Thomson entered into a global sourcing agreement to use Airvana’s Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) femtocell technology in conjunction with its own residential gateways.
“By partnering with Airvana we will add value to our residential gateway product line and strengthen our innovative offering in the fixed-mobile convergence space. Incorporating such advanced femtocell technologies in our gateway platforms will also further consolidate Thomson’s position within the 3G femto home access solution ecosystem of Nokia Siemens Networks with whom we’ve entered into a related collaboration in 2007,” said Georges Laplanche, Vice President of Thomson’s Premises Systems business unit.http://www.airvana.com
- In September 2007, Airvana announced that it is working with Nokia Siemens Networks to provide an end-to-end femto cell solution for 3G mobile operators. Airvana said its UMTS Home Base Station femto cell leverages software-based functionality and off-the-shelf silicon to accelerate feature development and reduce product cost. The product is being certified to interoperate with Nokia Siemens Networks’ Femto Gateway. As the first milestone in this effort, the companies have successfully completed simultaneous end-to-end calls utilizing Airvana’s femto cell and Nokia Siemens Networks’ Femto Gateway to connect to a 3GPP core network. The two companies will cooperate in the marketing and sales of the joint solution to mobile operators worldwide. Each company will independently supply its respective products to the operator. Initial trials of the joint solution are expected by the end of 2007, with deployments starting in 2008.
- In July 2007, Nokia Siemens Networks announced plans for a new Femto Gateway network element that will not require changes in the operators’ existing core network, as it will connect to the core network over a standard interface. Mounted in a standard telco rack, it serves as the grooming point for cellular traffic to multiple Femto CPE. The Femto Gateway will also connect via an open interface to Femto Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) in homes, allowing Femto customer equipment from multiple vendors to be connected to it. The Femto Gateway will support any Femto CPE certified by Nokia Siemens Networks to conform with the interface. Nokia Siemens Networks said it will co-operate with Femto CPE vendors to ensure interoperability of their equipment to the Nokia Siemens Networks interface.
- Also in July 2007, Thomson and Nokia Siemens Networks announced a partnership to develop 3G femto cell home access solution. Specifically, Thomson’s femto cell-enabled residential gateway will be coupled with the newly announced 3G Femto Home Access network solution from Nokia Siemens Networks. The solution will allow operators to deliver 3G multimedia services such as music downloads and video available in the home on any WCDMA 3G handset.