Magic boxes, amazing toolkits and long haul tails empowering small cells backhauling

By Elias Aravantinos

Cost effective solutions and future radios planning in respect to NGMN guidelines and not only were discussed during the 2-days event of Packet Microwave and Backhaul Forum organized in London by Layer 123. Backhaul remains a commercial and technical challenge, where many intelligent solutions could be provided reserving simplicity as Everything Everywhere (EE) highlighted. Operators and vendors had the chance to exchange concerns, identify issues and solutions to push mobile backhaul and small cells further down the road. All technologies were discussed and debated, from Point-to-Point (PtP) and Point-to-multipoint (PmP) to NLOS (Non-Line-of-sight) and high performance V-band and E-band solutions. The products exhibition helped the attendees to get a better idea of form factors, size and feel but also look into some demo data as presented from the big microwave players such as Alcatel-Lucent and NEC. Even North American vendors were actively participating such as Bridgewave and Aviat Networks.

Huawei presented its brand new E-Band solution, expected to be launched even earlier this year, a full outdoor radio performing a throughput of up to 2.5 Gbps, (over 250 MHz channels), which will be further improved to a fiber-like capacity of 10 Gbps or higher. It is ideal to support ‘pipe’ channel or similar capacity demanded situations. It attracted lots of attention and expected to have an impact to the industry till the upcoming WMC in February 2013. 

Other vendors, exhibited also their millimeter wave radios, such as Sub10, SIAE and Siklu. Traditional PMP vendors, Cambridge Broadband Networks and Intracom Telecom presented also small cells solutions, with the latter getting some more attention on the new concept, the ‘WiBAS metro node’ solution for small cells backhauling introducing a single piece of equipment for a single band. Perhaps some joint force is needed to prove the PmP business case, because just the ‘less equipment’ argument might not be enough anymore from an industry’s voice perspective. Big vendors like Alcatel Lucent continue to examine the PmP technology investigating other vendors’ solutions, looking into partnerships as in the past they did with CBNL for a customer’s request. This time though is looking more intensively into Radwin’s radios that seem to have a better fit and a partnership could be possible along pre-defined terms.

Along news concepts was also CommScope, a well-respected antenna producer (300,000 units per year) holding more than 50% of backhaul traffic, thinking beyond class 4 antennas – which allows better use of ACM - to flat antennas, could even called class 5 that could gain more than 84% in efficiency within a cost of a couple of hundreds of dollars. Bluwan as always was there discussing millimeter wave PMP with their brand new CTO but also BlinQ Networks discussing sub 6 GHz NLOS solutions and a comparison TCO case study, expecting to play a key role in the toolkit approach. However although these two companies have completed a series of trials, there is still no proof, case studies or articles on discussing the results in an either technical or business approach.

Thus all these small factors magic boxes, with all this continuous reengineering and strict guidelines and performances are looking for some light in the end of the tunnel, revenues, when today the mall cells volume still remains in a few thousands level . High density areas will expect to form ecosystems hosting a toolklit approach, where several technologies could co-exist (i.e PmP and 60GHz etc) in order to achieve the best performance and cost effective sites. QoS, QoE, capacity and coverage could definitely be the drivers to that. Additionally, the new innovative services, M2M and cloud might also ask for high performance networks.

A few cases studies were presented trying to coin the small cell economics with some cost and ratio analysis between the macro and microcell level.  A 1:11 or 1:5 ratio could be possibly a good guess, in a macro-to-micro ratio, with the small cells in the near future to follow a 10-20% of the macrocells’ cost, as EE mentioned. The small cells locations would need additional planning to capture as much traffic as they can. Definitely, anyone could argue with these numbers but we are still in the early stages of small cells backhauling and deployment, expected to pick up by mid-2014. The big argument is that if the macrocells are 25% utilized, how much will be the small cells? If we take as an example the city of London, tons of people go in and out the city daily for work. In that sense, traffic will appear in bursts, where the small cells radios might remain idle overnight. That’s a good reason to make the operators align only into low cost solutions for small cells, satisfying certain peaks during the day.

