Super Sites Stress Capacity

Convergence will usher in a new era of networks, site-equipment vendors predicted at Supercomm 2000. Capacity, rather than coverage, is the new priority, and self-monitoring equipment is creating a trend toward smart cell sites, they said.

Jim Colthart, Littlefeet general manager, said that providers are turning to pico sites to get the most out of their networks. Littlefeet debuted the small-profile, intelligent-coverage/capacity element (SPICE) system. SPICE's main goal is to achieve greater capacity by using a number of smaller, overlapping sites. The upside for picocell deployment is that capacity can be increased at less cost than by building a single, full-scale site.

Colthart said that beta testing showed that SPICE can improve GSM capacity by five times the standard, thanks to frequency-reuse patterns that eliminate traditional C/I drawbacks. SPICE is available only for GSM networks, but plans call for CDMA, TDMA and other protocols.

Providers also are turning to "smart sites" due to the increase of traffic caused by data applications, said Arnaud Saffari, ArrayComm executive vice president.

The majority of equipment at the smart site is self-monitoring or software-controlled. A major element in this concept is smart antennas, which can specify antenna arrays more accurately and beam frequencies directly to users. Martin Feuerstein, Metawave vice president of product development, said that smart-antenna technology adds capacity by creating multiple spatial channels on top of traditional voice and data channels through reuse patterns. For providers, this approach means fewer base stations, more capacity and lower build-out costs.

Pinpointing where capacity is needed and being able to deliver it accordingly will give providers the edge in the new era of convergence, Saffari said.

"Providers cannot continue to build 'dumb sites,'" he said. "Future demands will not allow it."

This year's list of new power-equipment offerings also reflects Saffari's smart-site ideal. Astec's Helios prodigy, a shelf-less rectifier power system, comes with a monitor manager and offers what Jaques Poulin, Astec vice president, called, "plug-and-walk-away" installation and maintenance. The system operation also has a built-in IP interface for Internet connectivity.

Software developer Datatrax debuted Foreseer, its monitoring platform that delivers interoperability between power systems, heating and cooling gear, and security systems, regardless of the equipment manufacturer.

Liebert announced an industry-first, intelligent UPS system: Nfinity operates with IntellControl microprocessor controls, which identify problems and correct them independent of maintenance schedules. Jim Hall, Liebert telecom market manager, said this type of self-maintenance uses redundant systems to give providers more control over their network UPS.

Walker Rheem, Cactus Integration Group account manager, predicted power-control systems would go one step further and be outsourced, much like tower management is today. Liebert's Hall disagreed. He said providers tend to be stringent about by whom and how their power is controlled.

"Providers want to keep a tight rein on their equipment," Hall said. "(Power) is probably the most critical equipment in the network."

Although today's site equipment requires less power than in the past, Gary Guagliardi, Delta sales manager, said that power-density and redundancy factors will rise exponentially due to converged networks. Traditionally, ac input power for wireless networks has been a non-redundant system, but Guagliardi said higher power density might change that.

"Anything that can potentially bring a system down, providers will want to take extra precautions," he said. "I've seen systems that have triple redundancy because they were so critical."