The Expanding & Converging Scope of DAS Industry Events

May 9th, 2013

Fresh off of the Big Celebration in the Big Apple to mark the completion of the First Phase of Transit Wireless’ multi-year plan to deliver cellular and Wi-Fi wireless communications in 277 underground stations within the New York City Subway, Team SOLiD roared into Las Vegas for the 6th Annual DAS & – now – Small Cells Congress where we talked shop at our solution showcase booth, presented with some of the industry’s leading thinkers on topics including small cell backhaul and emerging wireless communications strategies at stadiums, and socialized with customers, partners and peers.

What’s in a Name?

In addition to renaming this conference, PCIA’s DAS Forum announced at its recent DAS in Action event its new moniker: HetNet Forum.

Oy! As an industry, aren’t we still struggling with how to define a Small Cell? And now we’ve got to try and get our arms around HetNet?

(BTW, our friend Iain Gillott at iGR has recently published an interesting article on this very debate)

Actually, we’ve been citing the trend of convergence for some time now and so it’s only natural that these organizations broaden their scope.

Nonetheless, the industry is engaging in compelling discourse ranging from venerable editors such as Light Reading‘s Dan Jones who predicts 2013 to be the year of the small cell to industry experts such as iBwave’s Mario Bouchard who views small cells still as an industry buzzword.

To this debate, we say, “Bravo!” It’s good for the industry.

Tackling Timely Topics

We had the privilege to present and moderate two amazing and insightful panels.

SK Telecom, Ericsson, Small Cells Forum and iGR shared emerging trends during the “Fronthaul: The New Paradigm for Enabling the HetNet” panel.

Their consensus echoes what Jennifer Pigg at Yankee Group describes as a “Machiavellian” approach to backhaul. Specifically, while operators care deeply about RAN, if backhaul could be done with bailing wire and chewing gum, they’d do it.

Bottom line, our panel characterized backhaul as the elephant in the room for which there will never be too much capacity.

Not to be outdone, our second panel assembled each stakeholder in a stadium wireless deployment including the wireless operator (AT&T), venue owner (Minnesota Twins), neutral host (InSite Wireless), integrator (CSI, now Goodman Networks) and OEM (SOLiD) to explore “Bringing the Home Game Day Experience to the Stadium.” We’ve blogged in the past that stadiums represent a unique challenge to wireless networks and it’s only getting more difficult to address.

The challenge? Overcoming spectrum constraints and building an economic model to enable the ultimate fan experience. And provide public-safety coverage, too.

The solution – according to the panel – is a wireless “gumbo” that consists of RAN, DAS and Wi-Fi; an infrastructure “roux” of cabling that scales for future network and antennae optimization and emerging technologies; and a benefits “garnish” that delivers analytics, loyalty programs and quality of experience.

(Okay, so we’ve been busted… we’re still reminiscing over the gumbo at Emeril’s Delmonico Steakhouse!)

The panel suggests that professional sports leagues will over time set the wireless technology roadmap for the game day experience.

All Work and No Play…

Our friends at iBwave inverted the proceedings this year scheduled their annual User Group and Cocktail Party to fall on the eve of the conference. So perhaps that explains the quiet start to the first morning?

Mario, Nathalie and Co. throw a great party! Check out their blog and photos.

And on Tuesday, SOLiD enjoyed the good company of our carrier, partner and industry friends at Koi. Sorry competitors (smiles).

So, until next year. Although we strongly suspect we’ll see some familiar faces once again in Las Vegas at CTIA in two weeks!

Your Turn

Tell us what you heard at DAS & Small Cells Congress (or DAS in Action) that you found to be truly interesting in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!

Fronthaul Panel featuring SK Telecom, iGR's Iain Gillott, Small Cell Forum's Andy Germano, Ericsson's Stefan Calmerman and SOLiD CTO Saeed Anwar

 

The Hip DAS Experts of SOLiD

 

SOLiD Cocktail Party at Koi

 

Schmoozing at Koi

 

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Wireless Service in the Subway is Big News in the Big Apple

April 28th, 2013

Last Thursday, we joined New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and Interim Executive Director Thomas F. Prendergast of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) plus executives from Transit Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile USA and Boingo Wireless to celebrate the launch of cellular and Wi-Fi service in 36 underground stations of the New York City Subway.

Check out the video coverage here and here; and online coverage here, here and here.

