ANNUAL REPORT & REVIEW - Small Cell Forum€¦ · 27/10/2015 · 6 SMALL CELL FORUM |Annual Report & Review 2013-14 AT A GLANCE V AT A GLANCE: 2013-14 152 members 17 new members

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ANNUAL REPORT & REVIEWOctober 2013 to September 2014

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SMALL CELL FORUM Annual Report & Review 2013-14

CONTENTS

Cont

ents

AT A GLANCE

How we work 4-5KPIs 2013-14 6-7

OUR LEADERSHIP

Vision statement from our Chairman, Alan Law 8-9Statement from our Chairman 2013-14, Gordon Mansfield 10-11Statement from our CEO, Sue Monahan 12-13

OUR WORK

History 14-15Release Program overview 16-17Release Five: Rural & Remote 18-19Virtualization 20-21Working Groups and Special Interest Groups Marketing & Promotion 23 Radio & Physical Layer 24 Network 25 Regulatory 26 Services 27 Interoperability 28 Backhaul 29 Deployment 30 Rural 31

EVENTS

Plenaries 32-33Awards 34-35Plugfests 36-37Mobile World Congress 38Small Cells World Series 40-41

MARKET DATA

Small cell shipments 42Drivers/barriers to urban small cell deployment 43

MEMBERSHIP

Membership overview 44-45Member survey 2014 46-47Join us 48-49

FINANCIALS

Financial statements 50-51Notes to financial statements 52Detailed income and expenditure 53

LOOKING AHEAD

Calendar 2015 54Training 55

FURTHER INFORMATION

FAQs 56-57Useful links 58

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SMALL CELL FORUM Annual Report & Review 2013-14 | Back to Contents |

AT A GLANCE

MENAOPERATOR GROUP

ASIAOPERATOR GROUP

EUROPEOPERATOR GROUP

AMERICASOPERATOR GROUP

SMALL CELL FORUMOPERATOR GROUP

RELEASE STEERING GROUP

WORKING & SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

MKTMARKETING & PROMOTION

RPHRADIO & PHYSICAL LAYER

BKHBACKHAUL

NETNETWORK

REGREGULATORY

SVCSERVICES

IOPINTEROPERABILITY

DEPDEPLOYMENT

RURRURAL

STUDY GROUPS…

www.scf.ioRelease publication

Operator requirements defined by Small Cell Forum Operator Group

Wi-Fiintegration

5G

SON

HetNets

M2M/IoT

Virtualization

HOW WE WORK

2014-15 Executive Board priorities

CARRIER OUTREACH & COMMUNICATION• Ensure go-to-market and scale deployment barriers are removed

through sharing of best practice, market research and case studies

NETWORK EVOLUTION & VIRTUALIZATION• Drive understanding and enablement of future network

transformations, with a particular focus on virtualization of small cell layer

• Prepare small cell technology for mass deployment in heterogeneous networks, exploiting self organizing capabilities

• Ensure small cell capability and enablers are integrated and effectively standardized in future evolutions such as 5G

TECHNOLOGY ENABLEMENT• Expand small cell industry engagement in future opportunities and

verticals such as internet of things and Machine-to-Machine• Explore and develop technical solutions and business models that will

reduce barriers to entry and enrich small cell propositions through value added services

Small Cell Forum supports the wide-scale adoption of small cells. Our mission is to accelerate small cell adoption to change the shape of mobile networks and maximize the potential of mobile services.

We are a carrier led organization. This

means our operators feed requirements to

the Release Steering Group that coordinates

the efforts of our technical groups.

Small cell drivers and barriers vary

significantly between regions. This is why

we’re ramping up engagement from carriers

in every market.

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SMALL CELL FORUM Annual Report & Review 2013-14| Back to Contents |

AT A GLANCE

MENAOPERATOR GROUP

ASIAOPERATOR GROUP

EUROPEOPERATOR GROUP

AMERICASOPERATOR GROUP

SMALL CELL FORUMOPERATOR GROUP

RELEASE STEERING GROUP

WORKING & SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

MKTMARKETING & PROMOTION

RPHRADIO & PHYSICAL LAYER

BKHBACKHAUL

NETNETWORK

REGREGULATORY

SVCSERVICES

IOPINTEROPERABILITY

DEPDEPLOYMENT

RURRURAL

STUDY GROUPS…

www.scf.ioRelease publication

Operator requirements defined by Small Cell Forum Operator Group

Wi-Fiintegration

5G

SON

HetNets

M2M/IoT

Virtualization

Membershipservices

Marketing,press & PR

Vice presidentAmericas SECRETARIAT

CHAIR

Working Groups &Special Interest Groups

Executive Board15 plus Chair

Vice chairAsia

Vice chairEuropeCEO Full members

MEMBERS

ObserverOperators

Paul Senior, AIRSPANJason Miller, ALCATEL-LUCENT

David Orloff, AT&TMark Grayson, CISCO

Martin Ljungberg, ERICSSONDoug Pulley, INTEL

Nick Johnson, ip.accessToshiyuki Oishi, NECKen Riordan, NOKIA

Nicholas Karter, QUALCOMMAya Mukaikubo, SOFTBANK

Art King, SPIDERCLOUDMark Lipford, SPRINT

Sameer Wasson, TEXAS INSTRUMENTSAlan Law, VODAFONE

MKT Marketing & PromotionRPH Radio & Physical Layer

NET NetworkREG Regulatory

SVC ServicesIOP InteroperabilityDEP Deployment

RUR RuralBKH Backhaul

SMALL CELL FORUM ORGANIZATION

We have a secretariat that looks

after enquiries, membership

and the administration of the

organization.Up to three Board positions are

reserved for large OEM/system integrators from the mobile industry and up to three for licensed holders of spectrum.

The Small Cell Forum is directed by an

Executive Board which comprises the Chair

(elected for a one year term) and the

Executive Board Members.

Study groups are set up on an

ad hoc basis to scope out study

items for consideration of the

broader membership.

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AT A GLANCE

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AT A GLANCE: 2013-14

152 members 17 new members

750,000 visitors to smallcellforum.org15,000 visitors to Release site scf.io>52,000 downloads in 12 months27 companies at LTE PlugfestThree Releases Dec, Feb, June >50 documents

2450 Twitter followers3630 LinkedIn group members

New members Huawei • Motorola • Hughes • ITRI • Keima • Radwin • CASA • Harris • Boingo • LGS • Alpha • Amdocs • SMEC • Commscope • Eden Rock • Teradyne • RanplanTop 10 Release downloads 2014104 Urban small cells: Release Four overview

102 Release Two – Enterprise: Overview

062 Business case for enterprise small cells

049 Backhaul technologies for small cells

095 Backhaul for urban small cells: a topic brief

067 Enterprise small cell network architectures

088 Urban small cell network architectures

098 Urban small cells in the real world: case studies087 Business case for urban small cells

075 Synchronization for LTE small cells

80kdownloads

Since RELEASE PROGRAM launch February 2013

| Back to Contents |

http://www.smallcellforum.org

http://scf.io

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AT A GLANCE: 2013-14

KEY MILESTONES

December 2013

Launch of Release Two: Enterprise – a major technical and business case Release to help operators unlock the commercial potential of enterprise deployments. More than 20 major documents with an excess of 1000 downloads in launch week.

January 2014

Announcement of liaison agreement with Open Geospatial Consortium to develop support for location based services based on small cells. “By working together with the OGC we can help ensure that mobile operators can provide high quality location information both indoors and out.”

February 2014

Launch of Release Three: Urban Foundations – the first of two Releases aimed at harnessing the vast potential of the urban small cell market. Eighteen documents launched at MWC 2014 – 6000 documents downloaded in the course of the show.

April 2014

Sue Monahan appointed as Small Cell Forum CEO. “The relationships she has cultivated in her work with organizations such as the GSMA and 4G Americas will be a huge boost for the Forum.”

June 2014

Launch of Release Four: Urban delivers evolved urban small cell architecture and learnings from early deployments. “What we’re announcing today is the final piece of the puzzle and shows how small cells are already delivering capacity and coverage for operators.”

Real world deployments lead the way at Small Cell Forum Awards. “A record number of entries, outstanding not just in range but also in quality.”

July 2014

Announcement of virtualization study item at Small Cells World Summit. “This work will help ensure that in dense HetNets, small cells are fully interworking with other platforms.”

Multi-vendor SON addressed as part of second and largest Small Cell Forum Plugfest.

August 2014

Vodafone’s Alan Law becomes SCF Chairman as AT&T’s Gordon Mansfield steps down. “The importance of having the insights of a leading global operator as Chair can’t be underestimated.”

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OUR LEADERSHIP: VISION STATEMENT

New territory, new opportunities, new chairman

T his is an exciting time to take the

helm as Chairman of Small Cell Forum. As many more use cases for small cells are defined and rollouts continue, our work is evolving to share learning and help operators accelerate

to market. In the coming months and years we will be moving into some fascinating – and challenging – new territory as we work on the requirements for virtualization of the small cell layer, small cell services enablement, HetNet expansion, M2M, 5G and more.

My sense is that we are well placed to take on such challenges by bringing together key stakeholders across the ecosystem with a unified vision and goals. Much of the groundwork for the coming years has been laid in the substantial body of work we have already released to help operators understand the benefits of new small cell use cases and overcome any major barriers to deployment. We now have the expertise in place and also effective ways of working that we will continue to refine to maximize the opportunities of small cell solutions.

Virtualization in particular promises to revolutionize network deployment. Virtualizing network functions in software and then running them on shared data center assets allows faster deployment of new services, greater scale and lower costs. Optimizing small cells for the best possible use of virtualization will benefit operators of all sizes, and every type of network. Customers too will benefit, enjoying

new service creation and value creation in an easier, more flexible way, wherever they may be. Our job is to ensure that the small cell architectures we define are able to leverage maximum benefit from such flexibility.

This focus on optimal architectures is important because virtualization has some very specific challenges as well as opportunities for small cells. For example if intelligent processing takes place in data centers, there are fewer demands on the cells, making them easier to manufacture – which is great. But it also puts more pressure on the transport between the centralized element and these cells. Deployment in specific terrains (especially remote ones), and the sheer numbers of small cells likely to be deployed at street-level, could require uneconomically high levels of data transport backhaul, not to mention clutter. Which is why we have also been looking at how to make the most

of small cells in these environments. Specifically we propose pushing more intelligence to the edge of the network to lessen dependency on the link between the cell and the centralized intelligence. For example, pushing a location analysis function

“ IN THE COMING MONTHS AND YEARS WE WILL BE MOVING INTO SOME FASCINATING – AND CHALLENGING – NEW TERRITORY AS WE WORK ON THE REQUIREMENTS FOR VIRTUALIZATION OF THE SMALL CELL LAYER, SMALL CELL SERVICES ENABLEMENT, HETNET EXPANSION, M2M, 5G AND MORE.”

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OUR LEADERSHIP: VISION STATEMENT

to the edge means there is no need to send all measurement reports back to the centralized network for a location to be determined centrally – this can be processed and determined at the edge.

Of course the balance between edge usage and the centralized element will need to be assessed. However, our aim is to relax the requirements on the transport without undermining the very significant benefits of virtualization – notably greater scale, advanced services and cost savings.

An additional focus in the coming year will be on HetNets. Operators’ networks will increasingly include many different network types: cellular small cells, Wi-Fi cells, macro, DAS and more. Operators want to make sure they manage those networks correctly and that they deliver outstanding performance for customers. Our continuing work on HetNets aims to ensure that we make the most of the synergies between these different types of network components: Wi-Fi integration is an obvious case but we are also continuing our work on system interoperability and self-organizing networks (SON).We will ensure that these capabilities are robust and interoperable through our Plugfests.

We will also ensure that required standardization is in place as we continue and expand our strong relationships with key industry bodies such as the WBA and standardization groups like 3GPP and ETSI.

Release Five will not only offer guidance to new deployment areas but will also support the development of new markets. We need to ensure that we develop our small cell capabilities to maximize the potential of these new applications and verticals such as Machine-to-Machine, which is an area anticipated for tremendous future growth.

Beyond these challenges – and the imminent appearance of Release Five – will come 5G. Standardization is still a few years away and no products are likely before 2020. However, since small cells will be fundamental in order to fulfil the projected future 5G capacity growth – we will need to be ready much sooner than this. We need to start now to understand how 5G can affect small cells and ensure that the architectures we are exploring are part of the development of 5G.

I said at the start of this piece that the Forum is continuing to evolve alongside the small cells it supports. It is more important now than ever that the Small Cell Forum continues to drive a strong common platform for small cell use in the expanding mobile ecosystem that is developing globally – a mission that I am confident we can achieve.

Alan Law (Vodafone)CHAIRMANSMALL CELL FORUM, 2014-15

“ IT IS MORE IMPORTANT NOW THAN EVER THAT THE SMALL CELL FORUM CONTINUES TO DRIVE A STRONG COMMON PLATFORM FOR SMALL CELL USE IN THE EXPANDING MOBILE ECOSYSTEM THAT IS DEVELOPING GLOBALLY.”

