Tag Archives: Small Cell

Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Increase Small Cell Value

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Increase Small Cell Value

  • Will Small Cells work with IOT and become the FOG edge?
  • Could a small server be put in small cells to control IOT and act as a FOG server?
  • Could IOT feed small cell growth?
  • Make small cells part of the 5G solution.

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Did you think that small cells should be more than radios? What if they could be the part of FOG computing? 5G asks that IOT has URLL, ultra reliable low latency. How would that work? It’s not that hard.  We need to put an edge server in the small cell. I think this is being researched now, but the reality is that small cells are in a prime position to serve IOT markets.

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Small cells are often looked at as 2 things. They can 1) fill the coverage gap or 2) offload the macro site. Now, small cells need to think beyond that, they need to offer more features, and they need to be more versatile.

If the small cell can serve as a FOG node, allowing the IOT devices to have extremely low latency by routing the traffic where it needs to go or responding immediately, then the small cell is more valuable in the system and satisfies a 5G requirement. This is where the small cell should be going. Small cells need to offer more than coverage. They need to be part of the actual 5G solution.

They also need to be creative. When I look at what Sprint and Airspan did with the “Magic Box” and using the LTE UE backhaul for the solution, that is amazing. They were able to make a cost-effective box that made the fronthaul accessible anywhere and used their LTE spectrum for backhaul, and it works.

Carriers were slower to deploy small cells for several reasons, but they all boil down to payback and value. They wanted a cost-effective solution for coverage, but after they got it, it wasn’t enough, and the barriers to deploy were still high, fiber installation and monthly charges did not come down as they had hoped. Site acquisition and rent never got to where they wanted. The OEMs did their part, they provided a cheap unit that works like a cell site, but the other costs were prohibitive. That’s one reason why some carriers would rather deploy CRAN because you have a sector that is control by a macro BBU or cloud controller in the size of a larger small cell. All the features for less money tied into a macro controller. It makes sense. While people see that as a small cell, it Get the Wireless Deployment Handbook today!really isn’t. CRAN could be a cloud or concentrated RAN. RAN is Radio Access Network. This is a standard solution that appears to be catching on with all carriers

Make the small cell more valuable. It has to add more than coverage. Don’t get me wrong, coverage still matters, but in today’s world that is not enough! Especially when looking at the payback. If a small cell, especially an outdoor small cell where there are so many barriers, could add more value than coverage then it would be perceived as a high value-add product.

What small cells should have is multiple features. MIMO is a great start. Then a service for FOG computing features to take the loading form the cloud and core and put it at the very edge of the network. Then it should offer multiple wireless backhaul options, like carrier LTE, LTE-U, CBRS, and so on. If Sprint and Airspan could make the 5g-deployment-plan-front-cover-3k-pixels“Magic Box” work, then the OEMs should be able to make a unit that has more features.

Then, look at what the indoor small cells could offer if they were to take this to the next level. I am not saying they need to put a server with each small cell, that is not practical indoors, but they should have the option to tie to a local server for the edge computing so that it is more than a “hot spot” I mean you might as well deploy Wi-Fi if you just want hotspots, here we will have the LTE coverage throughout the building with edge computing to serve customers, devices, and IOT.

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Let’s not forget network slicing. Here is where the definition of MEC, Multi-Access Edge Computing. I know, you all thought it was Mobile Edge computing, but now, just to make things more confusing, they added Multi-Access Edge Computing so that you can get more network efficiency. It will allow each service on the network to work in its own realm to make each connection as efficient as possible. If you’re in an office and an alarm goes off, you want to get that alarm right away, not after your coworker is finished watching 10 kitty videos on his new iPhone X, am I right?

My point here is that small cells need to keep moving forward and progressing. This is important to the carriers but also to the private LTE systems. At least if the FCC ever released any CBRS spectrum to us, ordinary folks. We want to build systems today. I mean at this point even T-Mobile has to be a little frustrated because it has to be delaying their densification plans.

Small cells could be a key component in IOT growth. The idea is that the small cell can use all of these features to make IOT simple to roll out and connect to any device. It’s about coverage and low latency. Here is an opportunity for the small cell to make a big difference in IOT deployment. Le’ts face it, LTE-M is a great solution for the IOT market. It is something that we could connect quickly and efficiently. Why not design the small cell to work efficiently with the IOT solution that will eventually merge into the 5G solution. Let’s plan for this today!

Notes:

This is great, but we still need fiber. I think if the small cell can connect to a macro site, then the fiber situation is resolved. The backhaul matters. An upcoming post will be about the backhaul, mid-haul, and fronthaul.I am a huge fan of a hybrid backhaul system which includes wireless and fiber because that is what will make the deployment of the 5G solution most efficient. New 5G spectrum will allow the fixed wireless solutions to be a game changer in this solution. More of that to come.

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The foundations below do beautiful work, helping families in their time of need. Climbers often get seriously injured or die on the job. The foundations below support those families in their time of greatest need! 

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Wade4Wireless BlogCast

CBRS Deep Dive with Steve Martin

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I am so into CBRS, so when I had an opportunity to interview the CTO of Ruckus, Steve Martin, I jumped at it. I was lucky enough to learn even more about CBRS with this deep dive of knowledge from someone who has been working on it. Ruckus has developed devices that perform in the CBRS bands. I am a fan of Ruckus who is a provider of carrier class Wi-Fi systems, an OEM. When I heard they were planning to get into the CBRS game, I got excited and knew that I had to talk to them. Steve was nice enough to accept and go over how amazing the CBRS is. He is going give an overview of the CBRS part of the wireless eco system.

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Steve answers so many questions about CBRS. Ruckus has been actively pushing for CBRS to become the next wave of wireless deployments for the carriers, enterprise, and private LTE solutions. So much so they helped form the CBRS Alliance.

