Cisco outlines LTE strategy
WiMAX immersed vendor says 4G not an either/or decision
By Cisco Subnet on Tue, 09/15/09 - 6:49pm.
Despite its immersion in WiMAX as a strategic 4G offering via the Navini Networks acquisition and deep involvement with Clearwire, Cisco also plans to play in the LTE space -- no doubt due to the selection of LTE by deep-pocketed customers Verizon and AT&T for their 4G buildouts.
Cisco claims to be "LTE ready" today by offering a mobile gateway on its 7600 series routers by way of the Service and Application Module for IP (SAMI). But they will not be LTE gateway capable until LTE-specific software is available for it. Kittur Nagesh, senior director of Worldwide Service Provider marketing at Cisco, would not say when that will be but he added that it will be in early field trials with mobile operators late this year.
A download site for the software is already on Cisco.com.
Cisco also plans to offer an "LTE readiness assessment service" to integrate its gateway with a packet data node (PDN) and mobility management entity (MME), the control plane for radio access. Nagesh says Cisco will supply the LTE gateway and PDN (7600 router) as well, but rely on third-party LTE RAN vendors for the MME. The result will be a "single, unified LTE solution" pulled together by Cisco, Nagesh says: "We won't just go as a (LTE) gateway."
Nagesh says Cisco's interest and imminent involvement in LTE does not conflict with its immersion in WiMAX. "Our strategy is to be radio aware, or agnostic," he says.
This may also bleed over into Cisco's femtocell strategy. Cisco is currently piloting a femtocell "solution" with major players, Nagesh says, and that we should see an announcement soon on Cisco's overall strategy. He says it will mesh with the vendor's connected home/connected business initiatives to support unified communications, video and collaboration applications -- for example, a coverage augmentation for Cisco's WebEx Connect offering.
Nagesh shied away from disclosing which radio technology would be supported with Cisco's initial femto offering but did say that there's a "compelling reason for a 3G femto" and then extending it to new radio technologies "as they become popular."
But as far as a "boxing match" between WiMAX and LTE, Nagesh says that standoff was contrived by we in the media.
"We believe each technology has a role to play," he says. "WiMAX is ahead since it was built end-to-end IP. But Clearwire is building a lot of LTE capabilities even though the RAN is WiMAX.
"It doesn't matter if it's WiMAX or LTE on the RAN side. How will operators make money out of their spectrum assets? The challenge of figuring out the business model is still at play."
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Ericsson
Verizon and AT&T already going with Ericsson. Cisco will just pick up the crumbs.
lte and cisco
nice job on how the bets are being hedged by Cisco - bringing the news they already have LTE-ready gear to go - Clearwire, and by association Sprint, is also betting on LTE, we will soon see, and nice to point out that LTE will have the economies of scale since the big boys have jumped in and said they are using LTE
wrong
sorry, sprint is backing wimax not LTE. Please get your facts straight
The total LTE infrastructure market
"We have heard about every possible partnership for AT&T’s LTE network and decided to map out upcoming RFPs, suppliers and recent 100 GigE announcements (Exhibit III, RFP Watch). In a nut shell, it is obvious that LTE has sparked investment in 100 GigE networks. Our industry sources indicate Verizon plans to have 100 GigE infrastructure in place by 2H10, with RFPs released later this year. We can’t help but notice that in the past three months, Juniper, Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei have all announced availability of their 100 GigE interface cards."
Trebnick continued, "Juniper - Announced the T1600 100-Gbit/s interface on a router. (Verizon)
"Alcatel-Lucent - Announced the 7750 routers will have 100 GigE interfaces by mid 2010
"Huawei - Announced NetEngine router will have a 100 GigE port by mid 2010
"Ericsson - Hasn’t formally announced their 100 GigE plans for the Smartedge and Converged Packet Gateway
Trebnick added, "Alcatel-Lucent - EPC is centered around its 7750 service router which is a purpose-built ATCA platform. The Serving (SGW) and Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateways hardware and software modules are designed to plug into the 7750 service router. The 7750 platform will host the MME and PCRF, which is needed for control over bandwidth, charging and network usage. Historically, ALU has supplied core network equipment through partnerships with Cisco and Starent in 3G builds.
"Ericsson - EPC is centered on the Redback platform with SGW and PDG hardware and software modules. Industry sources indicate the MME is server based. Historically, ERIC has partnered with Juniper for 3G networks.
"Juniper - Our sources indicate Juniper will get some of the backhaul business at AT&T. However, that said, Juniper has not capitalized as well as they could have in the LTE segment (New CEO, economic meltdown, focus on enterprise etc.) The company has had to scramble and our industry contacts indicate the company is partnering with Starent for AT&T LTE. Depending on how AT&T LTE network is architected, Juniper routers could handle layer 1 and 2 and Starent the integration functions. We believe Juniper has PDN Gateway back on the product roadmap at this time.
"Cisco - EPC solutions consist of a LTE gateway and PDN (7600 router) and third-party LTE RAN suppliers for the MME. The PDN is based on 7600 router with a Services and Application Module for IP (SAMI) platform. The company is also offering 'LTE readiness assessment service' which provides for integration of the LTE elements.
"Huawei – EPC solutions include a USN (MME and PCRF functions) and UGW (includes the Serving and PDN gateways). Huawei LTE radio access is based on its fourth-generation DBS3900 base station platform, which is the same platform it uses for GSM, UMTS (3G), CDMA, and WiMAX base stations.
"The packet structure, 'the IP part of LTE' is called 'Evolved Packet Core' (EPC). The EPC is an all-IP, end-to-end architecture for supporting mobile access networks The EPC has four subcomponents: Mobility Management Entity (MME), Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), Serving Gateway and Packet Data Network Gateway.
UMTS/ LTE/CDMA Migration to LTE/SAE Architecture
------------------------------------------------
Sincerely,
Brad Reese on Cisco
Network World Cisco Subnet
BradReese.Com Cisco Refurbished
Cisco had to scramble and
Cisco had to scramble and industry contacts indicate the company is launching their joint ventures with Starent for AT&T LTE.lets see that how the AT&T LTE network is architected.LTE will be really beneficial in bringing the economies of sale for Cisco.Regards from:strategy games
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