multefire – MFA-Tech

MulteFire Makes Waves at MWC

Posted on March 22, 2018

By Outi Niemi, Secretary for the MulteFire Alliance, Director Operations Management, Digital Automation, Nokia

I recently returned from a great week in Barcelona where Mobile World Congress was bigger than ever. While it’s been a few years since the last time I attended MWC, this was the MulteFire Alliance’s third year since our formal launch event in 2016. We’ve come a long way since then with the delivery of the Release 1.0 specification in 2017 – and now at our 2018 event – I’m pleased to share that we highlighted the first two MulteFire™ products announced by our members!

MulteFire Open Day at #MWC18

During our MulteFire Open Day held at MWC, MulteFire Alliance Board Chair and GM, Digital Automation at Nokia Stephan Litjens highlighted the new products from Nokia and Baicells in his keynote presentation – which you can watch here. It’s exciting to see these first announced products as the first step in building an interoperable ecosystem of devices.

MulteFire Alliance Board Member, Said Tatesh with Huawei, shared exciting details on the progress of Huawei’s eLTE solution that supports the MulteFire specification. He shared commercial use cases of eLTE being deployed in diverse vertical industries such as a detailed analysis of eLTE deployed in the Yangshan Port of Shanghai. You can watch Said here or download the presentation here.

Our MWC event also featured a panel discussion that focused on how MulteFire will be leveraged by Industrial IoT and Enterprise applications and included panelists from board members Boingo and Nokia, one of our newest members m3connect, and our industry liaison partner – the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC). I encourage you to check out the full panel discussion here for insight into how MulteFire changes the game. You can also read more on Alliance board member Derek Peterson’s thoughts on the vast opportunities for MulteFire in the enterprise space in his blog post, where he highlighted how MulteFire can deliver smart, dense networks for a seamless customer experience. In addition, the Alliance is continuing to release interesting white papers such as the most recent paper “The Business Case for MulteFire technology” by Wireless 20/20. You can find them all here.

One application that will be able to leverage MulteFire technology is Nokia Saving Lives – a corporate non-profit initiative that provides innovative communications technology and technical expert assistance to emergency response teams. I was at MWC to highlight the work that Nokia is doing in this space, and I will be excited to see these come together in the future. Please also check out the cool MulteFire use cases that my colleague Stephane Daeuble demonstrated at MWC in this video.

MulteFire Technology on Display at MWC

Once again, MulteFire Alliance member companies demonstrated MulteFire technology in action in the Alliance booth in Hall 7. Athonet highlighted its vEPC and IMS for MulteFire. Huawei featured its eLTE deployments of MulteFire technology in vertical industries. Nokia showcased the first small cell product built to the MulteFire specification as well as demonstrated MulteFire IoT in 1.9 GHz unlicensed bands and future MulteFire support for network slicing. Sanjole, a test equipment participant member of the Alliance, showed full PHY and upper layer analysis for testing MulteFire.

Beyond MWC – Technical Specification Group Makes Progress

With the focus at MWC on IoT and enterprise, the Alliance is hard at work on our next specification – Release 1.1 – which will add further optimizations for industrial IoT applications. Our Technical Specification Group met just ahead of MWC in beautiful Aalborg, Denmark where we were hosted by member company RTX. I’d like to give a big thanks to RTX for their hospitality and support in enabling our working groups to make great progress toward hitting our targeted spec finalization date in June. We’ll next meet up in Colorado in April where CableLabs will be hosting our Spring meeting to continue progress. MulteFire will continue to make waves in 2018!

MulteFire Alliance to Showcase Technology Innovation at Mobile World Congress

Posted on February 26, 2018

News Highlights:

MulteFire Open Day, open to all MWC attendees, will be held from 2:00-5:00pm on February 27 in Press Room 2
MulteFire technology demonstrations from Athonet, Huawei, Nokia and Sanjole will be featured in Hall 7, Stand 7F81
Alliance surpasses 40 members with addition of 7layers, KATHREIN-Werke KG, Klas Telecom, m3connect Gmbh, and Quanta Computer

FREMONT, CA – February 26, 2017 – The MulteFire Alliance, an independent, diverse and international member-driven consortium that is defining and promoting MulteFire™, will showcase growing momentum for MulteFire technology during its Open Day event at Mobile World Congress. MulteFire, an LTE technology that operates standalone in unlicensed and shared spectrum, extends the LTE ecosystem to new and existing players, while supporting harmonious co-existence with other technologies in the same band.

