US : Eastern Research unveiled its BSG-1u Base Station Access Gateway for mobile operators.

Building on the solid market success of Eastern's DNX-1u Access Gateway, the BSG-1u represents a new generation of integrated cell site transport and management solution. It enables mobile wireless operators to optimize their transition to high-speed mobile data and multimedia services, reduce backhaul costs in the radio access network (RAN), and converge traffic from multiple generations of radio equipment and overlay networks in the process.

Purpose-built for base stations, the compact BSG-1u helps address the coverage, capacity, network convergence and system control challenges many operators face as they deploy 3G networks.

Coverage

Mobile operators rolling out 3G services typically meet their initial coverage requirements by incrementally upgrading existing 2G/2.5G cell sites with 3G-capable infrastructure. Eastern's BSG-1u transport solution supports this network "overlay" strategy by seamlessly supporting multiple generations of circuit- and packet-based voice/data traffic in one platform. Operators can focus on their 3G coverage objectives initially, knowing that the BSG-1u will allow them to gradually converge all traffic in the RAN as it makes economic sense.

Capacity

As 3G subscriber counts and bandwidth requirements increase, each cell site's transport infrastructure must scale to meet these aggregate traffic demands. The BSG-1u accomplishes this via flexible transmission interface modules that scale from NxE1/T1 copper to STM1/OC3 and Gigabit Ethernet fiber. The BSG-1u also incorporates high-speed switching and routing engines to ensure optimal throughput and voice service quality as mobile data traffic increases.

Convergence

Once 3G networks further mature and mobile subscriber traffic evolves toward a more data-rich service mix, the prohibitive recurring costs of maintaining multiple overlays will drive most operators to consolidate and/or deactivate underutilized network assets and converge their multi-generational transport infrastructure using a unified, packet-based approach. The BSG-1u supports TDM, ATM, IP/MPLS and Ethernet transmission to enable this transition and consolidation in the RAN while at the same time allowing optimization of backhaul bandwidth and operational costs.

Control

Operators are already struggling with increased network management complexity and operational costs in the RAN - especially at the base station - and the migration to 3G will only aggravate this issue. To help minimize this problem, the BSG-1u offers extensive cell site telemetry capabilities that allow operational personnel to monitor and control common base station infrastructure from a single integrated platform. These features include remote IP-based management, contact closure alarm inputs and control outputs, and voltage measurement inputs.

"As mobile operators expand their data service coverage and capacity, they need effective strategies to reduce expenses and extract maximum benefit from their radio access network investments," said Mike Doyle, president of Eastern Research. "The BSG-1u helps operators migrate their RANs to converged, packet-based architectures with the capacity to support high-bandwidth multimedia services."

Eastern Research will display its range of mobile infrastructure solutions at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes, France, 14 - 17 February, 2005. (Stand L6, Hall 4)