| Femtocells |
| Competitive Intelligence Spotlight |
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Selected Current Analysis reports on Femtocells are available at no cost. See those marked Free below. |
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Femtocells - residential 2G or 3G base stations - have quickly gone from an interesting concept to a viable FMC technology. Compared with solutions that rely on a limited supply of expensive dual-mode WiFi phones, the draw of femtocells is clear.
To this end, major operators have reportedly begun trials and major vendors even entered the market. Yet, any operator considering a femtocell launch also knows that there is no shortage of obstacles to a successful femtocell offer: network integration, distribution, customer support.
The femtocell market is quickly evolving. This makes a complete understanding of the femtocell value propositions, pitfalls and vendors particularly important to every telecom vendor and operator.
Current Analysis provides this femtocell research in our Wireless Infrastructure service. Below you will find a list of recent Current Analysis femtocell reports, presentations, analyst news flashes, competitive intelligence highlights, and other analysis and resources. Clients with subscriptions can access any report by following the Client Access links. Selected reports are available for purchase, and other are offered as free downloads.
CTIA Wireless 2008: Femtocell Roundup
Advisory Report | Wireless Infrastructure [Apr 15, 2008]
The U.S. – along with Asia – has traditionally driven CDMA2000 momentum. Thus, it was only fitting that CDMA femtocells were a focus at this year’s CTIA show. This focus, however, cannot ensure a robust CDMA femtocell market opportunity.
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Current Perspective: |
Negative/Neutral |
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Vendor Importance: |
High |
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Market Impact: |
Low |
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CTIA Wireless 2008: Motorola Reminds Us of its Networks Prowess, Distracting from Device Turbulence
Show Update | Wireless Infrastructure [Mar 28, 2008]
Development of CDMA2000 femtocells and a common LTE-WiMAX platform suggests that Motorola continues to innovate on the network front, despite a potential corporate reorganization. What they don’t do is to actually set the vendor’s offer apart.
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Current Perspective: |
Negative/Neutral |
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Vendor Importance: |
High |
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Market Impact: |
Low |
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CTIA Wireless 2008: AirWalk (Finally) Launches Its CDMA2000 Femtocell
Show Update | Wireless Infrastructure [Mar 5, 2008]
After “introducing” its CDMA femtocell a year ago, AirWalk has named its product and can offer more details (support for 1X or EV-DO). Competing in a tough CDMA femtocell market, however, will require additional marketing and resources.
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Mobile World Congress: Femtocell Roundup
Advisory Report | Wireless Infrastructure [Feb 22, 2008]
With widespread femtocell trials planned for this year, it was no surprise that they were big news at Mobile World Congress. As the market prepares for commercial launches, a focus on gateways and non-voice applications is encouraging.
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Current Perspective: |
Positive/Neutral |
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Vendor Importance: |
Moderate |
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Market Impact: |
Moderate |
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Vodafone Dips Its Toe in Femtocell Pond;
Not Many Hurt
Competitive Update | Consumer Broadband Services - Europe [Feb 19, 2008]
The Vodafone Group is one of three operators to announce femtocell trials. However, market demand for the technology is still untested and the technology still appears to be without a compelling application.
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Current Perspective: |
Negative/Neutral |
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Vendor Importance: |
Very High |
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Market Impact: |
Moderate |
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Mobile World Congress 2008: ip.access and NEC Femtocell Hubs Are up against Wireless USB
Show Update | Consumer Broadband Services - Europe [Feb 12, 2008]
Femtocell solutions are pushing aside picocells at Mobile World Congress. The technology is stable and requires no handset modifications. However, it is very expensive compared to a wireless USB solution, and it may be too late.
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Current Perspective: |
Negative/Neutral |
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Vendor Importance: |
Low |
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Market Impact: |
Moderate |
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Ubiquisys Inches into Enterprise, Leaving Too Many Solution Questions Unanswered
Competitive Intelligence Report | Wireless Infrastructure [Jan 30, 2008]
Targeting the enterprise is a natural extension of any femtocell business model – one that operators should find attractive. To that end, Ubiquisys’ new enterprise offer is logical, though limited details make its announcement nearly meaningless.