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Ruckus has done an amazing job deploying carrier grade Wi-Fi, outside and inside. They have complete systems to manage and provide Wi-Fi solutions such as controllers, switches, indoor radios, and outdoor radios. They have been suppliers for enterprise, carrier, and WISP customers. They are a high performance yet easy to deploy wireless OEM. They are cost-cost effective but innovative. They realized that Wi-Fi could not provide all the solutions, so they entered the realm of LTE in the CBRS band, getting me excited about Ruckus Wireless. They are providing new solutions, very innovative.

As everyone knows, I am excited about the CBRS spectrum opening because it’s available to more than just the carriers. It allows small and midsize businesses to build private LTE networks. Something that has been near impossible to do before. So now the carriers can handoff to an independent small cell. An independent small cell can host any carrier. It can be carrier neutral and host multiple carriers. How cool is that? We finally have a solution for the places where carriers won’t invest.

What about other use cases for factories and enterprise customers that want broadband and IOT applications on a dedicated LTE system? Problem solved!

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Ruckus was one of the founding members of the CBRS Alliance. The CBRS Alliance has grown from the original 6 to over 60 members.

Here are some questions I wanted to be answered.

  • How will the CBRS spectrum assignment work? (Licensing and spectrum assignment)
    • Spectrum assignment will be like how a DHCP server grants and assigns an IP address. In this case, the radio will boot up and send a request to a server which assigns spectrum. Then the Spectrum Allocation Server, (SAS), allocates the bandwidth and spectrum for that specific location and radio. Steve explains more in the interview.
    • You talk to an SAS vendor, like Federated Wireless or maybe Google, and they will set you up with a subscription. You would pay a monthly subscription to the SAS to make sure that the spectrum is assigned to you, so you’re
  • What are the spectrum usage tiers of the CBRS?
    • The incumbents have been using for fixed satellite services and military radar.
    • Now it’s going to be used for LTE coverage.
      • GAA – Generally Authorized Access – lightly licensed and open to all.
      • PAL – Priority Access License which is exclusive usage for that section of It’s the licensed part of the band with a guarantee of that spectrum.
    • Can CBRS be used outdoors?
      • Yes, it can be utilized Just make sure that you have approval from SAS for the power level and the channel, which will most likely be the carriers.
      • You can build a 50W base station if needed. Not everywhere, but in designated areas. That is a macro site in my eyes.
    • Can CBRS provide coverage for companies outside of the carrier space?
      • Yes, anyone can apply for spectrum and deploy.
    • How will it help the enterprise user?
      • Now the enterprise can go beyond Wi-Fi and have a clean LTE system to work with that is dedicated spectrum for their service.
    • Private LTE systems?
      • Industrial IOT systems for IOT.
      • Fixed wireless applications.
      • Enterprise solutions for a dedicated wireless system that can handoff.
      • Rural broadband solutions. (A different use case altogether.)
      • Private broadband LTE solutions for anything you can imagine.5g-deployment-plan-front-cover-3k-pixels
      • Anything that you thought of now can be done for more than just the carriers. Get creative here! If you have a problem that needs a wireless and secure solution, here it is.
    • Will the cable companies use this spectrum?
      • Yes, it will make it easier for them to use what they have and build out their mobile systems using a combination of licensed, Wi-Fi, and CBRS.
    • What are the roadblocks keeping carriers from providing better indoor coverage?
      • DAS systems are a fine solution for larger venues where the carriers see a business case to invest, like NFL and MLB stadiums. What about the smaller to mid-size buildings? How can they be served when the carriers don’t see a cost-effective way to deploy? They don’t want to pay for it, or at least not a DAS system for a few customers. Now they have the CBRS small cells which can fill that gap.
    • Will CBRS be cost-effective to deploy?
      • Yes!
    • Will CBRS spectrum help the smart city?
      • Of course! It will bring new solutions to the IOT applications in smart It will increase the smart building availability, and allow small systems to be built for specific purposes in any city. It will eventually allow new and dedicated smart city functions to deploy everywhere cost effectively.
      • Ruckus has supported the LinkNYC
    • Will smartphones have this spectrum in them?
      • Expect to see it in 2018.
    • Who will use this spectrum moving forward?
      • Carriers, cable companies, enterprise users, industrial IOT, smart cities, utilities, and more.
    • Can the CBRS small cells solve carrier’s coverage solutions?
      • Yes, indoors and out. It’s a great solution for fill and capacity.
    • Is it possible to have multiple carriers on one small cell?
      • YES! Multiple LTE carriers on one Small Cell!
      • This will be a more economical way to deploy small cells to fill holes.

Steve is a wealth of knowledge and someone who is so easy to talk to. Just a great conversation and I strongly recommend that you listen to learn more. I enjoyed talking to him, and I love the way they (Ruckus) envision CBRS LTE systems. It made me want to jump on the Ruckus bandwagon. What a thrill to be part of this time in history. The FCC did something here that will be groundbreaking for the world if it’s successful. They opened new spectrum for use beyond the carriers and into the hands of all American businesses.

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This goes beyond the spectrum repack where they migrated the spectrum from broadcast to the carriers, which was great for the carriers. Now they opened spectrum for the rest of the industry allowing innovation to happen outside of the carriers. I can’t wait to see how people solve their problems using private LTE systems. They could connect to a dedicated device or roam onto a smartphone for all to use. We live in exciting times once again, innovation still live! Thank you, FCC, for doing this!

Steve Martin is the Chief Technology Officer of Ruckus. He holds many positions in industry groups. He is on the CBRS Alliance Board of Directors and the Wireless Broadband Alliance Board of Directors. Just a great guy all around. He has been with Ruckus since 2006 but became the CTO in 2017, congratulations, Steve!

