picoChip participates in the first femtocell plugfest

Standardized femtocells will provide operators and consumers with a wider range of products to choose from and help drive the economies of scale required for high volume. With this in mind the plugfest was set up to test the effectiveness of the 3GPP femtocell standards in supporting interoperability between femtocell access points and network equipment from different vendors. The objective of the plugfest is to help ensure that there is a consistent interpretation of the standard.



“picoChip is delighted to have participated in such a pivotal event for our industry, and to have seen such success in interoperability testing,” said Nigel Toon, CEO at picoChip. “As the leader in femtocell baseband, it is not surprising that the majority of the access points that participated in plugfest used picoChip silicon. Having an agreed set of standards with proven interoperability is absolutely crucial for a successful mass-market deployment. This has been proven with other technologies such as DSL, cable modem & Wi-Fi and the logic of standardization is every bit as compelling to ensure a viable mass-market in femtocells.”



“The history of cellular is littered with companies that had extremely promising proprietary technologies but failed to achieve widespread adoption. Put simply, the mobile operator community does not embrace non-standardized technologies. The development of the 3GPP femtocell standard was momentous, but verification of the standard is required to enable mass-market deployment. Through the plugfest we are now a vital step closer to that target,” said Simon Saunders, Chairman of the Femto Forum.



Adrian Scrase, Head of ETSI’s Mobile Competence Centre, remarked, “I’m delighted that the Femto Forum partnered with ETSI for this significant event. The availability of the 3GPP NodeB (femtocell) specifications has encouraged the development of products that this interoperability event has been able to test. The results will not only provide confidence to the participating companies, they bring vital feedback to the standardization process. The event is therefore a critical part of the route to mass-market success for standardized femtocell solutions for 3GPP-based mobile networks.”



In addition to picoChip, other companies involved in the plugfest were; Ablaze Wireless, Acme Packet, Airvana, Alcatel-Lucent Telecom, Alpha Networks, Askey Computer Corporation, C&S Microwave, Cisco Systems Inc, Contela, Continuous Computing, Genband, Huawei, IntelliNet Technologies, ip.access, Kineto Wireless, NEC, Node-H, Nokia Siemens Networks, Technicolor, TRaC Global and Ubiquisys.