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

Ericsson's 5G Radio Dot coming in 2019

One of the top 5 posts on this blog last year was one about Ericsson's Radio Dot so I thought its about time I write one about their 5G Radio Dot systems. If you have seen my tutorial on Macrocells & Small Cells, you will know that I don't necessarily agree that these are small cells but anyway lets leave that aside. Lets start with the slides that Ericsson shared:

While I wasn't allowed into any of the big vendors stands at MWC, it was good to see that all of them had put their MWC videos, demos, etc. online. See here. Good to see that Evan Kirstel managed to get us a nice picture of the Radio Dot.

The @EricssonNetwork #5G radio dot at #mwc18. Amazing packaging for next gen radio access. #wireless pic.twitter.com/0TlV0L56RC

— Evan Kirstel (@evankirstel) February 25, 2018

Ericsson also has a page dedicated to Radio Dot here. The Facebook live video of the product below.


Finally, here is a short and sweet article from TMN magazine on this topic. Here is a short extract:

Ericsson has said that it will have a 5G compatible version of its Radio Dot System by 2019.

The company today “introduced” the 5G Radio Dot – a new line of its DAS-lite small cells. The new access points will be able to offer 2Gbps speeds, and will add band support across the 3-6GHz range that are targeted as a pioneer 5G band.
...
TMN : When is the expected actual release date (GA) for the 5G Dot?

Ljungberg: In line with general introduction of the 5G technology in the market in 2019.

This sort of gap between launch announcement and actual availability mirrors the original launch of the Radio Dot, which saw a 14 month gap between introduction and availability.

We will see it being rolled out next year.

Small Cells Market Update from February 2018

Small Cell Forum recently released the updated 'Small cells market status report February 2018'. It contains the latest SCF market status update, which is based on operator surveys, modelling and forecasts, completed between November 2017 and February 2018. A total of 105 operators’ deployment plans were surveyed or modelled. The forecasts now include the first phases of 5G small cell deployment. SCF members can access the full data set associated with this report from the Resources folder on the member website.

The report confirms the continuing growth of small cells in non-residential scenarios – notably urban and enterprise sectors – and sees 5G, virtualization and densification playing a strong role in that growth. It also highlights the significance of ensuring simple, scalable and repeatable deployment processes. SCF is working with regulators globally to make this happen.

Key findings include:

• The installed base of small cells to reach 70.2m in 2025.
• Densification initially led by APAC and North America, with Europe lagging as it works to address commercial, technical and regulatory barriers.
• Massive annual growth (36%) in the rate of new non-residential deployments of small cells, led by urban and enterprise small cells, between 2015 and 2025
• 5G cell deployments overtaking 4G by 2024. The total installed base of 5G or multimode small cells in 2025 is predicted to be 13.1m, over one-third of the total in use.
• A stronger emphasis on virtualization, notably for 5G and multimode 4G/5G small cells. Virtualized systems will grow at a CAGR of 52% to reach 57% of the total in 2025.
• The vast majority of new deployments to be in dense or hyperdense environments by 2025.
• C-Band and high frequency bands to be the most important bands for 5G small cells. 
• Strong support from operators for the deployment of 5G small cells as their 5G capacity layer where LTE remains the coverage layer.

Here is a small video from SCF in the recently concluded Mobile World Congress (MWC18)

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.

Tutorial: An Introduction to Macrocells & Small Cells

I have been meaning to create a video tutorial on Small Cells for a long time. The problem is that its not as easy as most people may think. To explain small cells concepts, its necessary to explain macrocell, C-RAN & DAS. This is what I have attempted to do in this presentation.

The slides are embedded below and can be downloaded from Slideshare. The video is embedded on slideshare presentation but if you prefer, the direct Youtube link is here.

Please note that this video is for guidance only. Many vendors & operators use their own definition which may not agree to mine. In the end, we are all correct 😉

Ericsson Radio Dot: Evolution and Technical information

Its been nearly 4 years since I blogged about Ericsson's Radio Dot. Ericsson announced Multi-operator Radio Dot Solution this week. As per the press release:

Ericsson has launched three new scalable small cell solutions designed to help expand the small cell market and meet the growing demand for better mobile coverage and capacity while preparing networks for 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT) applications: the Multi-Operator Dot and the Multi-Dot Enclosure for indoor deployments; and the Strand-Mount Unit for outdoor micro radios.

The Multi-Operator Dot solution delivers a set of Radio Dots that can be shared between multiple operators, with one operator managing the system while others provide radio frequency signals – similar to an active distributed antenna system (DAS). This new architecture allows up to four operators to broadcast over a single Dot solution; combining the multi-operator benefits of an active DAS solution with the performance, agility and cost-effective design of the Radio Dot System.

As its name suggests, the Multi-Dot Enclosure combines multiple Dots in a single enclosure. The enclosure has a minimal impact on building aesthetics, is useful for multi-operator deployments, and presents a cost-savings option in buildings that charge per box deployed.

