The Aricent Group Collaborates With Mindspeed to Develop a Complete, Highly Scalable eNodeB Reference Framework

NEW ORLEANS, May 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Aricent Group, a global innovation and technology services company, and Mindspeed, the leader in small cell technology, today announced the launch of a joint LTE eNodeB reference framework. The carrier-class product is a complete solution design, from RF interface through S1 and X2 interfaces and includes Aricent base station software stacks integrated with Mindspeed baseband and silicon. Rigorously tested for functionality and performance, the base station solution is designed to help telecom equipment manufacturers (TEMs) deliver high-performance base stations in multiple form factors, including femto, pico, metro and micro-cell configurations and is available for both LTE FDD and TD-LTE variants.

LTE is the fastest growing communication technology of all time, with deployments and test trials in progress across the globe. According to a survey conducted by Informa, 60% of operators believe small cells will be more important than macrocells in LTE deployments. Small cells were also the comfortable winner in a Rethink Research survey of the most important features driving adoption of LTE-Advanced, which standardizes many enabling technologies related to HetNets and self-organizing networks (SON). There is a huge demand for high performance and highly scalable LTE solutions. The joint offering addresses this deep need for solutions that can cater to the dynamic markets quickly and efficiently.

"For equipment manufacturers, delivering compelling radio access solutions is a key component of their overall LTE strategy," explains Rakesh Vij, Aricent Group vice president of business development. "We are thrilled to partner with Mindspeed to deliver our proven, high-performance integrated LTE eNodeB framework that helps equipment manufacturers to accelerate the deployment of LTE base stations in the fast growing 4G market."

"Small cells are essential for LTE and operators need to quickly and reliably develop a mix of form factor base stations to support it. Mindspeed is the only company with the field-proven technology and real-world expertise experience to make this possible," said Dr. Naser Adas, vice president and general manager, wireless and customer premises equipment (CPE), at Mindspeed. "With over one million small cells deployed in HSPA+, we have extensive experience in small cell technology, and we are making it work in the field.   We are the only system-on-chip (SoC) company with both 3G and 4G technology available today, and the only company with both LTE FDD and TD-LTE small cell solutions. Our collaboration with Aricent will allow us to deliver a complete, robust, carrier-class system implementation, with proven interoperability and full conformance." 

Technical specifications
The Aricent-Mindspeed eNodeB reference framework includes LTE Layer 2 and Layer 3 software from Aricent, which is optimized on the Mindspeed Transcede T4x00, T3x00 and T2x00 SoC family and integrated with Layer 1 software. The reference framework supports both Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD) modes of operation and a variety of carrier frequencies. It also supports LTE advanced features like 2x2 DL MIMO, etc and has an upgrade path to LTE-A and Release 10. The integrated framework has been comprehensively tested for interoperability with both test UEs (Signalion and Aeroflex) and with commercial terminals, ensuring ready-to-build platform for TEMs. It has also passed interoperability testing with commercial packet cores.

The Aricent-Mindspeed eNBF reference framework will be on display at the CTIA. Onsite engineers will showcase the performance of Aricent's Layer 2 and Layer 3 software on Mindspeed's hardware.

About the Aricent Group
The Aricent Group is a global innovation and technology services company that helps clients imagine, commercialize, and evolve products and services for the connected world. Bringing together the communications technology expertise of Aricent with the creative vision and user experience prowess of frog, the Aricent Group provides a unique portfolio of innovation capabilities that seamlessly combines consumer insights, strategy, design, software engineering, and systems integration. The client base includes communications service providers, equipment manufacturers, independent software vendors, device makers, and many other Fortune 500 brands. The company's investors are Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Sequoia Capital, The Family Office, Delta Partners, and The Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board.

For more information, visit www.aricent.com

About Mindspeed
Mindspeed Technologies (NASDAQ: MSPD) is a leading provider of network infrastructure semiconductor solutions to the communications industry. The company's low-power system-on-chip (SoC) products are helping to drive video, voice and data applications in worldwide fiber-optic networks and enable advanced processing for 3G and long-term evolution (LTE) mobile networks. The company's high-performance analog products are used in a variety of optical, enterprise, industrial and video transport systems. Mindspeed's products are sold to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) around the globe.

For more information, visit www.mindspeed.com

SOURCE Aricent Group