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Nokia Siemens HSPA+ Multiflow lets one device connect to two cell sites simultaneously
If you've ever used a cell phone while moving, then you've probably experienced the depressed network connectivity that becomes more of an issue as you move further away from any given tower. Some of us are even unfortunate enough to reside or work right at the edge of a cell, forced to live with poor connectivity for much of every day. A new feature called HSPA+ Multiflow may offer some relief, "delivering double the data speed and up to 50 percent faster response compared to existing HSPA+ networks," according to Nokia Siemens, which will be demonstrating the technology at Mobile World Congress later this month. Essentially, Multiflow allows compatible devices on the edge of a cell to connect to two sites simultaneously, letting your device send and receive data between two base stations at once. Multiflow will be available as a software update for Single RAN systems, so it could make its way to a cell site near you just after Nokia Siemens flips the switch during the second half of 2013. Full PR is just past the break.
Nokia Siemens promises better TD-LTE and CDMA coverage, no alarms or surprises
So, Nokia Siemens Networks wasn't fibbing when it said it would re-focus its efforts on mobile broadband. It's just announced a 'six pipe' radio head upgrade for time division LTE (TD-LTE) base stations that can boost capacity by 80 percent and coverage by 40 percent compared to a traditional three-sector site. Alternatively, the same replacement can be used to reduce a station's running costs, by allowing it to cover three sectors using a single radio head. As far as we're concerned, anything that recalls OK Computer is a good thing, but if it speeds up carriers' shift to LTE then it's even better. Meanwhile, for those who still want to invest in CDMA, Nokia Siemens is pushing it's 1X Advanced technology, which also promises big improvements in voice and data capacity as well as energy efficiency. Read on for more technical details in a PR double-shot.
Nokia Siemens Networks looks to unload WiMax division onto NewNet Communication
WiMax expansion isn't exactly all the rage as of late, and so it comes as no surprise that Nokia Siemens Networks is shedding itself of the extraneous baggage. Following its recent whopping round of layoffs, the move is a continuation of the company's efforts to bring stability to its bottom line. NewNet Communication Technologies has agreed to bring the castoff WiMax technologies into its fold, along with approximately 300 NSN employees -- all for an undisclosed price -- in a deal that's expected to be finalized before year's end. A full press release follows the break.
Nokia Siemens to cut 17,000 jobs as part of global restructuring
Nokia Siemens Networks has just announced a new global restructuring initiative that will result in the loss of a whopping 17,000 jobs. According to a statement released today, the company will "realign its business to focus on mobile broadband (including optical), customer experience management and services." To achieve this, Nokia Siemens plans to reduce its operating expenses and overhead costs by about €1 billion and its workforce by nearly a quarter -- both by the end of 2013. The company explained the job cuts thusly: "These planned reductions are expected to be driven by aligning the company's workforce with its new strategy as well as through a range of productivity and efficiency measures. These planned measures are expected to include elimination of the company's matrix organizational structure, site consolidation, transfer of activities to global delivery centers, consolidation of certain central functions, cost synergies from the integration of Motorola's wireless assets, efficiencies in service operations, and company-wide process simplification." No word yet on which countries will receive the brunt of the blow, though the company says it will launch local re-training and re-employment programs in affected areas. The mass layoff is only the latest in a recent spate of Nokia-related cuts, and according to Nokia Siemens CEO Rajeev Suri, it's lamentably necessary. "As we look towards the prospect of an independent future, we need to take action now to improve our profitability and cash generation," the exec said. "These planned reductions are regrettable but necessary - and it is our goal to make them in a fair and responsible way, providing the support we can to employees and communities." Full press release after the break.
Nokia Siemens gets into the dongle and router racket, hitches a ride on TD-LTE
At PT/Expo Comm Nokia Siemens officially decided to dip its toes in the 4G dongle and router waters, unleashing the USB-lte 7210, the CPEi-lte 7212 and the CPEo-lte 7210 on the public. The three different devices all use TD-LTE to hit speeds of 102Mbps down and 51Mbps up. The USB-lte (pictured on the right) is, obviously, a plug-and-play USB modem for getting your laptop (or desktop, we suppose) online using a cellular network. The CPEi and CPEo are 4G routers, with WiFi radios and Ethernet jacks that allow you to spread the 4G wealth. The difference being the CPEi is designed for in-home use, while the "o" in CPEo stands for "outside." Pricing and availability are still a mystery but, since no carriers here use the time division-duplex flavor of LTE, don't except to see them land on American shores. Check out the PR after the break.
