Ubiquisys announces support for emerging open interface standard for 3G femtocells
New Interface Enables Mobile Operators to Multi-Source and Removes Proprietary Barriers to Mass Deployment
SWINDON, England – 4th June 2008 – Ubiquisys Ltd, the leading developer of 3G femtocells, today became the first femtocell vendor to announce its commitment to the 3GPP’s emerging Iuh interface, providing standardised communications between femtocells and the gateways in mobile operators’ networks. Ubiquisys will support this interface in its products ready for the planned approval of Iuh in December 2008.
The 3GPP’s work on Iuh for UMTS is part of the same drive as the Femto Forum’s work to agree a modular architecture for all radio technologies, announced last week. The speed and momentum of these initiatives illustrates the growing demands from operators for a single standard network interface for femtocells.
This interface represents an important milestone in the full commercialisation of femtocells, because it allows operators to select devices independently from the network gateway. This opens the door to the proven efficiencies of multi-sourcing, and removes the costs associated with being locked into a proprietary interface. Ubiquisys took a modular approach to network integration from day one: its femtocell already supports both Iu-based RAN Gateway and IMS-based protocols for connection to mobile operators’ networks. The remote upgrade of currently deployed femtocells is made possible because the Iuh standard is very similar to the current Ubiquisys RAN Gateway solution.
The commercial effectiveness of Iuh relies to some extent on parallel progress towards an agreed mechanism for femtocell Operations, Administration and Management (OA&M). The Femto Forum is in an ideal position to drive industry consensus on this subject, which Ubiquisys is fully supporting. Today, most operators deploying femtocells employ systems based on the DSL Forum’s proven TR-069 standard.
“We are delighted that operators and vendors, working within the 3GPP and the Femto Forum, are reaching consensus over this commercially vital interface,” said Will Franks, CTO and Founder, Ubiquisys. “We are proud to be the first femtocell vendor to commit to Iuh, as it confirms our founding vision of a healthy femtocell ecosystem based on open standards. We are working closely with our network partners and customers to ensure a clean and seamless migration to the Iuh standard without holding up any of the planned trials and commercial deployments.”
Earlier this month, Ubiquisys was named as the number one femtocell vendor in ABI Research’s Femtocell Vendor Matrix for the second year in succession. The company is engaged in 13 operator trials worldwide, including O2 and T-Mobile. In 2007 Ubiquisys created the Femto Forum to accelerate standards and commercialisation in the femtocell industry.
About Ubiquisys Ltd Ubiquisys was formed in 2004 to bring its ground-breaking ZoneGate femtocell technology to market. ZoneGate femtocells are manufactured by Sony UK Tech and are available as standalone units or as part of a residential gateway device such as Netgear’s DVG834GH. The system supports multiple interfaces to the operator’s core network, and is remotely managed and updated using standard TR-069 management systems such as Motive’s Home Device Manager. Ubiquisys’ sole focus is femtocells, and in 2007 it created the Femto Forum to promote standards and partnerships in this fast-emerging industry. In April 2008 FierceWireless named Ubiquisys in its Fierce15 for its leadership position in the 3G femtocell market. The company is funded by Accel Partners, Advent Venture Partners, Atlas Venture, Google and T-Mobile Venture Fund. For more information, visit www.ubiquisys.com.
