Airvana, Hitachi Join to Demo End-to-End LTE Femtocell Solution

Airvana LLC, a provider of femtocell solutions, announced the successful demonstration of its end-to-end LTE femtocell solution in partnership with Hitachi Communications Technology Americas via a live demonstration conducted for a Tier 1 Mobile Service Operator.

Michael Clark, Airvana’s general manager for femtocells said in a release, “Airvana has a history of innovation, with the first 3G CDMA femtocell, the first IMS-based femtocell, and the first standards-based, open femtocell management system.”

“Being the first vendor to successfully complete an end-to-end LTE small cell demonstration is another tremendous accomplishment and proves the readiness of our LTE femtocell network architecture, soon to be introduced into commercial LTE networks,” added Clark.

Company sources added that the end-to-end solution leveraged commercially available LTE terminals, the Airvana LTE femtocell, the Hitachi HeNB Gateway, and Hitachi’s available Evolved Packet Core (EPC) solution. The demonstration featured performance tests, live video streaming and Internet browsing.

In the case of wireless networks data demands always override infrastructure availability. In such cases LTE femtocell solutions help in the handling of LTE data traffic at the same time keeping the signaling load under control in the existing EPC elements in the core network. The LTE femtocell Home eNode B (HeNB) provides LTE base-station functionality in a compact form factor to ensure maximum LTE performance for both businesses and homes.

Previously the Airvana and Hitachi partnership provided end-to-end CDMA femtocell solutions and now the partnership extends to LTE.

Don Keeler, VP of PLM & Business Development, Hitachi Communication Technologies America, Inc stated, “The HeNB Gateway leverages the Hitachi ER5000 MME's proven subscriber and mobility management software and demonstrates the innovative architectural flexibility of Hitachi's solution. We are pleased to provide this product as part of the end-to-end LTE femtocell solution with Airvana.”

Airvana specializes in the provision of standards-based femtocell management systems for automated configuration, radio interference management, and monitoring of both CDMA and LTE femtocells. This platform is capable of managing several thousands of multi-mode 1x/EVDO CDMA femtocells in commercial wireless networks. It is now being extended to support LTE, explained Michael McFarland, Airvana’s Senior Director of Product Management and Marketing.

In other news, Airvana LLC recently announced that it has surged ahead of the competition to take the lead in overall global femtocell market share, according to the 2G, 3G, and 4G Femtocell Report recently released from Infonetics Research.