IntelliNet Technologies Pioneers Standardized Femtocell Gateway

IntelliNet Technologies today announced the availability of its femtocell gateway which is designed to the recently published 3GPP standard. The new standard, which is included in the 3GPP's Release 8, allows for the interoperability of femtocell access points and gateways from different vendors.

Femtocells are small wireless base stations that are intended for use in the home or office. They connect to the wireless operator's network through the subscriber's broadband Internet access. Their value to subscribers is improved indoor coverage, while the operators get the benefit of offloading traffic from their macro network.

"Prior to this standard each vendor had a unique interface between the access point and the network," said Anjan Ghosal, president and CEO of IntelliNet Technologies. "Now network operators can select equipment from multiple vendors just as they do today for mobile phones and data devices. This will help to control cost and encourage innovation."

IntelliNet announced the availability of a pre-standards femtocell gateway earlier this year. The Wireless Services Gateway gives service providers and wireless operators the ability to aggregate traffic to a large cluster of femtocells simultaneously. It provides a standard Radio Network Controller (RNC) appearance to the core network, thus minimizing the complexity and much of the operating cost of a traditional network. Unlike existing RNCs, it is designed to handle several thousands of access points in the femtocell ecosystem. Committed to the 3GPP standards, IntelliNet evolved the gateway to accommodate the newly defined Iuh interface. This interface defines the communication between the femtocell access point located in the subscriber's premises and the gateway in the network.

The new 3GPP standard also specifies a combination of security measures based on the IPsec (IP Security) protocols to authenticate the operator and subscriber and then guarantee the privacy of the data exchange. IntelliNet's Azaire™ Security Gateway fully supports these protocols.

"We are very pleased that IntelliNet Technologies has implemented the Iuh standard in their femtocell gateway," said Simon Saunders, Chairman of the Femto Forum. "Proving the new standard in the real world is vital to expanding the many femtocell operator trials taking place around the world into mass market commercial deployments."

"As an industry leader we are initiating an interoperability program with the femtocell access point vendors so we can jump start the market for standardized products," added Ghosal.

IntelliNet is exhibiting at the Femtocells World Summit in London, June 23 to June 25. IntelliNet is a corporate sponsor of the event, which is also sponsored by the Femto Forum and the 3GPP. IntelliNet will have technical representatives available to discuss the new products as well as to promote interoperability testing with Femtocell Access Point vendors.

About IntelliNet Technologies
IntelliNet Technologies provides network convergence technology and solutions to accelerate the deployment of next generation applications and services. We work with the telecom industry's leading network equipment providers and network operators to deliver high performance solutions customized for their needs. We offer broad applications coverage including core network technology enablers and protocols for mobility, messaging, location, charging and policy. Our convergence solutions include the femtocell gateway, IWLAN gateway and security gateway. Headquartered in Melbourne, Florida with development offices in Bangalore, India and Naperville, Illinois, IntelliNet solutions leverage technical excellence and intellectual property across legacy and next generation applications to shorten time-to-market, reduce costs, increase flexibility and minimize risk. IntelliNet is a member of the Femto Forum. For more information please visit: http://www.intellinet-tech.com.