Even crooner Michael Bublé got in on the action!

The event was held in one of the stations at Times Square and marked the completion of the first phase of a multi-year plan to deliver wireless communications in 277 stations.

Transit Wireless owns and operates the subway station wireless communications network and acts as a neutral host for extending a variety of wireless carrier services to NYCTA’s more than 1.6 billion riders annually.

SOLiD’s Distributed Antenna System (DAS) equipment was selected by Transit Wireless in 2012 for the project.

Here’s a highlight of quotations and photos (we’ll share more soon):

“This goes beyond providing cell service underground. It brings our customers a new level of security – with the ability to dial 911 in an emergency,” said Governor Cuomo. “Customers now know that when they see something, they can now say something using their device to call 911. And now with all the major carriers on board, the vast majority of MTA customers will have the ability to do so.”

 

“The MTA has been on a clearly defined mission to bring our mass transit system into the 21st century with upgrades to the station environment through several ambitious new-technology communications projects like this one, aimed at improving the travel experiences of our customers while offering another level of security,” said MTA Interim Executive Director Thomas F. Prendergast.

 

“The New York City subway system is one of the most heavily trafficked systems in the world and now riders have wireless service,” said William A. Bayne Jr., CEO of Transit Wireless. “This network benefits not only riders, but city workers and first responders, and it will be the backbone for future technology and safety improvements to the city’s subway stations.”

 

“We are thrilled to mark the completion of Phase 1 which brings cellular and Wi-Fi service to 36 New York City Subway system stations,” said Seth Buechley, President of SOLiD. “We look forward to our continued collaboration with Transit Wireless to provide New Yorkers the same level of wireless service underground as they enjoy above-ground.”

 

ABC's Times Square Studios

 

ABC's Times Square Studios

 

ABC's Times Square Studios

 

Base Station Hotel

 

 

Your Turn

Have you used the service yet? How was it? Let us know in the comments below.

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The Wireless Industry’s Not So Well-Kept Secret

April 11th, 2013

Photo: val.pearl

The not so well-kept secret within the wireless industry is that the wireless technicians who install multi-million dollar Distributed Antenna System (DAS) networks often do not possess the necessary basic skillsets to successfully deploy them.

And it’s causing not only headaches for building owners, carriers, DAS OEMs, integrators and installers; it’s costing them big money as well.

Economics 101

You know the law of supply and demand. Whether it’s Xbox, real estate or talent, a hot market drives demand which in turn affects supply.

As the wireless industry continues its migration toward upgrading wireless infrastructure to 4G technologies, the talent pool of well-qualified wireless technicians and RF engineers is increasingly becoming strained because these resources are spread across multiple projects.

So rather than turn away business, what happens? Those who are available get hired: junior or novice wireless technicians. And everyone hopes that it works out.

The justification is the legitimate concern of overhiring or losing investments in training should there be a work reduction.

ISO Skillsets

Fact is, most novice wireless technicians don’t possess the scientific principles of RF nor the pragmatic best practices required for In-Building Wireless coax and fiber compared with Cable TV or CAT 5 cable pulling.

But it’s not their fault. Most training schools do not provide education on wireless technology nor RF basics.

Thankfully that’s starting to change. Slowly.

Training & Certification Initiatives

There’s a conversation within the industry that’s steadily getting louder.

To whit, training and certification was the #1 topic of discussion among members of the DAS Forum during its Annual Meeting last September.

DAS Manufacturers and Integrators are starting to insist on basic RF “101-Level” training for field technicians. And they’re investing in training programs.

Carriers are similarly requiring best practice standards such as PIM Testing (a key topic during last week’s Verizon IBTUF). In effect, if installers want to dance with the carriers, they need to invest in PIM Testing equipment.

Visitors at SOLiD's Booth at CIBET II

The CIBET Initiative

Dr. Ken Baker and Phil Ziegler are addressing the need for RF 101 Training through CIBET (Certified In-Building Engineering Technologist Training).

Now in its second iteration, CIBET provides an introductory overview of topics in DAS science fundamentals, leading to more advanced training and certification for engineers and project managers. At the conclusion of either the Basic or Advanced RF Tracks, students sit for a certification exam and are awarded continuing education credits.

SOLiD has been a sponsor of CIBET since its inception. It’s been positive to see more participants this week in Atlanta than the first iteration held last September in Denver.

