Ericsson's must-sees at MWC 2013

• Ericsson's must-see demos at the Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona focus on superior performance 

• First-time showcases include Service Provider software-defined networking (SDN) and the latest developments in LTE, voice over LTE (VoLTE) and HSPA 

• All Ericsson demos will take place in Ericsson Experience in Hall 2 

The telecommunications industry's most important trade show, the Mobile World Congress in Fira Gran Via, Barcelona, Spain, starts on Monday, February 25 and will run until February 28. The latest in ICT development is showcased here, and in Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) Experience in Hall 2, Stand 2D140, visitors will be able to get a sneak peek into the future and the new opportunities that Ericsson is bringing to the Networked Society. The demos that Ericsson will offer reflect the company's focus on ensuring superior performance and include a series of world firsts in the areas of operations and business support systems (OSS and BSS), LTE, VoLTE and HSPA.

This year's highlights include:

The future of data networks: Service Provider SDN

Ericsson will showcase its Service Provider Software Defined Networking (SDN) concept, which ensures operators have the carrier-grade tools to build real-time platforms that will allow them to offer cloud services to consumers and enterprises.

Using current data center SDN switching and controller technology is not sufficient in a real-time telecom environment. Today, a carrier-grade, virtualized, wide-area-network infrastructure that supports telecom services as well as large-scale OSS and BSS is also required. This is what we call Service Provider SDN.

Service Provider SDN means adding control to all domains of the telecom network. It links control of the cloud to the control of the network. Service Provider SDN integrates network control and orchestration, cloud management and service exposure. It also secures a smooth migration from today's network infrastructure to the virtualized wide area network, while coping with the co-existence of legacy network components and a virtualized network during the transition period.

Ericsson will demonstrate two Service Provider SDN applications: network virtualization and service chaining, commercially available in Q4 2013.

LTE Advanced

• Carrier aggregation delivers high-speed data over diverse spectrum  

Ericsson is demonstrating two LTE Advanced carrier aggregation cases, which allow operators to get the most out of fragmented spectrum:

• Ericsson is first to demonstrate carrier aggregation with commercial devices and chipsets soon available on the market from Qualcomm. Ericsson's LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation will soon be generally available for operators to more efficiently achieve higher peak-data rates, up to 150 Mbps over 20 MHz 
• In the LTE TDD arena, Ericsson is demonstrating carrier aggregation on TDD spectrum. This capability delivers a superior user experience, with higher data speed. 

Carrier aggregation makes more efficient use of spectrum by combining two or more carriers into a single channel.  Carrier aggregation can combine spectrum both within a single band and across multiple bands. The resulting higher peak data rates will give users a richer mobile broadband experience and improved service coverage.

LTE Advanced moving heterogeneous networks forward

Visitors will get a peek into the heterogenous network future with two LTE Advanced demonstrations:

• Combined cell allows small cell capacity build without interference
  Ericsson demonstrates techniques for avoiding interference between small and macro nodes as users move through the heterogenous network. Within the combined cell, the system dynamically optimizes the base station and small cell transmission and reception to provide the best possible cell-edge performance and the overall mobile broadband user experience. 
• Concept reveal: world's smallest active antenna system
  Ericsson will showcase a new technology design with the world's smallest 8 x 8 MIMO active antenna system. This marks another step in Ericsson's heterogeneous network development, in which we advance and build small and easy-to-deploy network-radio equipment. The small cell active antenna system demonstration provides up to 1 Gbps data speeds and will make 8 x 8 MIMO deployment more practical and cost-effective for service providers.  As standards advance, LTE 8 x 8 MIMO will ultimately enable users to enjoy extremely fast data downloads and streaming of rich media content and high-definition videos. 

LTE TDD

Demonstrating the richness of LTE TDD/FDD convergence

Ericsson is demonstrating key capabilities over LTE TDD and FDD - VoLTE, data connection handover, and carrier aggregation - to show how TDD/FDD operators can optimize their business potential by building networks that use both FDD and TDD spectrum. 

• Visitors will be able to experience a seamless LTE FDD to LTE TDD data connection handover to enable the expansion of the service offering into a seamless FDD/TDD converged network. This capability will also be shown together with device partner Altair and China Mobile.  
• LTE TDD carrier aggregation illustrates peak data performance by combining TDD spectrum to deliver high-speed data services. 

