UMA Today Magazine: UMA Jumpstarts Femtocells Page 29

femtocell architecture that supports a single 3G
femtocell application? A UMA-based femtocell
infrastructure supports 2G and 3G femtocells as
well as support for dual-mode 2G and 3G hand-
sets as a future consideration.

For operators already deploying UMA in support

of a DMH service, adding femtocell service is
a natural complement (see sidebar, right). Not
only does the UMA infrastructure support both
services, but DMH and femtocells meet different
business requirements for an operator. DMH
services are primarily about cheap voice and
addressing the VoIP threat; femtocells deliver
personal 3G coverage.

FeMToCell ACCess poinTs

Op-

erators have been quite clear in stating their
requirements for femtocells: an open `device-
to-core network' standard is essential for the
market to flourish.

Operators expect to have a variety of femtocell

access points from multiple vendors, which can
be deployed against a common standardized
infrastructure. Standardizing the device-to-core
network interface minimizes device complexity,
drives up volumes and in return drives down
costs, a major consideration for operators.

As the existing 3GPP device-to-core network

standard, UMA has a natural advantage in
accelerating the femtocell market. Ubiquisys,
PicoChip, Netgear and NEC have all announced
UMA-enabled solutions, with other companies
developing products today.

"The femtocell industry is starting to

appreciate the three year head start UMA has
over proprietary approaches being proposed
for device-to-core network connectivity," said
Patrick Tao, Kineto's vice president of technology.
"As the technology behind successful dual-mode
handset services, such as Unik from FT/Orange
and T-Mobile's Hotspot @Home, the 3GPP UMA
standard has already identified and addressed
the real-world deployment issues operators face
in bringing femtocells to market. These issues
include security, device authentication, access
controls, handover, regulatory compliance, as well
as scalability to support millions of endpoints."

The meteoric rise of femtocells into the

consciousness of mobile vendors and operators
worldwide has generated the knee-jerk reaction
that femtocells and dual-mode handsets (DMH)
are somehow competitive. Let's clear it up.

Admittedly, there are similarities. Both

applications rely on a wireless access point in
the home, both back-haul traffic over the public
internet, and both leverage the UMA interface
to provide secure, scalable access to mobile
voice, data and IMS services.

The difference lies in the problem each

solves for the mobile operator. Femtocells
provide personal 3G coverage, solving the issue
of poor 3G service delivery in homes. DMH,
on the other hand, offers cheap voice (and data)
services in the same places that Wi-Fi access
points are enabling alternative VoIP providers
(home, office, hot spot,...). Different? Yes!

Orange is a good example. Clearly a leader

in DMH service, Orange's UMA infrastructure
can easily be leveraged to deliver a femtocell
service as well.

Yet when asked about Wi-Fi versus

femtocells, Orange/FT Homezone Mobile
Marketing Director Bruno Dachary commented:

"It is strange to hear people talking about

femtocells as a consumer product similar to
say a Wi-Fi router. This is not right... these
are operator products as they use spectrum
owned and managed by operators, and we will
rent them to users to retain control,"
said Dachary.

It's clear that Wi-Fi and 3G femtocells are

different tools for the operator and will be used
in different ways. UMA is the technology that
brings them together.

Femtocells vs dMh?

not exactly...

FALL 2007

UMA TodAY