Ericsson intros carrier-grade Wi-Fi to mobile broadband

BANGALORE, INDIA: Ericsson announced its 3GPP compliant Wi-Fi network access, control and management solutions.

These enable mobile operators to incorporate Wi-Fi in heterogeneous network strategy. It comes with a feature that automatically selects best connection: real-time traffic steering. Ericsson's real-time traffic steering is a software upgrade that constantly assesses key performance indicators in both mobile 3GPP network and Wi-Fi network before dynamically and seamlessly shifting the consumer's smartphone connection between networks.

Ericsson also supports access selection, a self-optimizing network (SON) feature enabling load-balancing between Wi-Fi and 3GPP networks.

Thomas Noren, vice president and head, Product Area Radio, Ericsson, said: "Heterogeneous network strategies among leading mobile operators are focused on delivering a great mobile broadband experience to their customers, wherever they are. By coordinating licensed small cells with the macro cell, as we announced earlier this year, and intelligently integrating Wi-Fi and 3GPP throughout the network, we're providing operators with the most effective way to deliver consistently high performance consumer connections."

With indoor areas increasingly prone to mobile network congestion, Ericsson has also developed the first 802.11ac access point designed to enable mobile operators to deliver supplemental small cell or standalone Wi-Fi coverage indoors. The 802.11ac standard is common on tablets and increasingly prevalent on smartphones.

Two new cloud-controller options, both featuring 3GPP-standard interfaces to the mobile core, make it easier and more cost-efficient for operators to add Wi-Fi to their existing mobile services. The Ericsson Evo Controller now features a Wi-Fi controller blade, the WIC 8030. A new standalone controller, the WIC 8100, supports up to 10,000 access points and 500,000 concurrent subscribers, allowing operators to consolidate multiple Wi-Fi networks from a centralized location.

Ericsson is also introducing integrated management of Wi-Fi and 3GPP networks on a common platform, simplifying operations and reducing network costs.

These new Wi-Fi 3GPP integration products and features provide complementary and incremental benefits to emerging industry standard features that Ericsson supports, including: Access Network Discovery and Selection Function (ANDSF), IP session mobility (also referred to as IP address preservation) and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint (based on Wi-Fi Alliance Hotspot 2.0 Specification).

Ericsson also offers Wi-Fi 3GPP integration solutions to optimize the user experience for operators targeting residential Wi-Fi coverage.