T-Mobile, the mobile arm of Deutsche Telekom, Ubiquisys and Huawei Technologies have signed a MoU to conduct femtocell Interoperability Testing (IOT) at T-Mobile’s labs over the next six months.
The companies said that the interoperability tests will involve Femtocells from both Ubiquisys and Huawei, which will communicate using the 3GPP’s new Iuh standardised open interface. They will be connected to a Huawei Femto gateway into T-Mobile’s core network.
The partnership paves the way for operators to select standards-based Femtocells and Femto gateways from multiple vendors, and they will be compatible with each other and their core networks, the companies said.
Klaus-Jurgen Krath of T-Mobile said: “We are active members of the Femto Forum and the standards bodies, we have completed comprehensive femtocell trials with Ubiquisys and Huawei, and we have made a strategic investment in Ubiquisys. These IOT-tests will demonstrate for the first time that femtocell interoperability is becoming a reality.”
Will Franks, CTO and founder of Ubiquisys, said: “To reach their full market potential, Femtocells must be more like mobile phones – interchangeable with the network they connect to. As a pioneer in this industry, we designed our Femtocell from day one to connect to multiple Femto gateways, ready for the introduction of a 3GPP standardised interface. We are delighted to be working with T-Mobile and Huawei to demonstrate the huge potential of femtocell interoperability.”
