By Gyorgy Wolfner
Within the MulteFire Alliance, we are defining an end-to-end architecture in order to ensure that there are no restrictions in the implementation of a MulteFire network and to ensure that multi-vendor deployments are supported.
In a recent webinar with Light Reading, I had a chance to share more details on the MulteFire E2E architecture work with a focus on different deployment scenarios. Together, Heavy Reading analyst Gabriel Brown and I covered:
- A Public Land Mobile Network access mode, where the MulteFire small cell is connected to 3GPP EPC
- A Neutral HostNetwork access mode, where the MulteFire small cell is connected to a neutral host network (Note: Check out the MulteFire blog archive to learn more about Neutral Host solutions for private enterprises, mobile operators and service providers.)
A MulteFire small cell may support both access modes simultaneously.
One of the most important starting points in our work was the interworking of MulteFire with 3GPP networks and 3GPP network elements. With 3GPP Release 13 as the base specification for our work, we can provide interworking via 3GPP interfaces, enabling operators to easily add MulteFire to their existing networks without needing a major upgrade. Also, by standardizing the interfaces between the MulteFire RAN and core network, we can support a multi-vendor ecosystem.
During the webinar, I dived into the details behind each access mode and had a chance to answer attendee questions about deployment scenarios.
We also asked a live audience poll question, asking “Which of the following features of the MulteFire architecture discussed in today’s webinar is the most attractive to you?” with the following results:
As you can see, the results were fairly evenly split, and is useful feedback for our work. I encourage you to listen to the archived webinar and let us know if you have any questions about MulteFire’s end-to-end architecture work.
György Wolfner has been actively participated in MulteFire Alliance meetings since the establishment of MFA. He chairs that the E2E Architecture Working Group, which is responsible for creating the general architecture for MulteFire and protocol specifications of the core network.
György started his professional career at the research institute of the Hungarian Telecom in 1998. He joined Nokia in 1999. He worked as system specification engineer and later as a product architect for different products of Nokia. He started supporting standardization work when 3GPP Rel-5 specifications were created and has been a regular 3GPP SA2 delegate of Nokia since 2003. His main expert area is the interworking of 3GPP and non-3GPP systems. He participated in the creation of the 3GPP WLAN interworking solution in 3GPP Rel-6 and in the specification of the non-3GPP interworking architecture of LTE in 3GPP Rel-8. He has also contributed in various other IMS and packet core related areas.
György received his Master’s degree in Informatics from Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BUTE), Budapest Hungary in 1994. He carried out research and PhD studies in the field of traffic and congestion management of ATM networks, and telecommunication network planning. He received his PhD in Telecommunication from BUTE in 1999.