Long haul solutions are also of high interest, especially the effort to migrate whole networks first to SDH and later to packet traffic. Ceragon, the microwave specialist, is digging “Terabit on the beach”, in Africa, mentioning that long haul networks could offer reduced TCO and spectral efficiency. However long haul is not the major operators concern these days, but in a recent microwave applications survey, short haul was is the top (90%) and PmP in the bottom (20%) of the list.

Some issues that still need to be clarified are: what is packet microwave for millimeter wave, for small cells and what are the differences and concerns. Small cells definition given, “low power cells (0.5 – 5W) within an urban clutter”, but is that enough? What are the installation economics and engineering of the site, where and how does ‘the man with the ladder’ fit in and the repeatable process of deploying 20 small cells along a street in a couple of hours or even in a few days as MLL, a UK network operator mentioned. On the other hand it’s difficult to forecast IP traffic due to its large fluctuation, thus robust bandwidth provisioning is needed.

Automated solutions seemed to start shaping a new landscape, as ‘zero touch’ provisioning for scalable rollout, mobility management, SON and overall future intelligent backhaul level developments of stand-alone systems.  Advanced LTE could even change and improve any phase synchronization issues. Looking more into the future, even a 3^rd generation millimeter wave platform could address all the current TCO issues, satisfying all the technical requirements of small cells.

ExelixisNet.com, an independent analyst’s firm, covered the media part of the event, joining interesting discussions with vendors, operators and other analysts, identifying the need for ‘toolkit’ case studies for different cities that could be done either internally and more intensively like the one that EE is working on or externally with a three-part collaboration, operator, vendor and analyst.

PMP may solve the small cells challenge in the near future

Mobile operators around the world are watching the exponential growth of mobile data usage that demands solutions and a corresponding need for mobile backhaul infrastructure. Usually, the time consuming installation of fiber and its higher cost within urban environments, render traditional fiber backhaul impractical in many cases. Therefore, microwave presents a compelling cost-effective alternative. This is noticeably evident in the developed mobile broadband markets of EMEA and APAC, where carrier competition and increasing bandwidth use are strategic drivers.

Despite the dominant role of traditional point-to-point microwave (PTP) today due to the advantages of performance and capacity, there are many other viable solutions available to support the small cells and access network. For example, millimeter wave equipment could also a good alternative in the near future by solving the backhaul challenge. All outdoor point-to-multipoint (PMP) radios with carrier-grade capabilities are also expected to become a key asset for backhaul links between lamp posts and the sides of buildings where small cells will be installed. In principle, the carrier grade links will allow small cells connectivity via only one-hop in the backhaul and also re-use existing infrastructure, for example connect directly to the point of presence (PoP). Regarding savings, PMP links promise significant OpEx and CapEx reduction over PTP when deployed in medium to short distances, below 2.5km. However, the business case for small cells has yet to be fully demonstrated.

At the end of 2011, Maravedis Research sized the wireless point-to-multipoint (PMP) backhaul equipment revenues market at more than $1 billion by 2016, up from an estimated $200 million in 2011. Maravedis believes the overall PMP wireless backhaul market growth will kick-start in late 2013, driven by the increasing number of commercial LTE deployments combined with the small cell market escalation.

Today, there is a high level of PMP testing activity from operators with several projects running worldwide, anticipating the PMP solution's appeal and the small cells fit. Operators' focus on backhaul is driven by their need to identify new solutions that add more capacity. There were several discussions held on this topic during the recent backhaul event in Berlin at the 14^th Transport Networks for Mobile Operators (TNMO), an EMEA's leading specialist forum for mobile backhaul, RAN and core transport networking professionals.

