Tatara and picoChip Collaborate on SIP/IMS Femtocell Solution

A femtocell, also known as a 3G access point, is a low-cost, low-power cellular base station that provides improved indoor coverage while backhauling the cellular traffic over a broadband connection. Recent advances in low cost silicon technology make femtocells the most viable solution for convergence in service provider networks. Femtocells are designed to work with existing mobile handsets and can support multiple users in a home environment. Over the long-term, femtocells also present an opportunity to develop new mobile services for the home that take advantage of low-cost, high-speed internet access. According to ABI Research, there will be 102 million users of femtocell products on 32 million access points worldwide by 2011. The majority of these deployments will be based on the all-IP architecture.

While there are several legacy architectural approaches for deploying femtocell-based solutions, the all-IP architecture utilizes standard communication protocols (i.e., SIP) and interfaces directly with the IP-based core network. This allows service providers to immediately achieve the end-to-end cost and service advantages that only an all-IP approach can deliver rather than being constrained by the historical limitations of traditional radio access network based solutions. The all-IP approach provides all of the existing mobile services plus enhanced IP services, wireline service convergence, reduction in network cost, seamless evolution to IMS, and load reduction on the mobile core network.

“One of the key challenges in deploying femtocells is how the access point connects to the mobile operator’s core network. As operators move to an all-IP network, the Tatara architecture delivers an elegant way to achieve this connection in an efficient way. To help manufacturers develop femtocells that can be developed and deployed easily, the use of standard architectures and reference designs are essential”, commented Guillaume d’Eyssautier, CEO at picoChip.

The interface between the femtocell and the core network is key to widespread deployment of the all-IP solution. Tatara Systems and picoChip have agreed to work together to eliminate any barriers to entry for the all-IP solution, including standardization of the all-IP architecture, interoperability, and collaboration on a SIP/IMS reference design provided with picoChip’s industry-leading single-chip solutions. .

“Mobile operators universally agree that an all-IP approach to network integration delivers the true value of femtocells”, stated Steve Nicolle, President and CEO of Tatara Systems. “We are pleased to be working with a market leader like picoChip to enable that to happen day one.”