The Strand-Mount Unit for outdoor micro radios makes it easier to install the radios on the existing grid, hung on aerial coax, fiber, or electricity cables. Aerial-strand deployments are critical for scaling outdoor small cells and can be deployed for both single and multi-operator usage. Ericsson’s new Strand-Mount Unit can support up to four micro radios, enabling multiple operators to utilize the same mount for cost-efficient deployments. The Strand-Mount Unit delivers superior outdoor coverage with zero footprint.

Just in case you were wondering what exactly Ericsson Radio Dot is, the specs can be seen in the picture above.

According to Fierce Wireless:

The most significant element of the announcement is the multioperator version of the Radio Dot, according to Ed Gubbins, senior analyst on the Global Telecom Technology & Software team at GlobalData.

One of the bigger hurdles to penetrating enterprises (which is what the Radio Dot was designed for) has been that enterprises often have multioperator needs—because enterprise inhabitants typically bring their own personal devices to work and have their own operators. The creation of a multioperator Dot is overdue and gives Ericsson a leg up over rivals like SpiderCloud (now Corning), which have single-operator solutions, Gubbins told FierceWirelessTech.

That said, there will still be challenges in penetrating enterprises, even with multioperator solutions. “Getting operators and enterprises to agree on using the same vendor and the same solution on a case-by-case basis isn’t necessarily quick, easy or easily scalable,” he said.

The technologies Ericsson is using to help enable multioperator functionality (MORAN & MOCN) have been around for quite a while, as has the Radio Dot itself. “So the fact that it’s taken years to see a multioperator Radio Dot, despite how long one has been technologically possible to develop, gives some indication that this isn’t perceived as a silver bullet by any means,” he said.

However, the fact that Ericsson is presenting more than one model for multioperator deployment is a good thing; operator and enterprise sentiments will vary, so having some flexibility in this area should help, he added.

Just in case you were wondering, the different options for Mobile Network Sharing as as shown above.

A presentation from Ericsson detailing the new releease and their Small Cells portfolio in general is embedded below.

The Mobile Network magazine has some more info on this new products and comparison with other multi-operator deployments:

Unlike, say, the Nokia FlexiZone or SpiderCloud E-RAN  small cell designs, Radio Dots are not in themselves miniature base stations. Rather they are distributed radio heads attached to a centralised “feeder” baseband unit, mediated through an indoor remote unit (IRU). 

What Ericsson has announced is the ability to support multi-operator service in three ways.

First – parallel deployments with each operator using its own dedicated baseband, IRU and Dots. These Dots can be housed in the same enclosures (the new enclosures known as the multi-dot bracket) to tidy things up a bit.

Secondly – a multi-operator deployment using a shared baseband and IRU, over the same network of distributed radio heads, using MORAN (Multi Operator Radio Access Network) or MOCN (Multi Operator Core Network) network sharing capabilities.

Thirdly, a multi-operator Dot solution where operators provide multiple RF sources to the same Dot system. They do this by feeding baseband capacity to a new access unit from Ericsson, the RF Access Unit (RAU). This new RAU can support three 2×2 MIMO RF inputs, and can be connected on the other side to four IRUs, which then feed the shared Dot remote radioheads.

In both the second and third options, one operator remains in overall control of the deployment.

...

Ericsson’s Dot was initially designed as a single operator system, as was SpiderCloud’s competitive E-RAN. Where once SpiderCloud once made a virtue of its single-operator necessity – stating that an operator would gain competitive advantage by being the “best” carrier within a given office block or campus, it has in the past couple of years taken steps to add multi-operator capability – by adding support for more carriers,  LAA and CBRS models.

Another small cell vendor, ip.access, has also gone down the multi-operator, or neutral host route. Ip.access’ Viper platform combines multi operator access points with a gateway node that can be deployed as a virtual instance that links to separate operator core networks.

Huawei recently expanded band support for its LampSite product – probably the most similar product in terms of architectural design to the Radio Dot – and its aim was specifically to increase support for multi-operator deployments.

Although Ericsson claimed at launch that its dual band Dot could enable a multi-operator deployment, it clearly needed to take additional steps to really enable multi-operator models. One approach, as we have seen, is simply to make it a bit easier to deploy two or more instances of everything in the architecture. That seems like a hard model to scale economically, apart from in the biggest sites, perhaps. The other approaches either a) require the implementation of a new element (the RAU) or b) limits the number of multiple operators to two. 

Finally, embedded below is a video describing the Radio Dot in more technical detail for anyone interested. In case it does not automatically skip to 26.11 mins, please do it yourself



Ericsson is running a webinar on this topic on 27th September. Details here.