VoLTE

Delivering HD voice and video services for LTE smartphones

Ericsson will show the latest advancements in VoLTE and the growing VoLTE device ecosystem:

• Demonstrations of the world's first VoLTE and Rich Communication Services (RCSe) integrated on an LTE smartphone platform will be shown together with Qualcomm. 
• We will demonstrate HD voice and video calling over commercial LTE smartphones and display the growing VoLTE device ecosystem.  
• The latest improvements in voice handover from LTE to WCDMA (SRVCC based on R10 commercial Ericsson products) will be demonstrated together with Qualcomm.  
• Ericsson will also provide LTE and IMS/VoLTE network coverage at the congress venue for ST-Ericsson and device platform partners, , Qualcomm and Renesas. Ericsson also provides LTE coverage to platform partners Intel and nVidia.  

HSPA

Boosting downlink with unpaired spectrum

Mobile traffic today places more demand on downlink than uplink. To address this need, Ericsson and Qualcomm will demonstrate a concept in which unpaired spectrum bands are used as a complement to existing paired frequency bands to improve downlink performance. This concept is referred to as supplemental downlink and the demonstration will use the unpaired L-band.

Relying on Ericsson's commercially available base stations and Qualcomm devices it will be demonstrated that supplemental downlink can increase user speeds by more than 100 percent while increasing network capacity significantly. The resulting increase in user throughput delivers a better experience for consumers while the increased network capacity allows operators to serve more subscribers in a cost-efficient manner.

Supplemental downlink is one example of multi-band, multi-carrier WCDMA technology. This technology is already supported in Ericsson networks.

Spectrum refarming

Free up GSM spectrum for mobile broadband expansion without jeopardizing KPIs

Ericsson's spectrum refarming solution enables successful growth in mobile broadband,   shortening time to market for WCDMA and LTE and ensuring maintained quality of service during and after refarming. Main KPIs are maintained and even improved in some cases, even after a proven average reduction in GSM spectrum usage of 30 percent in 900 band and 38 percent in 1800 band.

Ericsson showcases our industry-leading, complete solution that combines advanced products and features, superior tools, and extensive experience within services to secure smooth and efficient refarming on a tight schedule without impacting quality.

Ericsson can provide the best capacity and performance owing to our advanced radio access network portfolio. Multi-standard, mixed mode base stations and Antenna Integrated Radio (AIR) products in the RBS 6000 family bring additional advantages in network performance and ease of rollout when introducing WCDMA and LTE to existing GSM networks. Operators will be able to handle extremely high spectrum load scenarios thanks to a combination of the following advance features: Automatic FLP (Frequency Load Planning); BTS Soft Synchronization, a network synchronization feature, and VAMOS (Voice services over Adaptive Multi-user channels on One Slot), a hardware capacity feature. Automatic FLP is a new feature that maximizes frequency performance and significantly reduces O&M (Operation and Maintenance) efforts.

Backhaul

• Heterogeneous network backhaul: the latest advances for indoor and outdoor small-cells
  Building indoor and outdoor small cells requires a combination of different backhaul solutions. We will show solutions for line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight microwave deployment cases that simplify small cell build-outs.  

Using a live camera solution for microwave alignment makes for easier and quicker installations. We show a new solution for indoor small cells that enables reuse of indoor infrastructure, providing flexible installation and lower deployment costs.

IP backhaul - benefits of superior end-to-end backhaul performance

Ericsson will demonstrate live IP backhaul performance monitoring from the cell site up to the switch site.

Backhaul is a key parameter for achieving superior network performance; without proper backhaul planning, it can become a bottleneck to throughput. Operators can secure optimal network performance and user experience by end-to-end performance monitoring and using correlation between RAN and backhaul parameters. This enables them to continuously tune their backhaul to ensure adequate capacity and coverage to meet user needs.

Key Event Experience

Ericsson launches Key Event Experience, an end-to-end solution that enables operators to deliver rock-solid network performance during events.

