Building an urban small cell future from the ground up.

The arrival of Small Cell Forum’s Release Three: Urban Foundations is significant. This latest output of ten new and seven revised documents builds on the important work of earlier releases and introduces impressive and wide-ranging new material.

As contributors to this process we are delighted with the result. The aim of this latest addition to the Release Program is to help operators and vendors harness the significant potential of the urban small cell market —and that is precisely what Release Three: Urban Foundations does.

Beginning with an in-depth examination of the market drivers that will take small cells into the public arena, Release Three then offers a comprehensive assessment of the business case. Both the market drivers and business case papers are supported by survey material outlining operator hopes and concerns about the rollout of urban small cells — hopes and concerns that are addressed in this release.

Because this is a technology play as much as a market one. No fewer than eight more new papers have been developed for Release Three to address the technical challenges and opportunities of the urban small cell market. These papers offer operators and vendors a comprehensive guide to ways in which this new landscape can be addressed in terms of backhaul, self-organizing networks, network architecture, deployment, regulation and value-added services.

Importantly, given the strong presence of Wi-Fi in the urban space, Release Three also includes a comprehensive new paper that addresses Wi-Fi integration. This is clearly an exciting development and one that could help to bring together the strengths of Wi-Fi and small cells for the benefit of all parties.

But that’s not all. Earlier releases focused on the established market for residential small cells (Release One) and the growing market for enterprise small cells (Release Two). Much of this earlier material has strong relevance to urban markets as well. A continuing process of review and re-evaluation has ensured that this material has been updated and adapted as the small cell landscape itself changes and evolves.

Release Three: Urban Foundations is well named. From the fundamentals of market drivers and the business case all the way to backhaul and self-organizing networks this release is building an urban small cell future from the ground up. We recommend you visit tinyurl.com/R3SCFand find out how.

Mobile Planner

iBwave just launched Mobile Planner, the first and only mobile app that simplifies the design work for indoor small cell networks. Since designs are created on-site, the time and costs for small cell projects are significantly reduced. Learn more here.