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OUR LEADERSHIP: CHAIR STATEMENT

“ I HAD NO IDEA THAT THE GROUPS WOULD GET SO MUCH EXCEPTIONAL WORK DONE IN SUCH A SHORT TIME. ALL OF THE WORK IS USEFUL, OF HIGH QUALITY AND ESSENTIAL READING FOR OPERATORS AND VENDORS ALIKE.”

Today’s progress – tomorrow’s priorities

I t seems hard to believe now, but only two years

ago, when I was appointed to chair the Small Cell Forum, we were still working on a strategy to take small cells forward. It was already clear that residential small cells – femtocells – were

not the end of the story – hence our change of name. The only question was how to frame the next chapter of that story.

At that time small cells had staked a claim on the residential market that made sense and was accepted. But it was already clear that small cells would have a greater role. Capacity growth from data in particular was almost doubling every year. On that trajectory even new LTE spectrum could not cope with end user expectations. A fundamental difference in approach to the architecture driving the network was needed. This would inevitably mean more densification. This led to the realization that small cells were going to support – even drive – this change of approach. And that ultimately led to the Release Program.

The Release Program provided the shape and direction we were looking for. It focused what we were doing across the working groups, special interest groups, partnerships and Plugfests. It was probably no coincidence that once we had decided on this framework for the move from residential small cells to enterprise, urban, rural and remote, that a new level of energy and excitement was born

and it was very apparent among Forum members. But even I had no idea that the groups would get so much exceptional work done in such a short time. All of the work is useful, of high quality and essential reading for operators and vendors alike.

There is in fact a genuine feeling of awe on my part that so much got done – and done so well. I freely admit that I wondered aloud whether the workload might be too much for members – except that it was our members who insisted on it and they even took it to a higher gear. That’s not just a gratifying response but an extraordinary one that has driven the amazing progress of the past two years.

One reason for this may be that the Forum stands out among trade organizations as one where many of the concerns discussed in our groups are the same concerns that the members face in their full-time jobs. There is no disconnect between what is occupying operators and vendors and what we are trying to do in the Forum.

And that remains the case now. Today all areas of the ecosystem – from large OEMs to innovative start-ups – are bringing in ideas and driving discussion, while an established and expert leadership retains its high level of engagement.

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OUR LEADERSHIP: CHAIR STATEMENT

In fact I’d like to put on record my pride in the structure and the leadership we have in place, from the CEO to the secretariat’s office to member services. I couldn’t be more proud of every single one of you. Knowing that these teams are in place is what gives me confidence that things are going to continue as they should.

Release Five will complete shortly after my term expires. By then five full Releases containing an extraordinary number of high quality documents will have been produced in an incredibly short time. And they are built to last, with new findings and analyses incorporated at regular intervals. In a time when we have together achieved so much, they are the Forum’s crowning achievement.

They are also an achievement that has benefited from outside input. We have never wasted time replicating in-house work that anybody else is doing. Sharing work and partnering with groups like NGMN, WBA, ETSI and the Broadband Forum has been both wise and productive. It’s gratifying that they have been willing to take on some of our work and share the work that they’ve done with us. Bringing those pieces together helps everyone maximize resource availability and usage.

But there’s always something more to be done. There’s a healthy concern about what’s coming next and what the priorities should be. At a membership level we need to encourage even more operator

engagement in the future – particularly from the tier two and three operators. We also need to drive efficiencies across all carriers, something that Release Five work in particular will help to do.

After Release Five, virtualization will be the next big challenge. It’s not just important to the SCF but to the industry at large; it’s essential therefore that our members’ discussions continue to take place in an atmosphere of support and consensus building. This means we take a technical problem, apply the thinking of the best and brightest industry minds and get consensus on how to solve it.

The whole industry has benefited from this approach and from the energy and appetite for work the Forum has applied at all times throughout my tenure. Long may it continue.

Gordon Mansfield (AT&T)CHAIRMANSMALL CELL FORUM, 2012-2014

“ WE TAKE A TECHNICAL PROBLEM, APPLY THE THINKING OF THE BEST AND BRIGHTEST INDUSTRY MINDS AND GET CONSENSUS ON HOW TO SOLVE IT.”

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OUR LEADERSHIP: CEO STATEMENT

A productive and influential role

T his has been an exceptionally

productive year for small cells and the Small Cell Forum. The Forum has produced a tremendous amount of quality output in a very short period of time. We’re seeing an increasing number

of participants contributing to our work from all across the ecosystem. With Release Five for Rural & Remote imminent and important work already underway on virtualization, we are looking to engage even more operators globally to contribute to the requirements that drive our work.

We’ve also seen steady growth in participation in our plenaries and operator meetings. The Milan Plenary was our largest for many years. We welcomed more than 80 delegates from 44 companies around the world. And 17 new members have joined the Small Cell Forum in the past 12 months. Global operator involvement is essential as small cell use cases expand. I want to build upon this momentum in the coming year by creating regional operator groups.

We are always looking to expand membership and the pool of expertise we can call upon to develop our Releases. To date, we have had participation mainly from the traditional industry players, but now we are also welcoming contributions from new market entrants and academia. In Milan we announced new membership categories for start-up companies and academic institutions.

New members strengthen our expertise which in turn improves our technical outputs. Work to date has been very focused around five Releases centered around core use cases, from residential and enterprise to urban and rural and remote. The Release Program has been very effective in bringing focus across all of our Working Groups. Release Five centers on Rural & Remote and will be launched at MWC 2015. So what’s next? Network Function Virtualization (NFV) has become a topic of global interest that will occupy us for much of 2015. Understanding how this applies to the small cell layer is a huge undertaking, even by the standards of the Releases we have completed to date.

We kicked off a new virtualization workstream at our London Plenary in June to begin clarifying the objectives and understanding the effect this will have on our work programs. These discussions continued

across all of our working groups at our Milan Plenary in September. Wide industry engagement will be critical in the coming year, and our industry alliances will be more important than ever.

Industry partnerships help to fulfill our main objective of accelerating small cell deployment. Our industry alliances are crucial, as they help us grow the organization and influence the industry. We

“ UNDERSTANDING HOW VIRTUALIZATION APPLIES TO THE SMALL CELL LAYER IS A HUGE UNDERTAKING, EVEN BY THE STANDARDS OF THE RELEASES WE HAVE COMPLETED TO DATE.”

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OUR LEADERSHIP: CEO STATEMENT

everything is interoperable. But in many ways that has always been our vision.

It’s a vision that inspired the formation of the Forum and that is driving its changing and expanding focus. It’s a vision that built the extraordinary – and extraordinarily successful – Release Program along with the workgroups, research papers and Plugfests that support it. And it’s a vision that will ensure a productive and influential role for the Forum through 2015 and beyond.

Sue MonahanCEOSMALL CELL FORUM

always endeavor to partner with industry standards organizations to ensure that new requirements are addressed. As one example, we are closely aligned with Wi-Fi industry partners Wireless Broadband Alliance and the Wi-Fi Alliance on HetNet strategy where we are currently focused on Mobile World Congress 2015. Of course, we will continue to align our HetNet strategies going forward.

The virtualization work will demand a great deal of time and effort from our members. And we will need to shift focus in our own organization. The Forum’s leadership will look to streamline our working groups and special interest groups to most effectively align with these efforts and those of our industry partners. Member feedback is always welcome on which approaches might work best to align with industry priorities.

Our industry is preparing for 1000x growth in data traffic and industry-wide collaboration will be key to meeting the challenge. Only a couple of years ago we wondered how or whether small cells would be part of more complex networks beyond mere residential deployments. Today we regularly discuss HetNets, the need to incorporate Wi-Fi and DAS where necessary, and whom to partner with to make it happen. In other words, what we do is no longer just about small cells. It’s about employing whatever an operator needs to meet the expectations of its customers and ensuring that

“ WHAT WE DO IS NO LONGER JUST ABOUT SMALL CELLS. IT’S ABOUT EMPLOYING WHATEVER AN OPERATOR NEEDS TO MEET THE EXPECTATIONS OF ITS CUSTOMERS AND ENSURING THAT EVERYTHING IS INTEROPERABLE.”

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OUR WORK: HISTORY

S mall Cell Forum is not a standards organization. Rather we partner with organizations that inform and determine

standards development. SCF took an early decision not to replicate work going on elsewhere in the industry. Instead we established liaison relationships with a range of standards bodies and standards development organizations including: 3GPP, 3GPP2, BBF, NGMN, OMA, MEF and WBA.

Throughout the history of SCF significant work has been initiated, contributed and published through these organizations. Here are some highlights.

Making small cells happenIuh definition in 3GPP standards3GPP defines physical and network layer standards for mobile networks. SCF worked with 3GPP on the first small cell definitions published for 3G and LTE in Release 8. This included the definition of the Iuh interface that allows multi-vendor small cells to be connected and supported by a single small cell gateway to the carrier’s core network.

SON, eICIC and the X2 interfaceThe small cell definitions in 3GPP Release 8 focused on residential and SME applications in areas of poor coverage. Release 9 included enhancements designed to support LTE small cells for the same applications. As the technology evolved to address more than coverage, we worked to support 3GPP Releases 11 and 12 as the standards moved on to address self-organizing network (SON) functionality, as well as evolved interworking between macro and small cell networks. These features include enhanced inter-cell interference coordination (eICIC), which provides interference management so that macrocells and small cells can co-exist outside as well as inside. In addition, the X2 interface was enhanced to allow small cells and macrocells to communicate and coordinate. This interface enables small cells to be used for capacity even in areas of strong macro coverage. Today we continue to help develop SON and interference management techniques to support HetNet evolution.

In the months and years ahead we will continue to solicit carrier requirements for small cell development and work with industry partners to forge recommendations that inform standards evolution. Particular areas of focus going forward include virtualization of the small cell layer, and further work on SON and Wi-Fi integration. We will also develop workstreams to ensure that, whatever 5G turns out to be, the associated standards continue to reflect carrier requirements for the effective integration of small cells into evolving HetNet solutions.

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OUR WORK: HISTORY

Development of services APIs We collaborated with Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) to define application programming interfaces (APIs) that enable small cell presence indicators to deliver a broad range of presence and location-based services. Several retail use cases were defined as well as home security applications, precise location, location streaming and geo-fencing. With this basic tool kit, literally thousands of applications are enabled to make use of the precise indoor location and presence information associated with small cells.

Wi-Fi integrationWe have an ongoing collaboration with Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) to define use cases for integrated small cell/Wi-Fi networks. Wi-Fi implies free spectrum, low-cost equipment, and ubiquitous multi-operator deployments. This helps deliver capacity offload and new services in open access environments. However, some of the characteristics of Wi-Fi can be improved when the technology is combined with small cells. For example, Wi-Fi login can be simplified using the inherent login of mobile devices to bypass cumbersome SSID, password-style login, roaming and subscription management. In addition, network operators want to be able to perform smart offload, so that consumers experience the best possible service, rather than just forcing them to the least cost medium. Finally, when downloading large files or streaming video, it often makes sense to combine the capacity of Wi-Fi with licensed spectrum to deliver the best possible experience for consumers. All of these features are reflected in the SCF/WBA collaboration.

Selection of TR-069 and TR-192 management protocolsAlongside radio and network layer enhancements, we worked closely with Broadband Forum to ensure that small cells not only addressed capacity and coverage, but also delivered a manageable service. We selected the TR-069 management protocol, which is used with all DSL and cable modems, to manage small cells in a residential and small office context. As small cell services evolved to enable presence and location applications, the TR-069 object model was revised in TR-192 revision 2 to include the ability to remotely provision and manage these small cell services.

SCAPI – development of 3G layer 1 APIA major milestone for SCF was the definition of the small cell applications platform interface (SCAPI – formerly FAPI). This interface has been adopted by more than 15 companies across the semiconductor, reference design and platform universe to ensure common interworking for small cells all the way down to the platform and interface level. The development and widespread adoption of this interface is unique in the mobile world.

AT&T recognized early on that with capacity growth from data ramping up year on year, densification was essential to meet end user expectations. Which is why we took a business decision to invest time, resources and expertise in Small Cell Forum. Interoperability, innovation and effective standards are essential if technology is to meet demand in a timely manner. This is why the work of SCF is so important. This is why AT&T wants to be a part of it.AT&T

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OUR WORK: RELEASE PROGRAM OVERVIEW

L aunched in 2012, the Release Program is the clearest expression of Small Cell Forum’s mission ‘to accelerate the adoption of small

cell technologies to change the shape of mobile networks and maximize the potential of mobile services.’

There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, Releases focus, from the outset, on operator needs. For each Release, operators define a set of requirements, which is then fed into our technical working groups and special interest groups.

Secondly, each Release focuses on a specific use case. The first two Releases, published in early and late 2013, targeted residential femtocells and enterprise small cells. In 2014 Releases Three and Four focused on urban public access. Rural and remote deployment will be the subject of Release Five, launched in March 2015. Future Releases will follow, as well as updates to existing material.

Thirdly, Releases involve all stakeholders. Operators, vendors and partner organizations collaborate to identify barriers and drivers for a given small cell deployment use case and document them, identifying issues that can hold back mass deployment, establishing business cases and best practice and addressing technology challenges.