We’re similarly encouraged that industry vertical events such as next week’s ACUTA Annual Conference are also including DAS Training on their agendas.

SOLiD’s Role

In our last post, we shared that we’ve invested in a live demonstration showcase and SOLiD University™ training classroom for our customers and partners.

Our commitment is to create the gold standard for training and service excellence. The SOLiD training center vision is to provide hands-on, instructor-led training that utilizes the latest, proven training and retention techniques.

We’re excited to do our part to ensure that the people who install today’s sophisticated DAS networks are armed with the skillsets to deploy and manage them.

Your Turn

How is does RF training affect your business? Is the industry doing enough to address it? What are you doing to create best practices?

Let us know in the comments. Thanks!

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We’re Movin’ On Up!

April 1st, 2013

For most, the thought of moving is akin to having a root canal: it’s to be avoided it at all costs.

In an office move, there are many stressors and challenges in-between the time you shut down the former location and open the new facility.  Typically the drill looks like this… you close down on Friday afternoon and work all weekend to be ready for Monday morning.

It’s then that you discover that – oops – the security keycards won’t let the team into the office. The WiFi doesn’t work. The whiteboard for the conference room didn’t get installed. Or – horribile dictu – the Keurig didn’t get hooked up!

Not Us, We’re Psyched!

Not everyone gets to experience the unique privilege of being part of team that’s dynamically propelling the growth of a young company. Much less the thrill of moving from temporary, shared office space into a facility that’s been built-out and decorated just for their company.

Gone is the feeling you’re a guest in someone else’s house.

Instead, it’s our reception area. Our conference room. Our break room…

Heart of Silicon Valley

This morning, as we pulled up to 617 N. Mary Avenue in Sunnyvale, California, we’re pumped. It’s a new milestone for SOLiD.

(By the way, the move has gone swimmingly well!)

SOLiD U.S. Headquarters

We’re looking forward to embracing its creativity and energy. And becoming an active part of the community.

Stay tuned as we schedule an Open House once we get through our busy calendar of conference speaking and exhibition commitments.

Room to Grow

SOLiD’s U.S. Headquarters provides plenty of room for our local employees and other team members who will frequent the facility.

The building triples our former warehouse and logistical space! With an expanded area for system configuration and order fulfillment, we’ll continue to lead the industry by fulfilling orders within days, not weeks.

SOLiD Products are Warehoused On-Site

 

SOLiD DAS Solutions Enroute to a "Major League" Stadium Project

We’ve also invested in a live demonstration showcase and SOLiD University™ training classroom just for our customers and partners. Our commitment is to create the gold standard for training and service excellence. The SOLiD training center provides hands-on, instructor-led training that utilizes the latest, proven training and retention techniques.

SOLiD University Classroom

Your Turn

Have you participated in a similar move? Tell us about it!

SOLiD University Classroom Build-out Timeline

"Before"

 

Framework

 

Drywall's Going Up

 

Almost There

 

"After"

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A Different Vibe at the 2013 IWCE Conference

March 25th, 2013

EXPRESS PS at Tempest Telecom Booth

The resounding observation among attendees of the 2013 IWCE Conference was newfound “energy”.

Maybe it’s because in 2012 Las Vegas played host simultaneously to HIMSS and IWCE which siphoned off – or at least competed with – attendance at the public-safety and two-way radio technology event. But this year it seemed that IWCE attracted twice the number of attendees!

And with the combination of FirstNet initiatives and the industry push toward LTE public-safety communications, the event appears to be attracting new entrants who are bringing an information technologies (IT) outlook to radio frequency (RF).

Which is a good thing as the public-safety and cellular industries collaborate to ensure that mission-critical communications for first responders work both outdoors and indoors.

DAS (Finally) Gets its Due

Whereas in previous years solving the challenge of indoor public-safety communications was typically handled in a lone signal boosters session, the 2013 agenda hosted multiple sessions on DAS, small cells and interoperability communications not to mention backhaul. SOLiD and many members of the DAS Forum who are active within public-safety were on hand to participate on the educational sessions.

During the In-Building Wireless and DAS Fundamentals workshop, SOLiD’s President and Founder of the Safer Buildings Coalition – Seth Buechley – joined a panel of DAS OEMs and Integrators to explore industry trends and initiatives.