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Ruckus Wireless is a carrier class Wi-Fi company that offers best in class Wi-Fi systems. Based in beautiful Sunnyvale, Ca, the high-tech company has provided outdoor and indoor wireless solutions for over a decade. Brocade recently acquired Ruckus, and then Brocade 5g-deployment-plan-front-cover-3k-pixelsgot bought by Broadcom, and then Ruckus was being spun out and then bought by Arris International, the story found here, where Ruckus will be a division of Arris. Arris is an amazing company that provides equipment to many of the cable companies worldwide. Cable companies deploy wireless everywhere, so the acquisition makes perfect sense to me. FYI, it’s cool that Arris has a racing club, learn more at http://www.arris.com/ARRISRacing/ if interested. I am quickly becoming a fan of Arris.

Learn more at https://www.ruckuswireless.com/company/overview and contact them at https://www.ruckuswireless.com/contact or email them at info@ruckuc.com to get more information and learn all you can about becoming a big dog!

 

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The foundations below do beautiful work, helping families in their time of need. Climbers often get seriously injured or die on the job. The foundations below support those families in their time of greatest need! 

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Hubble Foundation helps the families of climbers in a time of need and beyond with financial support and counseling!

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Tower Family Foundation supports the families of tower climbers at the time of crisis when a climber falls with financial assistance and more.

Putting together your smart city tech solutions, planning, development, and more….TechFecta! Guiding you to a better plan through consulting!

 

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Art King Teaches CBRS

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On today’s show, I have Art King of SpiderCloud, the King of Enterprise small cells is back on the show, he was on in 2016, link found here.

Do you wonder about enterprise small cells and their applications? Have you wondered what CBRS is? How does CBRS work? Who watches the licenses? How is the spectrum managed?

My big question, will the CBRS small cell be a neutral host small cell for multiple carriers? I also want to know about the use cases for this spectrum, one thing that would work outside of the carrier’s domination of spectrum.

Tower Safety and Instruction has online training and eBooksTower Safety for all your safety training! at http://teltech-college.com/ where you can get drone, tower, safety, 5G, and deployment material on your laptop! TSI, making the best better.

Learn all this am more sports fans! Art goes over the CBRS spectrum and how will the spectrum allocation and licensing happen. It would be better if you listen to the Podcast instead of just looking at these high-level notes. I just could not keep up with all his knowledge!

We met at the NeDAS show in 2016, and I have tried to stay in touch ever since. He is always busy trying to improve the SpiderCloud footprint, and he has been doing a great job. They had a partnership with Cisco for years that helped them get noticed. SpiderCloud has proven that the enterprise model works for licensed spectrum.

I wanted to speak to Art this time because I need to understand the CBRS and how it works. I also want to see what business models he would have for indoor. I then found out that SpiderCloud is going to venture into the great outdoors! WOW! To me, this is a breakthrough, and they intend to do it with the CBRS product they are going to roll out. There is a blog about it here, https://blogs.cisco.com/sp/wait-for-it-wait-for-it-5g-its-here if you want to learn more.

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The thing that has me excited is that they created http://spidercloud.com/cbrs to help people like me build up my knowledge about CBRS. I need all the help I can get!

What about those questions? Here is my attempt to answer, but best to hear Art answer them in the interview. You do not want to miss it!

___________________________________________________________________________

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Get the Wireless Deployment Handbook today!The Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS showing you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute.

__________________________________________________________________

Who is Art King? Art is the Director of Marketing for SpiderCloud Wireless Inc. He has extensive experience in the enterprise from his years as the Global Infrastructure Architecture Lead at Nike, impressive, right? Well, he also is a Board Member of the Small Cell Forum, an outstanding site where you can learn more and more about small cells. Learn more about Art at LinkedIn. If you met Art, you would really like Art, a combination of technical genius and charm which is a winning combination in my book. I call Art the King of Enterprise Small Cells because he and SpiderCloud championed the business case and the growth of the enterprise small cell better than anyone. They worked hard to build the business case, and they saw a glimpse of what the enterprise can do with licensed spectrum. Many other companies have followed this disruptor, but they all came in later. Art was key to making this happen.

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SpiderCloud, http://www.spidercloud.com/, is a wireless small cell company that specialized in enterprise small cells and have worked with major carriers in the US to deploy indoor small cells. They are a member of the CBRS Alliance, one of the founding members in fact. The membership has grown in the last year.

Special note, Corning just acquired SpiderCloud, the story is here. While SpiderCloud partnered with Cisco for a long time, they never took the next step to purchase SpiderCloud, but Corning sees real value here. They know that they can step up the game and use this as another tool in their arsenal. It is another weapon in their portfolio and one that makes CommScope very nervous.

How do you plan goals? Now you can plan 5 Weeks at a time! The 5-week Planning Journal, (click here), available now in paperback from Amazon!

 

 

 

 

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

See Ya!

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Do you know what to put in your SOW, the details needed to get paid for milestones or job completion? 

The foundations below do beautiful work, helping families in their time of need. Climbers often get seriously injured or die on the job. The foundations below support those families in their time of greatest need! 

official logo

Hubble Foundation helps the families of climbers in a time of need and beyond with financial support and counseling!

tower-family-foundation-e1447069656192

Tower Family Foundation supports the families of tower climbers at the time of crisis when a climber falls with financial assistance and more.

Putting together your smart city tech solutions, planning, development, and more….TechFecta! Guiding you to a better plan through consulting!

www.techfecta.com

Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Art King is the King of Enterprise Small Cells

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In this show we have a small cell legend. Art King of SpiderCloud, who had a great career in IT and made the move into carrier small cells for the enterprise. He actually had the idea for the enterprise small cell long before it was a thing. He would collaborate with the SpiderCloud gang before he even worked there with ideas and suggestions. Then he spoke about how he transitioned from Nike to SpiderCloud, who was lucky enough to snag this enterprise small cell visionary.

This guy has done a lot for indoor carrier coverage. Think about it, when 5G rolls out this will be the critical piece of the puzzle. He really understood Enterprise IT better than almost anyone. He saw that Wi-Fi would be the stepping stone to what the carriers can provide today.