Finally, they are practical. Years of experience and evaluation are distilled in each case into what is, in effect, a handbook for deployment: a shared body of knowledge, in the form of case studies, white papers, technical and deployment guides and many other documents. All the content is based on real world experiences and expert insights and designed to boost confidence in a platform, and in turn accelerate time to market, by reducing risk.

Now an established part of the SCF’s ways of working, the output of Release material has

accelerated, and with it two major aims: building confidence in diversified small cell application and speeding adoption to hasten economies of scale. In particular operator involvement has guaranteed the credibility and effectiveness of the project by helping to create a unified set of requirements for suppliers.

However, not all Releases focus on established or clearly defined markets. Residential small cells are easier to build, power and backhaul than urban or rural ones, for example. The Small Cell Forum’s Release Program is essential to the progression of such use cases from cutting edge to mainstream. It aims to reduce carrier risk and spur mass-scale deployment by providing a single point at which to access a wide variety of information, advice and best practice, helping operators to understand strategies, and vendors to understand operator needs.

But these are not just aims. From addressing interoperability, interference management and power supply, to business models, market drivers and value added services, the Program is today helping the industry to face and manage the complexity and opportunity that diversified small

Important, accessible, evolving

Areas where operators have found Release documents of practical value in their small cell planning

Source: MaRe survey January 2014

Help address technical issues 67%

Input to business modelling 56%

Input to deployment plan 45%

Help with overall strategy 76%

General interest80%

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OUR WORK: RELEASE PROGRAM OVERVIEW

cell use cases will bring, encouraging operators in particular to expand into new areas.

Few subject areas more clearly illustrate this than backhaul, for which the program has established that while there is no one-size-fits-all solution to backhaul challenges, there is a wide range of solutions that together can address the full range of use cases envisaged. .

Like small cells the Release Program has itself evolved. Once the chief focus might have been mainly on network architecture. Today detailed business modeling and best practice, among other subjects, are given just as much weight. Regular updates to the Releases – a part of the Program from its inception – will accommodate further evolution and enable more flexibility.

This extends to meeting the needs of not just operators and vendors but also the growing number of other participants in the small cell ecosystem. Today they include regulators, municipalities, enterprises, IT departments, the investment community and partner industry bodies, among others. All of these parties can now tap into a collective overview of the main issues in small cell deployment and understand how their role is affected.

We’re delighted to report that all this effort is matched by industry engagement. Release One

downloads passed 50,000 within a year, with a special focus on papers dealing with backhaul, business case, network architecture choices, interference and interworking. Reflecting a thirst for real world examples, the urban use cases paper was one of the most popular downloads of Releases Three and Four. By November 2014, more than 80,000 Release papers had been downloaded.

A large proportion of this work would not be accessible to most organizations without the Release program. This is a key point that deserves repeating. The progress made by the small cell sector over the past five years has been rapid, given the technology and ecosystem complexities involved. The Forum has played a key role in this progress because of its ability to tap into the real requirements and concerns of its operator members, and as a hub for knowledge that would otherwise not have been accessible to most players.

That coordination of the ideas and expertise in the sector has been codified in the Release Program in a way that directly addresses key operator concerns and gives operators the tools to overcome them. That, in turn, has helped operators and vendors to build strategies and planning processes that accelerate the rollout of small cells, building economies of scale and reaping real rewards in terms of revenue and customer loyalty. scf.io

Release TWOMain theme: EnterpriseRelease ONE

Main theme: Home

Q1

Release FOURMain theme: Urban

Release THREEMain theme:

Urban foundations

Release FIVEMain theme:

Rural & Remote

Release SIXMain theme:

Virtualization

Two Releases are planned for 2015 – one focused on rural and remote use cases and another capturing the first stage of our virtualization work

http://scf.io

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OUR WORK: RELEASE FIVE

The next step for small cellsR elease Five shows how the small cell

technologies developed for residential, enterprise and urban deployments can also

be used to enable operators to address a range of high value market segments with rural and remote characteristics.

Small cells have strengths that lend themselves well to certain types of deployment conditions. The Release clarifies these strengths and maps them to markets where small cells are being used to deliver mobile services. The following use cases are used as examples throughout the Release:

• Rural community – Coverage for underserved communities beyond range of normal service.

• Remote industrial – Coverage for workers at a site hard to reach from existing infrastructure.

• Public safety – Coverage for emergency services and first responders.

• Disaster recovery/humanitarian – Rapid reinstatement of coverage after extensive damage to mobile infrastructure, and support for ongoing humanitarian efforts.

• Special events – Services for temporary planned gatherings.

• Military – Service for military personnel.

• Transportation – Services for passengers and operational needs on all classes of shipping, aircraft and trains.

Release Five, to be published at Mobile World Congress 2015, is a logical next step for the Small Cell Forum, as the residential, enterprise and urban deployments covered in previous Releases come of age. Mobile connectivity is fast becoming a hygiene factor for homes and enterprise, regardless of their location. Coverage everywhere is an essential enabler for the growth of M2M communications and the more advanced requirements of the Internet of Things.

Consumers and businesses are increasingly shifting toward commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) cellular equipment for tasks and services that traditionally required bespoke solutions. Small cells provide operators with the means to address the needs of underserved users, which would not be financially viable with macrocells.

As with our previous Releases, Release Five covers a wide range of commercial and technical aspects. We identify market drivers for our example use cases, and examine the business case for each. Our technical working groups examine the challenges and solutions from their perspectives, providing detail on radio, network architecture, backhaul and services. We also cover the practical issues of deployment, as well as the constraints and stimuli from a regulatory standpoint. A range of compelling case histories are being compiled from our membership to show small cells in action, and we’ll be providing the latest set of deployment figures in our market status update.

Release Five will also include updated content on the Release structure and roadmap, LTE SCAPI and Plugfests.

Access our RELEASE PROGRAM

at www.scf.io

www.scf.io

19


OUR WORK: RELEASE FIVE

SMALL CELL APPLICATION HOME ENTERPRISE URBAN RURAL & REMOTE

Residential coverage and capacity Y Y

Small business/SOHO Y Y

Medium enterprise/mid-sized office building Y

Large enterprise/corporate campus Y

Multi dwelling unit Y

Retail shop Y

Shopping mall Y

Medical facility/hospital Y

Govt/municipal building Y

Hotel Y

Underground facility Y

Convention center Y

Airport Y

Stadium Y

Transportation hub Y

Metro/subway Y

City center Y

Public space (plaza, park, etc) Y

Remote town/village Y

Maritime/ship Y

Aviation/plane Y

Rail/train Y

Military Y

First responder Y

Humanitarian and disaster recovery Y

Dedicated networks Y

Remote industrial (mines, oil rigs) Y

MAPPING SMALL CELL APPLICATIONS TO MARKET SEGMENTS

As Small Cell Forum CEO Sue Monahan noted when plans for Release Five: Rural & Remote were announced: “The Release Program has already enjoyed enormous success in helping operators extend coverage into these new environments. Now we are harnessing the enthusiasm and expertise of our vast membership to realize the successful deployment of small cells in the most challenging environments of all.”

20


OUR WORK: VIRTUALIZATION

A timely and appropriate initiativeN etwork Function Virtualization (NFV) is

an industry initiative that moves functions from specialized hardware to a standard

data center infrastructure. NFV-based network infrastructure services run on virtualized computer platforms using cloud technology to provide network functionality.

The applications of this approach could potentially encompass all network functions. The value proposition behind it is certainly an attractive one: a shorter innovation cycle, improved service agility, and reduction in capex and opex.

All of these attributes are relevant and useful to small cell rollout. For example, it may be possible to use NFV to ‘scale down’ an implementation, leveraging standard compute, storage and networking components to enable small cell solutions to support a wider set of deployment scenarios. This is particularly relevant to the rural and remote market segment now being addressed by Release Five, but could also provide a set of tools to lower barriers to entry for all small cell market segments.

However, at the moment virtualization in the radio access network – often referred to as Cloud-RAN – involves approaches that require ‘ideal’ fronthaul networks where Cloud-RAN is based on the Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) or compressed CPRI. This may limit NFV’s broader applicability to today’s diverse range of small cell deployments.

That said, the Small Cell Forum has already made significant progress in a number of areas potentially relevant to NFV. One of the notable

areas is the Forum’s successes around defining a small cell RAN decomposition based on FAPI/SCAPI. Decomposition – the separation of certain cell functions into hardware and software – is central to the virtualization and Cloud-RAN concepts. However, a small cell approach to decomposition, like small cell approaches to backhaul, data center hosting options and a number of other virtualization-linked issues, is by no means established; whether decomposition based on compressed CPRI, FAPI/SCAPI, or another approach will deliver on the aims of the Small Cell Forum is so far unclear.

Therefore an analysis of different virtualization decompositions is undoubtedly one of the issues that the Forum will address if it pursues the NFV path – or rather when. Many operators deploying or planning to deploy small cells have cited uncertainty about future architectures as one main reason to delay the move to a very dense network.

CONTROL

DATA

APPLICATIONSon standard infrastructure

NFV: an industry initiative that moves functions from specialized hardware to standard data center infrastructure

21


OUR WORK: VIRTUALIZATION

It is also appropriate. SCF is uniquely positioned with the competencies to provide a holistic view of the impact of virtualization/cloudification on the HetNet business case and associated architectural options. Our aim, therefore, is to provide leadership in creating a unified view of the evolving role of virtualized architectures for dense HetNet.

In fact NFV is already important to the future of mobile networks, and the SCF believes that virtualization techniques can be reapplied to small cell architectures. In particular, there will be better ROI if operators can plan virtualization across the entire HetNet, including small cells, rather than as a separate exercise.

However, its applicability to small cells and HetNets needs to be more clearly defined. Therefore in July 2014 the Small Cell Forum announced plans to address virtualization as part of its ongoing Release Program. This new initiative will evaluate virtualization options to understand the optimal approach to apply to the small cell layer. A study phase is already under way. As well as decomposition option analysis, the study phase will focus on requirements capture, backhaul/fronthaul constraints, data center hosting options, parallel R5 NFV aspects of small cell gateway and management, and (of course) business case analysis.

The findings and recommendations of this initiative are at the moment difficult to predict. The only certainty is that virtualization technology has emerged as a cornerstone of the IT industry; it has transformed the way that IT infrastructure is deployed. Therefore not only do all affected groups need to be aware of virtualization technology and its benefits but an SCF initiative tackling virtualization and small cells is timely.

Source: Maravedis-Rethink RAN service

RAN virtualization Small cells Both

Percentage of MNOs engaging in commercial deployment of virtualized RAN or public access small cells, and the percentage of those doing both

% M

NO

s

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

20192018201720162015

2019

70%+ of mobile carriers will have commercial public access small cell networks, and

43% of those will also be deploying virtualization in parts of their RAN

2019

90% of Cloud-RAN operators will also be using urban small cells

WHO’S PLANNING WHAT?

Why virtualization matters to Small Cell Forum

• Cloud-RAN and small cells have often been presented as alternatives. We believe that virtualization techniques can be re-applied to small cell architectures.

• Virtualization can be used to enhance co-operation within clusters of small cells.

• Small cell clusters may be required to interwork with a virtualized macro layer.

• In dense HetNets, small cells will deliver maximum ROI if they are fully interworking with other platforms to create the broadest pool of capacity and most efficient use of shared resources.

We know now that the major technical challenges to small cell deployment have been confronted and resolved – in large measure through the efforts of Small Cell Forum members

23


OUR WORK: WORKING GROUPS

Marketing & PromotionGROUP CHAIR

Lisa Garza Cisco

GROUP VICE CHAIR

Emmanuela Spiteri-Micallef ip.access

KEY DOCUMENTSSCF062 Business case for enterprise small cells SCF087 Business case for urban small cellsSCF098 Urban small cells in the real world: case studiesSCF102 Enterprise small cells: Release Two overviewSCF104 Urban small cells: Release Four overview

T he Marketing Working Group (MKT) is responsible for shining a light on the tremendous work that the rest of the

Forum Working Groups undertake all year long. We raise industry awareness through the Small Cell Forum Release Program, and we bring new members into the Forum to ensure that the work we do accurately reflects the priorities across the small cell industry.

2014 was a banner year for the Marketing Working Group. We used Mobile World Congress 2014 to launch Small Cell Forum Release Three, with a focus on the market, business drivers and architecture for urban small cells. We also brought our members together into the Small Cell Zone, giving mobile operators a single place to learn more about the small cell ecosystem.

In June we launched Small Cell Forum Release Four – a culmination of all the work we’ve done to address small cell deployment challenges in a dense metropolitan environment. We hosted the annual Small Cell Forum Industry Awards at the Small Cells World Summit in London, and were impressed with the award submission quantity and quality that concretely demonstrated the innovation and advancements in the small cell industry as a whole. We also hosted a public roundtable to start the exploration of an extensive new work area for the Forum: virtualization of the small cell layer.

We finished 2014 with a focus on developing the business case and market drivers for rural and

remote small cells, which will be the core of Release Five, the launch of which is scheduled for Mobile World Congress 2015.

We know now that the major technical challenges to small cell deployment have been confronted and resolved – in large measure through the efforts of Small Cell Forum members. And the business cases have been established for all the major uses cases. Our job now is continue to spread the good word - everywhere and in every way.