Open to all MWC attendees, the MulteFire Open Day at MWC will take place Tuesday, February 27 from 2:00-5:00pm in Press Room 2 in the Fira Gran Via. The event will feature:

Keynote presentation by MulteFire Alliance Board Chair Stephan Litjens will cover MulteFire technology development including the forthcoming Release 1.1
Analyst presentation by Wireless 20/20 will present cost and revenue modeling for MulteFire deployments in Industrial IoT and Enterprise applications
Guest presentation by Huawei sharing results from a private LTE deployment in Shanghai shipping port
Panel discussion with panelists from Boingo Wireless, Industrial Internet Consortium, m3connect and Nokia
Reception from 4:00-5:00pm to meet with MulteFire Alliance leadership

To register for the event, visit https://www.mfa-tech.org/multe-events/press-event-mwc-2018-rsvp-form/.

Alliance member companies Athonet, Huawei, Nokia and Sanjole will be demonstrating MulteFire technology in Hall 7, Stand 7F81. To schedule a meeting, visit https://www.mfa-tech.org/multe-events/mwc-2018-meeting-registration-form/.

New Members Join MulteFire Alliance

The MulteFire Alliance has surpassed 40 members with the addition of 7layers, KATHREIN-Werke KG, Klas Telecom, m3connect Gmbh, and Quanta Computer.

“I’m pleased to welcome the newest members to the Alliance as they join us in developing a robust MulteFire ecosystem,” said Mazen Chmaytelli, president, MulteFire Alliance and senior director of business development, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “The Alliance already includes members from the entire supply chain needed to bring MulteFire to market, including chip makers, enterprises, infrastructure vendors, device manufacturers, service providers, and test and measurement vendors. These new members bring additional expertise to our organization, including test and certification services, antenna design, networking, hardware, and more.”

To join the MulteFire Alliance or for more information, visit www.MulteFire.org. To see the full membership list, visit http://www.MulteFire.org/our-members/.

MulteFire Alliance Adds Five New Members

Posted on February 21, 2018

By Mazen Chmaytelli, President of the MulteFire Alliance

The New Year is off to a great start for the MulteFire Alliance. Along with MulteFire™ technology advances, recent webinars, new white papers and upcoming events – including Mobile World Congress 2018 – the Alliance continues to reach key milestones including our recent achievement of exceeding more than 40 members since our public launch two years ago.

On behalf of the Alliance, I’d like to welcome our newest members – 7layers, KATHREIN-Werke KG, Klas Telecom, m3connect Gmbh, and Quanta Computer. These member companies bring additional expertise to our organization, including test & certification services, antenna design, networking, hardware, and more.

As president of the Alliance, I’m charged with conducting communication and outreach to foster the organization. Throughout 2017 I saw my frequent flyer miles increase as I met with companies around the globe that have an interest in MulteFire. I welcome these opportunities as new members bring a fresh perspective along with new technology applications and new marketplace opportunities that can positively impact the industry and further our goal of broadening the LTE ecosystem to new players. The journey of the Alliance so far has been exciting and as we achieve this new membership milestone I am looking forward to what we will be able to accomplish throughout this coming year as we see first announcements of MulteFire products and trial deployments.

I’ll be at Mobile World Congress 2018 this year and look forward to meeting with all companies that are interested in learning more about Alliance membership or the MulteFire ecosystem. I encourage you to schedule a meeting, join us at our MulteFire Open Day at MWC, or visit us in Hall 7, Stand 7F81 to see MulteFire technology demonstrations. I look forward to seeing you in Barcelona!