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LinkedIn LTE Small Cell, CRAN, and DAS Deployment

Art brings so much value and history for you to learn everything you can about the enterprise small cell and the evolution of indoor carrier wireless, from the licensed spectrum to LTE-U to MulteFire to 3.5GHz CBRS. It’s all good stuff, so you should set aside an hour and learn from this guy.

We discussed how the mobile phone evolved into the smart phone, thanks to the iPhone, Apple, (along with AT&T), was a game changer for the wireless industry even though Apple never made a base Tower Safety for all your safety training!station, just the smartphone, the end device, and it changed the world when AT&T decided to sell it. Now most people can’t live without a smartphone in their lives. Art does a great job of explaining early iPhone and AT&T history and how it affected the enterprise wireless solutions. He was on the forefront of that revolution.

You will enjoy the stories that Art has to tell us, he goes through history of not only the enterprise IT, but wireless in general. If you have the time, then listen to the full interview. It is full of value!

I also asked who will pay for the enterprise small cell moving forward. I thought maybe the shift would happen in 3 to 5 years but he stated that it is much more immediate and brought up a study, http://scf.io/en/documents/162_-_Enterprise_demand_for_Small_Cells_by_vertical_market.php, where 30% of enterprises would pay for their own coverage in their buildings today. Even though 30% said they would never pay because it was up to the carriers However, there were 40% undecided but would consider it if the price and technology were right.  With over 320,000 potential enterprise small cell customers in the USA, you can see the market is ready to boom.

Get the Wireless Deployment Handbook today!The Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS showing you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute.

I really would like to thank Art for taking the time to be on this call. He is a great guy that I was lucky enough to talk to at the NEDAS event in NYC in 2016. He was great to talk to and someone I am lucky enough to know. He is changing the future of enterprise and carrier wireless with his innovation and progressive ideas about the enterprise wireless evolution.

If you have the time and want to stay on top of what SpiderCloud is doing for enterprise, then go to http://spidercloud.com/einsider and see them on YouTube, https://youtu.be/-kt6gGiNNPA to learn more and keep up to date with what SpiderCloud is doing for you. They also have a blog at http://blog.spidercloud.com/ which is worth looking at and subscribing.

Art also has a slide share presentation about the enterprise small cell, found here, http://www.slideshare.net/SmallCellForum1/mediumlarge-enterprise-small-cell-deployment-case-studies if you want to see what he presented to Small Cell World Summit 2016 where SpiderCloud won the “Excellence in Commercial Deployment (Enterprise)” award, http://www.spidercloud.com/news/press-release/spidercloud-wins-small-cell-forum%E2%80%99s-excellence-enterprise-deployment-award-third-.

Art with Martha DeGrasse of RCR back in 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwgbQrZpNmo.

Follow Art on twitter, @ArtKingg to keep on top of his appearances. Art will be at PCIA the week of May 23rd, 2016. Amit Jain will be at TIA the week of June 6, 2016.

Feedback? Email me, wade4wireless@gmail.com.

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention.

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Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Steve Yapsuga Talks Wireless Integration

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I met Steve at the NEDAS show and got to know him afterwards. He is an easy guy to talk to about wireless, we all love wireless. The groups he works with are really something. They are all there to help inform you, the wireless worker, about the wireless industry. DAS, Small Cells, and all things wireless. Your knowledge is growing well beyond what travels through the airwaves, now you have to know networking as well as the hardware and antennas to get it out there. Steve goes into how he saw the evolution of the networks go from having coverage to having bandwidth connectivity.

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Steve is a founding board member of NEDAS, the Northeast DAS and Small Cells Association. They just had a conference that I went to, links here and here, that cover DAS and Small Cell issues and solutions. I am a big fan of NEDAS because you have a group of people that cover real world problems for DAS and Small Cell integrators. The system integrators are doing all that they can to install and implement these systems cost effectively and efficiently. That is no easy task when you have so many obstacles like permitting and aesthetics.

Steve is also a board member of the MD DC Wireless Association, MDDCWA. This wireless group gets together to keep the wireless leaders in the MD DC area stay informed. Pretty impressive.

He is also a founding member of Dense Networks, a group that is covering the consolidation of wireless, big data, and broadband. This group is helping the wireless industry understand the convergence of all the data formats into one seamless network. This is where you learn all that you can about where broadband is headed. Very impressive.

He is a smart guy, over 15 years of experience in distribution and emerging technologies, over 10 years at Tessco, and an Executive MBA degree from Loyola.

In this interview he tells us not only about the evolution of the wireless business but where it seems to be heading. Steve forming Dense Networks shows us how the convergence of Big Data & Analytics with Mobile Internet and the Internet of Things along with using the cloud will change the way we do business. Not only that but in wireless integration the system integrator will need to think differently about how to design and build the networks. The HetNet is going to be taken very seriously moving forward.

Wireless innovation is something that we often talk about but we don’t always worry about because most system integrators are worried about the immediate need for systems. They are trying to put together something that can be used right now. Technology is changing rapidly but we need to make the systems that are out there today work and be reliable. This is not easy task. While we want to focus on what’s next, we need to make today’s technology work the best we can for today’s customer. We also have to make plans to expand and improve for the future. It all becomes b=part of the formula. Steve is pretty good at explaining this.

Get the Wireless Deployment Handbook today!The Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS showing you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute.

This is a long interview, almost 50 minutes, so make some time to learn what makes the industry move forward with this innovator.

Tower Safety for all your safety training!I would like to thank Steve for taking the time on a Saturday morning to talk to me. Once again, it shows his commitment to the wireless industry when this is the only opening for an interview. Most wireless innovators know it takes a deep commitment to not only be innovative, but to inspire the rest of us to learn and become better at this craft. Thank you Steve.

 

Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Day 2 Lessons at NEDAS NYC 2016

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In my last post I spoke of Day 1, which was the shorter day, here is day 2. Like I said, great show and I made so many connections and met so many great people.

The videos of this can be found here, this way you can see the people that I have met!

