, its supported in limited number of devices.

DAS vs Small Cells for In-building coverage

Small cells vs DAS has been a topic of discussion for a long time. ThinkSmallCell covered this topic back in 2014. I don't think things have changed much.

Recently I came across ClearSky and Opencell. They both have a slightly different approach to providing in-building coverage solutions. Instead of focusing on having neutral host small cells with MOCN or other network sharing approach, they act as neutral host providers responsible for integrating small cells from multiple operators within the building.

ThinkSmallCell has a detailed write-up of Opencell and Clearsky Technologies. What impressed me is the Opencell article saying (emphasis mine):

This isn’t a true neutral host where a single set of small cells is shared by all operators and routed through a central gateway. Each small cell is connected directly to its host operator – there is no shared gateway switch  through which all traffic is concentrated.

Instead they use Enterprise Small Cells to provide in-building cellular service from all four UK networks at a 75% lower price than DAS including basestations. Parallel sets of small cells are installed, one set for each operator. Typically a single dedicated LAN is used with a single separate fibre backhaul through the Internet. Each installation is designed, commissioned and maintained directly by the OpenCell team.

A 24/7 Data Centre with fault and performance monitoring service constantly tracks operation and identifies problems. We can remotely diagnose and fix issues, and will attend next day to fix or replace faulty hardware. We charge an initial setup fee and an ongoing operational support rate. There would also be a callout fee and additional cost for major changes, such as when the building is redeveloped, layout changed or new tenants are introduced.

It can be 75% cheaper to install enterprise small cells from multiple operators rather than install DAS. Again, I am sure there is a point till which it would make sense to do this. After that, it would be cheaper to have a DAS solution.

In couple of weeks, Cambridge Wireless is hosting a seminar on this topic, 'DAS and Enterprise Small Cells - Competition or Collaboration?'. I am hoping to hear more details about this.

In the meantime, if you would like to explore more about this topic, see the links below.

• Multi-operator enterprise small cells commercially live with OpenCell - ThinkSmallCell
• ClearSky lights up Clearwater Beach Resort with multi-operator Small Cells - ThinkSmallCell
• Small cell deployment supports all four nationwide operators - RCR Wireless
• The three key differentiators between DAS and Small Cells for Enterprise - ThinkSmallCell
• DAS and Small Cells solutions become more intertwined - ThinkSmallCell
• Six ways to achieve multi-operator Small Cells - ThinkSmallCell
• Quick tutorial on Mobile Network Sharing Options - The 3G4G Blog
• Tutorial: An Introduction to Macrocells & Small Cells - 3G4G Small Cells Blog

Connecting Cambridge University using Wi-Fi

Came across this post from Airheads about the challenges of connecting the 800-year-old Cambridge University with Wi-Fi. I have spent a lot of time in Cambridge working with Cambridge Wireless and attending fantastic events organised by them so I have seen some of these challenges first hand. To quote from the post:

Providing services to such a prestigious institution is a real privilege but can also be daunting.  At Cambridge, the whole City is the campus as University Departments and Colleges span the City. Networking on such a distributed scale is a challenge; we have to take both the narrow and wider view at the same time. 25 years ago, the University had the foresight to begin deploying a pan-city fibre optic network, the Granta Backbone Network, to connect the hundreds of University buildings together. Today this encompasses 60 km of multicore fibre over which we run a core and distribution router network. Therefore, as all our buildings are networked together, you would think that deploying Wi-Fi on the back of that must be easy. That could not be further from the truth, as hinted at already, Cambridge is far from simple.

The most basic thing you do for a wireless deployment is a Wi-Fi survey. Here at Cambridge, we have a myriad of buildings of all shapes, sizes and types. For example, we have buildings that are eight hundred years old right through to modern structures. The construction of these buildings is amazingly diverse, from metre thick stone walls to concrete monoliths right through to simple buildings made up of modern partition walls. The latter sounds simple until you come across that surprise hefty wall with four layers of unexpected insulation or a signal killing chimney hidden in the wall. We also have constructions as varied as residential buildings, (that can also act as hotels out of term), office blocks, state of the art laboratories, lecture theatres and seminar rooms, libraries and warehouses. This means that the University Wireless Team have their work cut out surveying each of these unique environments while trying to get ubiquitous Wi-Fi into all areas. We estimate that if we surveyed each building end to end, it would take more than five years.

