Tektronix Extends Mobile Network Monitoring Capability for Femtocells

Tektronix Communications has announced a femtocell monitoring solution based upon the GeoProbe network monitoring platform. As part of the Unified Assurance portfolio, the GeoProbe platform of monitoring solutions will support both standards 3GPP release 8 and vendor proprietary versions of the femtocell interfaces.

Femtocell networks rely on a new architecture that leverages existing 3G network elements (MSC, SGSN) but also includes new network interfaces (Iuh) and new network elements (HNB, HNB-GW, Security-GW, etc.) that are unproven in a mobile network environment where the expectations for quality are very high. For operators deploying femtocell networks, this represents a significant quality assurance risk, especially given the fact that the HNB located at the customer premise will be exposed to external factors unforeseen by traditional network elements that are typically housed at the central office or in a secure location.

"Tektronix Communications' femtocell monitoring solution enables operators adopting femtocells to ensure the same level of QoS in their femtocell networks as they have come to expect in their mobile network with the ability to monitor and troubleshoot customer impacting problems all the way to the femto home node B," said Mark Driedger, vice president and general manager of Network Monitoring for Tektronix Communications. "In addition, operators now have the flexibility to scale their network monitoring needs as they adopt new broadband technologies such as HSPA and LTE."

Because the number of network elements involved in a femtocell access network are considerably more than in a GSM or UMTS access network, there is an economic need to monitor the potentially tens of thousands of Iuh interfaces remotely as opposed to relying on portable tests carried-out by field technicians which can be considerably more expensive and less efficient. Tektronix Communications says that its femtocell monitoring solution enables operators a smooth transition to next-generation networks. The solution can generate statistics for nodal troubleshooting, network baselining and planning purposes, as well as data records for internal and external BSS and OSS applications.

Posted to the site on 16th June 2009