Technical barriers are overcome with 11.5 million non-residential indoor small cells to be deployed by 2018 according to Mobile Experts
Small Cell Americas, Dallas – 3rd December 2013 – The Small Cell Forum today launched Release Two: Enterprise – a major technical and business case release to help operators unlock the commercial potential of small cell deployments in the enterprise.
Based on the requirements of its operator members, the Small Cell Forum – the only independent operator & industry organisation supporting small cell deployment worldwide – has produced a comprehensive package including over 20 new or completely revised documents to help overcome barriers to small cell deployment in the enterprise. The release includes market drivers, a comprehensive business case, enterprise reference architecture, SON use cases, co-deployment of cellular with Wi-Fi, enterprise IT integration, plus backhaul and deployment advice. Taken as a whole, the release gives the reader the benefit of the Forum members’ experiences and best practice from successful deployments to date.
Gordon Mansfield, Chair of the Small Cell Forum said: “Addressing the wide range of enterprise cellular requirements has conventionally been challenging for operators both from a technical and a business perspective. Using small cells enables challenges to be addressed in unique ways, to the benefit of operators and enterprises alike, delivering value for both.
“The deployment of small cells in the enterprise – which is primarily coverage driven – can be applied to government buildings, hotels, retail outlets and hospitals, as well as small businesses or corporate campuses. One of the key elements of this release is the independent business case, commissioned from Real Wireless, which finds a compelling commercial argument for small cells in almost every enterprise context. In fact in all the cases examined except one, the payback period for both the operator and the enterprise was found to be less than a year.
“I am personally very proud of the Release Two initiative, which is the culmination of a great deal of hard work, commitment and innovation from our members. We are going to see significant growth in the number of small cells rolled out worldwide in the near future with the total number of indoor small cells estimated to reach 11.5 million by 2018. The Small Cell Forum’s release program will play a significant role in making this happen.
This latest release follows on from the hugely successful Release One: Home, which outlined the use of small cells in a residential context and has to date attracted more than 30,000 downloads from carriers and the wider industry – see www.scf.io.
The Small Cell Forum has published more than 50 new and revised documents since the Release Program was launched in February 2013.
In 2014 it will publish its Urban material in two releases, adding another substantial body of original work to the small cell industry.
Release Two Enterprise includes the following documents
Release Two is available to download from the Small Cell Forum Release site www.scf.io
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About the Release Program
Launched in February 2013 the Small Cell Forum Release program provides a comprehensive set of technical and business documents to help deploy small cells in the home, enterprise, rural and urban areas. Each release includes detailed documents on key areas such as market drivers, business case, and technology information including standards, operator lessons, and a regulatory overview.
The Release Program is driven by the knowledge that more than 98% of operators think small cells are essential to their future. Whilst existing deployments have centred on almost 50 pioneering large operators in developed markets, the Release Program aims to help every type of operator from across the globe to roll out small cells.
In 2014, the Forum will publish Release Three, themed around urban small cells. View the roadmap here https://www.smallcellforum.org/resources/release-program
About the Small Cell Forum
The Small Cell Forum (www.smallcellforum.org), supports the wide-scale adoption of small cells. Small cells are low-power wireless access points that operate in licensed spectrum, are operator-managed and feature edge-based intelligence. They provide improved cellular coverage, capacity and applications for homes and enterprises as well as metropolitan and rural public spaces. They include technologies variously described as femtocells, picocells, microcells and metrocells. The Forum has in excess of 150 members including 68 operators representing more than 3 billion mobile subscribers – 46 per cent of the global total – as well as telecoms hardware and software vendors, content providers and innovative start-ups.
