US / Europe : Kineto Wireless and picoChip announced the companies are developing a UMA-enabled femtocell reference design.  The reference design, based on picoChip's industry-leading single-chip solutions, and Kineto's industry-leading UMA client software will enable 3G femtocells to overcome network integration barriers to accelerate mass market adoption. 

Femtocells are low-cost cellular access points for mobile operators looking to provide enhanced, in-building 3G coverage within homes and small businesses.  Recent analysis from ABI Research estimates that by 2011 there will be 102 million users of femtocell products on 32 million access points worldwide. 

Operators globally are showing new interest in femtocells, which are made possible through recent advances in low-cost 3G silicon as well as advanced radio frequency planning techniques.  The key to sustainable, mass-market femtocell adoption is a standards-based core-network connectivity solution that supports cost-effective large-scale deployments.

"UMA technology overcomes the technical challenges for network operators trying to deploy and manage millions of femtocells in the network," said Rupert Baines, vice president of marketing for picoChip.  "By collaborating with Kineto Wireless, the leader in UMA technology, we are able to develop an advanced reference design for femtocells to enable mass-market adoption."

The 3GPP UMA standard is uniquely suited to address the access network challenges of femtocells.  UMA was developed to enable millions of dual-mode cellular/Wi-Fi handsets to integrate seamlessly and with minimal impact to mobile operators' existing core network infrastructure.  With UMA-enabled femtocells, operators will have a standardised, cost effective and scalable core network interface to fully realise the coverage, capacity and cost benefits of 2G and 3G in-building cellular access points. 

"We are pleased to be collaborating with picoChip, a leader in enabling the Femtocell market," said Gary Sarson, vice president of business development for Kineto Wireless.  "Combining UMA with picoChip's low cost silicon and HSDPA software sets the stage for a robust femtocell market."

About UMA Technology
Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology is the 3GPP global standard for fixed/mobile convergence.  UMA enables secure, scaleable access to mobile voice, data and IMS services over broadband IP access networks.  By deploying UMA technology, mobile operators can deliver a number of compelling fixed-mobile convergence services.  The most well known application of UMA technology is dual-mode cellular/Wi-Fi handsets, which enable subscribers to automatically roam and handover between cellular networks and public and private WLANs.  Leading operators around the world have embraced UMA technology as part of a fixed-mobile convergence strategy, including Telecom Italia, France Telecom/Orange and TeliaSonera.  For more information, please visit www.UMAToday.com.