LTE Gains Momentum; Starent and Samsung Demonstrate Interoperability

Long Term Evolution (LTE (News - Alert)), the future ultra-high speed wireless broadband technology, has been probably the hottest technology at the Mobile World Congress 2009 held in Barcelona.

 

While several leading companies have already stepped up to deploy LTE commercially, interoperability of the technology remains a serious concern among them.

 

In a technology demonstration at the Mobile World Congress (News - Alert), Starent Networks a provider of infrastructure solutions that enable mobile operators to deliver multimedia services successfully completed the interoperability testing of 4G LTE/Evolved Packet Core (EPC) with the Multi-Vendor Radio Access Network (MVR) from Samsung Electronics.

 

The demonstration utilized Samsung’s eNode-B (News - Alert) system and Starent’s multimedia core solutions including Mobility Management Entity (MME), Serving Gateway (SGW) and Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW).

 

After completing the interoperability testing, the companies are now able to create a solution that is standards compliant and can address mobile operator requirements for broadband connectivity along with network deployment flexibility, company officials said.

 

Since Starent focused on mobile broadband and the multimedia core network, Samsung (News - Alert) found them the perfect choice to showcase the interoperability requirements of a multi-vendor LTE EPC solution.

 

“We believe this interoperability test is the first with the radio access from one company, Samsung, and the packet core from another, Starent,” said Woon Sub Kim, executive vice president of Samsung, in a statement.

 

Kim also added that the completion of interoperability testing between Samsung and Starent validated the open standards compliance of both companies and demonstrated their ability to work with other companies’ solutions.

 

“With the completion of interoperability testing with Samsung, Starent is poised to be first to market with a fully deployable evolved packet core network based on open standards,” said Ashraf Dahod, CEO of Starent Networks (News - Alert), in a statement. “We are focused on the specific needs of the mobile operator multimedia core network and understand the unique dynamics of the network.”

 

Starent’s solutions deliver superior performance in the existing 3G network with easy and cost-effective evolution to 4G-LTE, Dahod added.

 

Bringing another major advancement in LTE technology, Nokia Siemens Networks, a provider of communications network solutions and services, demonstrated LTE using Qualcomm technology.

 

Also at the Congress, Verizon Wireless announced its plans to deploy LTE commercially and selected Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson as technology partners.