Cambridge February 16, 2012: Small cell market leader ip.access today confirmed plans to build its first integrated LTE and 3G small cell. The new unit, codenamed the E-100, will be the first from ip.access to be based on the QorIQ Qonverge® platform from US chip maker Freescale.
The E-100 is a small cell Access Point targeted for use in enterprises and public indoor environments. The device will provide simultaneous 4G and 3G mobile phone signals with data speeds of up to 150 Mbps and 42 Mbps respectively. The product will be ready for entry into customer labs later this year, with field trials expected in Q1 2013.
Using the E-100, mobile network operators will be able to improve mobile phone service quality and data speeds inside office buildings, shopping malls, hotels and other public indoor areas, while at the same time relieving congestion on the outdoor network.
Announcing the E-100, ip.access founder and CTO Nick Johnson said: “Small cells will have a vital role to play in delivering LTE's promise of high-speed data for large numbers of subscribers. The E-100 allows operators to rapidly add coverage and capacity to their LTE networks exactly where it is needed." At the same time, the integrated 3G capability improves network performance and relieves congestion for the majority of today's smartphone users. "There's an immediate return on investment for operators even before the mass-market take-up of LTE handsets,” explained Johnson.
The E-100 will be integrated into ip.access' nanoConverge end-to-end small cell solution architecture, allowing operators to deploy the E-100 alongside the company's existing 3G and 2G small cells using the same gateways and network management system.
“nanoConverge is designed to ease the upgrade path for operators – whether that is adding 3G picocells and femtocells to an existing 2G installation, or ramping up LTE capability on an existing 3G small cell network,” added Johnson.
The E-100 unit will be the first small cell from ip.access to use Freescale’s QorIQ Qonverge platform. "After an extensive RFQ process, we selected QorIQ Qonverge because of its advanced performance and ability to scale for different applications," explained Johnson.
Scott Aylor, general manager of Freescale’s Wireless Access Division, said: “We are delighted to be working with a company that is well recognised for its track record of innovation and success in the small cell marketplace. We see this as a powerful endorsement of our market-leading LTE technology.”
ip.access will mount a capability demonstration of the E-100 at this month’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Ends

About ip.access
Headquartered in Cambridge, UK, ip.access Ltd (www.ipaccess.com) is an innovator, developer and manufacturer of small cell infrastructure solutions for home, business, or public use and is an acknowledged world-leader across a number of key measures.
The company’s range of 'small cell' picocell and femtocell solutions for 3G, EDGE GSM and LTE deployments combine IP and wireless technologies and have all the key components needed – small cell access points, converged radio access gateways, and network management solutions - to help operators drive down costs and increase the coverage and capacity of mobile networks.
In 2011, ip.access passed the market-leading milestone of 500,000 3G small cells deployed and has also been independently ranked by ABI Research as the world’s number 1 picocell vendor.
ip.access is the company behind the multi-award winning Oyster 3G® femtocell technology, which dramatically improves indoor 3G coverage and overall network capacity. Oyster 3G is the core femtocell technology 'inside' AT&T’s 3G MicroCell - the world’s largest consumer small cell deployment.
The company’s nanoGSM® and nano3G® picocell solutions provide 2G and 3G coverage and capacity for offices, shops, stations, remote rural areas and even passenger aircraft and ships, with live installations in more than 60 networks around the world.
ip.access counts Amadeus Capital Partners, Cisco, Intel Capital, Qualcomm, Rothschild, Scottish Equity Partners and TE Connectivity among its shareholders.


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