While public-safety communications has moved away from “fireman jacks” (where first responders used to plug in radios to building wiring) and instead to RF wireless coverage, the need for RF coverage extension remains.

The cellular industry solves these challenges through DAS. Which is why the Safer Buildings Coalition advocates for accommodating public-safety on the same in-building network that enables cellular.

Consolidation & Convergence

Increasingly building owners are being mandated to include public-safety coverage. Panelists suggest a trend of consolidation and convergence.

For instance, Seth Buechley asked if DAS is seen as the plumbing that delivers RF, shouldn’t cellular and public-safety be delivered on the same network?

Darlene Braunschweig (Tempest Telecom) likened today’s in-building public-safety market to the early days of neutral-host cellular DAS when building owners insisted on a single platform as opposed to having three systems installed by three different people.

Indeed, Tempest reports that the firm is seeing fewer public-safety only deployments.

And following the trend of convergence, Seth Buechley shared that a key initiative of Safer Buildings Coalition is to create and consolidate myriad cellular and public-safety standards bodies and integrator certification programs so as to ensure that the needs of both industries are satisfied to ensure mission-critical communications.

Look for more from Safer Buildings Coalition at the APCO Annual Conference & Expo.

Public-Safety Only DAS

Although the industry trend is toward a converged, neutral-host DAS platform for both cellular and public-safety, building owners will increasingly be on the hook to enable public-safety communications as local codes include coverage mandates.

To address this need, SOLiD launched its single system public-safety DAS – EXPRESS PS – at IWCE which was showcased in Tempest’s booth.

EXPRESS PS supports 700/800/UHF/VHF public-safety frequencies on a single system and provides coverage for public-safety and land mobile radio (LMR) communications services inside buildings.

Now Your Turn

Did you attend IWCE? What were your key takeaways?

SOLiD President & Safer Buildings Coalition Founder Seth Buechely at IWCE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A SOLiD (and Busy) Event Calendar

March 21st, 2013

Photo: agagen

The 2013 Industry Trade Show Season for SOLiD has started with a bang!

We’ve already racked up frequent flier miles in participating at Mobile World Congress (where we launched the GameChanger “Neutral-Host WiFi Offload solution with partner Stoke), the HTNG North American Conference (where hoteliers validated our Next-Generation Passive Optical LAN Fiber-to-the-Room solution as an emerging technology), HIMSS (laissez les bon temps roulez!) and IWCE (where SOLiD president and Safer Buildings Coalition founder Seth Buechley presented on solving the problem of public-safety radio coverage inside buildings and SOLiD-certified partner Tempest Telecom showcased the EXPRESS PS DAS with single system support for 700/800/UHF/VHF public-safety).

And to think it’s only March!

We’ve got a full calendar for the foreseeable future and look forward to seeing you out and about:

NYC In-Building Wireless Conference

SOLiD’s Dennis Rigney presents on the “New York City Subways Case Study: The World’s Largest Subway DAS + WiFi Network” panel. And Safer Buildings Coalition member Phil Ziegler presents on the “Public Safety and E911 Indoor Location Accuracy: The Ability to Locate Mobile Callers During An Emergency” panel.

IBTUF – VII

SOLiD returns to IBTUF-7 with an expanded portfolio of solutions designed to address Verizon’s current and near-term market requirements including the TITAN™ 20W Remote DAS Unit; INFINITY ACCESS™ for Small Cell Backhaul; the GameChanger™ neutral-host Wi-Fi Offload delivery infrastructure solution for stadiums; plus other product launch initiatives.

Visit the SOLiD booth (#113/5) to see the most innovative communications solutions on the planet.

(By invitation only)

CIBET II

SOLiD is proud to once again sponsor the CIBET Initiative. Founded by Phil Ziegler and Patrice McCloskey, CIBET provides a foundation of knowledge to the in building RF Engineering and Project Management communities. The success and feed back from the first CIBET Initiative has resulted in an expansion of the Basic Curriculum, creating branches into either a deeper technical track or a more program management oriented track. Students who successfully complete the CIBET Certification Test earn 3 Continuing Education Units.

ACUTA Annual Conference & Exhibition

SOLiD’s Dennis Rigney joins fellow DAS Forum members Tracy Ford (DAS Forum), David Fox (American Tower) and Lorna Slott (AT&T) on the “Impacts of BYOD on Higher Education” panel to explore wireless infrastructure trends for distributed antenna systems and other small cells on college campuses.The session will also cover the various approaches to deploying a DAS, including business models, and some of the technical challenges of deploying DAS indoors and outdoors.