So this year we ramped up the volume around our social media campaign, and the results have been stellar. From Twitter to LinkedIn to Facebook to the Small Cell Hub, the Small Cell Forum has a presence in the blogosphere, which has helped increase awareness for the SCF Release program, and has helped to drive new membership.

As we finish 2014 at Small Cells Americas in Dallas, we look forward to 2015, the Release Five launch, and the new work area of virtualization. We see this work bringing us into more contact with standards organizations and operators across the globe as we work together to address the challenges and reap the rewards of small cells changing the shape of the mobile industry.

24



O ne of the most satisfying events of 2014 for the Radio & Physical Layer Working Group (RPH) was the report

by Maravedis Rethink regarding issues affecting small cell deployments, in which the Radio & Physical Layer aspects figured not at all. To see the technology space in which we play now clear of major obstacles to the deployment of small cells was the culmination of the last seven years of work. Of course, there remains much to do to sustain our invisibility. During 2014, our activities became more focused around the Release Program, supporting Release Four in its urban theme, particularly on HetNet interoperability. We identified significant issues there, and will continue to explore and resolve these as we go forward into 2015. We also made an update release to FAPI – the industry standard interface between platform and application for LTE and UMTS small cells – one of the flagship achievements of the group over the years. This activity once led by Picochip, then Mindspeed, now Intel – though of course by the same people! New activities emerging during the year included the creation of a harmonized API for small cell SON, covering centralized, distributed and hybrid models. This has seen contributions from across the industry, ably moderated by Qualcomm. If HetNets are the key to the 1000x capacity increase the industry needs, then a self-organization architecture and interfaces that are agreed across the industry are going to help a lot.

And in that context, let’s not forget virtualization. The Group, led from Cisco, has been taking a very wide-ranging look at the virtualization of the RAN, from technical and economic points of view. And let’s not forget backhaul. Once somewhat taken for granted, the role of the transport network in virtualization has come to be front-and-centre. And synchronization – did we think that was solved? What does synch look like in a virtualized RAN? Tune in next March to find out the answers to all these questions. All these activities, as may be fairly obvious, need a lot of cross-group cooperation. Radios are nothing if they ignore NET architectures, or BKH technologies or MKT requirements. Almost every group has been involved in all of these work items, as we have in theirs. As we go forward into 2015, we can expect the SON API work to complete fairly quickly, and the virtualization work to deliver its first study report, then move on to fleshing out the architecture and interfaces for a full recommendation later in the year. And let’s not forget neutral host. As small cell RAN sharing becomes interesting again, what do multi-operator RANs really look like in the HetNet of the future? There’s a place for DAS in all its forms, and there’s the 3GPP MOCN feature. Understanding how multi-operator-enabled small cell clusters interact with their single-operator macro cell cousins will become an emerging theme for 2015.

Radio & Physical LayerGROUP CHAIR

Nick Johnson ip.access

GROUP VICE CHAIR

Neeraj Gupta NEC Europe

KEY DOCUMENTSSCF059 X2 Interoperability in multi-vendor HetNetsSCF066 Enterprise SON use cases SCF075 Synchronisation for LTE small cellsSCF077 Urban SON use cases

25



NetworkGROUP CHAIR

Prabhakar Chitrapu AT&T

GROUP VICE CHAIR

Mark Grayson Cisco

KEY DOCUMENTSSCF067 E-SCN network architecturesSCF068 NET E-SCN IT considerations for enterprise small cell

implementationSCF088 Urban SCN network architecturesSCF089 Integrated small cell Wi-Fi: SCF-WBASCF099 Small cell security

T he main focus of the Network Working Group (NET) consists of defining and documenting the end-to-end architecture

and end-to-end functional procedures of small cell networks. The Group assists and provides guidance to other Groups in the Forum to ensure overall alignment from an architectural perspective, and also collaborates with them as well as external industry bodies to explore allied areas.

Serving the core mission of the Group, NET produced a series of architecture documents defining the end-to-end architectures and functional procedures for residential [SCF 025], enterprise [SCF 067], and urban [SCF 088]. In the context of enterprise small cell networks, it also produced a white paper on interworking with enterprise IT networks [SCF 068].

In serving the broader mission of collaborating with other Groups, a key achievement in 2014 was one of the three white papers the Group issued for the second Urban Release (Release Four). This white paper was the first deliverable from the collaboration between the WBA and SCF towards exploring the benefits, opportunities and challenges of the adoption of integrated networks based on Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) Wi-Fi and small cell technologies and standards. More significantly perhaps, it also resulted in both organizations announcing their intention to put in place a common roadmap of joint activities to accelerate the industry adoption of this crucial technological evolution.

Another paper, on small cell security, discussed a critical aspect of small cell deployment in the context of not only physical site security, but also hardware and software small cell platforms, backhaul and the operator’s core network. This took on added relevance when the NET WG led the Small Cell Forum’s Security Task Force, worked with the Regulatory Group and co-led studies on legal interception of locally offloaded traffic by small cells. The result was the generation and submission of a liaison statement contribution to such standards bodies as 3GPP, ETSI, TIA and ATIS.

Our next major focus will be on virtualization. Virtualization was identified early on by NET as an important theme for the Forum. Although the Group’s initial interest was in the virtualization of small cell core network elements (such as gateways and management system elements), an expanded view of virtualization – to cover the RAN aspects as well – was eventually embraced. Thus in 2015, the Group will focus on generating the first SCF white paper on virtualization, targeting the virtualization of small cell core network (SCCN) and local SCCN elements.

In addition, for Release Five, due early next year, NET will also produce an architecture framework document for rural and remote small cell networks for various deployment scenarios. These will include small and large villages, vertical markets, mobile platforms and rapidly deployed temporary small cell networks.

26



T he main shift in focus since the inception of the Small Cell Forum’s Regulatory Working Group (REG) has been a move away from

solely considering the regulatory aspects of low power femtocells towards a need to encompass the wider range of small cells, including enterprise and urban small cells. The next phase of REG’s work will take in additional regulatory considerations of relevance to remote and rural deployments, as well as the regulatory aspects of small cells on moving platforms, such as boats, aircraft and trains.

Prior to this, of course, REG was involved in Release Four focusing on urban applications of small cells. The main issues that REG needed to deal with here were related to local planning laws, security issues and health and safety considerations of urban small cell deployments. The Regulatory white paper, published as part of Release Four, contained messaging around the benefits of urban deployments and the need to streamline planning permission processes.

Other aspects included security measures to prevent attacks on small cell equipment in public places, material to reassure the public that urban small cell equipment would not radiate power levels sufficient to pose any threat to the health and safety of passers-by, and some material on privacy and other issues which need to be considered when making use of location-based services and edge caching.

The Release Four REG white paper also included new material in relation to lawful intercept (LI)

requirements when offloading traffic via small cells. In fact LI has been the most challenging area that REG has dealt with in recent years. This is a complex area, both in terms of the legal requirements (which vary depending on the jurisdiction) and in the technical aspects for meeting those requirements.

REG has worked with a number of other SCF Groups in the past year : the NET group on LI issues, with DEP SIG on deployment in urban environments, and with the SVC group on the location-based services and edge caching topics.

In the context of the Rural & Remote Release, REG is currently working on a further update to the Regulatory white paper, to include the additional regulatory aspects which come into play when considering small cell deployments in rural and remote regions and on moving platforms. This includes the contribution that small cells can make towards public policy objectives for population coverage, the benefits for assisting communications in emergency and disaster recovery, and the issues that need to be addressed when considering usage of radio spectrum outside of, or crossing boundaries between, national jurisdictions.

In the development of the virtualization workstream REG will be working in co-operation with the Network Working Group to examine the security and LI implications of virtualizing certain network functions in the short term. In the longer term, this work will be extended to encompass virtualization of the small cell itself.

RegulatoryGROUP CHAIR

Stephen Priestman Small Cell Forum

GROUP VICE CHAIR

Bob Lesnewich Applied Communication Sciences

KEY DOCUMENTSSCF076 Regulatory aspects of small cells

27



T he Services Working Group (SVC) was started in 2009; its function was to address the market for small cell-based applications.

Indeed, several member companies demonstrated examples of small cell-based services at the 2009 Small Cells World Summit. These included everything from security to home automation applications.

Today much of the SVC’s work involves developing industry-standard application programming interfaces to enable the broad developer ecosystem to create compelling services and revenue-generating applications based on small cells. It collaborates closely with the Network Group to define the small cells architecture and the Regulatory Group to ensure that services and applications comply with international regulatory conventions.

In the past year the main focus of the Small Cell Forum’s work was on urban small cells, an area that also concerned the SVC, which had a strong interest in interoperability with the macro as well as with Wi-Fi networks. The Urban Releases looked at macro and Wi-Fi co-existence and interworking for outdoor environments and capacity-driven applications. This was a wider-ranging brief than that of the Residential Release, which focused on a single access point, or the Enterprise Release, which focused on groups of access points.

The Wi-Fi aspect was in fact quite a challenging area as some of the location-based parameters

are dissimilar from those of small cells. This makes it difficult to define global-standard APIs that are applicable for both Wi-Fi and LTE-based small cells. The macro network also poses some problems in the urban context, most notably in relation to the evolution of the infrastructure through the various GSM releases to ensure compatibility, feature and parameter support across the evolving network.

At the time of writing, Rural & Remote is our focus. For this Release, the SVC is looking at applications related to the coverage of rural areas where capacity is generally not the main concern. Some application areas include disaster recovery when remote areas suddenly need reliable cellular coverage due to a natural disaster such as a forest fire. SVC is also looking at areas such as remote mining camps and oil drilling platforms and, in the rural context, the connected farm, where the Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine-to-Machine communications are enabled via the mobile small cell network.

As for virtualization, it could be argued that the small cell services architecture virtualized several years ago. The delivery of the applications from the mobile core network comes from an application gateway, which is based on commercial off the shelf (COTS) computing hardware. Additionally cloud-based applications and services are supported securely over the internet via SOAP or RESTful interfaces. SVC will, therefore, have much to contribute to discussions on this important topic.

ServicesGROUP CHAIR

Andy Germano Small Cell Forum

GROUP VICE CHAIRS

Art King SpiderCloud Wireless

Alex Reznik Interdigital Communications

KEY DOCUMENTSSCF046 Small cells applications and services SCF081 Enterprise unified communications with small cells SCF091 Small cells application developer’s guide SCF092 Requirements on a location based API SCF093 Extensions of a small cell zone API

28



I nteroperability is key to the long-term success of small cells. The aim of the Interoperability Working Group (IOP) therefore is to help create

an open and interoperable small cell ecosystem according to recognized industrial standards, an ecosystem in which the equipment of different vendors works seamlessly together.

We have already achieved a great deal towards meeting this aim. In particular the SCF’s IOP and LTE groups, working in partnership with ETSI, have developed the case for a permanent remote connectivity platform (or ‘remote lab’), either in parallel with, or as a preparation phase for, a ‘live’ Plugfest.

The availability of a permanent test case tool will enable IOP to increase significantly the number of test cases conducted during Plugfests – from 10 mandatory test cases to over 100. That’s a significant increase in efficiency and one that will not only highlight the relevance and importance of Plugfests for operators but also strengthen the case for small cells within the operator community as a whole.

In addition, IOP aims to:

• actively collaborate with other Working Groups on defining appropriate test cases to support the SCF Release Program;

• encourage the further expansion of test cases into tranches, with the goal of supporting future certification centers.

It’s worth noting in this context that Plugfest attendance grew significantly over the past year. IOP has already supported five live Plugfests. Most recently multi-vendor self-optimizing networks (SON) and voice over LTE (VOLTE) were two of the topics given attention at the Small Cell Forum’s fifth Plugfest, hosted in partnership with ETSI and held at the Orange Labs in Paris from 23 June to 2 July 2014. This was the second Plugfest to focus exclusively on LTE small cells and saw attendance almost double compared to the previous year.

Building on this success, plans for IOP to support the first purely remote LTE small cell Plugfest are well advanced. This will involve improvements in VPN platforms, LTE test specification, and organization and the planning and implementation of the Plugfests.

IOP already produces a report and statistics indicating to what extent the industrial standards (3GPP/DSL/IETF) have been implemented, and whether standards were well defined, as well as KPIs of the Plugfests themselves. Within the next 12 months, IOP will work towards organizing test cases into test case layers (indicating different levels of small cell capabilities). Beyond this IOP will continue to support and oversee work on an improved remote lab for interoperability testing, possibly leading, as noted earlier, to the establishment of certification capabilities.

InteroperabilityGROUP CHAIR

Kreso Bilan NEC

GROUP VICE CHAIR

Virendra Nagar Airspan

KEY DOCUMENTSSCF085 Value of Small Cell Forum Plugfests

29



BackhaulGROUP CHAIR

Julius Robson CBNL

GROUP VICE CHAIR

Paul Trubridge Airspan

KEY DOCUMENTSSCF049 Backhaul technologies for small cellsSCF078 Backhaul for enterprise small cells: a topic brief SCF095 Backhaul for urban small cells: a topic brief

I t is normal for the various Small Cell Forum Working Groups (WGs) and Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to cooperate with other WGs

and SIGs, especially when working on the Small Cell Forum Release Program. The Backhaul SIG (BKH) is no exception. To do its work it references the insights on architecture prepared by the Network Group, as well as incorporating performance requirements such as capacity and latency that are derived from the work of the Radio & Physical Layer Group and sync experts. And of course BKH also works closely with the Deployment SIG on backhaul planning, installation and commissioning aspects.

