Federated Wireless, a wireless tech company working with operators such as Charter Communications and Comcast, said it intends to accelerate the deployment of Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS)-based platforms using a new partner program that’s focused on fostering product integration and interoperability across multiple suppliers.
Federated Wireless said the free, new partner program will enable equipment makers focused on CBRS to automate “critical” functions as they integrate with the company’s Wireless Spectrum Controller, including onboarding, testing and support. Heading up Federated Wireless’s dedicated support team for the new partner initiative is Emer Marchetti, the company’s VP of solutions development and operations.
Example of vendors that are already on board with the new partner program include Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung Electronics America, Huawei, Askey Computer Corp., Airspan Networks, ZTE, Telrad Networks, Cambium Networks, and Ruckus Wireless, the wireless/mobile technology company acquired by Arris late last year.
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Program participants get as set of materials that includes training modules, a user guide, Federated Wireless Spectrum Controller product documentation, release notes, a feature guide and API documentation. Federated Wireless believes that that program will enable OEMs to move from quickly from initial onboarding to interoperability testing to commercial deployment, when FCC certification is completed.
Federated Wireless’s new program is emerging as mobile carriers, cable operators and others start to fixate plans involving a 150 Megahertz-wide swath of what will become shared-use CBRS spectrum that lives in the 3.55 Gigahertz to 3.7 GHz range.
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It’s been an underutilized asset (the U.S. Navy taps into it for flight operations for aircraft carriers, for example), but will soon be opened up to a broader range of use cases, including enhancing services that currently use licensed spectrum. Cable operators are also eyeing it as a wireless data options that can complement their MVNO agreements and offset or lower some of the network costs associated with mobile service.
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Federated Wireless launched its product commercially last October in the form of a cloud-powered spectrum controller/platform that ensures that new apps and use cases do not interfere with incumbents that are also using the CBRS band.
Iyad Tarazi, Federated Wireless’s president and CEO, estimates that his company is currently involved in about 30 trials that are processing about 250,000 transactions per day.
As the number of trials and companies involved continue to rise, so has the need to provide another level of automation to help manage this growing ecosystem, Tarazi said of the new partner program.
Some service providers, for example, are looking for a certain number of OEM to be compliant and integrated while also keeping pace with their roadmaps, and have a let up when
Automating that interoperability process will help those vendors integrate faster while also keep pace with changes, Tarazi said.
Federated Wireless intends to demo its new partner program at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which gets underway on February 26.