Evolution in Enterprise Connectivity: New Research Spotlights Vast Opportunities for MulteFire

Posted on February 19, 2018

By Derek Peterson, Board Member, MulteFire Alliance and CTO, Boingo Wireless

When deploying an entirely new wireless network in the enterprise, there are many challenges to overcome to ensure each connected device has seamless, reliable coverage throughout the entire environment. During a recent webinar—LTE in Unlicensed Spectrum: Driving Innovation in the Enterprise—I joined Harbor Research’s director of development Alex Glaser to discuss this vertical and how the wireless industry is working to enhance its coverage and capacity. We kicked off the conversation by asking attendees about the top challenges they face with enterprise networks. Their answer? Cost, robust connectivity and coverage were flagged as the biggest hurdles.

Addressing Enterprise Network Challenges

I was not surprised by this response. At Boingo, we deliver both cellular and Wi-Fi connectivity to large venues around the world and know firsthand that the only way to ensure a seamless customer experience is by overcoming challenges like coverage and cost with smart, dense networks that can provide monetization opportunities for our partners. We also have to be on top of skyrocketing mobile data trends and build our networks accordingly.

Most of us know data is climbing at an incredibly fast rate. But how does that impact the enterprise? For starters, network traffic increases will mean more access points, which can increase costs. Added pressure on enterprise Wi-Fi and carrier networks can also mean compromising quality of service in data-intensive, hyper-dense environments. And remember, having traditional LTE networks deployed is not always the answer as in some cases, it might not make financial sense for the venue.

This is why MulteFire™ – a new wireless technology – makes so much sense. MulteFire can be deployed as a neutral host network and allow us to take advantage of common spectrum, while delivering a cost-effective way to expand LTE networks ubiquitously. It also provides new opportunities to separate private services, such as a near-band IoT network that is reserved for specific use cases.

New research from Harbor Research bears this out. Harbor Research details in a new white paper its prediction that the total addressable revenue for enterprise markets deploying MulteFire will reach $5.7B in 2025, in addition to the $118.5B opportunity in the industrial and commercial IoT markets. During the webinar, Alex also shared how MulteFire will act as a stepping stone to 5G, showing the benefits of wireless networking in new ways that haven’t all been imagined. MulteFire already meets some of the current needs today that 5G seeks to address.

At the beginning of the webinar, only 58% of attendees said that they were familiar with Private and Neutral Host LTE and/or MulteFire, but we hope to bring that number up to 100% as we continue to educate audiences on how MulteFire changes the wireless networking paradigm. I shared my thoughts on the critical importance of this convergence of licensed and unlicensed spectrum just a year ago ahead of MWC in my convergence manifesto. Since then, we’ve seen traction for MulteFire grow as the MulteFire Alliance membership doubled and Nokia launched the industry’s first small cell based on the MulteFire Release 1.0 specification.

I’m excited to continue the education and momentum for MulteFire at MWC 2018 where I will be participating on a panel during the MulteFire Open Day – you can find more details on the Alliance’s activities at MWC here. I invite you to join me and other industry leaders in Barcelona as we help move MulteFire from vision to reality.

Resources:

White Paper: MulteFire in the Enterprise: Driving Innovation and Value Creation
Webinar: LTE in Unlicensed Spectrum: Driving Innovation in the Enterprise

The Industrial Internet Consortium and the MulteFire Alliance Announce Liaison

Posted on December 14, 2017

NEEDHAM, MA and FREMONT, CA – December 14, 2017 The Industrial Internet Consortium® (IIC™), the world’s leading organization transforming business and society by accelerating the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and the MulteFire Alliance, an international association dedicated to building a global ecosystem in support of Long Term Evolution (LTE) and next generation mobile cellular technology, announced they have agreed to a liaison to work together to advance their shared interests. Under the agreement, the IIC and the MulteFire Alliance will work together to promote the digital economy by harmonizing various aspects in the fields of the industrial Internet.

Joint activities between the IIC and the MulteFire Alliance will include:

Identifying and sharing IIoT best practices;
Realizing interoperability by harmonizing architecture and other elements;
Collaborating on standardization;
Collaborating on testbeds and research and development projects;
Exchanging technology requirements and use cases;
Exchanging documents and information solely for discussion purposes;
Collaborating in the area of cellular technologies in unlicensed and shared spectrum;
Conducting other activities as determined and mutually agreed by the parties in writing.