Nokia Siemens Networks chooses a suitor: its own shareholders
A lot of marriages hit rough patches from time to time, and it's no different for companies and their shareholders. The last three months have likely been especially tumultuous for Nokia Siemens Networks as it played the field, conducting a review to assess potential private equity interest. In the end, however, NSN determined the grass was indeed greener on its own side. According to the press release (found after the break), it concluded that "the current shareholders are in the best position to further enhance the value of the company." Given that NSN's reported three successive quarters of year-on-year growth, the troubled relationship appears to be out of hot water for now -- we just hope the shareholders are willing to kiss and make up.
Motorola and Huawei drop pending lawsuits, enter into new info-sharing agreement
After months of fighting on the playground, Motorola and Huawei have finally come to an agreement to settle their differences once and for all. Both parties have now dropped their pending lawsuits, with Motorola originally accusing Huawei of stealing trade secrets from its former employees, and later on Huawei getting all worried about Motorola leaking confidential information over their partnership to the rivaling Nokia Siemens Networks. The new agreement will now allow Motorola "transfer its commercial agreements with Huawei to NSN for a fee," which would then permit NSN use this info to service Motorola's networks that utilise Huawei's equipment. Aww, isn't it nice when money solves everything? Press release after the break.
Motorola temporarily banned from spilling Huawei secrets to NSN, could affect $1.2B sale
Well, that didn't take long at all: in response to Huawei's lawsuit yesterday over concerns that Motorola could tell its dirty secrets to Nokia Siemens Networks in the wake of their $1.2 billion unit sale, a judge in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has issued a temporary ruling banning Motorola from disclosing any Huawei proprietary information to NSN. Technically, we suppose that doesn't prevent the sale -- which the two companies had hoped to close in early 2011 -- from going through unabated, but in reality it probably does since there's no clean way for the transfer to happen without including information that Huawei had previously shared with Moto. We're sure this will take a little time to work itself out, but for the interim, looks like Huawei's gotten its wish.
Huawei sues Motorola over concerns it'll reveal secrets to Nokia Siemens
After tying off a $1.2 billion deal last July, Motorola and Nokia Siemens Networks -- the new owner of Moto's telecom infrastructure business -- have had a little roadblock thrown in their way courtesy of China's Huawei. Turns out Moto and Huawei had a partnership in place that involved the former reselling the latter's equipment, which necessitated some rather cozy information sharing -- and now Huawei's concerned that Motorola might be turning over some or all of that intellectual property to NSN as a part of the sale. You'd think this is the sort of thing that would've been squared away prior to inking a ten-figure deal, but Huawei says that it "had not been given assurance that Motorola would not transfer proprietary information" over to NSN, one of Huawei's fiercest rivals in the infrastructure biz... so you can kinda understand their concern. More on this as it develops.
Long Term HSPA Evolution specs come together, promise speeds of 650Mbps -- and T-Mobile USA is on board
Thought the alphabet soup of modern wireless standards was confusing enough? 1X Advanced / EV-DO Advanced, UMTS, HSPA, HSPA+, dual-carrier HSPA+, EDGE Evolution, LTE, LTE-Advanced, WiMAX, WiMAX 2... we could keep going, but we'd really rather not. Oh, but we have to, because this one could get really interesting: Nokia Siemens is touting that the specifications for Long Term HSPA Evolution have just been submitted to the 3GPP, promising theoretical speeds in excess of 650Mbps -- a number that still falls shy of the ITU's definition of a 4G standard, but easily eclipses just about anything shy of LTE-Advanced or WiMAX 2. Interestingly, T-Mobile USA is specifically mentioned in Nokia Siemens' press release as supporting the developments, a testament to the fact that the carrier is firmly committed to wringing everything it can out of legacy 3G standards before moving on -- just as they're already doing with their aggressive 21Mbps HSPA+ rollout. Considering that present-day LTE tops out somewhere in the 300Mbps to 400Mbps range, we can't say we're opposed, especially since the new technology will be backward compatible with today's HSPA networks. Yes, granted: "Long Term HSPA Evolution" is a terrible name considering that LTE already stands for Long Term Evolution (and LTHSPAE isn't the slickest acronym anyway) -- but we'll worry about naming logistics closer to launch, which is still years off. See the full press release after the break.
