Swisscon Implements 3-Carrier LTE FDD and TDD

Swisscom has tested an LTE-Advanced three-carrier aggregation solution combining LTE in both FDD and TDD modes. The demonstration used three carriers in two bands in a radio access network and used commercial-grade chipsets.

The Swiss operator deployed the solution on August 18, 2015 in a Swisscom shop in Zurich and connected to its live, commercial network.  Two LTE TDD carriers, each with 20 MHz bandwidth in the 2.6 GHz frequency band (B41), and one LTE FDD carrier with 15 MHz in the 2.1 GHz band (B1) were used. The live demonstration in Zurich was supported by Ericsson Radio Access Network software 15B and hardware as well as by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X12 LTE modem.

Swisscom plans to roll out this solution to subscribers in Swiss metropolitan areas by summer 2016 to coincide with three-carrier FDD/TDD smartphone availability.

Ericsson said the combination of the three carriers in FDD-LTE and TDD-LTE will significantly enhance the future capacity of the network. The new technology will allow more users to benefit from peak data rates for downloads and uploads when using mobile internet, entertainment or enterprise services. In this specific set-up, a maximum 335 Mbps in the downlink was achieved.

http://www.swisscomm.com
http://www.ericsson.com

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ADTRAN Commits to Open FTTH

ADTRAN is delivering on its open interface commitment and decoupling the closed equipment “lock-in” from fiber broadband access solutions.

The company said it is providing a standards-based carrier-grade set of products and solutions spanning the entire access network from the central office to the cabinet and the customer premises. Until now, carriers have been forced to choose  the same vendor for the fiber aggregation and the optical network terminal (ONT) equipment, limiting the available solution set.

ADTRAN multi-service access nodes (MSAN) seamlessly interoperate with its portfolio of ONTs, residential and business gateways, as well as MDU switches. The open interfaces of the ADTRAN MSANs also support third-party developed ONTs and Wi-Fi integrated residential gateways. ADTRAN G.fast Fiber-to-the-Distribution Point and 10G FTTH MDU solutions supporting TR-301 defined YANG and RESTful interfaces and making them both interoperable within an open multi-vendor MSAN network.

Finally, the ADTRAN customer premises equipment portfolio – which includes FTTH-enabled IP business gateways, FTTH Wi-Fi integrated residential gateways and micro ONTs – are compliant to BBF.247 in order to deliver a higher level of interoperability across multi-vendor access networks.

“The pace of network innovation and new services introduction has been slowed due to proprietary network connections and disparate operational models between different vendors. This is driving the need for a fully open, software defined programmable network,” said Chris Thompson, director, customer device portfolio, ADTRAN. “ADTRAN has helped build more open residential, business and backhaul networks than any other access supplier in the world and is committed to delivering the framework that will support the next-generation of broadband network deployments and services.”

http://www.adtran.com

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Vonage to Acquire iCore Networks

Vonage, which offers cloud communications services for businesses and consumers, agreed to acquire privately-held iCore Networks for $92 million.

iCore offers a broad range of voice, video, mobile and collaboration services. iCore sells its solutions primarily through its large, direct field sales force, adding significant scale and a national footprint to Vonage's existing sales force. iCore supports more than 85,000 customer seats, with monthly ARPU per customer of more than $4,000, and derives more than 60% of its revenue from customers with 100 or more seats. Monthly revenue churn is less than one percent as a result of three-year contracts that include Quality of Service ("QoS") guarantees.

iCore leverages the same BroadSoft BroadWorks call processing platform used by Vonage, resulting in ease of integration for iCore's customers. iCore has a subset of customers running on BroadSoft's M6 platform.

"iCore is an excellent strategic fit and a natural complement to Vonage's rapidly expanding UCaaS business. This acquisition will deepen our penetration at the higher end of the business market and further strengthen our industry leadership," said Alan Masarek, Vonage Chief Executive Officer. "iCore has a proven track record of delivering the innovative UCaaS solutions required by mid-market and enterprise companies, and has been particularly successful combining hosted communications with complementary cloud services to create a robust unified communications experience."

http://www.vonage.com

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