DAS in Action

SOLiD’s Ken Sandfeld is joined by presenters from Sprint, Boingo and Tempest Telecom on the SOLiD-sponsored panel “The Wi-Fi Factor” to explore how the role of Wi-Fi in the greater wireless network is continually changing as wireless operators embrace the technology to augment their licensed spectrum. Hear about technology advances and changing business models that help solve coverage and capacity challenges facing wireless carriers.

DAS & Small Cell Congress

SOLiD leads panel discussions on two of the hottest topics in wireless!

During “Fronthaul: The New Paradigm for Enabling the Het-Net”, SOLiD CTO Saeed Anwar is joined by SK Telecom, Ericsson and analyst iGR‘s Iain Gillot to explore how wireless operators are (and will) deploy Small Cells and Remote Radio Heads to significantly change how LTE is delivered in densely populated areas.

Next, SOLiD’s President, Seth Buechley, leads a discussion on “Bringing the Home Game Day Experience to the Stadium” which includes DAS and WiFi deployment perspectives from the viewpoints of the wireless operator, stadium owner, third-party owner and integrator.

Be sure to visit the SOLiD booth (#217) for a look at some of the coolest DAS and Small Cell gear on the planet.

CTIA Wireless 2013

Team SOLiD returns to Las Vegas to conclude the Spring 2013 Trade Show circuit with an exclamation point! We’ll showcase our INFINITY ACCESS mobile backhaul solutions at Booth #3963 in the Mobile Backhaul Pavilion.

Additionally, SOLiD’s CTO Saeed Anwar presents on Mobile Backhaul strategies and trends during the CTIA 2013 Mobile Backhaul Conference which is FREE to all registered CTIA Attendees.

Your Turn…

So what is the most important industry event you will attend in 2013?

And what is the hot topic the industry will be debating throughout the year?

 

SOLiD CTO Saeed Anwar at Mobile World Congress

 

Team SOLiD Enjoying the Paella & Sangria in Barcelona

 

SOLiD Fiber to the Room Solution at HTNG

 

SOLiD President & Safer Buildings Coalition Founder Seth Buechely at IWCE

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Building a Better Mousetrap for Hotels

February 12th, 2013

SOLiD INFINITY ACCESS POL FTTR Solution

We announced yesterday that we’re debuting  the INFINITY ACCESS™ Passive Optical LAN (POL) Fiber-to-the Room (FTTR) solution for hotels during the 9th Annual HTNG North American Conference at the Westin Buckhead in Atlanta, February 25-28. 

This solution enables dedicated, symmetrical and secure high-capacity Gigabit Ethernet (1GE, 1Gbps) links to each hotel guestroom for delivery of next-generation IP-based voice, data and video services such as 4KTV.

So what’s the big deal?

The Challenge

Hotels are being challenged to provide multiple forms of high end connectivity to their guests as travelers become more tech savvy and increasingly dependent on staying in touch with the office, email, family, etc. while away from home. In-room entertainment in the form of HDTV, Video on Demand, streaming music significantly add to the load.

The amount of bandwidth per guestroom has and will continue to increase dramatically for some time.

This follows the overall bandwidth consumption trend forecasted by iGR: by 2017, mobile bandwidth in the U.S. will grow six fold from 2012 levels

What Must Be Done

Hotels need to deliver voice, video, and data to guestrooms, conference rooms, gym/spa, and even restaurants in a cost-effective manner that provides ample bandwidth for today’s needs.

More importantly, there needs to be a pathway for future growth as internet bandwidth demands increase; guestroom television viewing advances to 4KTV from today’s HDTV; and voice moves to VoiP.

The most economical way to do this is by delivering individual Gigabit Ethernet circuits to each room from a centralized server in the hotel’s data center.

Copper-Based Ethernet

One option is to deploy copper-based 1GE over existing Ethernet infrastructure in the hotel. This would alleviate running new cabling in the building.

Sounds good, but the risk is that the existing copper plant may not be high enough quality to support 1GE speeds.

What’s worse is that this path would provide little-to-no future growth because the physical medium will not support higher data rates (i.e., 10Gbps).