This is the background to a lot of the work done by the Backhaul SIG in 2014, much of which was focused on the first two Urban Releases. For Release Three in February 2014, the BKH provided a topic brief covering a wide range of issues, including operator requirements, last mile technologies, network topologies, the business case and a collaboration with the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) on standardization aspects.

This work was certainly one of the highlights of the year for the Group, although another important development came about after a review later that year asked why so many observers still considered backhaul to be a barrier when so many suitable solutions exist. The answer, it soon became clear, is that if anything there was possibly too much choice. Some guidance was needed therefore in selecting the right solution for a given scenario. To this end, the Backhaul and Deployment SIGs worked

together to develop a template of deployment guidelines for small cells and their backhaul. This was then added to SCF095 as part of Release Four, the second Release to focus on urban small cells.

Our next focus is the rural and remote application – another small cell scenario where backhaul is particularly challenging. Here we plan to look at longer-range solutions such as satellite, and consider implications and workarounds for any performance limitations. Our aim is to complement our enterprise and urban backhaul topic briefs with a rural and remote version for Release Five, which is due in March 2015.

In addition to Release Five, we are also supporting the virtualization study item. In particular we are looking at the transport performance available in typical enterprise and urban deployments today. Here, transport is considered an enabler rather than a barrier.

All of which clearly illustrates the widely differing circumstances and needs of the various Releases and study items, planned or completed, and the continuing challenge for the Backhaul SIG – to engage and maintain relevance with a wide range of different technology providers.

30


OUR WORK: SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

DeploymentGROUP CHAIR

Peter Love Nokia

GROUP VICE CHAIRS

Cao Gen China Unicom

Tassos Michail Spidercloud

KEY DOCUMENTSSCF079 Deployment issues for enterprise small cellsSCF096 Deployment issues for urban small cells

C ost effective deployment is a big challenge. It is therefore essential – and always interesting – to hear thoughts and receive

contributions from member companies in areas that may not necessarily be your own. That is why the Deployment SIG (DEP) also works closely with the Backhaul and Regulatory Groups and takes inputs from the Radio & Physical Layer and Network Groups to make our documents as relevant as possible. It is also of paramount importance to the Deployment SIG to keep closely aligned with the requirements of the Release Steering Group, in order to make sure we are adding value where directed.

All of which is working well. In fact 2014 has been a great year for the DEP. Our major achievement has been work on the Urban Release, which extends the concepts outlined in the enterprise document of 2013 to help overcome the barriers to deploying small cells in an urban context.

The scope of the Deployment SIG’s contribution covers the shared best practice of planning, building and operating small cell networks from our contributing members. In Deployment issues for urban small cells [SCF096] we also outlined how different commercial models from those employed for traditional macro builds can help to redefine who does what, thus helping to sow the seeds for exploring a completely revamped cost base. In particular the document discussed ways in which small cell deployment, once normally undertaken by a mobile network operator, can be efficiently

completed by either the operator or a third party company or vendor, potentially reducing costs. New thinking like this will be vital to ensure that large-scale small cell rollout can be enabled around the world.

Early 2015 will see the publication of the Small Cell Forum’s Release Five: Rural & Remote, which promises to be essential reading for those wishing to understand how certain vertical use cases are different from the urban base model. Looking at rural and remote small cells from a deployment perspective, it has been quite a challenge to understand how different these can be from what has gone before. We certainly aim to further improve our understanding, in particular by getting feedback from the membership.

We are also working on the implications of the virtualization topic. At the moment this is quite product design-focused. We therefore intend to look at the possibilities for virtualization in the field in order to understand what the implications will be for deployment. There will also be an opportunity to further enhance our documents by expanding such topics as capacity management and heterogeneous network planning. That’s in the discussion phase at the moment but is, as we noted at the outset, indicative of the sheer scope of the deployment topic.

31


OUR WORK: SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

O ur Rural SIG (RUR) considers all aspects of rural and remote access using small cells – from the technical capabilities of

the small cells themselves, to backhaul, business case and deployment. Its main focus is on outward communication of the opportunity for rural access using small cells, a focus underlined by its first output – a white paper that describes the techniques, challenges and deployment options for extending rural coverage using small cells.

This work is important because mobile operators in both developing and developed world markets continually seek growth in three areas: subscriber base, coverage and paid usage per subscriber (ARPU). Rural or remote areas offer opportunities to do this. For example, adding new subscribers and/or reducing churn can boost the subscriber base. A key way of doing this is the deployment of new coverage areas with high-speed mobile internet services.

However, with the start of work on Release Five, an initiative aimed at supporting coverage in rural and remote areas, the Group’s remit expanded.

The inclusion of remote areas as well as rural ones means that Release Five covers not just mobile service users in remote towns and villages, but road, rail and airborne transport, industries operating in remote areas both on and offshore, disaster relief and other specialist remote communications offerings.

Possibly the most important driver for this work is the expectation of ubiquitous service delivery by end users and the need for operators to retain these customers by offering it.

Release Five content, which is now being delivered by all Working Groups, will include assessments of business drivers, radio aspects, SCN architectures, core network virtualization, backhaul issues, deployment issues and small cell services.

Issues of specific relevance to rural and remote environments will include transport protocols, RF planning, coverage requirements, power supply and consumption, regulatory obligations, remote and mobile backhaul connectivity options, suitable equipment for external deployment, remote maintenance and management, services and caching issues and geo-fencing solutions for maritime and aeronautical applications.

In short, through Release Five the Small Cell Forum aims to identify a range of rural and remote applications and vertical markets and to articulate the benefits and challenges, along with the technologies and solutions available to address them.

RuralGROUP CHAIR

Richard Deasington iDirect

KEY DOCUMENTSSCF047 Extending rural and remote coverage using small cells

32


EVENTS: PLENARIES

PlenariesDALLASDecember 2013

HIGHLIGHTS• Release Two: Enterprise launch

Our US Plenary in Dallas was co-located with Small Cells Americas where we launched Release Two: Enterprise – by the skin of our teeth. This second Release was a huge undertaking – more than 20 documents covering market drivers, business case, enterprise reference architecture, SON use cases, co-deployment of cellular with Wi-Fi, enterprise IT integration, plus backhaul and deployment advice. Everything made it to the finish line, but it was a close call.

Release One: Home had been developed over five years. Enterprise was completed from scratch in as many months. Now our working and special interest groups geared up to do it all over again.

Our urban Release was to be developed in two parts: Release Three would focus on establishing the need, evaluating the business case and identifying key barriers to commercial deployment of urban small cells. In Release Four we’d delve into the detail of the technical solutions that will speed deployments.

Work in Dallas ranged from reviewing economic and commercial issues such as market drivers, business case and service opportunities, to examining technical areas such as self-organizing networks, backhaul, Wi-Fi integration and network architecture, as well as regulatory challenges and deployment processes.

Well attended, with strong participation from carrier members, Dallas marked a point at which membership engagement ramped up several notches.

SINGAPOREApril 2014

HIGHLIGHTS• APAC carrier requirements• Release Four: content development

Our first Plenary of 2014 was in Singapore.APAC is set to lead the way with urban small cell deployments for the next few years. This means that market conditions and operator attitudes in the region are critical to the entire industry.

However, APAC is huge and diverse, and patterns cannot be generalized for the whole region. Members from all the key APAC markets attended the carriers-only session and worked with us to understand requirements for urban deployments in the region, which in turn helped inform the outputs of our groups. In addition, it was at this session that carriers first suggested SCF should consider virtualization of the small cell layer – specifically in the context of the rural business case.

At MWC a month earlier, the launch of SCF Release Three: Urban Foundations had exceeded all expectations – in terms of the quality of documents and the overwhelmingly positive response to their publication. In Singapore the groups concentrated on completing the urban project. Members reviewed current standards for multivendor HetNets, and went on to conclude that while basic multivendor HetNets are currently possible, further

33


EVENTS: PLENARIES

X2 standardization effort would enhance their performance. They worked to finalize an overview of the security issues for small cells, and the standards in place to address them. There was also a strong focus on making the most of learnings from early deployments in North America and Asia.

At an extended brainstorming session during the opening Plenary, the first steps were taken to map out the scope of our rural Release. Within a couple of hours rural had become rural and remote. Delegates agreed Release Five needed go a lot further than just tackling deployment in isolated population centers. Remote industry – mining, logging or oil and gas exploration and production – would also be covered. So too would maritime, aviation and rail transport, and disaster recovery.

LONDONJune 2014

HIGHLIGHTS• Release Four: Urban launch• Release Five: content development• Announcement of virtualization workstream

We launched Release Four: Urban at Small Cells World Summit at the ExCeL Centre in June. Following the conference most groups met for our London Ad Hoc on 12 June to tackle the extended scope of the Rural & Remote Release – and to understand the impact of the SCF Board’s decision to kick-start a virtualization workstream.

By June virtualization had moved to the forefront of our thinking. Small cell rollout is entering denser and more complex HetNet scenarios. Small cells therefore need to fully interwork with other platforms that already offer virtualized RAN offerings if they are to remain a significant part of operator planning in the years to come. It was decided in London that the first phase of this work would consider the business case and drivers for virtualization.

Following the London conference, we hosted an open-workshop on the future path of the Forum. Packed with industry analysts and journalists, alongside Forum members and non-members and conference delegates, the workshop reviewed the Release Program to date, the scope of the rural and remote workstream and the value and implications of the virtualization project.

MILANSeptember 2014

HIGHLIGHTS• Release Five: content development• Virtualization workstream• Farewell Gordon Mansfield

Inevitably virtualization and Release Five topped the agenda again at our penultimate meeting of the year at the Hilton Milan, 16-18 September. The new Board also established priorities for the next twelve months, grouped around carrier outreach & communication, network evolution & virtualization, and technology enablement. This final item called out the need to expand small cell industry engagement in future opportunities like the Internet of Things and Machine-to-Machine communications.

With deadlines looming, Milan was a heads-down meeting with 80 representatives from 44 different companies, including operators from Asia, Europe and America, coming together for three days to shape the dozen or so documents that will comprise the Rural & Remote Release. It was also our first full Plenary to be organized around two distinct workstreams, as members considered the implications of virtualization for their discipline and, in some cases, discovered how virtualization might inform their work on rural and remote deployments.

In Milan we bid farewell to Gordon Mansfield, the outgoing chair who steered the Femto Forum into the small cell era, brought order and focus to our work through the Release Program and left the organization stronger and better able to drive and support small cell deployments worldwide.

34


EVENTS: AWARDS

T he Small Cell Forum Awards, which take place annually as part of the Small Cell World Summit, recognize outstanding achievement

within, and contributions to, the small cell industry.

The 2014 Awards, however, were not only notable for the achievements they recognized. They were also notable for the clear indication they gave of the growing diversity of small cell applications and the sophistication of the enablers and innovations developed in response to that diversity.

This was a trend we acknowledged by updating the categories for 2014 to reflect the changes in the small cell landscape. Not just real-world deployments and applications but advanced planning and analytics took centre stage at the Small Cell Forum Awards 2014.

Such a diverse set of challenges requires high quality responses, and that is what this year’s awards shortlist – from a record number of entries – supplied. Clearly, that did not make the job of the judges – an independent panel of distinguished analysts, journalists and industry experts – any easier. However, after much discussion a shortlist was agreed, from which the 2014 categories and winners were chosen. They were:

Innovation in commercial deploymentSK Telecom.Lead judge’s comment: “SK Telecom’s market-proven, high-volume deployments of 3G and LTE small cells to meet a variety of use cases – indoor, urban and rural outdoor – continued to demonstrate clear leadership in this area.”

Small cell innovation leadershipAlcatel-LucentLead judge’s comment: “The processes used today to identify, survey and approve potential small cell sites can be time-consuming and could significantly slow the pace of rollout. Alcatel-Lucent’s novel approach directly addresses the issue.”

Small cell network access point design and technology innovationCiscoLead judge’s comment: “Cisco’s entry stood out for solving several challenges associated with enterprise deployments and also integration with Wi-Fi.”

Small cell network element design and technology innovationVodafone, HP and SpidercloudLead judge’s comment: “A compelling solution which will enrich the in-building customer experience.”

Small cell backhaul design and technology innovationCambridge Communication SystemsLead judge’s comment: “An innovative architectural approach to the significant challenges of backhaul dense small cell networks.”

Diverse challenges – high quality responses

35


EVENTS: AWARDS

Social impact – promoting small cells for social/economic/environmental developmentip.access, Private Mobile Networks, TLCLead judge’s comment: “The entry demonstrated that small cells can rapidly deliver vital improvements in access, health and disaster relief.”

Judges’ Choice AwardFree MobileLead judge’s comment: “Free Mobile has shown clearly how small cells can be used to extremely disruptive effect, to enable new business models in the mobile and converged markets, and to support new consumer pricing and applications.”

