UMA Today Magazine: UMA Jumpstarts Femtocells Page 19

UMA Today: Ubiquisys introduced femtocells
into the marketplace with a great confidence in
the technology. Tell us a little bit about how
femtocells came to be.

will Franks: We formed Ubiquisys in 2004 with the

goal of bringing the groundbreaking femtocell technology
to market.

Frankly, the company was born from my own frustration

with being unable to get mobile reception in my own
home. I had to stand with my head pressed up against the
kitchen window....not really an ideal position for speaking
on the phone, to say the least.

In terms of terminology, small cells already had names

for example,microcells and picocells so as femtocells
represent the next jump down in size, I felt that the term
`femtocell' was logical.

UMA Today: When do you think operators
will start deploying femtocells as a commercial
service?

Franks: The excitement in the industry right now is

palpable. Of course, more work still needs to be done, but
operators and vendors are committed to making femtocells
successful. Some analysts predict that we have a two-year
window to really get the femtocell market off the ground,
so time-to-market is critical.

Competition is fierce. There is real pressure to leverage

3G spectrum and broadband to counter the growing threat
from alternative providers. So there's no doubt we'll see
some early commercial offers around mid 2008.

There is a real compelling case for carriers to deploy

femtocells. So this is a market lead opportunity not
a technology push, as so often the case with new
technologies.

UMA Today: And what needs to happen in
the marketplace now for femtocells to become
a reality? Is the marketplace ready for it?

Franks: The marketplace, carriers, consumers

and vendors have created a lot of noise about femtocells. For
operators evaluating FMC solutions, there are a lot of technol-
ogy choices under the umbrella. Femtocells are a strong con-
tender, but there are some immediate things the market needs
to do.

Quite important is that the ecosystem needs to be

strengthened. Operators want and need a plethora of
standardized access points. Standardization drives com-
petition which increases volumes and lower costs. The vi-
sion for femtocells is a consumer plug and play product.

A key area to standardize is from the femtocell to

the core network. Proprietary solutions will only lead
to fragmentation and delay true commercial service
launches. Carriers need to align on their architecture
requirements to give the femtocell eco-system a path to
standardization.

UMA Today: Are there major obstacles to
large-scale femtocell deployments?

Franks: As I indicated, we believe that lack of

standardization is probably the biggest challenge femtocells
face. Achieving a standard will not only provide vendors a
reasonable goal, it will also bring the price down.

UMA Today: What can you tell us about
the Femto Forum and what Ubiquisys, as the
founders, hope to accomplish with it?

SPRING 2007

UMA TodAY

In our June 2007
survey, [ABI] rated
Ubiquisys number one
femtocell vendor of
the top ten players in
the sector, based on
product innovation
and implementation.

Stuart Carlaw, research
director, wireless, ABI Research