Continuous Computing, picoChip earn industry honours for LTE femtocell reference design

Femtocells World Summit 2010, SAN DIEGO, USA & LONDON, UK: Continuous Computing, the global provider of integrated platform solutions that address the mobile broadband capacity challenge, and picoChip have won a prestigious Femto Forum Femtocell Industry Award for their joint Long Term Evolution (LTE) Femtocell Reference Design.

The Continuous Computing / picoChip LTE Femtocell Reference Design, a true industry first, was chosen as the winner in the “Best Enabling Technology” category by a judging panel of industry analysts and representatives from leading wireless trade bodies. The awards ceremony took place on Wednesday evening at The Landmark Hotel as part of the Femtocells World Summit in London.

“The Continuous Computing and picoChip LTE reference design is a great example of an enabling technology that is necessary to kick-start development of LTE femtocells,” said William Webb, Director of Technology Resources at Ofcom, the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries, on behalf of the judging panel.

“The timing of this reference design is critical for the introduction of LTE femtocells as operators begin to roll out the first LTE networks. At the same time, there is a growing understanding of the importance of multi-tier cellular architectures as we move from 3G to 4G and as networks begin to cope with user demand for capacity. The judges wanted to recognize the role of this crucial component in what is likely to become a necessary part of future 4G networks.”

The LTE Femtocell Reference Design is the first integrated and fully-tested LTE femtocell solution for both TDD and FDD (time and frequency division duplexing) networks. It includes an LTE baseband implementation, radio frequency hardware and packet processor, Trillium protocol software, intelligent router functionality and a complete Evolved Packet Core (EPC) simulator.

Femtocell device manufacturers and network equipment providers can use the reference design to create and bring to market LTE femtocell solutions quickly and cost-effectively.

The Femto Forum Award is the second award that the LTE Femtocell Reference Design has won in two months: in May, it scooped the Award for “Best Enabling Product/Technology for LTE” at the Informa LTE Awards, held at the LTE World Summit in Amsterdam. The LTE Femtocell Reference Design, developed by Continuous Computing and picoChip in conjunction with Cavium Networks, made its debut in February 2010 at Mobile World Congress, and has been commercially available since that time.

Commenting on the second LTE Femtocell Reference Design award win, Manish Singh, vice president of product line management at Continuous Computing, said: “We’re delighted with this latest award win and the recognition for Continuous Computing’s pioneering work in 3G and LTE femtocell technology, which has resulted in over 20 femtocell customer wins. With the LTE Femtocell Reference Design, vendors can save substantial time, money and risk in developing devices that are expected to play a major part in LTE networks.

“Operators must seriously consider their value and importance - both for delivering effective localized coverage to subscribers and enabling easy voice and data traffic offload to solve potential wireless broadband capacity issues.”