iOS 4.2 supports new tech to reduce network congestion, Nokia Siemens says
One of the world's top suppliers of cellular infrastructure, Nokia Siemens, has dropped some juicy knowledge today that Apple's new iOS 4.2 update supports a technology called network-controlled fast dormancy that better optimizes how the phone connects to the network. The company touts that it's a win-win -- better battery life, less unnecessary network utilization -- and also points out that Nokia implemented the technique in all of its smartphones starting earlier this year. Since network-controlled fast dormancy is a feature that benefits the network itself as much as it benefits the individual user, knocking out two power players like Nokia and Apple (over half of new smartphone sales, NSN points out) should make a big dent. Interestingly, NSN seems to have arrived at this discovery through "tests" it conducted, not by working with Apple on implementing it. Sure, we don't pretend to know all the interactions that occur between manufacturers, carriers, and suppliers during a phone's development, but it certainly seems to us that Apple would benefit by engaging infrastructure companies early and often as these baseband updates come together -- particularly as it seeks to keep a tight lid on the very congestion issues that network-controlled fast dormancy is designed to help eliminate. Either way, it's interesting to see how quick Nokia Siemens was to probe for the change this time around.
Nokia Siemens Networks sees 825Mbps over traditional copper, Phantom DSL claims 'the future'
Look, it's not easy nor cheap to lay an entirely new network infrastructure -- just ask Verizon. Regardless of how badly we all want a fiber optic cable ran directly into our closet, it's probably in our best interest if companies like Nokia Siemens Networks continue to improve existing services. Since we're on the topic, it's probably prudent to point out a new discovery surrounding existing copper wires -- one that involves data transmissions at up to 825Mbps. As the story goes, NSN is testing new technology (let's call it Phantom DSL) that could dramatically increase capacity of conventional copper wires, with the aforesaid data point coming on a trial transfer across 400 meters of wire; when stretched to 500 meters, it still held steady at 750Mbps. We're told that Phantom DSL promises a bandwidth increase of 50 to 75 percent over existing bonded copper lines, but mum's the word on when ISPs will actually have access. Yesterday, please?
LightSquared does LTE and satellite connectivity wholesale, Nokia Siemens to do the heavy lifting (video)
Chances are you're a little sick of different carriers having different qualities of service in different areas of the country, and have probably wondered at some point: "Can't we all just get along?" The answer is no, we can't, but LightSquared is looking to launch something of an alternative. It's starting a multi-billion dollar wholesale LTE deployment that will run coast-to-coast in the United States, covering 90 percent of the population by 2015. It will also mix that in with satellite connectivity somehow, pledging true nationwide coverage. Nokia Siemens Networks will be laying the groundwork, a $7 billion project that will surely be aided by that company's recent acquisition of Motorola's networking bits, and the total rollout is estimated to create 100,000 jobs -- good news regardless of your carrier allegiance. Anyone who wants to offer connectivity to their customers can buy some bandwidth and pass it along, meaning we could see the rebirth of the MVNO. After watching the inspirational video after the break, we're firmly sure that anything is possible.
Nokia Siemens picks up Motorola network infrastructure division for $1.2 billion
Nokia Siemens has just announced that it will be purchasing Motorola's wireless network infrastructure for a cool $1.2 billion in cash. This comes on the heels of an announcement by Moto that it would be splitting the company in two, one for Mobile Devices and one for Broadband and Mobility Solutions. It's clearly the company's strong showing in both WiMAX and CDMA that Nokia Siemens is after, although The New York Times points out that integrating the 7,500-strong staff, manufacturing, supply lines, and multiple product lines will be quite a challenge. The deal will hopefully be finalized by the end of the year. PR after the break.
Nokia Siemens, LG hit LTE speed record
What, 43Mbps not good enough for you? Well, clean room testing doesn't really say much about what kinds of data speeds we'll be seeing in the real world -- but for what it's worth, LG and infrastructure joint venture Nokia Siemens have announced that they've hit a new speed record for an LTE Class 3 device: 100Mbps. The tests were performed at Nokia Siemens' facilities in Germany and Finland using pre-production USB modems from LG operating in the 2100 and 2600MHz frequencies, but they're not stopping to celebrate -- work is now turning to tests in other bands that'll be used for LTE around the world and to upping performance even further. That's a good thing, we'd say, because past experience tells us that transfer rates in actual use are a mere fraction of what we read on the spec sheet.