You can read the complete post here. Below is a video that shows some of these challenges.

Is small-cell thinking changing the face of remote and rural coverage?

Its been a few months since this Cambridge Wireless (CW) seminar on 'Is small-cell thinking changing the face of remote and rural coverage?'. David Chambers (ThinkSmallCell) has written a post summarising the event here but I thought it would be worth bringing this event to people's attention.

The presentations from this event are available here. There was a talk on how Nokia Kuha are being installed on Isle of Lewis in Scotland. I have written about them earlier here.

IP.Access talked about their rural deployment in Peru. To quote thinksmallcell article:

For the most remote areas, ip.access gave an extreme example from Peru where it took two days just to reach the site. Again the financial figures look small but can still be profitable. Where a macrocell might serve 1000-2000 users, a remote small cell might serve 100. In this example, a village with 300 people attracted 91 users with an ARPU of $11 generating $12,000 per annum. 

This was an EU funded research project called TUCAN3G. There are more details about it on the project website.

Real Wireless talked about the whitepaper they did for Small Cell Forum. It makes an interesting reading.

Finally, Ayan Ghosh from BT talked about Airmasts. I have covered this in detail here.

With regards to the IP.Access Peru story where remote users did generate a lot of revenue for the operator, I know the same applies to UK. From my travels looking at rural coverage I have seen that the users in rural community make full use of whatever capacity is made available to them. I posted an interview that I am posting again below.


Related links:

• CW seminar on Remote and Rural Small Cells - ThinkSmallCell
• Business drivers for connecting the unconnected via small cells - Small Cell Forum
• 'Is small-cell thinking changing the face of remote and rural coverage?' - Cambridge Wireless

The role of Wi-Fi in evolving mobile ecosystem

Came across this old presentation from the Cambridge Wireless FWIC 2015 by Plum consulting. I have written many posts on these topics but this is going to be a hot area for discussion for the coming months and year(s). In fact you might be seeing more on these topics in the next few months on this blog.

Here is the presentation from Plum embedded below.

You can read more about the Cambridge Wireless Future of Wireless international conference in a blog post by ThinkSmallCell here.

Small Cells: Interoperability and Plugfests for Multi-vendor HetNet's

Our recent Small Cells SIG in Cambridge Wireless was another full house with the topic under discussion being Small Cells Deployment: Whats the hold-up. One of the areas being tackled by Small Cell Forum is to have plugfests to identify the issues that are causing hold ups and fix them. There were two interesting presentations with interesting take on this topic. The first was by Neeraj Gupta and Kreso Bilan of NEC who are both very active in this interoperability and plugfests. Their presentation which doesnt need any explanation is embedded below:

Multi Vendor HetNet: Interoperability, Plugfests from Zahid Ghadialy

The other presentation was by Nick Johnson of IP.Access who listed the problems and the source of the problems that gave rise to the interoperability issues and also gave a quick summary of what the plugfests achieved (see picture above). His slides are embedded below:

Small Cell Interoperability in the RAN from Zahid Ghadialy

The conclusion of the event was that there are no issues or reasons for these hold-ups. The operators have been over cautious and preferred to play a waiting game but are now getting confidence and starting to deploy small cells. Some minor issues in interoperability revolves around X2 interface and SON but they should get ironed out in the couple plugfests planned for next year (see NEC slides).

Small Cells for the 'Connected Car'

Couple of weeks back I was in an event where Connected cars were a big focus. A few discussions centred around Small Cells in the cars. It may be a bit of a challenge but it should still be possible to have Small cells in the cars. The biggest challenge would be the backhaul. You cant have the standard backhaul for cars, especially as its moving, generally at high speeds. 

Some tricky solutions where one of the frequencies is used for backhauling small cells while small cells would provide coverage to the passengers of the car may be doable but it may not be worth the effort. 