Orange France (operator) and Intracom Telecom (vendor) intensively discussed the topic along with Bluwan and Siklu during the TNMO event. The operator admitted that PMP gains momentum, with improvements to the technology, cost reductions, evolution of RAN equipment to Ethernet interfaces, and small cell deployment. One of the difficulties that vendors and operators needed to overcome is to prove the PMP small cell business case which should be examined case by case. As Intracom Telecom believes, "there is no technology champion" for small cell backhauling and technology, synergies should be exploited to address effectively operator needs. France Telecom, that has a special focus on microwave (group networks are around 80 percent microwave based), grabbed the opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of PMP technology. There was a special weight on the pros; the spectrum license fees can make very significant savings, depending on the country, but also traffic type can affect aggregation efficiency (E1, Ethernet, Wi-Fi backhaul, etc). Furthermore, they highlighted ease to add new sites and the potential savings from reduced maintenance costs (less equipment and lower power consumption). In the cons, a potential item identified was that costs can vary significantly depending on the deployment scenario, green field or swap out. Overall, the operator was keen on the PMP technology, describing deployment and hardware challenges. Among the challenges which operators are facing is that All Outdoor/Zero footprint equipment is not always "Plug and Play." That includes cases with only optical traffic connections and separate power cables supported with non-standard PoE or no lightning protection if directly connected.

A very attractive PMP solution that was a good fit for operator's specs, was that presented by Intracom Telecom, the only vendor supporting both PTP at MW and millimeter bands as wells as PMP integrated transmission platforms. Specifically, the vendor proposed PMP backhaul for small cells following medium to short range (up to 2.5km) and Gigabit sector capacity (4Gb Base station), suggesting scalable and easy installation and dynamic bandwidth allocation per small cell. One of the best rated PMP solutions depending on spectrum availability and Line of Sight (LOS) presence was proposed for the 26/28 GHz frequency bands usually available in most countries. Among the main advantages is the backhaul optimization achievement but also a low-cost solution over the PTP, especially the technology synergies between PMP and E-Band that can achieve a complete mobile backhaul solution. Bluwan discussed a different solution in the 42 GHz presenting the PMP millimeter wave aspect aiming to add high capacity in the Gbps range. Intracom Telecom and Siklu agreed that the 60 GHz (unlicensed) solution is also one of the best rated for small cells with a very small form factor, low cost and higher capacities but also LOS with precise alignment.

In 2012, PMP vendors will continue improving products, testing and demos to prove the essence for more PMP links. More investment is expected to flow in order to accomplish that, but also new movers and shakers might arise driving strategic acquisitions. Competition will lead to higher microwave radio capacity, smaller footprints and efficient management capabilities that will become increasingly important in proving and winning large contracts with mobile operators--mainly in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America and even new markets such as Australia. Although PMP is not the dominant backhaul technology of today, it is expected to rise, playing an important role in the network in 2012 and beyond, supporting the evolution of small cells.

Source: Maravedis: PMP may solve the small cells challenge in the near future - FierceBroadbandWireless http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/maravedis-pmp-may-solve-small-cells-challenge-near-future/2012-06-01#ixzz1wdbyH8eC

Smallcelling LTE networks

Smallcelling the LTE networks?

As the LTE World Summit ended today many questions and takeaways are buzzing our heads from the discussions and experts’ opinions.

There were various statements on small cells but all agreed that small cells need to happen and assist on the capacity and forums like 3GPP, Small Cell Forum are setup to succeed and make small cells a reality

Although there is lots of discussion held on small cells around the 60GHz unlicensed band outdoor solution where small cells are expected to be deployed, in reality the truth might be different. When today about 80% of the mobile data traffic is generated between the residence and the enterprise, there is perhaps a small remaining percentage to consider and manage at the street level. How long the user will be travelling and what services will be using that will need capacity, most likely video is important but not crucial. That thought might lead us into an indoor solution pointing to a femtocell, which will cost almost nothing to the operator since power, transmission and hosting will be covered by the consumer. The cost might might be today around $80, but if companies like Cisco, Samsung even NEC seriously work on the electronics, might be even lower. It is really interesting, how Samsung was trying to position itself in the LTE and small cells due to thousands of deployments indoor and outdoor with KDDI in Japan. Today that LTE network is one of the fastest growing in the world and Samsung is expanding in Europe with an office, they just opened in the UK.