China Mobile, Nokia Siemens team up to show first TD-LTE femtocell
LTE's being designed to support deployment in both frequency division (FD-LTE) and time division (TD-LTE) modes depending on bandwidth allocation and the legacy network that's being upgraded, and in China Mobile's case, they're looking at possibly rolling out a mix -- TD-LTE makes for an elegant and inexpensive upgrade path when you're starting with another tech with "TD" in its name, TD-SCDMA. Carriers around the world are looking to lean heavily on femtocells to boost LTE footprint out of the gate, and to that end, China Mobile has teamed up with Nokia Siemens -- a company that's been pushing a number of "world's firsts" lately -- to show off the first functional TD-LTE femtocell demo by streaming video over a base station in the carrier's labs. It's still a ways off yet before customers will actually have these tucked away in the corners of their homes, but it's a step in the right direction.
Nokia Siemens dials up first 'commercial' LTE call
Look, EDGE Evolution trials are pretty cool, but we all know that's not where the action's really at -- the people want to know what's up with LTE, and by golly, Nokia Siemens' gonna tell 'em. The infrastructure-focused joint venture has recently completed what it's billing as the first LTE call on commercial software using base stations fully compliant with 3GPP Release 8's LTE specifications, which means that trial and commercial 4G deployments toward the end of this year into next should have an easier time going live. Sadly, no details were available on the nature of the call or the end-user equipment being used, but we suspect the term "call" is being used loosely here -- in all likelihood, it was pure data using modems that you'll never buy.
Nokia Siemens fires off first EDGE Evolution Downlink Dual Carrier trial
Hey, look at you, Nokia Siemens -- first to complete an EDGE Evolution Downlink Dual Carrier call, and now you're the first to set up a whole trial, too. With China's 3G push finally starting to really take root on all three major carriers, legacy GSM networks are still destined to be mega-important for a long time to come -- the country's huge, after all -- and so it makes good sense that the infrastructure firm teamed up with "one of China's leading operators" to deploy what it's calling a "successful" trial during which live streaming from YouTube and Sina were demonstrated in a live environment. EDGE Evolution ultimately promises downlink speeds of up to 600kbps with seamless transitions to and from 3G coverage, which should serve to significantly extend the life of GSM networks in areas where dropping the dough to go full 3G doesn't necessarily make sense. With 100 percent 3G saturation on AT&T and T-Mobile still many years away in the US, we wouldn't mind seeing some of this action in these parts, either.
Nokia to focus on infrastructure biz at Mobile World Congress
For mobile enthusiasts, the GSMA's Mobile World Congress is basically the focal point of the entire year -- a CES- or CeBIT-caliber event where manufacturers, carriers, software firms, and everyone in between gather to show off their latest goods in a setting where mobile is all that matters. In general, tradeshows have been showing signs of weakness; at many events, exhibitors and attendees have both withdrawn slightly in recent years as companies look to make announcements on their own schedule and their own terms (and a soft economy certainly doesn't help, either). This isn't any old company pulling out of MWC, though -- we've been able to independently confirm that Nokia, the world's largest phone manufacturer, is dramatically shifting its focus at the show next year by moving from a consumer-centric exhibition to an infrastructure-focused one led by its Nokia Siemens joint venture, using the existence of Nokia World as one of the justifications for the move. As far as we can tell, the industry's commitment to MWC remains very strong, but this isn't exactly a fly-by-night shop pulling its two-man stand out of the show -- it's definitely something to keep an eye on.
Nokia Siemens completes first CSoHSPA call, promises better battery life
If you've never heard of CSoHSPA, we can't say we blame you, but the concept is surprisingly simple, the benefits are pretty clear, and odds are good the technology's coming to a network near you. Short for Circuit Switched over HSPA, the standard -- part of 3GPP Release 7 which covers HSPA+ -- seeks to improve handset battery life and significantly boost network capacity (something many carriers desperately need) by moving voice from the traditional circuit switched voice channel found on legacy GSM networks to packet data. This means that all forms of connectivity your phone exchanges with the network get treated as the same payloads of bytes -- the same concept employed by any VoIP system and the strategy employed by LTE, WiMAX, and some EV-DO networks -- so the old-school voice channel can be repurposed for pure data. Long story short, phones end up running longer on a charge, networks end up with more capacity, and everyone sleeps a little easier. Nokia Siemens and Finnish carrier Elisa have just completed the world's first CSoHSPA call, which is a nice landmark on the road to wide-scale HSPA+ deployment; the technology is essentially a software upgrade for a lot of existing infrastructure, so we'd expect this to get rolled out all over the place as long as handsets support it in kind.