“Extending cellular-based technology into industrial applications will help accelerate Industrial IoT adoption,” said Wael William Diab, Chair of IIC Liaison Working Group and Senior Director at Huawei. “This collaboration expands opportunities for IIC members with industry players focused on cellular technology.”

“Operating standalone in unlicensed spectrum, MulteFire technology can be deployed as a private LTE network to deliver local and customized services for industrial IoT applications with high performance, low latency and seamless mobility,” said Mazen Chmaytelli, President, MulteFire Alliance and Sr. Director Business Development, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “This liaison provides a new avenue for the Alliance to demonstrate how MulteFire enables new use cases in industrial segments and to inform IIC audiences about LTE technology and its benefits.”

The IIC Liaison Working Group is the gateway for formal relationships with standards and open-source organizations, consortia, alliances, certification and testing bodies and government entities/agencies..

MulteFire – Bringing LTE-based Security to Unlicensed and Shared Spectrum

Posted on November 20, 2017

By Asimakis Kokkos, Technical Specification Working Group Chair, MulteFire Alliance and Head of Industry Environment Strategy, Nokia

When transmitting data wirelessly, security must always be a top consideration. While other wireless technologies operating in unlicensed spectrum have security protocols, history has shown that these can occasionally have security vulnerabilities, for example as seen with the recent KRACK vulnerability. Only MulteFire comes with LTE-based security baked in when operating wireless networks in unlicensed or shared spectrum.

Based on 3GPP Release 13 and 14, the MulteFire specification was designed from the outset to minimize the differences between LTE and MulteFire, including how security is implemented. Inherently, LTE incorporates strong security mechanisms, ensures authentication of devices and networks, and encrypts data traffic.

Supporting SIM & Non-SIM Credentials for Secure Networks

In addition to leveraging LTE’s inherent security, MulteFire architecture provides multiple options for device authentication—such as with or without a SIM card— to support a wide range of use cases and deployments and provide services for subscribers from different types of services providers. MulteFire devices could either have physical SIM cards or virtual eSIMs to support service continuity from external mobile networks and regular mobile subscribers, while maintaining a secure network. Alternatively, any MulteFire network could issue its own SIM cards or eSIMs for use with its own services, or standalone networks can allow access from devices without a SIM card using certificates.

Keeping Local Traffic Local – and Secure

Another advantage of MulteFire technology is that it can be deployed as a private LTE network that keeps data locally controlled and independent of surrounding cellular network infrastructure. Keeping data on-premises adds additional security. One deployment example is the emerging private networks for the Industrial IoT applications where local deployment is key to further reducing end-to-end latency and serving use cases such as transportation hubs, manufacturing facilities and container ports.

For more in-depth information on MulteFire technology and security mechanisms, download the MulteFire Release 1.0 Technical Paper here. For more information about the Private LTE Opportunity for Industrial IoT, download the white paper here.

CND joins MulteFire Alliance as momentum for Private LTE market ignites

Posted on November 1, 2017

Berlin, Germany – 1 November 2017 – Mobile core network start-up Core Network Dynamics (CND) today announced it has joined the MulteFire Alliance, which aims to broaden the LTE ecosystem by enabling complete mobile networks to be deployed in the unlicensed spectrum. Capitalising on the expanding private LTE market which Harbor Research estimates will be worth over $31bn in 2022, CND is committed to support MulteFire™ in OpenEPC, its award winning complete multi-access core network in software that runs on commodity hardware.

According to a new report by RAN Research, the wireless forecasting arm of Rethink Technology Research, the rise of shared and unlicensed spectrum and protocols like MulteFire will lead to a dramatic expansion of the mobile ecosystem beyond traditional cellular operators in the area of enterprise small cells.

Caroline Gabriel, Director of Research at Rethink Technology Research, expects the share of enterprise small cell installations to rise from seven per cent in 2014 to account for 14.8 million units by 2022 – nearly half of all deployments. “MulteFire will allow new challengers to enter the market and launch lower-cost services more quickly than traditional operators, including ‘network in a box’ offerings using virtualized cores from the likes of Core Network Dynamics” said Gabriel.