Enterprise networks is a different case, as the quality of service produced by macrocells is not acceptable, making HetNets a more attractive solution to support them. This kind of networks is asking for a high QoS and careful traffic handling.

When it comes to LTE and small cells, there are some recommendations to be further discussed or food for thought.

1. For the backhaul, incumbent is in a position to access fiber backhaul, then the regulator’s position is to set the rules of the game

2.More examination of the backhaul considerations, a crucial factor also in the LTE

3.Harmonized regulation, who can actually run a femto?

4. Identify the exact location of the traffic as close as you can, using the right tools to locate the traffic, available in the industry, as Newfield Wireless was presenting during the Summit

5. Today seems to be difficult to roll out hundreds of small cells; the level of the self-configuration devices need to be considered, optimizing the networks to help on this
6. The impact of devices, including support of advanced features, legacy devices, and time need to install small cells

7. Multivendor support, is an idea that big backhaul vendors such as Ericsson didn’t like, to use different macro and small cells vendor, expecting efficient coordination and interoperability between two layers. Standards are needed to clarify the landscape and make interoperability happen!

Other factors that are expected to contribute in the small cells could be the M2M growth especially due to the upcoming mHealth and its ecosystem’s evolution, trying to understand the management of all these devices. However it is well accepted that licensed spectrum could be inefficient when using M2M in a macro level.

Final note, small cells is still considered a learning process with some hype for operators and needs careful and clear messaging from vendors since it’s a case is different and ‘one technology does not fit all’.

PtP mobile backhaul will evolve into an $11B market by 2016

By Elias Aravantinos

As mobile operators invest heavily in 4G networks, they face the difficult task of choosing solutions that will allow them to seamlessly maintain their businesses during the transition to pure packet networks with microwave solutions. These solutions must be able to maintain enough capacity to ensure superb Quality of Experience (QoE) for end users as the demand for data consumption continues to grow.

Elias Aravantinos

During 2011, the microwave mobile backhaul industry managed to absorb the economic and financial crises across the different regions fairly well. Operators experienced the usual pressures from regulators and from shareholder expectations of growth but also from companies like Apple operating a mobile cloud that will very soon push the data networks to their limits. Operators also had to handle different types of traffic and flow and manage both the transport and application level at the same time. In addition to that balancing act, since customers are backhauled in the same networks with telecom operators, both capacity and security issues must be addressed.

The microwave vendors went through a rearming phase during 2011 with new or updated microwave products, trying to respond to operators' needs and different cases. Stiff competition continues among the big vendors, with Ericsson maintaining global market leadership but Huawei not far behind. Ericsson is taking advantage of its strong roots in the industry with no restrictions in the ANSI and ETSI market. The Chinese giant Huawei is competing in cost and packetized solutions, but unlike Ericsson, it is restricted in some regions, such as North America, when it comes to national or public safety projects. Alcatel-Lucent continues to offer the MPR 9500 platform, which combined with its advanced Lightradio solution, is still an attractive solution for some mobile operators for End to End (E2E) integration.

Most vendors have followed the trend that emerged in 2010 of supplying full outdoor solutions, incorporating small cells and E-Band frequency bands. Several vendors, including NEC, Aviat, Ceragon, Exalt and Intracom Telecom, have renewed their product portfolios to become more competitive in a number of areas. These include new frequency bands, adding 28 and 42 Ghz, 70/80Ghz and full outdoor solutions in 60Ghz for small cells. Carriers have a strong interest in higher modulation up to 2048 QAM and support of symmetric (FDD) as well as asymmetric (TDD) traffic in the E-band products. Huawei is planning to offer its E-band solution commercially by the end of 2012. NEC is still in the process of developing product lines to compete in cost and features with currently leading vendors such as E-Band Communication and Siklu.