Innovation Leadership AwardPrabhakar Chitrapu, AT&TLead judge’s comment: “This award was given in recognition of Prabhakar’s leadership of the small cell networking architecture effort and championing the cooperation with the Wireless Broadband Alliance to deliver an agreed, cross-industry definition for integrated small cell Wi-Fi networks.”

Small cell tool design and technology innovation (management, SON, planning)Vodafone and iBwaveLead judge’s comment: “iBwave’s contribution with Vodafone stood out for its focus on 3D visualization along with the real world proof points Vodafone provides.”

Small cell technology and deployment enablers (components, subsystems, software, system integration)JDSULead judge’s comment: “JDSU’s small cell assurance solution stood out for the degree of visibility it gives operators into backhaul performance.”

Individual contribution to Small Cell Forum activitiesEric Colard, Microsemi and Peter Musgrove, AT&TLead judge’s comment: “Eric is the individual who first introduced the idea of a Release Program as a mechanism to organize and broadcast our work and an active contributor to many aspects of Small Cell Forum…This award recognizes Peter’s input into the Regulatory and Network working groups and his ongoing and outstanding contribution to SCF work over the years.”

“A huge contribution”The Chairman’s Award is an annual honour presented to individuals, companies or organizations that in the estimation of the Chairman have made an outstanding contribution to the work of the Small Cell Forum. This year’s recipient was Mark Grayson. Mark is a distinguished consulting engineer at Cisco Systems with responsibility for leading Cisco’s mobile architecture strategy. He has over 20 years of experience in the wireless industry, ranging from the development of military systems, the definition of satellite communication architectures, and the evolution of traditional cellular systems to the creation of the latest small cell solutions.

He has also been a very influential figure within the Small Cell Forum. As a key member of the Release Steering Group, he has played a significant role in ensuring the quality and consistency of both the Enterprise and Urban Releases, reviewing and contributing to papers across a wide range of technical disciplines. Furthermore, Mark has demonstrated active and inspirational leadership as Vice Chair of the Small Cell Forum Network Working Group and has contributed significantly to enhanced architectural options for urban small cell deployments. Finally, Mark has been instrumental in driving a new direction for SCF in considering the opportunities associated with the virtualization of the small cell RAN. As the judges commented, “Mark has made a huge contribution to both the Small Cell Forum and the wider industry.”

36


EVENTS: PLUGFESTS

S ince 2010 we have been working together with ETSI to develop test cases and organize and run Plugfests – events that together

form a wide-ranging interoperability testing program for small cells. The aim of Plugfests is to accelerate alignment of small cell network technologies.

So far, five events have taken place*. In the first four events interoperability of first 3G and then LTE small cell networks was tested. The fifth, carried out in cooperation with the NGMN Alliance this year, covered testing of multivendor SON in heterogeneous networks.

The need for, and aim of, this program was clear from the outset. A strong small cell ecosystem is one in which operators have a wide choice of interoperable equipment from a range of suppliers from which to build their heterogeneous networks. Manufacturers also benefit from the economies of scale that such an ecosystem can bring. Achieving a state of ecosystem interoperability requires both good quality standards and equipment that conforms to those standards. Interoperability testing is part of the process to achieve this. This is the focus of the SCF Plugfests.

Although it often involves complex technology and procedures, the process and aims of a given Plugfest are easy to describe. Equipment from different manufacturers is connected and operated in a variety of real-life scenarios. Failed tests drive debugging of implementations, as well as resolution of ambiguities, gaps and incompatible options in standards. Successful testing demonstrates mature and interoperable standards and equipment.

Of course developing interoperable standards and equipment begins with agreeing a common set of functional and performance requirements. Standards are then developed to meet the requirements of both a system architecture and the equipment that terminates the interfaces involved. Manufacturers then make equipment that implements these standards and interoperability testing verifies that equipment from different manufacturers works together as defined in the standard.

It’s not surprising, therefore, that a lot of work goes into setting up and running a Plugfest. It includes identifying an agenda, technologies to test and themes; specifying Plugfest lab requirements and a test cases list; inviting participants; discussing and building a Plugfest test case suite; setting up the lab; conducting pre-test integration; performing finalised IOP tests; discussing test results; and issuing a test report.

The need for a clearly defined interoperability program and the success of the Plugfests in providing that program means that support for, and participation in, Plugfests is growing. In 2014 multi-vendor self-organizing networks (SON) and voice over LTE were two of the topics highlighted at the Small Cell Forum’s fifth Plugfest, again hosted in partnership with ETSI. Attendance was almost double that of the 2013 event, which was the first to focus

Accelerating alignment of small cell network technologies

“ THE NEED FOR A CLEARLY DEFINED INTEROPERABILITY PROGRAM MEANS THAT SUPPORT FOR, AND PARTICIPATION IN, PLUGFESTS IS GROWING.”

37


EVENTS: PLUGFESTS

on 3GPP Release 9 compliant FDD LTE small cells.Hosted at the Orange labs in Paris over nine days between the 23 June and 2 July 2014, the scope of this second LTE Plugfest included all small cell LTE variations. Testing concentrated on S1, X2 and management interfaces (HeMS) and covered areas such as regression testing, handover, mobility (outbound and inbound), voice support via circuit switch fall back (CSFB) schemes, voice over LTE (VoLTE), and mobile alerting system (CMAS). As well as testing small cell/macro handover and security gateways another focus was the testing of multi-vendor SON in heterogeneous networks.

The response was bigger than ever before. Some 27 companies supported the event with 65 engineers on site from 15 different countries, including equipment vendors, test tool vendors and companies providing test network infrastructure.

All participants were able to conduct pre-test integration for the month before the event. Through remote connectivity, all participants had a chance to mitigate connectivity problems in the Plugfest lab. Performing these test cases remotely prior to the event helps to enhance the effectiveness of the Plugfest itself and to ensure a good rate of successful test case execution.

Plugfests have clearly struck a chord. The small cell industry has a shared goal of creating interoperable standards and equipment to establish a healthy and competitive technology ecosystem around small cell technologies. Plugfests will help the industry to achieve that goal.

*Background on Small Cell Forum’s Plugfests is available from http://scf.io/doc/085

Plugfests have clearly struck a chord with the small cell industry

Participation in the Plugfest testing program continues to grow with every event

http://scf.io/doc/085

38


EVENTS: MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS

in particular to the SCF message – notably a total Twitter audience reach of over a quarter of a million.

Not, however, as good a response as the Release itself, which enjoyed more than 6000 downloads in the course of the show. Other highlights of the week for the Small Cell Zone included: attracting more sponsors than ever before; offering a more varied speaker program; the wide-ranging product displays; and the use of screens to promote our speaker program and product showcase.

Not just the formal presentations and launches but the more informal meet and greet events were extremely well attended, including, of course, the operator drinks reception.

An established part of MWC for six years, the Small Cell Zone is ideally placed for sponsors to meet contacts and use the stand as a focal point. Moreover, the decision to offer presentations on the first three days only was a successful one. Freeing up the space on the final day meant that companies and innovators using the stand could hold meetings and interact with contacts.

There were more than 85,000 attendees from over 200 countries at MWC 2014. 2015 promises to be even busier – for both the conference and the Small Cell Zone.

A t Mobile World Congress 2014 our mission was twofold: to promote our recently published enterprise outputs and launch

the first part of our Urban Release. Our message was that barriers to small cell deployment in these two critical use cases had been considered and systematically addressed.

Our Small Cell Zone on Stand 7F61 in Hall 7 once again hosted a packed press conference at which SCF Chairman Gordon Mansfield announced that the Urban Release identified four primary market drivers for urban outdoor small cells: capacity, coverage, user experience and value-added services.

As in previous years, the Small Cell Zone hosted leading companies and innovators within the small cell ecosystem. An impressive showcase for operators as well as vendors was complimented by analyst and guest contributions and supported by 18 sponsors – the largest number to date.

The stand itself was extremely well attended for the duration, as were the various presentations from key players including AT&T, Vodafone, SoftBank, Cisco and Alcatel-Lucent. In addition, an impressive range of analysts was on hand to present perspectives on key subjects within the small cell ecosystem.

A wide variety of topics covered included accelerating small cell deployments, E-RAN installation, improving enterprise mobility, managing opex and capex in small cell backhaul, integration of small cell and carrier grade Wi-Fi, HetNet simulation and location information.

Speeches and presentations were ably promoted by strong marketing activity from the SCF team. This included sponsor blogs, trailing announcements on the Release Program, member and non-member mailshots and extensive use of social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

The industry reaction, monitored and assessed after the event, indicated a strong social media response

Breaking down barriers in Barcelona

Gordon Mansfield launches Release Four: Urban at our Small Cell Zone at Mobile World Congress, Barcelona 2014

There were more than 85,000 attendees from over 200 countries at MWC 2014. 2015 promises to be even busier.

40


EVENTS: SMALL CELLS WORLD SERIES

An eventful yearA vren’s Small Cell Series is run in exclusive

partnership with the Small Cell Forum, visiting Asia, Europe, the Middle East and

North America. The 2014 series has reflected a growing commitment to small solutions worldwide, with more operators and suppliers from more parts of the world visiting than ever before.

Our year got off to a strong start in April (giving everyone just enough time to recover from Mobile World Congress!) with Small Cells Asia in Singapore.

Singapore proved a convenient location for visitors from across Asia. Registrations were 50 per cent up on the previous year, with twice as many countries represented and a host of new exhibitors.

The program focused on real-world experiences of operators across the region and featured case studies from China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. With such an active market and Asia representing by far the largest number of

small cell deployments, we have high hopes for the event in 2015.

Just two months after Singapore, we gathered again in London for Small Cells World Summit, with our flagship event reaching a major milestone by attracting more than 1000 visitors.

The event took a major step forward this year, both in terms of numbers of visitors and exhibitors and also in representation across the program. Highlights included an opening panel featuring CTOs from EE, O2, Three UK, Portugal Telecom and Telenor. For the first time, the event also featured dedicated sessions for enterprise and venue owners including Diageo, Bank Santander, Birmingham City Council and Transport For London.

The increase in size of the event necessitated a move to a new home at the ExCeL Centre in London’s Docklands. The move didn’t go completely

A chance to network: at Small Cells World Summit in London (left) and Small Cells Asia

41


EVENTS: SMALL CELLS WORLD SERIES

without a hitch. However, important lessons have been learned. Indeed, the size and scale of Small Cells World Summit, not to mention the interest shown in the event, were a great testament to how far the industry has come and its ambitions for the future.

As we prepare for next year, we’re looking to attract greater representation from enterprise and venue owners. We hope to tie these sessions more closely to the main program. We’ve also listened carefully to visitors who couldn’t see everything that they wanted to and plan to address their concerns. Too much choice isn’t always a good thing!

Our largest event of the series was followed by the smallest, taking place in Dubai at the end of October.

Although the MENA event does not – yet – reach the same scale as the others in the series, it is an important opportunity to engage with local operators. Representatives from UAE and the

Palestinian Territories, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Nigeria, Egypt, Palestinian Territories, Kenya, Libya and Lebanon all attended and feedback was exceptionally good. There is clearly anticipation around deployments in the region and this is definitely a space to watch.

Last – but definitely not least – the Americas show in Dallas closes out our year in style, allowing us to add a bit of festive cheer to proceedings. At the time of writing, we already have more operators, exhibitors and visitors than ever before. Particularly exciting is the response from enterprise and venue owners, with representatives from retail, hospitality, stadia, rail and airlines all attending and speaking.

Plans are well underway for next year and we’ll have some exciting announcements following the Americas show. And look out for the new event branding that is being completely updated for 2015.

We look forward to seeing you at a Small Cells Series event soon.

