1. NSN going 2G in Iraq
The Finnish vendor announced a deal in Southern Iraq with Korek Telecom for a 2G network expansion project.
Nokia Siemens Networks will provide radio, microwave (is that good news for backhaul partner DragonWave?) and core network elements, providing the Flexi Multiradio Base Station, to support Korek Telecom’s 2G and 3G networks and its Liquid Core based Evolved Packet Core (EPC) platform, including Flexi Network Server (NS) and Flexi Network Gateway (NG). All of that will be stitched together with the vendor’s NetAct network management system.
2. Liquid Applications
NSN put some more meat on the bones of its Liquid Applications strategy, announcing that it has signed up CDNetworks on a set of common objectives around Liquid Applications and operator Content Delivery Networks (CDN). A prss release said the two companies are committed to: “taking the next concrete steps to transform the delivery of content from the base station.”
CDNetworks joins Intel and IBM as announced partners in the Liquid Applications stable.
The intent of the collaboration is to further enhance Liquid Applications for content acceleration and content personalization, making use of such capabilities as location and referral, as well as awareness of user behavior and real-time network conditions.
“Mobile operators can enhance the user experience of their subscribers and enjoy cost savings with CDNetworks’ mobile CDN technology. Collaborating with Nokia Siemens Networks, CDNetworks hopes to further advance its innovative mobile acceleration technology that will benefit operators and enterprise customers alike,” Jongchan Kim, head of Technology at CDNetworks, in quotes assigned to him in a press release that I have just copied and pasted here.
3. AIRCOM launches ASSET 8.1 and CONNECT 8.1
Aircom International announced updates to its network design tools, with the aim of boosting its capabilities around small cell and WiFi design.
Its ASSET 8.1 product now has support for WiFi as well as also for small cells design. With Aircom’s MYRIAD model and Capesso AI,the vendor reckons this release “marks a new phase in the ASSET line, putting it firmly at the forefront of small cell and het net design projects.”
Small cell backhaul was the driver for updates to CONNECT 8.1, with the latest version including a Coverage Predictions feature, which is aimed at non-line-of-sight (NLOS) as well as point-to-multipoint (PTMP) links.
Just to reiterate the message, Calum Byers, COO at Aircom International, signed off on the following quote: “The new features focus predominantly on enhancing the small cell design capabilities of the solutions, which combined with the existing breadth of capabilities in ASSET and CONNECT make these releases a significant evolution of our design and performance management portfolio.”
Those updates as provided by Aircom:
ASSET V8.1 key features: Support for integrated Small Cells design; New Wi-Fi design module; Multi carrier-HSDPA support; Advanced multi-port antenna modelling; Distributed coverage arrays processing
CONNECT V8.1 key features: Support for NLOS and PTMP Coverage analysis, in support for Small Cells design; Improved Outbound Interference Analysis; Multi-threaded interference calculations; Optimum Antenna spacing calculations; Enhancements to the XML Data Editor- support for all link types and passive repeaters
4. Lleida.net Selects Dialogic for Spanish texting interconnect
Value added services provider Lleida.net still sees text as a very important channel and therefore wanted to get better SMS connectivity to mobile operators. This week it announced that it has chosen the Dialogic DSI SS7G41 Signaling Server for SMS to enable it to do that. Apparently wiithin three months of deploying the Dialogic signaling server, Lleida.net closed nearly 200 operator peering agreements.
“Dialogic helped us reach more destinations, close more peering agreements and improve the quality of services we deliver to customers,” said Sisco Sapena, CEO of Lleida.net.
Andrew Goldberg, senior vice president of marketing and strategy for Dialogic, speaking to a press release copy-writer, said, “While many value-added service (VAS) providers are ramping up to offer video chatting, photo messaging and media-rich data, their customers still demand texting services. Carriers face a worldwide problem when message delivery fails or traffic exchange misses the mark. With Dialogic’s solutions and training, VAS providers can deliver unparalleled excellence for end users at every level.”
5. Commscope’s Turnkey FTT Antenna package
Commscope announced a packaged service for installing those Remote Radio Units that are taking off around the world. The service, which Commscope calls Fibre to the Antenna (FTTA), is part of the company’s aim to ease and standardise installation up towers.
“The top of an antenna tower is one of the more challenging places to work, especially when you are adding active components while protecting existing systems,” said Stan Catey, senior vice president and general manager, Cable Products, CommScope, and a man who has probably not been up a tower himself for a while now but clearly has some strong memories of doing so.
For rather more detail on RRU installation, see this : informative and clear blog post
6. Telstra Outlines LTE Expansion
Australia’s Telstra announced that it will be hitting another 200 towns with LTE in the next six months.
CTO Brendon Riley said taht would give Telstra 85% population by the end of the year.
“Last August, we committed to extending our 4G coverage to 66 per cent of Australians by June 30. Having met that target, we are now committing to have superfast services in place for 85 per cent of the population by the end of the year by upgrading another 1500 base stations before Christmas,” Riley said.
That would mean that LTE has been deployed at a total of 3,500 base stations.
7. Noc noc, who’s there? Huawei, that’s who
Huawei, which has been hitting back hard against national security allegations in the USA, has fewer problems in other parts of the world. This week it announced it has won a contract from Zain’s Saudi Arabian subsidiary to provide a single vendor solution for its Network Operations Center (NOC), which is responsible for monitoring its network traffic. As part of the agreement, Huawei will take over responsibility for the management and operation of the Zain NOC, converging all existing services and technologies and monitoring network traffic. This includes 24/7 monitoring of the performance of all services to enhance subscriber quality. The agreement is for three years. Zain SA has the managed services bug and recently signed a 3-year contract with Ericsson for managed field-services.