With respect to small cells, there is no "‘one size fits all'' technology expected to cover those cell sites. Rules and guidelines that should govern interference in neighboring small cells is still a hot topic discussed in the NGMN forum (Next Generation Mobile Networks). Opinions vary widely on the minimum distance necessary between small cells to avoid interference from as little as 50 to as much as 300 meters, though a consensus seems to be forming around 200 meters as a generally safe standard."

Point-to-Point is a choice where spectrum is available, sub 6 Ghz and 60Ghz with E-band. The number of 60 GHz links that will backhaul small cells is estimated to grow by a CAGR of 70% between 2011 and 2016, based on Maravedis' analysis and findings. WiFi will not be used for backhaul but rather for services. 2012 is the critical year for operators since most will be testing and shaping small cells solutions in anticipation of massive deployment by mid-2013. Small cells may not be deployed everywhere, but instead largely limited to high-density urban areas as an extension of macrocells to assist in peak hour data demand. However, all-outdoor microwave radios tend to be in one very compact, pole-mountable integrated unit with a small form factor. Almost all microwave vendors either are offering this already or are working towards it.

In Maravedis' recent report, the third edition of Wireless Backhaul Market from an All-IP Perspective, the analysis concluded that during 2011, the PtP microwave backhaul market remained flat compared with 2010 at  $4.72 billion, although vendors experienced changes in market shares. However, over the next five years, the Ethernet microwave market will continue to grow, mainly driven by the need for operators to deploy new base stations to provide good quality of experience over LTE networks.

Going forward, 2012 should continue to exhibit positive growth over 2011, with a likely 10-15 percent increase of the total industry's revenue growth two digit increase. The year began quite well for many vendors such as E-Band Communications and Bridgewave, either with new projects or new rounds of funding, promising growth throughout the year. Dragonwave will very soon increase its market share, streamlining its microwave gear after acquiring the NSN mobile backhaul division. As soon as this deal clarifies and becomes official, Dragonwave will be able to combine its pure packet with new hydrid products and create more appealing solutions for large mobile operators. As in 2011, the vendors will try to pitch the operators before they even put together an RFI for backhaul, trying to promote their full networking portfolios and solutions.

Microwave tends to be a good and reasonably priced alternative solution to support demand for capacity where fiber is not available. Most products are becoming more efficient and innovative, supporting the latest Ethernet features and capabilities, including OAM and synchronization, proving that product roadmaps will continue to enhance the hardware and equipment. Some vendors prefer to use their own chipsets (system on a chip) in order to control unit cost and avoid supplier dependence and related headaches.

Zero-footprint microwave radios will be the main market driver, with demand remaining for hybrid traffic, but shipments of pure packet radios are expected to grow close to a double rate per year. Higher modulation is expected to maintain a network's robustness, targeting not that much on the connection's availability but on the service's capacity. From 256 QAM to 1024 QAM, the gain is 25 percent in capacity. Likewise, as the modulation goes higher with NEC's recent announcement of 2048 QAM, the gain is 10 percent in capacity per step, but that modulation is not the industry's average or the operators' demand. Operators mostly seem to be satisfied with 1024 QAM, depending on the channel's size (56MHz) or the distance they are trying to cover in that modulation (short haul).

The microwave radio's capacity, footprint, and management capabilities will continue to play a major role not only in winning large deployments, as Ceragon recently did, but also in controlling and managing data expansion. Mobile backhaul will receive more investment and attention as more LTE deployments evolve and small cells start early deployments, resulting into a more than $11 billion total market by 2016.  

Elias Aravantinos is a senior analyst specializing in Backhaul at Maravedis.

www.maravedis-bwa.com

Source: Fierce Broadband Wireless http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/maravedis-ptp-will-evolve-11b-market-2016/2012-05-03#ixzz1twH7J56B