Promotes and delivers MulteFire, an LTE-based technology for small cells operating solely in unlicensed spectrum
The MulteFire Alliance, an independent, international member-driven consortium, will host a launch event on February 23 at Mobile World Congress, to share details of its growing industry momentum and specification development. The MulteFire Alliance promotes and delivers MulteFire, an LTE-based technology for small cells operating solely in unlicensed spectrum for enhanced performance in local area network deployments.
Alliance members will demonstrate MulteFire technology on the show floor. In addition, Athonet, Baicells, Boingo Wireless, Casa Systems, Ruckus Wireless and SpiderCloud Wireless have joined board-level members Ericsson, Intel, Nokia and Qualcomm in the Alliance.
Said Peter Jarich, vice president for consumer and infrastructure services at research firm, Current Analysis: “Innovation around LTE operating in unlicensed spectrum has reached a fever-pitch, driven by demand for additional capacity, coverage and performance, especially in dense environments such as large enterprises or packed stadiums. Introduced less than a year ago, the progress that MulteFire has made is truly impressive.
“It’s also a testament to the promise of LTE operating solely in unlicensed spectrum; the expansion of LTE’s performance benefits to new and established wireless providers, as well as companies and organisations delivering wireless access to large numbers of employees or customers. MulteFire, with the backing of diverse industry leaders, stands to deliver on this promise.”
The MulteFire Alliance technical specification group is developing the MulteFire specification based on 3GPP Release 13 and Release 14 advancements, including downlink and uplink in unlicensed spectrum.
MulteFire is designed to initially operate in 5 GHz unlicensed bands and coexist with other technologies using the same spectrum. MulteFire can also act as a neutral host to serve multiple entities or deliver provider-specific services at enterprises, venues and small businesses. The Alliance plans to provide interoperability, conformance and coexistence specifications and to enable conformance testing to ensure a robust and interoperable ecosystem.
MulteFire is designed to initially operate in 5 GHz unlicensed bands and coexist with other technologies using the same spectrum. MulteFire can also act as a neutral host to serve multiple entities or deliver provider-specific services at enterprises, venues and small businesses. The Alliance plans to provide interoperability, conformance and coexistence specifications and to enable conformance testing to ensure a robust and interoperable ecosystem.
Commented Stephan Litjens, MulteFire Alliance board chair and head of innovation steering at Nokia: “The MulteFire Alliance is committed to developing a technology designed to meet global unlicensed band regulations, including Listen-Before-Talk features required in regions such as Europe and Japan, for a truly global reach. Our members are taking great care to ensure that MulteFire technology will harmoniously coexist with other technologies in unlicensed spectrum bands.
“We’re pleased to welcome a diverse set of new members to the MulteFire Alliance that reflects how MulteFire expands the LTE ecosystem and will bring new wireless connectivity options for coverage and performance to end users,” added Litjens.