For more information please contact Stuart Barker at [email protected]

CTO panel at Small Cells World Summit

“ WE’RE LOOKING TO ATTRACT GREATER REPRESENTATION FROM ENTERPRISE AND VENUE OWNERS.”

mailto:stuart.barker%40avrenevents.com?subject=

MARKET DATA

42


Source: Mobile Experts, November 2014

More than 65 operators use small cells commercially in their networks:

Small cell shipments

46+operators

50+operators

22+operators

Through 30 September 2014, the number of small cells shipped:

have residential small cells

use enterprise small cells

have deployed urban small cells for

network capacity

152k indoor urban

small cells

158k enterpricesmall cells

14,200outdoor

urban small cells

9.1 million residential femtocells

9.5millionsmall cells

overall

>3,400 rural small cells

are deployed worldwide

High power units between 5W

and 30W composite


43


MARKET DATA

TOP DRIVERS TO DEPLOY URBAN SMALL CELLS – WORLDWIDE

Source: Maravedis-Rethink survey of tier one and two mobile operators worldwide, 2014

• Improve capacity

• New revenues from value added services

• Fill capacity holes

• Reduce cost of data

• Improve coverage

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

4321

% o

f res

pond

ents

Improved covera

ge

Overall ca

pacity increa

se

Filling holes i

n capacity

Reduced netw

ork TCO

Reduced cost o

f data delive

ry

Opportunity to harness

new spectrum (eg

. high frequency)

Support perso

nalized customer r

esponse and ser

vices

Support locatio

n aware

services

Support new applicat

ions and rev

enue st

reams

Opportunity to integr

ate Wi-Fi

Top four drivers ranked in order, with ‘1’ being most significant

Top three barriers ranked in order, with ‘1’ being most significant

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

321

% o

f res

pond

ents

• Backhaul

• Deployment/site acquisition

• Monetization

• Management

PERCEIVED BARRIERS TO URBAN DEPLOYMENTS – WORLDWIDE

Backhaul ava

ilability and cost

Power availa

bility and cost

Site acq

uisition

Site costs

Interference

Securing optimal si

te locatio

ns

Macro netw

ork interw

orking

Cost of eq

uipment

Network p

rovisioning an

d management

Monetization

44


MEMBERSHIP: OVERVIEW

Our membership

44%

The Executive Board

CHAIRMANGORDON MANSFIELD, AT&T (2013-14)ALAN LAW, VODAFONE (2014-15)

BOARD REPRESENTATIVES FOR 2014-15 MEMBERSHIP YEARPAUL SENIOR, AIRSPAN NETWORKS JASON A. MILLER, ALCATEL-LUCENTDAVID ORLOFF, AT&T MARK GRAYSON, CISCO SYSTEMSMARTIN LJUNGBERG, ERICSSONDOUG PULLEY, INTELNICK JOHNSON, IP.ACCESSTOSHIYUKI OISHI, NEC EUROPEKEN RIORDAN, NOKIA NICHOLAS KARTER, QUALCOMM AYA MUKAIKUBO, SOFTBANK MOBILEART KING, SPIDERCLOUD WIRELESSMARK LIPFORD, SPRINTSAMEER WASSON, TEXAS INSTRUMENTSALAN LAW, VODAFONE GROUP

TODD MERSCH, RADISYS (2013-14)

of the world’s total mobile subscribers

Getting small cell technology and standards right for every major use case is critical for the carrier confidence that will drive wide scale adoption. Cisco is supporting these objectives through our membership in the Small Cell Forum. It’s also about getting the good news out about small cells to the broader industry. This is why we’re committed to the promotion of small cells to carriers, enterprises, standards bodies and partner organizations through our work with the Forum.CISCO

45


MEMBERSHIP: OVERVIEW

LGS innovationsMicrosemimimoOn Mitsubishi Electric CorporationMotorola MobilityMycom North AmericaNash TechnologiesNEC CorporationNextivityNode-H Nokia Public WirelessPureWave Networks Qualcomm QucellQuortusRadisys RadwinRakonRanplanRohde & Schwarz Ruckus WirelessSerComm CorporationSistelNetworksSikluSMECSOLiDSpidercloud WirelessStoke TE ConnectivityTelecommunication Metrology

Center of MIITTeradyne Texas Instruments U-bloxZTE

Full member operatorsAT&T ServicesAvea Iletisim HizmetleriBell Mobility – Bell CanadaBT GroupChina Mobile Communication

CorporationChina UnicomGCI – General CommunicationsNTT DoCoMo Orange RCI Rogers Softbank Mobile CorpSprint Nextel Corp Telecom Italia Telekom Austria TELUS Communications CompanyVodafone Group Services

VendorsAblaze WirelessAirHop CommunicationsAirspan NetworksAirvana Alcatel-LucentAlpha NetworksAmdocsAmerican TowerApplied Communication SciencesArgelaARItelAsahi Kasei MicrodevicesAvanti Black & VeatchBLiNQ NetworksBoingo WirelessBroadcom Cambium NetworksCambridge Broadband NetworksCASA SystemsCaviumCisco Systems Comba TelecomCommscopeComunicaciones y Consumos

(Cycsa)Contela Corning Cable SystemsCrown CastleD-Link CorporationDragonWaveEden RockETRI (Electronics &

Telecommunications Research Institute)

Ericsson Freescale Semiconductor FujitsuGENBANDGoodman Networks Harris CorporationHitachi Hon Hai Precision IndustriesHuawei Technologies Hughes NetworksiBwaveiDirectIntel CorporationInterDigital Communications ip.accessITRIIxiaJDSUJuniKeima

Observer membersArqivaBelgacomBharti Airtel Bouyges TelecomCable & Wireless Communications Carphone Warehouse NetworksCell CCellcom Cellcom IsraelChina Telecommunications

CorporationChunghwa Telecom Co Clear TalkClearwire CorporationCosmo Bulgaria MobileCox WirelessCytaDoCoMo Pacific Eircom EtisalatFree MobileIusacellJersey TelecomKDDI R&D Laboratories KT CorporationMaxis BroadbandM1 Mobile Satellite VenturesNetwork NorwayOrascom Telecom Holding PCCW Mobile HK Pioneer Telephone Co-operative Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa.Reliance Communications Saskatchewan Telecommunications

(SaskTel)SRDP SFRSingTelSK Telecom Taiwan Mobile Tatung InfoComm TDC Telecomunicacoes Moveis

NacionaisTelefonica O2 EuropeTelenor Research and InnovationTelstra Corporation TOT True Move Company Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri

Mem

bers

46


MEMBERSHIP: MEMBER SURVEY 2014

O ur annual survey indicates that influencing Small Cell Forum technical work and networking with carriers and competitors

are the two big drivers for membership.

We’re always looking for new ways to ramp up engagement and improve services. Our annual survey helps us to do this. This year it ran September to October 2014 and gave members the opportunity to tell us how they participate in the Forum, and give us their take on what we should be doing and how we should be doing it.

Feedback was overwhelmingly positive about the way the Forum works – in particular, the new ways of working brought about by the Release workstreams – and the organization’s role in the future of our industry. It also provided valuable insights into the way members receive and share information.

Although a snapshot, it is clear that members feel engaged in the work of the Forum and see networking and influencing as two of the most important benefits, in particular attendance at plenaries. Feedback on the Release Program, such a key part of the Forum’s work in the last two years, is positive and more than half those surveyed agreed that more case studies would help bring the technical documents to life.

The feedback provides a platform from which Small Cell Forum can continue to develop its offering for the benefit of member companies and the broader industry. The results will be used to improve member communications and help inform our work programs going forward.

2014 member surveyMembership has provided our business with an excellent opportunity to network with small cell operators and ecosystem providers. Our aim is to contribute thought leadership and partner to build a strong ecosystem.HUGHES

Being an SCF member has allowed us to develop relationships with key industry players. Our active participation in the Forum has helped us gain visibility and recognition as an innovator in the small cells market.IBWAVE

As we continue to evolve our small cell strategy we believe Small Cell Forum will allow Sprint to gain a stronger understanding of the industry and provide insight into technology changes. We also hope to leverage our internal strategies to drive work in Small Cell Forum.SPRINT


47

MEMBERSHIP: MEMBER SURVEY 2014

48% believe ‘networking with other Forum members’ was very important

believe they are able to influence the work of the Forum and 33% think this is very important.

51% advised that ‘attending plenaries’ was important for their companies

39% saw ‘accessing market status reports’ as very important

said SCF membership was very important in influencing the direction of the small cell industry

48% stated that ‘being recognised in the industry as a member of the SCF’ was important to them as a company.

HIGHLIGHTS

The way we work & communicate

100% of respondents stated that the frequency of email communications from Small Cell Forum was satisfactory

use the website and Group email/calendar invites most

84% like the email newsletter

LinkedIn identified as the most effective social media channel for SCF member information

52% access the scf.io website monthly

Nearly all of the respondents indicated that they share SCF information and updates through their company (90%) with 26% sharing to external contacts or via their preferred social media channels (22%)

access the website to find out about plenaries and events

64% access market status reports

87%

97%

70%

48%


http://scf.io

48


MEMBERSHIP: JOIN US

N etworks are evolving at a pace as carriers ramp up to meet the 1000x capacity challenge. Small cells are at the heart of

this story. Are you concerned about getting left behind? You should be. And there’s one easy answer – get involved, join up, drive the agenda, shape the future – don’t leave it to your competitors!

WHY JOIN?

Because you’ll be in good company – We have almost 150 members including 65 operators, telecoms hardware and software vendors and innovative start-ups. Membership includes all the global operator groups.

Because our track record speaks for itself – We have driven the standardization of key elements of small cell technology including Iuh, FAPI/SCAPI, SON, the small cell services API and the adoption and evolution of TR-069 and the X2 interface.

Because today our members are driving solutions to mission critical issues – including Wi-Fi integration, SON evolution, virtualization of the small cell layer, integration of small cells into 5G standards evolution, interoperability and regulatory development.

Because in 2013 we launched a Release Program that provides vital support to carriers – looking to roll out small cells in home, enterprise, urban and rural deployments. Currently our Working Groups are finalising our next Release – Release Five: Rural & Remote. Next stop: Virtualization of the small cell layer.

BENEFITS OF FULL MEMBERSHIP

Industry leadership, influence and increased visibility:

• Influence standards development • Introduce work items and set the agenda for

technology development• Access to all SCF working documents• Voting rights• Plugfest participation• Access to full consumer research data• Attend Forum meetings at reduced rates• Discounts on conferences• Eligible to participate in event marketing

program• Eligible for Executive Board membership

OUR MEETINGS

• We usually hold four meetings a year: December in USA, April in Asia, June at Small Cells World Summit in London and September in Europe.

• We co-locate two of our meetings with Small Cells Asia and Small Cells Americas, plus we partner with Avren Events at Small Cells World Summit. Full and Executive Board members are entitled to a discount at all events in Avren’s Small Cells World Series.

• We appreciate that travelling to meetings is not always convenient for members, so all sessions are facilitated by WebEx to enable members to participate remotely.

Don’t get left behind –JOIN US TODAY

49


MEMBERSHIP: JOIN US

WHO CAN JOIN?

Small Cell Forum membership is open to any legally established corporation, individual firm, partnership, governmental body or international organization supporting the promotion and worldwide deployment of small cell technologies.

TYPES OF MEMBERSHIP 2014-15

There are four main levels of membership: Full, Board, Pre-commercial and Explorer

• Full membership: £ 7,765 (+VAT)• Pre-commercial membership: £750 (+VAT)

open to start-ups and businesses that can demonstrate annual revenues <$500,000

• Board membership: £15,530 (+VAT)• Explorer membership: complimentary for the first

year and open to non-member mobile carriers that hold licensed spectrum.

Membership may also be available to some academic institutions. Contact us for more details.

HOW TO JOIN

• Contact [email protected]

• Call +44 1453 861393

• Visit smallcellforum.org/membership

WEB | www.smallcellforum.org EMAIL | [email protected] TEL | +44 (0)845 644 5823

POSTAL ADDRESS | Small Cell Forum, PO Box 23, GL11 5WA, UK Registered in the UK | no. 6295097.

Small Cell Forum plays a critical role in the development of our industry. From the definition of Iuh in 3GPP standards to SCAPI development through to the work it’s doing today on SON, Wi-Fi integration and virtualization – SCF has been instrumental in making small cell technology a robust and sustainable part of the carrier’s toolkit.VODAFONE, FOUNDER MEMBER

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.smallcellforum.org/membership


mailto:info%40smallcellforum.org?subject=

50


FINANCIALS

S mall Cell Forum is housed in an English company ‘limited by guarantee’. For the purposes of company law its directors are

known as the Secretariat.

The Secretariat conducts the business of the organization, as directed by the Executive Board and in accordance with English law.

The Small Cell Forum’s Executive Board sets an annual budget on behalf of the membership, reflecting the planned deployment of projected available funds and in line with the priorities identified by the Board, resources requested by its technical Working Groups and agreed operational requirements.

The Secretariat is responsible for ensuring Small Cell Forum funds are spent in line with the agreed budget. Full financial reports are reviewed by the Executive Board on a monthly basis.

Small Cell Forum income derives primarily from membership fees, and to a lesser extent from events and the delegate fees associated with our working meetings. While we endeavor to make our plenaries self-funding, the rising cost of venues means this essential activity usually has a negative impact on the bottom line.

The organization’s expenditure is split fairly evenly between executive compensation and travel, general running and administrative costs, and the costs associated with work items.

In the last financial year there has been an increased focus on travel and associated expenses. Our leadership is becoming more visible to the industry

– we’re being asked to speak at more events and we’re working hard to see and be seen – especially by the operator community. Carrier engagement is a big priority and strengthening regional carrier input an important focus for the year ahead.

Small Cell Forum has no full time employees and administrative costs are kept as low as possible without compromising operational efficiency.

Of the Working Group costs, far and away the most significant outlay is associated with the creation, production and broadcast of our Release Program – our main means of broadcasting our technical outputs to the industry at large.

All expenditure is constrained by an Executive Board directive to maintain reserves at a specified level and this principle has been adhered to this financial year and every year of the organization’s existence.

Financial statements

“ OUR LEADERSHIP IS BECOMING MORE VISIBLE TO THE INDUSTRY – WE’RE BEING ASKED TO SPEAK AT MORE EVENTS AND WE’RE WORKING HARD TO SEE AND BE SEEN – ESPECIALLY BY THE OPERATOR COMMUNITY.”