“Building a complete eco-system, including virtualised core networks from members such as CND, is vital for the commercial success of MulteFire technology,” said Mazen Chmaytelli, President, MulteFire Alliance and Sr. Director Business Development, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “We’re pleased to welcome CND to the Alliance as our newest member and look forward to working together on enabling companies to deploy MulteFire.”

“MulteFire will ignite the private LTE market over the next few years, enabling explosive growth beyond the mobile operators’ monopoly,” said Carsten Brinkschulte, CEO of Core Network Dynamics. “I believe MulteFire’s LTE credentials gives it the edge over WiFi as it is arguably more reliable and scalable and also offers multi-access points and carrier grade security. Our vision is to merge the core network with the radio, embedding OpenEPC in Small Cells interconnected with a dynamic mesh to provide distributed self-organizing private LTE networks for the enterprise and public safety markets,” Brinkschulte added.

About MulteFire Alliance

The MulteFire Alliance is an international association dedicated to building a global ecosystem in support of the common interests of members, developers and users in the application of Long Term Evolution (LTE) and next generation mobile cellular technology in configurations that use only unlicensed and shared radio spectrum. For more information about MulteFire technology, its benefits how to become a member of the MulteFire Alliance, please visit www.MulteFire.org.

About Core Network Dynamics

Headquartered in Berlin, Core Network Dynamics develops and markets OpenEPC, a complete mobile network infrastructure in software. Target markets include: carriers designing next-generation mobile networks using SDN/NFV; first responder/public safety organisations requiring a secure private LTE network compatible with off-the-shelf Smartphones; companies operating in remote areas where mobile coverage is patchy or non-existent; and operators evaluating advanced Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) concepts to implement distributed mobile networks for IoT applications.

CND is a private company with 10 OEM partners, providing core network solutions based on OpenEPC to mobile operators, enterprises and public safety markets. For more information: http://www.corenetdynamics.com

From Marconi to MulteFire – Wireless Innovation MulteFire Open Day – Rome Highlights

Posted on October 11, 2017

By Outi Niemi, Secretary for the MulteFire Alliance

I recently returned from Rome, where I attended the MulteFire Alliance’s sixth Open Day event. Co-hosted by Athonet and Enel, the MulteFire Open Day featured keynote presentations and a panel discussion that highlighted end use cases and an update on when we should expect to see MulteFire deployed.

Why Italy?

While I always enjoy any trip to Italy, you might wonder why we chose Rome for our Open Day. Karim El Malki, CEO of Alliance member company Athonet – headquartered in Trieste, Italy – shared why his company was keen to host this important event. Italy is a leader in the Industrial 4.0 revolution and is aiming to lead in 5G trials in vertical markets – making Italy a country that is ripe for MulteFire deployments. Karim detailed examples where Athonet has already deployed private LTE networks at the Milan World Expo and at Enel’s power plants. MulteFire is the right next step to meet these vertical market needs for flexible spectrum usage, low latency and high throughput, all locally controlled.

MulteFire Use Cases – Perspective from Enel

We were also excited to have Giuseppe Serrecchia, head of digital strategy, global ICT at Enel, share his thoughts on use cases where Enel would deploy MulteFire and why it offers performance advantages over Wi-Fi. As a company, Enel is making significant investments in its digital strategy as they transform their IT infrastructure and move to the Cloud, with the goal to build their services on top of this new infrastructure. Telecommunications and wireless connectivity are key to enabling this transformation as “without connectivity, you don’t digitalize a company; it’s about reaching anything and everyone.”

Giuseppe went into detail on how the company has studied MulteFire and how it offers the capabilities that they care about – high throughput, ultra-low latency, seamless experience, managed security, and Wi-Fi-like deployment ease. Some of the biggest opportunities to deploy MulteFire include power plants (including solar) and sustainability use cases to provide communications to areas hit by disasters. It was exciting to see a potential end user of MulteFire share why they’re ready to deploy the technology, and I encourage you to download the presentation here.