Generally, the focus right now is to have something like a MiFi device in the car. The device can receive the mobile network signals and create a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Another solution being discussed was the use of Mobile Relay Node (MRN). As far as I understand, MRN has been pushed out of Release-12. Another issue is that the practical gain may not be as good as expected. Most of all, small cells or relay would only be useful if all the passengers in the vehicle reply on the same mobile network operator. As far as I have seen, this is generally not the case.

In light of this, it would make sense to continue on the current solution of having Wi-Fi hotspots in the cars backhauled to the mobile network.

Your thoughts please.

Small Cells as a Service (SCaaS) using NFV

If you have not read my earlier post on SCaaS, then check this out. If you have no idea what Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is, check this out.

In a recent presentation in CW, Interdigital suggested that they are working on some ideas where they can virtualize the small cells network in such a way to have multi-tenancy (multiple operators sharing pool of small cells resources). Here is the complete presentation embedded. Let me know what you think.

Interdigital: Virtualization – You Know More Than You Realize! from Zahid Ghadialy

Unlocking Small Cells for the Enterprise - EE

Another excellent presentation by the UK operator EE in our Cambridge Wireless SIG. There was a discussion about the different options during deployment, which options are more preferable than others, etc.

Another point worth mentioning is the potential of Small Cells in emergency and disaster situations. We have seen similar deployments happening in Japan during the tsunami that occurred a few years back. The complete presentations as follows:

EE: Unlocking small cells for the enterprise from Zahid Ghadialy

Related links:

• Summary of CW Small Cell SIG event 'Stretching the Limits' by ThinkSmallCell
• Operator plans for the ultra-dense network by Caroline Gabriel
• LTE Deployment Dilemma - Quiz

Operator plans for the ultra-dense network

The following is from Rethink Wireless article last month:

Large-scale deployments of public access small cells are still in their infancy, but there is already talk of 'hyper-dense' networks to cope with hotspots of intense data usage. Most of this remains just talk, but Qualcomm - on the rampage in metrocells after a hesitant start- is showing off how the approach might work in reality. 

The chip giant, never averse to a bold demonstration, is claiming the densest network ever constructed in a working environment, equating to 1,000 cells per square kilometer (a neat figure given that Qualcomm's ongoing marketing campaign revolves around the '1,000x Data Challenge', predicting an increase of that magnitude over the coming decade). 

It has put the trial together for Sprint's TDD technology, working with Airspan, the WiMAX specialist that has evolved into a small cell vendor with heavy emphasis on self-organization and integrated backhaul.

We recently heard from Caroline Gabriel in our Cambridge Wireless Small Cells SIG this (last) week. This very interesting presentation below is from that event. A very important slide is the tools that are available for achieving this ultra-dense networks. Anyway, presentation as follows:

Operator plans for the ultra-dense network from Zahid Ghadialy

IP.Access: From Startup to Volumes

We heard from Nick Johnson last month in our Cambridge Wireless event, talking about Enterprise Small cells. He gave us some very good real life deployment examples of Small cells in public and enterprise scenarios. One such slide is shown above and others can be seen from his presentation below.

IP.Access also did a webinar with ThinkSmallCell recently in which they expanded on their offering, approach and solutions. Considering that they are one of the leaders and pioneers in the Small cells arena, it may be worthwhile hearing the webinar. The video of the webinar is embedded below and the slides are available from Slideshare here.

Business case for Enterprise Small Cells

In our recent Cambridge Wireless SIG event where we discussed about Enterprise small cells, Simon Saunders from Real Wireless presented a business case on Enterprise small cells. David Chambers from ThinkSmallCell has also written an excellent summary that is available here.

The presentation from Real wireless is embedded below. A more detailed study from Small cell forum is available on Scf.Io here.

Enterprise Small Cells: The Business Case from Zahid Ghadialy

Quortus: Evolving architectures for Small Cells in the Enterprise

Continuing on our theme of Enterprise Small cells, here is slightly old presentation by Quortus from the Small Cell World Summit 2013

An Introduction to 'Enterprise Small Cells'

A nice presentation by David Chambers from ThinkSmallCell summarising Enterprise Small Cells from our recent Cambridge Wireless event 'Small Cells and the Enterprise'

Enterprise Small Cells from Zahid Ghadialy