Fiber-to-the-Room

FTTR is the other option. While it will require deploying fiber optic cable from the data center to each floor and then from the data closet on each floor to individual rooms, fiber has the upside of being relatively easy to install and, most importantly, will provide almost unlimited room for future bandwidth expansion.

There are two basic ways to move data to the rooms: traditional GPON (Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Networks) and WDM-PON (Wavelength Division Multiplexing-Passive Optical Networks).

With GPON, a single fiber is deployed from the data center to a splitter in the floor closet, where individual fibers run to each room.

The upside is that GPON is established technology, cost-effective and widely-deployed.

The downside is that bandwidth per floor is shared among the rooms; that bandwidth is also asymmetrical.

And, while upgrading bandwidth is possible, it must be done on all devices at once. Which reveals a key risk: sharing. IOW, if a remote unit malfunctions, it means taking down an entire section of rooms. 

WDM PON – which is the technology SOLiD’s INFINITY ACCESS is based on - also uses a single fiber to the floor closet splitter and individual fibers to each room.

The difference is each room is served with its own unique wavelength running symmetrically at 1Gbps up and down stream.

Upgrading bandwidth to 10G is possible on a room by room basis, without affecting other rooms on the floor.

And service is maintained among a sector of rooms even if one room is down for maintenance because the individual wavelengths run to each room.

What Do You Think?

We predict an interesting debate among the hospitality industry with arguments for all three approaches.

Our take, however, is that the “data tsunami” trend in mobile broadband is similarly finding its way into the hospitality space (and other industries). And, therefore, it will be incumbent to choose and deploy infrastructure that is both highly scalable, stable and flexible.

We always enjoy interacting with you… in-person at industry conferences and SOLiD training events as well as virtually through The Inside Story (please subscribe) and on LinkedIn (follow us).

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Ready or Not, Here we Come!

February 4th, 2013

Team SOLiD

Energy and excitement best describe the tone at SOLiD’s just-completed 2013 kickoff meeting in Cupertino.

For starters, we closed 2012 having tripled our sales with high-profile projects at Paul Brown Stadium, Duke University, Kaiser Permanente, Denver Sheraton and the New York City Subway.

And because we had doubled our staff since our 2012 kickoff meeting, this was the first chance for some to connect a face with a name.

Lastly, Dr. Seung Hee Lee, CEO of our parent company, had flown in from Seoul specifically to join our meeting.

The SOLiD Mission

We have aligned our organization – from sales and marketing to finance, support and logistics – to support a single mission:

To lead the markets we serve with best-in-class products and services

Dr. Lee shared with us that SOLiD was founded on the principle of innovating technology to solve industry problems in new ways.

We continue to back that up with products such as the ALLIANCE multi-service DAS platform which supports cellular, public-safety, private 2-way radio, and paging on a single infrastructure using one strand of fiber.

Of course, great technology and products don’t mean much without great service and support. That’s why our mission also includes a passion for raising the bar to ensure that SOLiD solutions are optimally designed, installed and managed.

SOLiD Values

We have similarly identified three key values around which we strive to uphold every day:

Creativity | Honesty | Reliability

Everyone at SOLiD is empowered and encouraged to explore new ways to solve problems through technology innovations, new applications of existing products or fresh business processes and perspectives.

We foster a culture of trust and doing the right thing. Our team is committed to addressing issues both candidly and directly.

Lastly, we’re dogmatic about living up to our promises and commitments. SOLiD has and will continue to move mountains for our customers and partners.

What’s Next?

SOLiD is in the network enablement business.

For wireless, radio resources will need to get closer to the user.

And for buildings, there will need to be a ton of capacity available that today’s networks simply can’t provide.

We’ve said it before that DAS and fiber networks are converging.

We believe that networks must become multipurpose. They must be easy to deploy to accommodate growth and change. And they must lower costs.

In 2013, we expect the INFINITY ACCESS optical transport solution to be deployed by both carriers and venue owners for 1GE and 10GE DWDM applications; to enable Fronthaul and Backhaul for Small Cell and WiFi Offload; and for Passive Optical LAN deployments at hotels, hospitals and campuses.

What’s on Your Mind?

If you have recently participated in a 2013 Company Kickoff Meeting, what were the key outcomes and areas of focus?

We always enjoy interacting with you… in-person at industry conferences and SOLiD training events as well as virtually through The Inside Story (please subscribe) and on LinkedIn (follow us).