Panelists Share Details on Roadmap to Deployment

Stephan Litjens, MulteFire Alliance Board Chair and vice president of Innovation Steering for Nokia, shared during his opening keynote that MulteFire is now in labs with products planned to deploy in 2018. This was seconded in the discussion amongst the MulteFire panelists – Nanda Menon, Athonet; Rao Yallapragada, Intel; Samuele Machi, Nokia; and Neville Meijers, Qualcomm.

IoT will be first. When asked which application will deploy MulteFire first, Neville Meijers stated that he believed that industrial IoT environments are going to see early traction. Qualcomm is already in trials with private LTE at the moment. The areas of focus include shipping ports, airports, mines, and oil & gas refineries. Using MulteFire will be the next step for these trial applications.
Enterprises need MulteFire. Rao Yallapragada shared how Enterprise networks today have several pain points – for both wireline and wireless. Wireline networks have costly set-ups, are difficult to configure and almost impossible to re-configure, and don’t provide any mobility or outdoor coverage. Wi-Fi comes with its own limitations for reliability and security. MulteFire overcomes these pain points. It’s easy to configure and cost-effective due to reduced number of access points that need to be installed (in comparison to Wi-Fi). It comes with reliability and security baked in (of particular importance in healthcare applications). And it provides all the benefits of LTE – including voice – to provide campus-wide connectivity.
MulteFire will power the Industrial 4.0 Revolution. Nanda Menon pointed out that while the 4.0 revolution is out to change the world, it can’t succeed without very reliable connectivity. Industrial 4.0 will require very high SLAs that can’t be supported by Wi-Fi or macro networks. A completely new network is needed that meets the 1) laws of physics, 2) laws of economics, and 3) laws of the land. MulteFire is the right network solution as it meets these laws’ requirements.
A Robust Ecosystem for MulteFire. As companies begin to prep for MulteFire deployments in 2018, Samuele Machi detailed how the Alliance is supporting commercialization efforts through development of a certification program to ensure a robust and interoperable ecosystem of devices. The Alliance already includes members from the entire supply chain needed to bring MulteFire to market, including chip makers, infrastructure vendors, device manufacturers, small cell & Wi-Fi vendors, service providers, and test & measurement vendors. Meijers added that while the ecosystem is developing, the biggest hurdle isn’t the technology, but is defining the business agreements that will support MulteFire deployments.
The Road to 5G. Looking ahead, the Alliance will develop 5G MulteFire based on 3GPP NR standards and continue its focus on commercialization efforts. The panelists agreed that 5G – beyond enhanced mobile broadband – is being driven by the vertical market use cases – and MulteFire is the right solution for many of these verticals.

The combination of Italian hospitality and tradition of wireless innovation and MulteFire made for a great event! The MulteFire Alliance will next venture to The Hague for Wi-Fi NOW, October 31-November 2, where Stephan Litjens will present on MulteFire and we’ll be showcasing technology demonstrations. I hope to see you at our future MulteFire events!

MulteFire Open Day to be Hosted at Enel Premises in Rome

Posted on September 25, 2017

ROME, ITALY – September 25, 2017 – The MulteFire Alliance today announced the MulteFire Open Day, which will be held at the Enel Auditorium on Tuesday, September 26. Co-hosted by Alliance member, Athonet, a service provider for mobile core network solutions, the event will provide an introduction to MulteFire™ technology and discuss key business use cases. Anyone interested in learning more about MulteFire technology is invited to attend.

MulteFire is an LTE-based technology that can be deployed standalone in unlicensed or shared spectrum, while ensuring fair sharing of spectrum with other users and technologies in the same bands, such as Wi-Fi. By removing the requirement for an anchor in licensed spectrum, MulteFire enables new use cases and allows anyone to deploy and operate their own network, while gaining the advantages of LTE technology such as performance, coverage, mobility and security.

Event Details:

Tuesday, September 26
2:00 – 5:00pm
The Enel Auditorium, Viale Regina Margherita 125, 00198 Roma RM, Italy – hosted by Enel and Athonet

“MulteFire is an ideal technology for industrial IoT and enterprise applications that require low latency. MulteFire meets the demands for a robust wireless technology that can be deployed as a private network and locally controlled,” said Mazen Chmaytelli, MulteFire Alliance President and Senior Director of Business Development for Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “I invite all companies to join us for informative presentations and demos of MulteFire technology.”

