BARCELONA, March 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile World
Congress -- Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is
announcing its 'Wireless Unified Networks' strategy which blends
the upload and download capabilities of Wi-Fi® and
cellular technologies to enable higher capacity and give
subscribers a more consistent and higher-quality mobile voice, data
and video experience in high-traffic or low-signal locations. This
approach will allow operators to combine standalone cellular and
Wi-Fi networks into one unified wireless network for home, office,
and outdoor environments.
As more people and devices become connected, one of the biggest
challenges facing mobile operators and their customers is how to
meet demand for secure, high-speed video and data with consistent
high-quality whether subscribers connect over Wi-Fi or cellular
networks. While both technologies continue to evolve, each has
challenges that can impact the subscriber experience. By combining
the unique strengths of Wi-Fi with those of LTE, it is now possible
to offer the subscriber a truly compelling experience.
Up to now, operators would switch users between cellular and
Wi-Fi to load-balance the network or users would manually switch
between networks to seek optimum performance. Alcatel-Lucent's
solution unifies the user experience across Wi-Fi and cellular for
the first time. As part of its Wireless Unified Networks strategy,
Alcatel-Lucent is introducing two separate capabilities that blend
Wi-Fi and cellular access. The Wi-Fi boost uses cellular to
enhance the performance of Wi-Fi networks and the Cellular
boost uses unlicensed spectrum to enhance the performance of
cellular. Combined, they maximize performance for subscribers
across both access technologies.
Mike Schabel, Vice President of
Small Cells in Alcatel-Lucent said: "As an industry we have
historically treated cellular and Wi-Fi as unique technologies. For
example, the industry debates the merits of Voice/Data over Wi-Fi
versus Voice/Data over LTE. From a consumer perspective, it should
simply be just Wireless. With Wireless Unified Networks, we
are excited to be taking the important steps to transform and
greatly enhance the user's wireless experience in the home, at
work, and in dense venue networks by combining existing Wi-Fi and
cellular networks into one high performance network."
The Wi-Fi and Cellular boost
capabilities
Alcatel-Lucent's Wireless Unified Networks
strategy encompasses two new capabilities that can be deployed
separately or combined for even greater performance gains.
Alcatel-Lucent's Wi-Fi boost technology combines the downlink of
Wi-Fi with the uplink of cellular. This capability:
- Requires an OS software update to existing user devices that
are capable of both cellular and Wi-Fi transmission
- Requires software updates in the network to blend the Wi-Fi and
cellular access networks into a unified network
- In typical homes, the Wi-Fi boost can increase download speeds
up to 70% and increase upload speeds by an order of magnitude or
more (compared to standalone Wi-Fi at the cell edge), while also
doubling the Wi-Fi range
Alcatel-Lucent will trial the Wi-Fi boost capabilities in the
second quarter of 2015 with commercial availability in the second
half of 2015. Alcatel-Lucent is introducing additional
performance enhancements by adding a cellular downlink to the Wi-Fi
downlink of the Wi-Fi boost. This is consistent with a developing
standard known as LTE Wi-Fi Aggregation (LWA), and can more than
double download speeds relative to standalone network
capabilities.
"Ruckus Wireless believes that the LWA initiative has great
potential for the growth of the wireless industry. We support
Alcatel-Lucent's initiative to commercialize the integration and
convergence of Wi-Fi and cellular networks, and will focus on
introducing technologies that enhance Ruckus' leading carrier-class
Wi-Fi networks for enterprise and service provider customers," said
Dan Rabinovitsj, Chief Operating
Officer, Ruckus Wireless.
Alcatel-Lucent is collaborating with Qualcomm Technologies,
Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, to demonstrate LWA at
booth #3E10 at Mobile World Congress, exhibiting downlink
throughput of 600 Mbps using commercially available Wi-Fi access
points aggregated with Alcatel-Lucent's 9764 MCO outdoor metro cell
and a mobile device powered by a next-generation Qualcomm®
Snapdragon™ LTE modem.
Alcatel-Lucent's Cellular boost technology leverages the
unlicensed spectrum bands to enhance the capacity and performance
of a cellular network. Alcatel-Lucent is fully committed to
supporting global trials of this technology based on local rules
for coexisting with Wi-Fi and other users of the unlicensed
spectrum, ensuring adherence to standards as they become available.
As standards are ratified Alcatel-Lucent's plans include the
introduction of new LTE-U and Licensed Assist Access (LAA) capable
small cells. Alcatel-Lucent will demonstrate LTE-U
operating seamlessly with Wi-Fi at Mobile World Congress 2015. The
company is committed to supporting trials in the second half of
2015 and commercially introducing the technology in early 2016.
Alcatel-Lucent will present the capabilities of Wireless Unified
Networks (Wi-Fi boost and LAA) as well as its new multi-standard
enterprise and residential small cells and compact metro cells on
booth (3K10) in Hall 3 of the Fira Gran Via at Mobile World
Congress 2015.
Wireless Unified Networks
As part of its overall
strategy to bring Wi-Fi and cellular networks together,
Alcatel-Lucent is also showcasing many other elements of its
comprehensive portfolio at Mobile World Congress,
namely:
- CloudBand™ management system, providing a fully integrated
solution that orchestrates infrastructure, applications, and
network in a single virtualized NFV platform.
- Virtualized, massively scalable Mobile and Wi-Fi gateways,
including enhanced evolved Packet Data Gateway (ePDG+) support and
seamless concurrent use of cellular (licensed) and Wi-Fi
(unlicensed) access connections to boost performance.
- Virtualized IMS solutions that deliver a scalable and seamless
communications experience across different access networks and
devices.
- Motive customer experience management and big network analytics
that deliver a more consistent, high quality experience and provide
insight into network, device and application performance across the
network.
"Lately, we've heard a lot about LTE-U and LTE-LAA helping
operators benefit from unlicensed spectrum in tandem with their
licensed assets. It's important to see Alcatel-Lucent, as
part of a larger mobile ecosystem, declare its support for these
technologies. It's even better, however, to see
Alcatel-Lucent look at unlicensed spectrum, LTE, and Wi-Fi more
holistically within the context of its Wireless Unified Networks
launch," noted Peter Jarich, VP of Consumer and Infrastructure
Services with Current Analysis. "Blending the capabilities of
Wi-Fi and Cellular to achieve performance gains beyond standalone
networks, we can embark on new, exciting discussions around the
go-to-market strategy for in-building wireless that embraces both
technologies while improving the consumer and enterprise
experiences."
About Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE:
ALU)
Alcatel-Lucent is the leading IP
networking, ultra-broadband access and cloud technology specialist.
We are dedicated to making global communications more innovative,
sustainable and accessible for people, businesses and governments
worldwide. Our mission is to invent and deliver trusted networks to
help our customers unleash their value. Every success has its
network.
For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on:
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com, read the latest posts on the
Alcatel-Lucent blog http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/blog and follow
the Company on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/Alcatel_Lucent.
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SOURCE Alcatel-Lucent