51


FINANCIALS: INCOME AND EXPENDITURE

Income and expenditure account for the year ended 30 September 2014

Year Ended Period 28.9.12 30.9.14 to 30.9.13 Notes £ £

Turnover 1,439,480 1,191,444

Administrative expenses --1,337,452 --1,098,523 102,028 92,921

Other operating income --2,460 --3,363 Operating surplus and surplus on ordinary activities before taxation 2 104,488 96,284

Tax on surplus on ordinary activities 3 --------- --------- Surplus for the financial year --104,488 --96,284

Balance Sheet 30 September 2014

30.9.14 30.9.13 Notes £ £Current assetsDebtors 4 706,050 834,612Cash at bank --821,909 --598,391 1,527,959 1,433,003CreditorsAmounts falling due within one year 5 --769,540 --779,072 Net current assets --758,419 --653,931 Total assets less current liabilities --758,419 --653,931 ReservesIncome and expenditure account 6 --758,419 --653,931 --758,419 --653,931

52


FINANCIALS: NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2014

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIESAccounting conventionThe financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities (effective April 2008).

TurnoverTurnover represents net invoiced sales of services, excluding value added tax.

Foreign currenciesAssets and liabilities in foreign currencies are translated into sterling at the rates of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date. Transactions in foreign currencies are translated into sterling at the rate of exchange ruling at the date of transaction. Exchange differences are taken into account in arriving at the operating result.

TaxationThe company is a mutual trading company. Income derived from mutual trading is exempt from Corporation Tax under s490 ICTA 1988.

2. OPERATING SURPLUSThe operating surplus is stated after charging: Year ended Period 30.9.14 28.9.12 to 30.9.13 £ £Foreign exchange differences --25,335 --7,813

Directors’ remuneration and other benefits --112,195 --120,352 3. TAXATIONAnalysis of the tax chargeNo liability to UK corporation tax arose on ordinary activities for the year ended 30 September 2014 nor for the period ended 30 September 2013.

4. DEBTORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR 30.9.14 30.9.13 £ £Trade debtors 672,892 790,293Other debtors --33,158 --44,319 --706,050 --834,612 5. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR 30.9.14 30.9.13 £ £Trade creditors 79,274 79,030Taxation and social security - 16,881Other creditors --690,266 --683,161 --769,540 --779,072 Included in accruals and deferred income is £675,555 (2013: £680,911) of 2014/15 membership fees invoiced in August 2014. £450,370 (2013: £575,145) of this was unpaid at 30 September 2014 and included in trade debtors.

6. RESERVES Income and expenditure account £At 1 October 2013 653,931Surplus for the year --104,488 At 30 September 2014 --758,419 7. COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEEThe company is Limited by Guarantee and does not have any Share Capital.

Notes to the Financial Statements - continuedfor the Year Ended 30 September 2014

53


FINANCIALS: DETAILED INCOME AND EXPENDITURE

Detailed income and expenditure account for the year ended 30 September 2014

Year ended Period 30.9.14 28.9.12 to 30.9.13 £ £ £ £Income 1,439,480 1,191,444

Other incomeInterest receivable --2,460 --3,363 1,441,940 1,194,807

ExpenditurePrevious CEO salary 112,195 120,352Employers NI 12,430 15,347Directors and officers liability insurance 2,526 125CEO compensation and overheads 92,197 5,163Vice President Americas 64,353 76,352Working Group chairman’s fees - 24,738Project management - 85,640Telephone - 12,767Printing, postage and stationery - 1,075Travel and subsistence 49,881 40,831Working group expenses 52,440 58,022Plenary expenses 122,074 84,970Meeting expenses 23,597 2,572Online 18,174 39,234Website costs - 12,804Sundry expenses - 975Marketing - 386,388Member communications 3,333 7,073Accountancy fees 3,170 2,150Consultancy fees 1,605 -CEO recruitment - 23,189Legal and professional fees 14,074 15,698Foreign exchange losses 25,335 7,813Bad debts 62,120 54,643Awards 17,470 17,427MWC 113,649 -MWC stand space 44,319 -PR / Events 118,393 -Operator engagement 6,200 -Release Program 189,698 -Social media 23,230 -Administration 97,029 -Communications --64,254 -------- --1,333,746 --1,095,348

108,194 99,459

Finance costsBank charges --3,706 --3,175 NET SURPLUS --104,488 --96,284


54

LOOKING AHEAD: CALENDAR 2015

Calendar 201529 JANUARY

Small Cell Forum Awards 2015 applications open

2-5 MARCH Small Cell Zone, MWC 2015, Barcelona

24–27 MARCH CCA Global Expo, Atlanta

7-9 APRIL LTE Latin Americas, Rio de Janeiro

9 APRIL Small Cell Forum Awards applications close

20-21 APRIL Small Cells Asia, Singapore

22-23 APRIL Small Cell Forum 29th Plenary, Singapore

11-13 MAY LTE MENA, Dubai

JUNE Small Cell Forum ad hoc meeting, London

JUNE Small Cell Forum/ETSI Plugfest, Paris

JUNE Small Cell Forum Executive Board and Chairperson applications open

9-11 JUNE Small Cells World Summit, London

10 JUNE Small Cell Forum Awards, London

JULY Small Cell Forum Executive Board and Chairperson applications close (voting opens as applicable)

SEPTEMBER Small Cells China

7-10 SEPTEMBER CCA Annual Convention, Las Vegas

9-11 SEPTEMBER CTIA Shows/Super Mobility Week, Las Vegas

6-8 OCTOBER LTE Asia, Singapore

13-14 OCTOBER Small Cells MENA, Dubai

2-4 NOVEMBER Small Cells America, Dallas

4-5 NOVEMBER Small Cells NA Plenary

17-19 NOVEMBER LTE North America, Dallas

DECEMBER Small Cells LATAM, San Paolo


55


LOOKING AHEAD

Course outlines/knowledge knuggets1. Small cell overview1.1. What is a small cell?1.2. Market drivers for small cells1.3. Small cell ecosystem

2. Small cell technologies2.1. HetNet architecture2.2. Co-existence with macro network2.3. Intra- and inter-frequency scenarios2.4. SON and interference management

3. Deployment scenarios3.1. Dense urban deployment3.2. Rural coverage3.3. Residential deployment3.4. Enterprise deployment3.5. Location-specific applications

4. Deployment considerations4.1. Backhaul requirements4.2. Security requirements4.3. Power options4.4. Outdoor considerations4.5. Indoor considerations4.6. Small cell provisioning

5. Small cell interworking5.1. Macro network interworking5.2. Enterprise interworking

Instructor-led | Duration: one day

Being connected, anytime, anywhere has become a de facto norm and that fact has increased broadband wireless access usage, both outdoors and indoors. Wireless data traffic is doubling every year for the last several years, and this trend is expected to continue for years to come. In order to cope with this increased demand for capacity, wireless service providers around the world are planning to augment their macro cellular network coverage and capacity through heterogeneous networks (HetNets), by deploying small cells for public consumers as well as enterprise customers. This course provides an overview of small cell deployment paradigm: its market drivers, the enabling technologies, the key deployment scenarios and implementation considerations, and interworking strategies.

Learning objectivesAfter completing this course, the student will be able to:• Define small cells and identify their key characteristics• Identify the key market drivers for small cells • Explain the relationship between small cells and HetNets• Describe the role SON plays in successful small cell deployments• Discuss the key applications for small cells• List the critical deployment considerations for small cells and describe the available solutions• Explain the approaches for interworking small cells with macro networks and enterprise LANs

Intended audienceThis course provides an overview of small cells and is intended for those in business and non-engineering functions as well as those who are involved in wireless network planning, design, and deployment.

Suggested prerequisites• Good understanding of communications principles

SMALL CELL ESSENTIALS


56


FURTHER INFORMATION: FAQs

CAN VENDORS JOIN SMALL CELL FORUM AS EXPLORER MEMBERS?No. Explorer membership is only open to operators that hold licensed spectrum.

WHAT’S THE ELEVATOR PITCH FOR SMALL CELLS?According to a Cisco study, global mobile data traffic will increase nearly 11-fold between 2013 and 2018. This means carriers urgently need to increase network capacity. They can do this by moving to 4G, improving spectrum efficiency, Wi-Fi offload, and so on. But nothing comes close to frequency re-use through increased numbers of cell sites – this can improve capacity by up to 1600x. In addition, small cells yield important benefits for the macro network: we’ve shown how placing four small cells within one macro, not only delivers data offload of more than 50 per cent, but also improves macro network performance by 315 per cent.

HOW DOES SMALL CELL FORUM DEFINE ‘SMALL CELL’?‘Small cells’ is an umbrella term for operator-controlled, low-powered radio access nodes, including those that operate in licensed spectrum and unlicensed carrier-grade Wi-Fi. Small cells typically have a range from 10 metres to several hundred meters. Types of small cells include femtocells, picocells and microcells – broadly increasing in size from femtocells (the smallest) to microcells (the largest). Any or all of these small cells can be based on ‘femtocell technology’, ie. the collection of standards, software, open interfaces, chips and know-how that have powered the growth of femtocells.

WHEN WAS SMALL CELL FORUM FOUNDED?Small Cell Forum started life as the Femto Forum in 2007. Founding members included Airvana, ip.access, NETGEAR, picoChip, RadioFrame, Tatara, Ubiquisys and Vodafone. The Forum’s first Plenary was held at the Home Access Point & In-building Conference in London 3-5 July 2007. We announced the name change to Small Cell Forum at MWC in February 2012.

IS SMALL CELL FORUM A STANDARDS BODY?No. Our aim is to influence and deliver technical inputs that inform and enhance the standards process. We have long-established liaison relationships with a range of standards bodies and standards development organizations including: 3GPP, 3GPP2, BBF, NGMN, OMA, MEF and WBA. The world’s first femtocell standard was announced in April 2009 as part of 3GPP’s Release 8, and interdependent with Broadband Forum extensions to its Technical Report-069 (TR-069). The work was completed in just 12 months following close cooperation between 3GPP, the Broadband Forum and us.

CAN WE ONLY JOIN SMALL CELL FORUM AT THE START OF THE MEMBERSHIP YEAR?Annual memberships run from 1 October 2014 to 30 September 2015. Companies joining part way through the year pay a pro rata fee.

Frequently asked questions

57


FURTHER INFORMATION: FAQs

WHAT IS SCAPI?Small Cell Forum’s small cell application platform interface (SCAPI) initiative aims to encourage competition and innovation between suppliers of platform hardware, platform software and application software by providing a common API around which suppliers of each component can compete. In doing this, we follow a long engineering tradition of providing an ‘interchangeability of parts’ to ensure that systems vendors can take advantage of the latest innovations in silicon and software with the minimum of entry barriers and the least amount of custom re-engineering. The initiative was initially known as femtocell application platform interface (FAPI). [SCF048]

HOW DOES SMALL CELL FORUM DEFINE A ‘RESIDENTIAL SMALL CELL’?The technical and commercial aspects of residential small cells or femtocells were described in Small Cell Forum Release One [SCF101]. Here they were defined as ‘Small cells intended for home or small office applications. These applications are based typically indoors and involve locations where a single small cell is usually sufficient.’

HOW DOES SMALL CELL FORUM DEFINE AN ‘ENTERPRISE SMALL CELL’?Enterprise small cells were the focus of our Release Two outputs [SCF102]. Here we described enterprise small cell deployment as:

• generally indoor, premises-based deployment beyond home office;

• many first movers will have large geographic areas and high numbers of users;

• primarily coverage driven, with a need for high reliability;

• capacity will often be important;• may involve multiple parties (for service, site,

facilities).

HOW DOES SMALL CELL FORUM DEFINE AN ‘URBAN SMALL CELL’?Urban small cells were covered in Releases Three and Four [SCF104] They are defined as:

• licensed small cells, deployed by operators in areas of high demand density on an open-access basis to all the customers of the operator;

• they can be deployed outdoors on street furniture;

• or indoor public locations such as transport hubs and retail malls.

Quick links

HOW DO I JOIN?smallcellforum.org/membership/why-join

WHO’S IN THE FORUM?smallcellforum.org/membership/membership-listing

WHAT’S YOUR IPR POLICY?smallcellforum.org/membership/join-now

Small Cell Forum provides a collaborative framework and a natural environment for knowledge exchange. As new members we have found multiple opportunities for participation in an open environment focused on the definition of best practices to solve the many questions posed by the adoption of small cells.KEIMA





http://www.smallcellforum.org/membership/why-join

http://www.smallcellforum.org/membership/membership-listing

http://www.smallcellforum.org/membership/join-now

58


FURTHER INFORMATION: USEFUL LINKS

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

• Contact [email protected]

• Call +44 (0)1453 861393

• Visit smallcellforum.org

WEB | www.smallcellforum.org EMAIL | [email protected] TEL | +44 (0)845 644 5823

POSTAL ADDRESS | Small Cell Forum, PO Box 23, GL11 5WA, UK Registered in the UK | no. 6295097.

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Dubai26th - 27th October 2015www.smallcellsmena.com

DallasFall 2015www.smallcellsamericas.com

Singapore20th - 21st April 2015www.smallcellsasia.com

London9th - 11th June 2015www.smallcellsworldsummit.com

In Exclusive Partnership with:Organised by:

www.avrenevents.com | [email protected] | +44 (0)20 7384 7910

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ANNUAL REPORT & REVIEW - Small Cell Forum€¦ · 27/10/2015 · 6 SMALL CELL FORUM |Annual Report & Review 2013-14 AT A GLANCE V AT A GLANCE: 2013-14 152 members 17 new members