As we kick off yet another tech-heavy year in 2012, one thing is for certain: consumers love their mobile devices. Whether it’s a lazy TV session on the couch, on-the-go during the morning commute, or a family vacation overseas, mobile users can be found thumbing away on their smartphones and consuming data at rapid speeds and in massive amounts.
As mobile data usage skyrockets at a rate of 70 to 100 percent every year, cellular infrastructure architectures have had to undergo significant changes as networks are faced with coverage, cell density, and opposition to new macro cell base station deployments, or the “not in my backyard” outlook.
In response, networks are increasingly deploying small cells to enhance coverage, with femtocells being leveraged in both enterprises and residences, and picocells being utilized for coverage outdoors and indoors. Meanwhile, microcells have experienced a rise in deployment within any areas where macrocells may be too excessive.
With that said, NPD In-Stat (News - Alert) is now predicting that the retail value of small cell shipments will hit $14 billion in 2015. To put it into perspective, the value of voice and data services hosted by small cell devices was $3.2 billion globally.
Other aspects of In-Stat’s research included that Eastern Europe’s retail value of femtocells will reach $265 million in 2015, and roughly 30.7 million WCDMA/HSPA residential femtocells will be shipped in the same year. Even more, worldwide outdoor metro picocell unit shipments will boast a CAGR of 248 percent over the five-year forecast timeframe.
“The potential that true mobile broadband offers in personal communications, commerce and social networking becomes a curse for mobile operators,” said Chris Kissel, senior analyst of In-Stat, in a press release. “Use case determines the form factor.”
With studies pointing to 75 percent of mobile broadband connections being made indoors, mobile operators are now being forced to ensure Quality of Service (QoS) for subscribers in their homes, at their place of employment, and at their leisure.
One company highly familiar with the importance of performing complete “end-to-end” QoS testing of a mobile network is iQsim, a provider of a SIM server platform and virtual SIM technologies. As the SIM cards found in SIM servers determine whether a mobile user can send or receive calls, SMS messages and data, applying QoS testing to network components ensures they are running smoothly.
iQsim’s IRON Suite allows SIMs cards to be physically and geographically separated from its destination devices, which can be deployed across several countries and only require IP connection. Because the IRON SIM Manager can centrally manage your SIM cards, it becomes easy to run test suites in multiple countries.
In addition, the Smart SIM Rack embeds IRON Suite technology to manage SIM card allocation and provide remotely SIM card storage, according to company officials. It centralizes SIM cards in one place and virtually allocates them to any device, on the fly, avoiding hassle, expensive travels and wasted time.
The ergonomic Web interface can be used to install and validate new SIMs and new devices, verify the status of all objects and also allocates a SIM card to a device. All commands done through the Web menus can also be performed using XML API requests, according to iQsim officials.
For more information on iQsim’s flagship product, IRON Suite, click here.
To find out more about iQsim, visit the company at ITEXPO East 2012. To be held Jan. 31- Feb. 3 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami, Fla. ITEXPO (News - Alert) is the world’s premier IP communications event. Visit iQsim in booth #712. For more information on registering for ITEXPO registration click here.
Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO… Follow us on Twitter.
Tammy Wolf is a TMCnet web editor. She covers a wide range of topics, including IP communications and information technology. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Jennifer Russell