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This was my opportunity to learn from the best. NYC is one of the Tower Safety for all your safety training!toughest markets to do business and one that you should not tackle unless you talk to these people first. It will help you break into the other markets and learn what to do and what not to so.

I want to personally thank all the people that worked so hard at the show and thank them for having me speak. I want to thank Ilissa, Amy, Jennifer, and Nikki for working so hard to make this happen. They did an outstanding job to make this a fabulous event!

Get the Wireless Deployment Handbook today!Deploy with the Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS to show you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute without the mistakes.

Day 2, April 6, 2016

The first session I saw was with moderated by Berge Ayvazian of Wireless 20/20 called “Digitizing Our Arenas”. His panel included Ihab Labib of JMA Wireless, Jay Maciejewski of PC Tel, Marc Patterson of Boingo Wireless, and Matthew Thompson of Cobham Wireless. They brought up some great points and challenges of working with the larger venues. They also pointed out that you don’t just build it but it constantly needs upgrades and modifications and additional equipment, just because its built doesn’t mean that it’s final. There is so much you have to worry about, growth, improvements, new spectrum, new formats. It really is an ongoing job.

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Next was “Capacity Planning, Technology Developments” moderated by Jordan Fry of Snyder and Snyder, LLP. This panel had Chris Pleibel of Perfect-10 Wireless, David Evans of AT&T and IEEE, Dean Fresonke of ClearSky Technologies, Mark Parr of Bandwidth Logic, and Russ Hamm of Rainbow Broadband. This group covered the need for more bandwidth and how many companies constantly grow and the upgrading of the systems is never-ending. Again, none of this is an easy process as you need to anticipate the growth and do the best you can. You also need to make sure that the supply chain is in place and things keep moving so that the integration of systems keeps moving.

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Session 3: Fiber to the X, trends, challenges, and solutions to meet the wireless demand. This session was moderated by Stephen Banks of KMB Design Group, LLC. This roundtable had Art Malierdirk of INOC, Craig Doyle of CommScope, Ken Strandfeld of SOLiD, and Ray LaChance of ZenFi. They talked about the fiber solutions for customers and how fiber is needed as the backbone for wireless solutions. We need the backbone to be solid and reliable whether we are going to the core or connecting to another site. Reliability of the fiber is a key ingredient to making the wireless work a success.

Next there was a presentation, The Edge, Where the end-user resides, by Doug Wiest of EdgeConnex which I thought was done very well to because Doug pointed out the connection possibilities of indoor and outdoor small cells and DAS systems. Doug talked about the growth of the wireless network and what it is today in such a short period of time. From wireline to wireless to the edge. Pittsburg in 2019 will use as much as DC does today. The growth is phenomenal! Well done Doug!

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Steve Yapsuga of Tessco led us into the “Integrator Solutions: How and integrator works on an End-User’s behalf. This group was done as a fireside chat and had Douglas Fishman of SQUAN, Edward Donelan of Telecom Infrastructure Corp, Raymond duTremblay of Building Technology Systems, and Tom Chamberlain of Westell had a roundtable on integration issues and ways to overcome them. I found it to be informative and based on real world experience.

Then Mike Sapien of OVUM gave a special report, “Search for a Seamless Enterprise Experience” which covered the coverage that the enterprise users expect and what they really get. It seems that they rely heavily on Wi-Fi because it’s readily available and easy to install. They want carrier coverage, but carriers won’t support them. He also brought up the public safety aspect where people rely on indoor coverage that is reliable and seamless for work and public safety.

Next, Ken Sandfeld of SOLiD talked about “The MiddlePrise: They’re not too big and not too small but aren’t just right.” He spoke of the edge and how all the services were moving there. NFV is taking over! The edge could be the tier 1 carrier or the rural end-user, especially in today’s IOT environment. He estimates this market will be over $20 Billion in the near future.

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Persistent Telecom talked about how the systems of today have very different needs of the systems of years gone by. For instance, their case studies show that. Lori talked about how the network is more than a convenience but many people rely on this network to keep their businesses afloat. Everyone in that room relies on their devices to stay on top of their business. Chris has a study of a stadium where a stadium not only put DAS in but they had to continuously do upgrades to keep up with technology. He brought up the Wi-Fi systems and their upgrades. While his study was for a high-rise he said it applies to the enterprise. Robin talked more about the public safety aspect of carrier systems and how mission critical relies on their phones as much as anyone even when things go bad. They need to stay live regardless of the disaster.
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Then Phil Lawson of EdgeConnex did a talk on “The Edge part 2” which covered the evolution of technology and how quickly things are progressing within the last 20 years. It’s like on steroids! Can we keep up with the demand for change? Costs are dropping and demands are rising in technology. Now Social Media is making the demands, it is no longer a convenience but a necessity.

After that came my session, Developments in Mobile Antenna Technology, hosted by Mike Sapian of OVUM with Art King of SpiderCloud, Gregg Toback of Anritsu, Bob Langston of Advanced RF Technology, and me! We talked more about the technology of not only antennas but the system from beginning to end. Greg brought up how the testing is essential and if you miss the important steps of tower-family-foundation-e1447069656192testing then you could have so many time-consuming problems that will eat into your bottom line. I have seen it, grounding and testing are better to be done up front! Bob brought up the amazing RF issues that you could run into and he had real live examples of the problems that you could have with the antennas and aesthetics. This is a show stopper and if you need to replace the antenna then you need a new RF design and not only that but it will eat into the budget. Then Art spoke about small cell market for the carriers which is a game changer because this product can all be Ethernet attached and the MIMO antennas connect the people in the building with low power. He spoke of what he did for Verizon Wireless and the demands that they made. He also talked about the interfacing they could do with Cisco that made installation quick and easy. I talked about deployment of course and all the potential problems you could run into. We discussed design considerations and potential problems and ways to avoid issues. We also talked about real world problems and what can be done to prevent them next time.