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2008’s Most Over-Hyped Wireless Trends & News
Advisory Report | Wireless Infrastructure [Jan 29, 2008]
Every year has its trends that are talked about over and over again. Some of them are worth the buzz. Others are not. These are the trends and issues – WiMAX certification, LTE, femtocells, 700 MHz, mobile backhaul – worth identifying early.
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Current Perspective: |
Positive |
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Vendor Importance: |
High |
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Market Impact: |
Moderate |
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China Business Summit: picoChip Makes Limited TD-SCDMA Investment to Score a Chance with 3G in China
Show Update | Wireless Infrastructure [Jan 22, 2008]
The success of TD-SCDMA is far from certain. To this end, picoChip’s decision to offer a TD-SCDMA femtocell reference design might seem risky. It is, but the risk is limited since China will deploy TD-SCDMA and picoChip can leverage existing R&D.
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Current Perspective: |
Negative/Neutral |
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Vendor Importance: |
Modertate |
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Market Impact: |
Low |
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CES 2008: Airvana Turns to Motive to Manage Femtocells, Motive Shows Restrained Support
Show Update | Wireless Infrastructure [Jan 10, 2008]
Airvana marks Motive’s second femtocell partner, highlighting the importance of device management, activation, and diagnostics to femtocell operators, but if it is important, every femtocell vendor will pull in similar capabilities and partners.
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Mobile Infrastructure Trends: “8 for 2008”
Advisory | Wireless Infrastructure [Jan 7, 2008]
What lies ahead for wireless in 2008? Following a busy 2007, it should be a year focused on LTE, WiMAX, UMB, femtocells, vendor consolidations, open access and the core - a quiet year since most of these will be in trial or development mode.
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CurrentCast Podcast: Avren Femtocell Conference
Advisory Report | Wireless Infrastructure
[Dec 19, 2007]
Five months after Avren’s first femtocell conference, operators have begun to talk about their trial plans and Sprint even launched commercial femtocell services. The market’s key questions, however, are still unanswered, but worth a podcast.
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Current Perspective: |
Positive |
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Vendor Importance: |
High |
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Market Impact: |
Moderate |
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Avren Femtocell Conference: ZTE Gets to the Femto Core with NextPoint
Show Update | Wireless Infrastructure
[Dec 6, 2007]
Any credible femtocell solution requires solid core network integration kit, ideally supporting operators with diverse network strategies. To this end, ZTE’s work with NextPoint is encouraging, though the offer’s credibility must still be proven.
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Why the Femto Forum Is (Somewhat) Important
Advisory Report | Wireless Infrastructure
[Nov 14, 2007]
New members lend the Femto Forum added market clout and point to a growing interest in the femtocells industry. Unfortunately, key players are still missing and a deeper, more diverse member base could complicate standards and marketing efforts.
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Current Perspective: |
Positive |
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Vendor Importance: |
High |
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Market Impact: |
Moderate |
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BBWF Europe 2007: Kineto Beefs Up Its Femtocell Position with new UNC Software
Show Update | Wireless Infrastructure
[Oct 10, 2007]
Kineto has been positioning UMA as a femtocell integration technology since femtocells began attracting attention. Iu support makes its UNC a better solution, but a focus on femtos ignores the value of new software upgrades to supporting 3G UMA.
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Current Perspective: |
Positive/Neutral |
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Vendor Importance: |
Very High |
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Market Impact: |
High |
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Sprint is First to Market with AIRAVE Femtocell, Addressing Coverage and Unlimited Calling
Competitive Intelligence Report | Wireless Services - U.S.
[Sep 19, 2007]
Sprint addresses coverage issues with the launch of AIRAVE, the first femtocell to hit the industry. As an unlimited calling service add-on in limited markets, it’s similar to T-Mobile’s HotSpot @Home, but without the need of a specific handset.
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Conference Round-Up: Femtocells and Home Access Points – Take One
Advisory Report | Wireless Infrastructure - [Jul 19, 2007]
Success isn’t ensured when a new industry gets its own conference. However, it does suggest that hype has grown beyond the “tipping point.” And, with enough people talking about one topic, early market trends and concerns are easy to discern.
