Infrastructure vendor Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) rolled out several new products in advance of the upcoming Mobile World Congress trade show that the company said are geared to help operators strengthen their network capacity as well as introduce new services that will help drive revenue.
For example, the company is launching its first network-wide software with the catchy name of Networks Software 14B that offers more than 200 new features including LTE carrier aggregation for up to three carriers that can deliver peak network speeds of 450 Mbps; LTE uplink coordinated multipoint, which can provide twice the app coverage for all devices; and dynamic power sharing that gives all devices up to 50 percent faster speed.
According to Thomas Noren, head of product area radio and business unit networks at Ericsson, Networks Software 14B is just one example of the company putting more emphasis on the importance of network software. "Software that we released last year gave 40 percent higher throughput than the software we launched in 2011. Now in 2014 we are enhancing performance further," he said.
Ericsson is also going after the distributed antenna market with a Small Cell as a Service offering that the company said provides a network of low-power, short-range radios to supplement existing networks. Ericsson CMO Arun Bhikshesvaran said that this solution will be managed by Ericsson or a partner but will likely be placed in areas where there are a large number of users, such as a stadium or shopping mall. "This is the next-generation DAS," Bhikshesvaran said.
Of course, another hot trend in the market is the virtualization of the network and Ericsson is following that trend by introducing a virtualized Evolved Packet Core that it says will support operator transformation to cloud and network function virtualization. "We decided to do EPC first because it's compelling as machine-to-machine traffic blooms," Bhikshesvaran said. "The need for virtual EPC can be addressed from the cloud."
The company will be showcasing these software solutions and more at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain, beginning Feb. 24.
For more:
- see this 14B Release, EPC release, small cell release and service agility release
- see also this mobile enterprise release, outdoor enclosure release, cloud release and network manager release
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