Symmetricom joined the small cells parade today by announcing a series of software-based clocking solutions aimed at supporting sync for both consumer and enterprise small cells deployments. The new SoftClock solution will support a variety of sync tools such as IEEE 1588 v2, network time protocol (NTP) and softGPS.
The software-based timing mechanism is designed to be embedded into existing hardware-based small cells solutions, which, can then support a variety of timing requirements depending on the requirements and/or network design of the various deployment scenarios involved with supplying backhaul to small cells networks.
Interestingly, given the amount of Ethernet traffic that will be generated as LTE networks proliferate, Symmetricom’s new offering will not support Sync E clocking in this product. During an interview with RCR Wireless News, Manish Gupta, vice president of marketing and business development for Symmetricom indicated that because Sync E is a physical layer protocol each node in a given network must be upgraded to support the technology. Given the number of nodes that will be required to support a small cells network it will be a challenge for Sync E deployments to reach the level of pervasiveness required to make it a widespread small cells backhaul timing mechanism.
The SoftClock solution has been accepted by a list of Symmetricom’s partners including: Broadcom, Mindspeed, Qualcomm, Node-H, and Rakon.
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