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Business & Technical Obstacles For Femtocell Deployment
Presentation | Wireless Infrastructure - [Jul 2007]
Presentation give by Peter N. Jarich, Current Analysis Research Director, Wireless & Converged Core, at the inaugural “International Conference on Home Access Points and Femtocells” held by Avren Events in London from July 3rd to July 5th, 2007.
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Current Perspective: |
Positive |
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Vendor Importance: |
High |
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Market Impact: |
Moderate |
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Avren Femtocell Conference: Femto Forum Formation
Show Update | Wireless Infrastructure - [Jul 05, 2007]
Launched at Avren’s femtocell conference, the Femto Forum promises to drive the industry on several fronts: marketing, regulation, standards, etc. But until it can highlight brand name members and initial results, its prospects are unclear.
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Current Perspective: |
Positive/Neutral |
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Vendor Importance: |
High |
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Market Impact: |
Moderate |
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Avren Femtocell Conference: NSN Pushes Open Femto Gateway
Show Update | Wireless Infrastructure - [Jul 05, 2007]
With its new Femto Gateway, NSN is in a position to create a de facto standard for integrating femtocells into an operator’s network. First, it must certify femtocell kit actually supporting the specific protocols it has decided to leverage.
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Mid-Year Recommendations: What Wireless Vendors Need to Think About
Advisory Report | Wireless Infrastructure - [Jul 02, 2007]
Halfway through 2007, there’s no shortage of major trends and events to look back on: mergers, acquisitions and technology developments. While the events themselves are well understood, the reaction to these events and trends is more important.
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Current Perspective: |
Positive/Neutral |
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Vendor Importance: |
High |
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Market Impact: |
Moderate |
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NXTcomm 2007: ReefPoint Helps Samsung with Femtocells
Show Update | Wireless Infrastructure - [Jun 19, 2007]
Samsung has the wireless and consumer electronics expertise to pull off a femtocell solution. ReefPoint delivers the border and security capabilities to deliver part – though only one part – of a core network component.
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Current Perspective: |
Positive/Neutral |
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Vendor Importance: |
High |
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Market Impact: |
Low |
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Kineto Grows UNC Capacity and Capabilities
Competitive Update | Wireless Infrastructure
[Jun 07, 2007]
UMA continues to be one of the most successful FMC technologies, making capacity and functionality upgrades from Kineto inevitable. As VCC and femtocells gain momentum, upgrades are equally important for painting UMA as the technology to beat.
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Current Perspective: |
Positive |
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Vendor Importance: |
High |
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Market Impact: |
Moderate |
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Airvana Nabs 3Way Networks, Kicking Off RAN Portfolio Expansion
Competitive Update | Wireless Infrastructure - [May 04, 2007]
Starent kicked off a trend: IPO plans followed by new products to build buzz. Airvana carries the trend forward by acquiring femtocell maker 3Way Networks; other markets offer less competition and better odds at differentiation.
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CTIA Wireless 2007: Femtocell Roundup
Advisory Report| Wireless Infrastructure - [May 04, 2007]
Starent kicked off a trend: IPO plans followed by new products to build buzz. Airvana carries the trend forward by acquiring femtocell maker 3Way Networks; other markets offer less competition and better odds at differentiation.
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Current Perspective: |
Positive/Neutral |
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Vendor Importance: |
Moderate |
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Market Impact: |
Low |
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Juniper Networks Steel Belted Radius Embraces Femtocell, UMA, & GAN Deployments
CTIA Wireless Analyst News Flash | Wireless Infrastructure - [Mar 26, 2007]
Juniper Networks enhanced its Steel-Belted Radius (SBR) SIM/AKA Server to support SIGTRAN as well as AAA features supporting subscriber authentication via 802.1X and non-802.1X hotspots, Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA), Generic Access Networks (GAN) and Femtocell technologies.
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Current Perspective: |
Negative |
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Vendor Importance: |
High |
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Market Impact: |
Moderate |
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AirWalk Introduces CDMA Femtocell
CTIA Wireless Analyst News Flash | Wireless Infrastructure - [Mar 21, 2007]
AirWalk Communications announced a femtocell solution for CDMA voice and data services. Details regarding technologies supported, product availability, and network integration options were not available.
