Verizon to use Ericsson's RS6000 software base station

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Verizon to use Ericsson's RS6000 software base station

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 12 May, 2009

READ MORE: Ericsson | Verizon

Two of the key trends in mobile infrastructure are multi-standard base stations, and more compact designs that can be installed in a wider range of locations, even those that are hard to access. Pioneers like Vanu led the way, and then giants like Nokia Siemens with the Flexi range, and ZTE with its four-standard software defined product, charged in. Now Verizon Wireless is to be the first tier one carrier to receive Ericsson's RS6000 offering, its so-called 'cell site in a box', which is software upgradeable between GSM, EDGE, W-CDMA/HSPA and eventually LTE.

Verizon is coming from the CDMA side, of course, so will deploy the base station primarily for its low cost, low power advantages, says Telephony, although Ericsson says an as-yet unnamed HSPA operator already has the product in the field and is using its software-defined capabilities for multiple network support.

The RS6000 debuted at Mobile World Congress, when NSN also added LTE to Flexi and ZTE announced that Hong Kong's largest GSM operator, CSL, was using its software-defined base stations to build out an integrated 2G/3G all-IP network that can be software upgraded to HSPA+ and eventually LTE.

Ericsson's platform consists of a single cabinet, with common components for all the radio standards. The selected baseband technology is loaded as a software module, on its own or alongside other radios. The Swedish vendor will have to work particularly hard to impress Verizon, given that it is a new supplier to the cellco, and the other LTE provider is Alcatel-Lucent, which adopted a software-defined approach years ago, particularly geared to migrating CDMA2000 operators to LTE (though it also promises migration from HSPA).

Ericsson says the RS6000 comes in macro and micro variants and has the processing power of 150 PCs, plus it is more compact and eco-friendly than its rivals, the firm claimed at its recent Capital Markets Day.