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The final roundtable was the “Carrier Conundrum” where Joshua Broder of Tilson headed off the session of Dominick Vileco of V-Comm, LLC, Maureen Hopkins of Tilson, Steve Weiss of Verizon Wireless, and Robert Gaudioso of Snyder and Snyder spoke about the wireless right of way, ROW, and what to look for. For one, these are all very smart people with in-depth real world experience and legal expertise speaking of the ROW deployments for small cells and all the obstacles that deployments run into. The municipalities could delay things for a very long time, literally years, if you don’t do things the right way up front. If you think you can push an installation through, going around the municipality, guess again. This session covered the major issues that have prevented outdoor small cells from taking off. For one, you have no idea how much time these people have to put in to get things moving ahead. Most municipalities have no interest in letting them install nor do they care. They also spoke of utility pole installations, very interesting. They also spoke of how important the site survey was to see what is really there, this is something I always bring up and yet it’s something that the carriers often want to cut out to save cost. Do it right the first time!

The last presentation was the “Investor Insights” where we heard from Richard Lukaj from Bank Street who spoke of how the IOT would really propel the business because data distribution is becoming critical He spoke of the growth trends in the industry as we head into the 5G era where the industry will continue to grow.

Remember that they have many upcoming events, you can see them all at www.nedas.com, but to list a few, July 3rd they will be in Boston, September 21 they will be in Washington DC, and in October they will be in Toronto. Go to www.nedas.com to see them all. If you want to know more about small cells and DAS and learn from the best, I suggest attending these events!

If you want to see the videos, go to https://www.nedas.com/events/nedas-spring-in-building-wireless-summit-nyc for all of them.

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Carriers need a VAD and VAR Program for Small Cells and DAS!

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Verizon’s Enterprise unit started a Value Added Distributor, VAD, program. Now, this has little to do with wireless at this time because it includes, “Verizon’s RRR service includes forensics, cyber incident assessments and designated security experts from Verizon who can go out to customer sites to conduct IT investigations 24/7.” Per the story at CRN.com found here.

Why do we care in wireless? I will tell you why I care! This is the type of program the carriers could setup for small cell deployments! Not outdoor, but the indoor small cell deployment. It’s funny because the wireless carriers want to expand indoor coverage but don’t want to pay for it. Customers want better and they are willing to pay for it. If a VAD could do it then they wouldn’t need to call Verizon and complain, instead they could call Verizon and ask for the nearest installation and integration team. Problems solved! I feel that the carriers demand complete control when this program would help them improve coverage for minimal costs.

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Why is this so hard for all of the carriers to understand? I get it, plug and play on the small cells isn’t quite there yet, they may have problems with the neighbor list or cause self-interference or mess up a handoff. Well, figure it out, expand the network and have the customers pay for it. Honestly, what are you waiting for? T-Mobile already is giving away home small cells, why not let businesses install their own? They already paid for large DAS systems.

Think of how this would change the coverage, it would improve so quickly when a building owner would be able to install small cells to improve coverage for less than a full blow DAS system! I get it, do they?

T-Mobile made it clear that traditional DAS was too expensive, so here is the best cost-effective way to do it.

I know so many companies that want to sign up for this, and yet the carriers won’t offer it because they think that it may cause network problems. Well here is a model where they can control who the OEM is and provide a solution for their customers as well as bring more work to the contractors out there doing DAS and indoor coverage. It could expand into LTE-U and Wi-Fi. I see it as a game changer and a quick way to expand coverage as well as add customers. Let’s do this!

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention! 

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Internet media in, HDMI out. Pretty cool stuff!

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Northeast DAS and Small Cell 2016 Spring In Building Summit

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Hello again,

I will be on a round table talking about indoor antenna design at the Northeast DAS and Small Cell 2016 Spring In Building Summit in New York City on April 6th, 2016. It is being put together by NEDAS. I am looking at it from a deployment perspective. Remember that in building installations have to be quick, efficient, and look really nice. The antenna has to work properly so that your design matches your test.

On the round table I will be joined by Anritsu and Spidercloud. We will all be talking about Developments in Mobile Antenna Technology.  Mike Sapien of Ovum will be the moderator.

The team that is pulling this together is doing a great job and I would like to thank them for inviting me to go.

Just wanted to let you all know that the summit is happening next week. I have been so busy I didn’t get to talk about it much.

To get tickets go here.

To learn more about NEDAS go here. 

This is a great opportunity to learn more about DAS and small cell design for in building. Think of the growth that we expect to see.  Between DAS and small cells we will really be taking off to densify the coverage in building and outside.

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Densification Breakdown

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Thank you Sprint for making densification the new buzz word in the industry but the reality is that it’s been happening for years.  Now we have the ability to put the cell w here the people are with small cells and CRAN. The concept is nothing new and yet Sprint is making it a buzzword, good job Sprint.

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Quick history lesson. First carriers built tower sites and building top sites. Lets call them the macro sites. In the early days they were built for the maximum coverage of real estate. They were usually high above ground level, (AGL), so that they could cover the most square miles, square meters, for coverage. Then along came DAS, so that we had great indoor coverage. Then systems went digital and the devices power got lower and lower. Cell sites had to cover smaller areas. More macro were sites built and DAS systems were being deployed. Then came the smartphone which changed the way people use their devices in the carriers ecosystem. Everything is going digital and LTE is taking over. Now you have a huge number of macro sites and DAS installations.  What could help? Enter the small cell and CRAN systems bringing the signal as close to the user as possible for maximum data bandwidth.

Densification has been around for years but now we have the opportunity to change the landscape of deployment and coverage. Seriously, let me explain. In the past we were concerned with area coverage and RF penetration. We put in sites to get closer to where the people are. Then came DAS, where we could put systems inside buildings to cover more people. Coverage was key.

Now coverage isn’t good enough, is it? Now we need to provide bandwidth, which at first was OK, until the iPhone changed everything. That is why we migrated from GSM and CDMA to LTE. When you look at coverage and download speed we all look at LTE. The new format that the carriers hope will last 10 years or so. It is getting faster and faster by using upgraded radio heads, devices, and MIMO. So the radios are getting faster and faster.