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Current Perspective: |
Positive/Neutral |
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Vendor Importance: |
High |
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Market Impact: |
High |
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2Wire Integrates Femtos
CTIA Wireless Analyst News Flash | Wireless Infrastructure - [Mar 21, 2007]
2Wire announced that it would extend its product line to include femtocell-enabled DSL residential gateways. The company will launch fully integrated gateways and femtocells connected to gateways by Ethernet in early 2008.
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Current Perspective: |
Positive/Neutral |
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Vendor Importance: |
Moderate |
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Market Impact: |
Moderate |
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NEC Leverages Kineto for Femtos
CTIA Wireless Analyst News Flash | Wireless Infrastructure - [Mar 21, 2007]
NEC and Kineto announced the integration of Kineto’s UMA Network Controller into NEC’s Home Gateway Solution, an end-to-end femtocell offer.
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3GSM 2007: Femtocell Roundup
Advisory Report | Wireless Infrastructure - [Feb 28, 2007]
Femtocell vendors spent the latter part of 2006 talking up their wares and the value of home base stations as an FMC solution. As expected, femtos were big news at 3GSM, though field trials and deployments will be key to painting them as credible.
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Current Perspective: |
Neutral |
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Vendor Importance: |
Moderate/High |
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Market Impact: |
Low/Moderate |
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Samsung and ZTE Team on Femtocell R&D
3GSM Analyst News Flash | Wireless Infrastructure
[Feb 12, 2007]
ZTE and Samsung announced an agreement to jointly work on WCDMA-based femtocells.
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Current Perspective: |
Positive/Neutral |
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Vendor Importance: |
High |
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Market Impact: |
High |
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Ericsson Completes Femtocell Picture
3GSM Analyst News Flash | Wireless Infrastructure
[Feb 9, 2007]
Ericsson announced its “Femto Cell Solution,” including a home access point compatible with GSM and WCDMA phones as well as WiFi access and ADSL transport.
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Current Perspective: |
Very Positive |
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Vendor Importance: |
High |
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Market Impact: |
High |
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picoChip Brings HSUPA to Femtos
3GSM Analyst News Flash | Wireless Infrastructure
[Feb 9, 2007]
picoChip announced its new PC8209 software, integrating HSUPA (improved WCDMA uplink, decreased latency) into its existing femtocell reference designs.
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Current Perspective: |
Very Positive |
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Vendor Importance: |
Very High |
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Market Impact: |
High |
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Tatara Goes Big on Femtocells
3GSM Analyst News Flash | Wireless Infrastructure
[Feb 7, 2007]
atara announced the new Tatara Convergence Server (TCS); a SIP-based application server, the TCS interfaces with an operators CSCF, providing SIP-MSC interworking for femtocell integrations.
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Current Perspective: |
Positive |
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Vendor Importance: |
Very High |
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Market Impact: |
High |
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Ubiquisys Scores (Momentum) with NEC
3GSM Analyst News Flash | Wireless Infrastructure
[Feb 7, 2007]
Ubiquisys announced that NEC would ship the company’s ZoneGate femtocell – a HSPA-based home access point - as part of its 3G Home Gateway Solutions portfolio.
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Current Perspective: |
Neutral |
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Vendor Importance: |
High |
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Market Impact: |
Moderate |
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NEC + Ubiquisys = NEC + Tatara
3GSM Analyst News Flash | Wireless Infrastructure
[Feb 7, 2007]
NEC and Tatara announced a partnership to integrate Tatara’s femtocell network integration platform into NEC’s Home Gateway Solution architecture.
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Current Perspective: |
Positive/Neutral |
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Vendor Importance: |
High |
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Market Impact: |
Moderate |
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3WAY Goes Commercial
3GSM Analyst News Flash | Wireless Infrastructure - [Feb 6, 2007]
3Way Networks announced commercial availability of the UMTS HBS (Home Base Station), a 3G femtocell. Planned to ship through integrators, 3Way claims the HBS as the market’s first commercially available femtocell.
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Current Perspective: |
Negative |
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Vendor Importance: |
Moderate/High |
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Market Impact: |
High |
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RadioFrame Announces Femtocells yet Rails against Scale with OmniRadio Processor
Competitive Intelligence Report | Wireless Infrastructure - [Feb 02, 2007]
Announcing new femtocells and a proprietary chipset platform is a great way to build market buzz and set an offer apart – just ask RadioFrame. It’s less than ideal if one hopes to develop the cost and time-to-market benefits that come with scale.
