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NewsGlobe: Currents
Nokia Siemens, Ubiquisys become femto pals
Sign collaboration agreement to 3G femtocell home access solutions
by Jim Barthold
Nokia Siemens Networks and Ubiquisys are combining forces
to market and sell a joint femtocell solution for 3G mobile
operators worldwide using Ubiquisys’ ZoneGate intelligent
femtocell and Nokia Siemens femto gateway open
architecture.
The partnership plays into the strengths of both companies,
said Keith Day, vice president of marketing at Ubiquisys.
“Ubiquisys took a vision that would concentrate on the
femtocell itself and be independent of the method of network
integration; Nokia is handling the network integration of the
overall femto position. There is no overlap,” Day said.
The relationship covers both hardware and software but “the
biggest part of the project is software,” said Will franks, CTO
and co-founder of Ubiquisys.
Not every operator, of course, will be able to partake of the
fruits of the collaboration.
“We’re talking about a 3G wideband CDMA solution so that
means that the customer base is defined by spectrum that
the mobile operator has,” said Timo Hyppola, head of indoor
radio solutions product line at Nokia Siemens. “In European
settings typically you have a license to operate with 3G
wideband CDMA in certain spectrum and those operators can
be our customers. In America, you may use spectrum for
several technologies, but nevertheless the customers will be
those who operate 3G wideband CDMA networks.”
Femtocells are getting a faster start in international markets
than the U.S., but things are heating up everywhere, said
Franks, pointing to 10 trials Ubiquisys has under way with
mobile operators.
“The U.S. is somewhat behind in time from Europe and Japan
(but) there are some very active trials going on and moving
shortly into friendly user trials with commercial soft launches
probably towards the end of this year and beginning of next
year,” he said.
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