Now we need to make sure the sites have plenty of backhaul, but the real solution is to control loading. Loading, or should I say we need to offload!,Since most people rely on their smartphone for everything, we need better indoor coverage. This could be a small cells, LTE-U, or Wi-Fi.

Say hello to my friend the HetNet. The carriers need to use all the tools available to handle the increasing data needs of the user. I say user because smartphone users are data users and most of them want one thing, more data. More data means more bandwidth and that means the best coverage possible. You also need backhaul where the people are using their devices.  Backhaul growth is critical.

To do all of this we need to densify the network, add sites to offload. Oh, did I mention Quality of Experience, QoE? QoE needs to be taken into consideration. Keep the user happy!

Where did I start? Oh yeah, maximizing spectrum. Spectrum ain’t cheap, so let’s make the most of it. This is where Verizon and T-Mobile have really taken the lead because they know that the smaller the cell coverage the better re-use of spectrum they get. They can break it down to where spectrum can be re-used in a smaller area. So now they can get more users on that spectrum by adding small cell coverage areas. It does take more sites and it is more of an investment in the sites, but saves on the spectrum. That is why the oDAS using small cells and CRAN makes so much sense, which Verizon has been deploying successfully. This really helps QoE for the user. Carriers have more control doing it that way and they can break off the loading from the Macro sites by concentrating the spectrum where they need it. Thus, the smaller coverage area allows the spectrum reuse to go way up.

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This is where the small cell and CRAN really help, by allowing carriers to get the most bandwidth for the buck in the spectrum they have without purchasing more. Carrier aggregation really helps, more on that here. It makes sense to break down the coverage so that loading and spectrum are more efficient. When they need more spectrum they can purchase it and start to overlay it where needed. It makes more sense at this stage of the game to overlay new spectrum, as long as the devices are ready to handle the new spectrum.

  • Quick note:
    • Small Cell is a stand alone cell site, could be a mini macro or a single sector cell site, a single eNodeB, but very low power
    • CRAN is centralized Radio Access Network which means there is a BBU mounted in a central location connected to several remote radio heads nearby.
    • cRAN or C-RAN is Cloud RAN. This means that the core has the controller and the radio heads are remotely located at a site where there is only a router and a radio head. These are still being tested and built, timing is the issue.

There are also other strategies, like offloading to the unlicensed band. Look how we all rely on Wi-Fi for the data offloading. It really has been a great thing and it saves on our carrier bills. Now that Wi-Fi calling is happening maybe carrier Wi-Fi will become more popular. Just wait until LTE-U takes off, it will add so much more to the toolbox. Aggregation will work so well with LTE-U.

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I believe that LTE-U will also be exciting. It will really make the system run very well and it should maximize the unlicensed band while allowing a clean handoff from licensed to unlicensed. One more option that we will have and it’ something that the carriers seem very excited to work with. They didn’t exactly greet Wi-Fi with open arms until recently when LTE took over and it became a world of applications on the devices.

Sprint is going to adopt the densification philosophy with their new plan, the densification plan that Mobilitie has to execute. Sprint says that the 600MHz spectrum, article here, is not enough because they need bigger channels. Strange! Why? Because they decided not to bid at all, getting no spectrum, and use their 2.5GHz band for in band backhaul. That doesn’t align with the message, but hey, I don’t do marketing at Sprint, do I?

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The carriers will need to find a way to release the indoor small cell deployments to contractors so that enterprise coverage can grow, Article here. They don’t want to pay for more indoor coverage but they haven’t developed a system to let deployment teams sell direct. Get it together carriers! I’ll bet T-Mobile may do this first just to push the other carriers around and improve their coverage by getting customers to pay for it.

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Wade4Wireless BlogCast

2016 WD4Cast

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The 2016 Wireless Deployment Forecast Edition!

OK, so I thought it would be nice to see where we think the deployment industry will go in 2016. So I look at this as the Wireless Deployment Forecast, WD4Cast. What is happening with small cells, DAS, the carriers, FirstNet, and the deployment industry? I give you my views here, from a high level of course and this is my perspective. Keep in mind this is an educated guess based on what I see today. I sure don’t believe much of what AT&T says after they completely killed deployment in 2015, remember that? I am sure that MasTec does because they had to lay off a slew of people and watch their training facility fill with cobwebs.

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600MHz Auction. I may bring up the 600 MHz in this but if the auction is this year then the carriers won’t have much until next year. They will wait for the OEMs to have a radio head before they can do much. Each carrier will have their own specifications. So I see 600MHz happening in 2017 but they may prepare for it in 2016. However, the broadcasters will have their hands full with the changes that are to come. Will they just decommission and retire? Will they move to a new band? Will they just merge with another carrier and share the digital channels. Let’s face it, more broadcast channels didn’t need the new channels that they got when they went digital, so why not share? It makes sense to me but I really don’t know what the FCC implications would be. It sounds like a great idea if a broadcaster could lease out the other channels they have for over the air, OTA, coverage. Or they could split the maintenance and lease costs with the new partner. Just a few suggestions.

Deployment will increase this year. We all expect so much but the carriers don’t want to spend more than they have to because they want to see an increase in revenue. While AT&T says that, look at the DirecTV acquisition, they want to grow new sources of revenue, so they stopped the wireless growth for a year. They also want to come up with a better way to deploy. They originally thought that they could put a car on top of a tower, or at least the equivalent of the weight of a car, but they had to rethink that. So maybe they are trying to figure out how to deploy properly. Whereas Verizon and T-Mobile decided to build more sites over the past 2 year and it seems to be working very well. They are getting the biggest bang for each dollar they spend on spectrum, how cool is that? By building more sites they can shrink the cell coverage, alleviate the loading, and improve customer experience. What a concept! Now that they figured it out maybe the other carriers will follow suit.

