Mentum Network Planning Solutions Focus on the Challenges Associated with Network Modernization and Rapidly Increasing Mobile Data Demand

PARIS, FRANCE - JUNE 1, 2011 - Mentum®, the industry’s leading wireless access and backhaul network planning and optimization company, today announced the release of Mentum Planet 5.3 - a major release of its leading access network planning product - and Mentum Ellipse 8 - the most innovative microwave and backhaul network planning solution on the market.

Mentum Planet 5.3 and Mentum Ellipse 8 focus on the wireless operators' need to rethink their operating landscape as the rapidly increasing demand for mobile data drives the requirement for major changes in network plans and strategies. These new product releases are another demonstration of Mentum’s ability to innovate and deliver increased value through its ambitious R&D program.

Mentum Planet 5.3 introduces a set of capabilities that make it easier for mobile network operators to manage large-scale networks, automate design and simplify the process of comparing scenarios. Alongside state-of-the-art LTE modeling, operators will be able to quickly assess the merits of deployment scenarios enabling faster network rollouts while at the same time improving upon the radio design quality. The Mentum Automated Network Planning (ANP) package provides innovative capabilities for LTE network rollouts with features such as automatic site creation, densification, selection and optimization. At the core of the ANP lies a high performance multi-technology optimization engine that supports Mentum Planet advanced antenna system modeling, with capabilities including multi-band shared antennas, distributed antenna systems, and MIMO.

“The new Mentum Automated Network Planning solution is natively integrated within Mentum Planet to provide the best possible user experience and the ability to optimize radio parameters during the design cycle. In addition, Mentum Planet has the high level of accuracy and performance that network operators have come to expect from Mentum products,” said Bernard Breton, Chief Operating and Strategy Officer at Mentum. “This complete end-to-end solution is part of Mentum’s commitment to help operators rollout next-generation networks in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible.”

Mentum Ellipse 8 is the result of the integration of Mentum LinkPlanner capabilities with the new Mentum Ellipse 7 software platform for microwave design, management, and optimization. The result is a wireless backhaul planning solution that can be used to tackle the most complex rollouts. It encompasses the multi-user capabilities of Mentum Ellipse 8 along with innovative features such as an automated topology designer and the ability to manage transport networks on top of traditional microwave engineering.

Live demonstrations will take place during the Mentum webinar series. Visit http://www.mentum.com/index.php?page=webinars&hl=en_US to register.