The MulteFire Open Day agenda will include:

An overview of MulteFire technology
Keynote presentations on the MulteFire business opportunities, end-user perspectives for MulteFire and leveraging MulteFire networks for industrial applications
Panel discussion on MulteFire advantages for Enterprise, IoT and Neutral Host Networks
Reception featuring MulteFire technology demonstrations

To attend the free MulteFire Open Day, register at www.multefire.org/multe-events/rome-open-day-rsvp-form/.

About MulteFire Alliance
MulteFire Alliance is an international association dedicated to building a global ecosystem in support of the common interests of members, developers and users in the application of Long Term Evolution (LTE) and next generation mobile cellular technology in configurations that use only unlicensed radio spectrum. For more information about MulteFire technology, its benefits how to become a member of the MulteFire Alliance, please visit www.MulteFire.org.

PCTEL Joins MulteFire Alliance to Promote LTE in Unlicensed Spectrum

Posted on September 12, 2017

PCTEL Scanners and Antennas Ideal for Small Cell and Industrial IoT Deployments

SAN FRANCISCO – September 12, 2017 — PCTEL, Inc. (Nasdaq:PCTI), a leader in Performance Critical TELecom solutions, announced today at Mobile World Congress Americas that it has joined the MulteFire Alliance. The Alliance is an international consortium established to define and promote MulteFire™, which enables LTE-based cellular and Internet of Things (IoT) network configurations operating solely in unlicensed and shared spectrum.

By enabling standalone configurations in unlicensed and shared spectrum, MulteFire makes high performance wireless technology available to a variety of users beyond the established carrier base. Solutions based on MulteFire technology will enable enterprise, venues, and ISPs to deploy neutral host small cells, providing hyper-dense mobile connectivity. Industrial users will be able to deploy reliable wireless IoT networks without the need to purchase spectrum.

“It is important to the commercial success of MulteFire technology that we build a complete eco-system, including test and measurement partners such as PCTEL,” said Mazen Chmaytelli, President, MulteFire Alliance and Sr. Director Business Development, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “PCTEL has a strong reputation in both test and measurement and antenna design, with a range of products that can be used to deploy MulteFire.”

PCTEL’s IBflex® and MXflex® scanning receivers and antenna solutions currently support all MulteFire frequencies. PCTEL’s scanning receivers provide RF measurements to support planning and configuring of wireless networks. PCTEL also offers a complete portfolio of antennas as well as embedded systems design and integration expertise for small cells and the industrial Internet of Things.

“PCTEL’s flex scanning receivers are precision RF measurement tools based on software-defined radio technology, ideal for assessing technology performance and identifying sources of interference. They will adapt to MulteFire technology regardless of the spectrum being used,” said Jeff Miller, PCTEL’s Senior Vice President and General Manager, RF Solutions. “We look forward to working closely with the Alliance as this exciting technology develops and supports today’s use cases as well as use cases we haven’t imagined,” added Miller.

About MulteFire Alliance

About PCTEL

PCTEL delivers Performance Critical TELecom technology solutions to the wireless industry. We are the leading global supplier of antennas and wireless network testing solutions. PCTEL Connected Solutions designs and manufactures precision antennas. PCTEL antennas are deployed in small cells, enterprise Wi-Fi access points, fleet management and transit systems, and in equipment and devices for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). PCTEL RF Solutions provides test tools and engineering services that improve the performance of wireless networks globally. Mobile operators, neutral hosts, and equipment manufacturers rely on PCTEL’s scanning receivers and testing solutions to analyze, design, and optimize next generation wireless networks.

For more information, please visit the following websites.

PCTEL Corporate: http://www.pctel.com/

PCTEL Connected Solutions: http://www.antenna.com/

PCTEL RF Solutions: http://rfsolutions.pctel.com/

For further information contact:

Michael Rosenberg

Director of Marketing

PCTEL, Inc.

(301) 444-2046

public.relations@pctel.com