In-Building Options: Facts, fiction, Architecture and Solutions

In-building solutions are still a big topic of discussion. While there are neutral solutions like Wi-Fi will become more common, does it mean that cellular is no longer a necessity? To answer these questions and to make everyone familiar with the options here are a couple of videos of recent webinars.

The first one is from Alcatel-Lucent titled "Fact vs. Fiction – The Debate on In-Building Architecture Options". It discussed the three architectures (as seen in the picture above) DAS, Distributed Radio Systems (DRS) and Small Cell. Here is the video:


The other webinar (actually 2) is from ThinkSmallCell.

"Choosing the right In-Building Cellular Solutions" is a high level webinar that discusses the needs and available solutions. It also shows the decision process in selecting the right solution. The video is embedded at the end of the slides below but can also be seen directly from Youtube here.

The other older webinar and presentation by ThinkSmallCell that goes more in-depth of these In-building solutions has already been covered in an earlier blog post here.

In-building Wireless Solutions Webinar

Last month, David Chambers from ThinkSmallCell held a webinar exploring available In-building solutions and comparing the advantages and disadvantages of each solution, also looking at the approach taken by different vendors. Worth a look. The presentation and Youtube video are both embedded below.

Airvana's OneCell™ with C-RAN and Super-cell

Airvana recently announced its OneCell™ system was named the winner in the “In-Building Wireless – Small Cell, Wi-Fi, LAN” category of CTIA’s annual Emerging Technology (E-Tech) Awards competition. I remember back in June, it received a lot of praise for this product. So what exactly is so unique in this OneCell™.

From their press release back in June:

Based on cloud RAN principles, the OneCell system consists of a Baseband Controller and multiple Radio Points. Together they form a single "super" cell that delivers consistently high quality LTE service across indoor spaces ranging from 50,000 to 1,000,000 square feet without handovers or inter-cell interference issues. OneCell supports plug-and-play deployment over standard Ethernet cabling and switches, eliminating the need for proprietary networks or expensive optical links. Further, its unique small cell cloud RAN architecture dramatically simplifies radio frequency planning and integration with wireless macro networks.

There is a mention of C-RAN (though I have had discussion where this claims have been disputed), Super-cell and is pitched towards enterprises.

Airvana's website has a good picture explaining how a super-cell gets rid of interference on cell edges as all the cells work together as a single large cell.

In fact the scheduler can cleverly assign the same resource blocks to different users and hence increase capacity.

Below is a video explaining their solution in more details:

DAS or 'Small Cells' for Indoor Location

There was a recent webinar by Maravedis-Rethink & EJL. The slides are available on Slideshare here. I think there were some good points made about using DAS or Small Cells for the Indoor environment. Here is the youtube clip. You can drag the pointer to the beginning, to listen from the start.

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

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

Enterprise Small Cells - Small Cell Forum Release Two

The long awaited "Release Two" from the Small Cell Forum is finally here.



Gordon Mansfield is explaining this Release two in the video above.

Small Cell Forum (SCF) also released a Small cell market update. As per the market report, as of October 2013, there were:

• 7.2 million residential femtocells deployed
• 168,000 indoor small cells deployed
• 2,700 outdoor small cells deployed

There is a good summary of this Release on ThinkSmallCell and TMN. Definitely worth a read.

There are a lot of documents released or revised as part of Release-2. You can access all the Enterprise related documents at http://www.scf.io/en/use_case_documents/Enterprise.php. You can also start with just the overview document at http://www.scf.io/en/documents/102_-_Release_Two_-_Enterprise_Overview.php

Finally, for more technical minded people, they can directly jump to the Enterprise small cell network architectures document at http://scf.io/en/documents/067_-_Enterprise_small_cell_network_architectures.php

The right technology for different Enterprises

The enterprise deployments seem to be hotting up. Back in May, Telefonica O2, Germany, announced 'Signal Box', their enterprise femtocell based on UMTS to improve indoor coverage. Recently Vodafone in Netherlands announced that they are offering enterprise small cells from Spidercloud. There was an interesting article in Fierce Wireless about the enterprise small cells opportunity. The relevant part is reproduced below:

Enterprise Small Cell Architectures

Deployment in enterprise is a challenging task for the operators but it has many benefits hence this is one of the areas they have been working very hard to get it right.

China Mobile's Nanocell

China Mobile prefers to call its Small Cell, Nanocell. I found an interesting summary on this topic from Rupert Baines in the OSP Magazine, some of this information is copied below.

Nanocell is defined by the China Mobile Research Institute (CMRI) as follows: “An integrated Small cell supporting GSM / TD-SCDMA / TD-LTE standards and WLAN (WiFi) solutions. With the key feature of supporting both wireless network and WLAN (WiFi) services, it can be deployed in enterprise, home and high capacity hotspot locations. It also uses standard broadband connection as a low-cost network backhaul, hence reducing deployment and maintenance cost while providing advanced and reliable security features.”