 

Dr. Lee - CEO of SOLiD, Inc.

  

Ken Sandfeld (Vice President), Seth Buechley (President), David Bledsoe (Sales Engineer) and Matt Atkins (Inside Sales)

 

Kurt Dadd (Sales Engineer), Shane Hague (Sales Director) & Charlie Hancock (Sales Director)

 

Kurt Dadd (Sales Engineer), Dadrian Carrington (Sales Engineer) & Saeed Anwar (CTO)

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A Look Back at 2012 & A Preview of 2013

January 14th, 2013

We hope that your 2013 is off to a great start!

At SOLiD, we’re working off the egg nog from the holiday season and starting to hit our stride in 2013.

For our first post of 2013, it seems appropriate to begin with a quick look back at 2012 and a preview of where we’re going.

Highlights & Milestones

By all accounts, 2012 was our most successful year ever:

  • SOLiD DAS solutions were selected and deployed for marquee projects including Paul Brown Stadium, Duke University, Kaiser Permanente, Denver Sheraton and the New York City Subway. 
  • SOLiD Fiber Transport solutions have been deployed in a number of projects and trials at Carriers and Dark Fiber Providers as well as Government and Education customers. 
  • Launched the TITAN 20W remote for high-capacity and large coverage spaces. 
  • Launched INFINITY ACCESS fiber transport solution for 1GE and 10GE DWDM applications and Cell Fronthaul/Backhaul, WiFi Offload and Passive Optical LAN deployments. 
  • Founded the Safer Buildings Coalition initiative which seeks to ensure coverage for public-safety communications inside buildings using DAS technology. 
  • Expanded the SOLiD team with top-notch talent to support our valued customers and partners.

 

In The News…

  • MissionCritical Communications featured a case study on how Cape Fear Valley Hospital supports both cellular and public-safety services on a converged DAS platform from SOLiD.

 

2013 Key Initiatives

  • EXPRESS PS - Based upon the EXPRESS single-carrier DAS platform, EXPRESS PS is a public-safety DAS solution designed for easy deployment to help building and venue owners meet fire codes.
  • ALLIANCE MAX - A derivative of the ALLIANCE multi-carrier DAS, ALLIANCE MAX is tailored to meet the needs of venues such as stadiums, airports and convention centers by offering more power and five module slots for support of more wireless services.
  • ALLIANCE 2.0 - Building upon the success of the industry’s best-in-class multi-carrier DAS, ALLIANCE 2.0 offers more output power, the ability to support MIMO on a single card, DIN connectors to achieve improved PIM and a new DMS that enables faster and easier provisioning.
  • Training - SOLiD is committed to the wireless industry. This includes advancing industry education and supporting professionalism throughout. SOLiD University Online provides an introduction to SOLiD DAS solutions, product components and architecture. And starting in 2013, SOLiD will offer certification courses ideally-suited for your engineers and technical professionals that combine RF fundamentals with hands-on interaction with SOLiD gear. Contact us to register for online courses or learn more about classroom offerings.
  • U.S. Headquarters - We’re moving! Our new facility will feature a training and functional product demonstration showcase as well as private meeting rooms. It will also expand our warehouse space three-fold. Conveniently located in Sunnyvale, CA, we expect to move later this quarter.
  • SOLiD Website - We will launch a new website later this quarter to feature fresh resources including solution comparison tools, case studies and videos as well as an improved Knowledge and Support Center.

 

2013 Events Calendar

  • IWCE – Panel: “In-Building Wireless and DAS”
  • DAS Congress – Workshop Sponsor, Panel Sponsor & Exhibitor
  • CTIA – Booth # 3963

 

What’s on Your Mind?

What are your key initiatives for 2013?

We always enjoy interacting with you… in-person at industry conferences and SOLiD training events as well as virtually through The Inside Story and on LinkedIn (be sure to follow us).

(Photo: ell brown)

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Many Questions About DAS, Small Cells & Spectrum At 4G World

November 3rd, 2012

4G World 2012

Team SOLiD enjoyed a busy and productive week during 4G World in the Windy City in spite of Hurricane Sandy which affected travel for many exhibitors, presenters and attendees from the East Coast, making for a much cozier event than organizers had envisioned.

(BTW, please considering joining SOLiD and our employees by making a contribution to a charity of your choice that is working to support the hurricane relief and recovery efforts to help our neighbors, brothers, sisters and four-legged friends. Here’s a list of highly-rated charities that are responding. Thank you!)