Let’s talk FirstNet. If you’re on a team that responds to RFPs, then you will be busy for most of 2016 with FirstNet because they will have everyone responding to the RFP coming out very soon. Other than that we won’t see any work from that until maybe mid 2017. The site acquisition teams and the site engineering teams may see it before that. In fact, if AT&T does respond to the offer like they said they would, then it will be all the AT&T contractors that will get the work because, in my opinion, AT&T is in the best position to win it. Remember that the FirstNet build is more than deployment. They need billing systems, device distribution, and more. They got nothing and need all the systems to be in place so that they can cover all public safety entities in the USA. Not something that most companies can do but a carrier is already setup to do this.

Verizon Wireless has been building with a steady plan, and I see them ramping up a bit in 2016 just because they will have more spectrum to deploy. “They won some in the previous auction and the equipment should be ready. One thing that all of the carriers will want to do is put as much in one radio head as possible to save on the tower rent. They don’t want to overload the tower but more importantly they want to cram as much as they can into a radio head. They want to see if one antenna can handle this and 600MHz so that they can add weight but no more units to the tower. Don’t worry, if you are working for them you will be replacing what they have and they will need to do structural on the tower for the additional weight. It will be more work on the tower connecting up more fiber, maybe, and more RF cables from the radio head to the antennas. Maybe even replacing the antennas.

AT&T will finally do some more field work. What choice do they have? They need to start growing again so that they can deploy the new spectrum. Deploy, deploy, deploy! They will expand the tower sites. I do believe they will develop a small cell or CRAN plan as well. While they said it was too expensive, Verizon helped drive the costs down because of their cutting edge thinking. AT&T just wanted to take over DirecTV, they didn’t have time to be creative. However, another plus with AT&T is that they plan to deploy the Wireless Local Loop, WLL, for broadband connectivity. This is awesome if they actually do it because t will compete with the cable companies for access to homes, if they can make it work! It is a big demand to offer that much wireless broadband to a home for video. Just because T-Mobile USA offers free video streaming doesn’t mean AT&T will.

T-Mobile is still growing and seeing the rewards of more customers, they well deserve them because they have been adding more sites and more spectrum! Way to go T-Mobile! I appreciate all the work you’re doing and I see you doing more, maybe 20% more in 2016. I hope so anyway because you have the opportunity to compete with the big boys and leave Sprint in the dust. This is great that you are deploying. T-Mobile USA has done some great things in 2015, with the growth of the system and the distribution of small cells to the home, the femto cells, and the marketing that they have in place to really propel their growth by leaps and bounds. I really have to give a lot of credit to Legere for all that he has done to grow and put his foot on Sprint. I would say that AT&T and Verizon see a real competitor in T-Mobile, a real threat.

Sprint may actually start the densification that they talked about for years. We all know Sprint. They will find the most cost-effective, (cheapest), way to do it. They went through a learning process, a bunch of RFPs to vendors, to eliminate any normal way of doing it and then they threw it in the lap of Mobilitie to make it happen. Good luck Sprint, the deployment teams will be happy for the work as long as they make money and don’t do it for free or at a loss. Remember, they want to earn a living, not work for nothing. Now, to be fair, Sprint isn’t actually doing the deployment management, it is actually Mobilitie who is making this happen. From what I hear Mobilitie is already moving ahead and laying out the plan for densification. They are working to deploy the mini macro, which is really a single sector cell site. That single sector will probably be an Omni antenna. It appears as though Sprint will deploy in-band backhaul where possible so they don’t have to run fiber anywhere or mount a panel, so this will maintain a low profile site, in theory. I am curious to see how that goes and if that 2.5GHz spectrum is more valuable as backhaul than fronthaul. If you were an investor and saw that spectrum as backhaul like 5.8GHz, how would you feel about it? Mobilitie is making a move and should have a lot of work for deployment teams this year. It appears their plan is innovative, or cheap depending on your perspective, by deploying on non tower company owned sites and using as much existing equipment taken from inventory and macro sites. Again, this is merely an observation, not sure if they will actually deploy this way.

LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS. I love the HetNet! I will start with the outdoor deployments. I really think that this year, if the carriers deploy they will rely on deploying small cells and oDAS around town because, as Verizon has shown, this is the best way to utilize the spectrum that you already have. I think that T-Mobile will follow suit because they are smart and they intend to densify the heavily populated areas. I know that we all talk about the Sprint densification plan but all the carriers are doing this, they just call it a Het Net system, (Heterogeneous Network). The Het Net is where you deploy multiple Macro, small cell, and DAS. I would also include Wi-Fi and LTE-U in this network. Throw it all in there and you have a Het Net system. I am really excited about the 3.5GHz spectrum that the FCC will open up to LTE because of the new opportunities. If the FCC opens this up and gives out the spectrum it will be a beautiful thing when we can deploy on the lightly licensed spectrum for fronthaul and backhaul. WOW, it is really going to help smaller businesses deploy small cell as a service, (SCAAS), and I can’t wait!

By the way, Carriers need to Free the Small Cells!

Let’s look inside, indoor coverage. If you look around you will see that most people rely on Wi-Fi for most everything but voice. Am I right? There are still issues with handing off the call to Wi-Fi. I know we expected carrier Wi-Fi to pick up the slack but the only company I saw to make inroads on this was T-Mobile who did a great job with Wi-Fi calling, but it still doesn’t hand off to LTE very well, at least that is what I am told. So how will we improve indoor coverage? I know we will rely on DAS and Wi-Fi, but the carriers don’t want to pay for any more indoor coverage that doesn’t have a payback, I get it. What we need is to put small cells and Wi-Fi and LTE-U in as many buildings as we can. Who will pay? The landlords and the businesses in the buildings. Who will deploy? The deployment teams doing small cell and DAS

That’s all for this week, be smart, be safe, and pay attention.

I hope this helps, for more get the eBook! Find out where to get the eBook here. 

By the way, the carriers need to free the small cells! Find out more by clicking here. 

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