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2007: What Lies Ahead in Wireless Networks
Advisory Report | Wireless Infrastructure - [Jan 03, 2007]
With 2007 underway, it’s time to take a moment and consider what lies ahead for wireless networks – WiFi, WiMAX, EDGE, LTE, UMB, IMS, femtocells, mergers, new competition – and how vendors need to prepare for these trends.
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Femto Fray: Today’s Femtocell Vendors
Advisory Report | Wireless Infrastructure - [Dec 11, 2006]
Femtocells might be an interesting idea, but vendors are still required to build and deploy them. So, who are the vendors currently working on femtocell solutions? Just as importantly, how do they stack up against one another?
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Current Perspective: |
Very Positive |
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Vendor Importance: |
Moderate |
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Market Impact: |
High |
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Ericsson Strategy & Technology Summit: Home 3G Access Point Launch
Show Update | Wireless Infrastructure - [Nov 17, 2006]
In a sector populated by smaller companies and start-ups, Ericsson quickly becomes the largest player in the burgeoning femtocell market. Credibility, expertise, and channels aside, would-be femtocell customers will be looking for product details.
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Femto Fray: The Obstacles Ahead
Advisory Report | Wireless Infrastructure - [Oct 30, 2006]
If femtocells promise all the benefits of emerging FMC solutions but without a reliance on WiFi devices, why haven’t they been deployed widely yet? Business and technical obstacles, of course. Luckily, most of these issues are solvable.
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Femto Fray: The What and Why of Femtocells
Advisory Report | Wireless Infrastructure - [Oct 19, 2006]
The FMC space has a new buzzword to track: femtocells. Before delving into the companies driving the market and the deployment obstacles operators must consider, we take a moment to explain what femtocells are and why operators should care.
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CTIA Wireless IT: Ubiquisys Teams with Kineto on Femtocell Integration
Show Update | Wireless Infrastructure - [Sep 15, 2006]
Femtocells represent a novel FMC solution leveraging cheap devices and an end-user’s own broadband connection, but they still need to be integrated into an operator’s core. Ubiquisys’ work with Kineto and Tatara addresses the integration issue.
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Current Perspective: |
Neutral |
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Vendor Importance: |
Low |
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Market Impact: |
Low |
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WAEA Conference Miami: 3Way Highlights Aviation Femtocell Applications
Show Update | Wireless Infrastructure - [Sep 14, 2006]
Femtocells came to the fore as a solution for delivering 3G services in the home or office, but they can also be deployed for niche applications, including in-flight communications. 3WAY’s plans on this front could help to prove its capabilities.
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Current Perspective: |
Neutral |
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Vendor Importance: |
Very High |
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Market Impact: |
Moderate |
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ip.access Joins the Femtocell Fray
Competitive Update | Wireless Infrastructure - [Sep 07, 2006]
Femtocells have evolved from an interesting FMC idea to a market reality. With a long history with picocells, it was only natural for ip.access to develop a femtocell, but customers need to know what the new femto3G offers that competitors cannot.
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We enable sales teams, marketing professionals, product managers, and executives to quickly anticipate and respond to competitor threats. |
| This Competitive Intelligence Spotlight features links to recent Current Analysis reports (subscription required), Competitive Intelligence Highlights, Analyst Show Flashes, presentations and other analysis and resources. |
| Industry Resources |
 Femto Forum
Mission: to advance the development and adoption of femtocell products and services as the optimum technology for the provision of high-quality 2G/3G coverage and premium services within the residential market.
http://www.femtoforum.org |
| Fixed-Mobile Convergence Alliance
 Mission: to be the voice of the customer for the evolution of Wireless Broadband and Convergence.
http://www.thefmca.com |
 UMA Today
Mission: dedicated to highlighting UMA wireless services and products around the world, as defined by the 3GPP (www.3gpp.org).
http://www.umatoday.com |
| Featured Analysts |
| Peter Jarich
Research Director, Telecom Infrastructure, Mobile Networks and Carrier Core |
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| Bill Ho
Senior Analyst, Wireless Services |
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