Nonetheless, we connected with Michael Howard at Infonetics and Joan  Engebretson from TMCnet who has since published a column about our vision to converge DAS and Optical Transport to form the foundation for next-generation DAS networks.

We braved the chilly night air to catch up with partners and peers at a rooftop party hosted by our partner and friends at iBwave. Plus we got our Chicago-style deep dish pizza fix at Lou Malnati’s.

SOLiD had the privilege to present on the the “In-building 4G Wireless Solutions for Venues” panel along with Jim Parker from AT&T’s Antenna Solutions Group, Mario Bouchard from iBwave and Emil Olbrich from NIST (agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce). Based upon the panel’s interaction with attendees, it’s clear that there are many fundamental industry questions about DAS, Small Cells and Spectrum.

DAS and WiFi and Small Cells (oh my…)

The key problem for wireless operators is satisfying customer needs given a “data tsunami” that Jim Parker quantifies as having 20,000 percent growth. With customers now uploading more content than they’re downloading and the bulk of cellular traffic occurring indoors (80% cites Mario Bouchard), the macro network can not efficiently service users in high-density areas. Given the tremendous uptick in use, it is necessary to build the network from the “inside-out” to compliment macro network approach of “outside-in.”

For large public venues (think: hospitals, college and corporate campuses, sports venues, convention centers and the like), DAS, WiFi and Small Cells are identified as the go-to solutions capable of scaling to bring more capacity indoors.

Which One To Use?

During a case study earlier this year at the ACUTA Annual Conference, a panelist pondered whether WiFi could be used to support smartphone users across the campus at Indiana University. While it’s tempting to look to unlicensed spectrum and existing investment in deploying and supporting WiFi Access Points, the issue is that the cellular band is very large compared with WiFi. On the other hand, wireless operators do look to WiFi as a complimentary strategy to offload data to conserve RAN.

Wireless Spectrum

Meanwhile, having been fed a steady diet of Small Cells at 2012 industry events, attendees at 4G World questioned whether Small Cells – and most folks are referring to a femtocell or picocell – will replace DAS as a more cost-effective technology. (To inject a little levity, Bouchard quipped that “small cell” is a buzzword that attracts a lot people to conferences)

Today, a femto can’t compete with DAS because it does not provide a neutral host solution. And even if you cobbled together multiple femtos required for each carrier, you’d need a bunch of them and they’d not scale as bandwidth requirements increase. Besides, all these boxes would be aesthetically unappealing.

But the key reason, as we alluded to above with WiFi, has to do with spectrum. Remember, the cellular band is very large: dropping a PICO or eFEMTO for this entire band is not possible since the typical pico chip only handles 20Mhz up and 20Mhz down.

SOLiD CTO, Saeed Anwar, cautions that supporting 4 major wireless operators (AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile) does not mean you need just 4 picos. Rather, each wireless operator has a spectrum across the entire band. For instance, Verizon Wireless has 4 bands (700, 850, 1900 and 2100 MHz). However, 1900 is a very large band (65Mhz up and 65 Mhz down) and is split in many sub-bands. These sub-bands may also vary by region on operators owning specific sub-bands. So, Verizon alone could have 700 upper c as one pico, 850 as a second pico, variations in 1900 picos because of the large spread and a 2100 AWS pico. (There are also variations in 700 and AWS but not to such a big scale as 1900)

What Is A Small Cell, Really?

The answer, it seems, depends…

Bouchard referred to Small Cells as a big bucket of solutions. Meanwhile, Parker cited DAS as being the original Small Cell.

The Small Cell Forum was originally focused on femtocells. However, our discussion with AT&T’s Gordon Mansfield, who was recently named the new chairman of the Small Cell Forum, reveals a  migration in thinking. Specifically, Mansfield shared that the Small Cell Forum will distinguish between residential (femto & wifi) and enterprise cells going forward.

Michael Howard at Infonetics was similarly adamant at 4G World that small cells and residential (femto & wifi) should not be in the same bucket.

So it seems reasonable to categorize it like this: small cells are the technology deployments used to fill-in where enterprise needs are not being met by DAS and WiFi.

What do you say? Let us know if the comments section!

 

Entrance to the Exhibit Floor at 4G World 2012

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