Range Networks, which makes open-source cellular systems, announced that its equipment now integrates with operators’ SS7-MAP core networks and supports 4G. The company, which targets rural and developing markets and private industrial networks with low-cost network equipment, has been collaborating with SS7Ware and said that its One Core Network now supports 2G, 3G and 4G network nodes to be run off of the same core network. Previously, the company’s equipment was limited to 2G, 2.5G, and 3G GSM systems.
Range also announced today that it collaborated with the University of California, Berkeley’s Technology and Infrastructure for Emerging Regions (TIER) research group to deploy a cellular network in rural Papua, Indonesia.
The network connects more than 140 users within a maximum 5 kilometer radius and was deployed for one-tenth the price of traditional network equipment, according to Range. Range emphasizes its products low power consumption, and this network runs on power from a small hydroelectric generator that produces about 5,000 watts. The village, which is a four-hour drive from the nearest town with cellular service, now has both voice and SMS service. VSAT is used to provide backhaul for global SMS. After two months of successful operation, the network is profitable and helps fund a local school, the company said.
David Burgess, CEO of Range Networks, said that “underserved markets in the U.S. and around the world are looking for solutions that provide affordable, reliable and easy-to-deploy cellular network equipment. We now offer a product suite that enables public carriers to extend their existing networks to rural regions where it was not previously economically feasible.”
Watch a video interview with Range’s Burgess here.
Lemko Corp., which specializes in virtualized core network OS for enterprise, launched its LTE Enterprise Cell solution, which it is marketing as a better solution to indoor coverage than Distributed Antenna Systems or Wi-Fi. The company is tapping into several of the biggest trends in IT and wireless right now: Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networking. The company says that its virtualized, no-core IT approach enables NFV and abstracts the various pieces of the network, forming an SDN that allows carriers to offer “LTE as a service” and encourage businesses to utilize in-building spectrum, while directing backhaul to the existing enterprise LAN and the Internet. The company claims that its solution “transforms the highest cost per GB per MHZ POP market to the highest profit per GB per MHZ POP market.”
Norman Fekrat, chief strategy and revenue officer for Lemko Corp., said that the enterprise cell solution “enables the monetization of spectrum that would have otherwise been offloaded to unlicensed Wi-Fi, which has considerable challenges and issues in complex enterprise environments. … Engineering mobility to be an IT solution enables system integrators and other SaaS/cloud companies to begin offering Small Cell as a Service on behalf of carriers at much lower cost points.”
Wireless mesh networking company Firetide Inc. has a new president and CEO: John McCool, formerly CTO and SVP of Cisco’s Global Enterprise Segment, where he led the “borderless networks” initiative, which accounted for one-third of Cisco’s $46 billion sales in fiscal 2012.
“The demand to connect advanced sensors, control equipment and video to the Internet in industrial environments is surging,” said McCool. “This represents a rare opportunity for any company that can lead in delivering next-generation mesh networks that provide high-bandwidth and low-latency connectivity to both fixed and mobile assets. I think Firetide is that company.”
In an email to Firetide customers and partners, McCool said that in his 30 years of experience with helping customers with networking and mobile technologies for business growth, he “saw a number of segments in our industry undergoing major transitions, foremost among them mobile and wireless infrastructure. I came away impressed by how important and relevant wireless mesh technology was in all these areas and how it can support new applications and services.”