The growing availability of smart mobile devices and mobile broadband has raised user expectations with regard to network quality. Expectations are even higher during major events, when large numbers of users wish to share their experiences via smart mobile devices. Ericsson's key event experience solution supports operator networks during events that typically lead to dramatic increases in mobile traffic. Ericsson can tailor this solution according to the size and type of event while taking into account the needs of both the organizer and the fans. Based on the demands, Ericsson can then optimize the network performance and proactively monitor and support during the actual event.

Key Event Experience maintains a high QoS with key competence in planning, design, deployment, optimization and fault management through thorough preparation and quick reaction to intense spikes in traffic. It provides real-time performance monitoring, active traffic management, frequent scanning, and proactive remediate network issues.

Experience Centric Managed Services

Ericsson will launch Experience Centric Managed Services - a new managed services engagement model evolved from the traditional, telecom managed services model that can meet operators' evolving expectations on managed services. Experience Centric Managed Services aligns the management and operation of the network and IT environment to users' expectations and operators' business objectives.

Experience Centric Managed Services is about creating substantial business value through a clear focus on the user experience, tracked and measured through a combination of technical, service and customer experience KPIs. The model takes a holistic approach -   covering both the network and the IT environment - that is necessary to create business value. To achieve success, the relationship between the vendor and the operator must be a true partnership that aligns the two parties' business objectives with a risk/reward type of pricing.

Automatic Device Verification

Ericsson is launching Device Verification - one of the many ways in which the company can help the industry secure the best customer experience by verifying the quality of devices and applications prior to activation.

Making use of our Experience Labs located all over the world, device and application vendors are able to test their new products and services using some of the most innovative Ericsson technology. By connecting to a customer's live network, our labs help vendors verify device and application performance to meet an operator's validation and acceptance tests. Our automated verification tools help to ensure that operators comply with regulatory, international and specific network requirements.

Our proven approach helps orchestrate the readiness of new device launches, resulting in shorter lead times, reduced verification costs, and improved customer experience.

OSS and BSS

Ericsson has the broadest and deepest portfolio of all vendors in OSS and BSS, and it has recently been further strengthened though the acquisition of ConceptWave and its leading catalog of order management solutions. Through a variety of demonstration, Ericsson will showcase its end-to-end capabilities that enable operators to become more competitive.

• Experience-Driven Customer Care and Self-Service - manage end-to-end customer experience
  Ericsson will demonstrate an experience-driven approach to customer care, showcasing efficient care through a call center experience that enables fast, efficient diagnosis and satisfactory resolution of customer issues and that proactively addresses customer needs and reduces dependency on the call center.  
• Plan-to-Provision for Mobile - simplify and automate operations
  Ericsson will demonstrate its new Plan to Provision (P2P) for Mobile, a comprehensive solution that accelerates many aspects of provisioning wireless networks. Through network configuration and equipment activation, P2P for Mobile automates a significant proportion of the network rollout process and improves design, capacity expansion, discovery and the reconciliation process from the radio access network. With this new solution, Ericsson is helping operators realize greater efficiency through simplified, consolidated and automated OSS and BSS processes for LTE as well as any 2G, 3G, or 4G network. 
• Mobile Order Management - realize business expansion
  Ericsson will demonstrate a suite of products and services that enable operators to launch new services in days rather than months by using Ericsson's factory service approach, which dynamically assembles new product offerings from proven components while still fostering differentiation and collaboration. Through this approach, operators can also provide enterprise customers with rapid, self-service provisioning for employee devices and services.  

TV and Media

• Ericsson Media Delivery Network - discover video optimized delivery networks
  Massive growth in video traffic and over-the-top services and applications is putting pressure on mobile operators to optimize their data networks. Ericsson will demonstrate its Media Delivery Network, which breaks the boundaries of traditional content delivery networks with a unique, single-platform approach to the delivery of managed and unmanaged content across fixed and mobile networks. The demonstration will showcase the speed, quality, control, and efficiency of the Media Delivery Network, which ultimately positions operators ideally within the media value chain for fast time-to-market, innovation and monetization.  

M-Commerce

• Ericsson Wallet Platform
  Only 1.5 billion people in the world have a bank account, yet more than 1.7 billion people without a bank account have access to mobile phones. Ericsson's Charging & Billing in One solution already serves 1.6 billion customers, and as a result, Ericsson can unlock the potential of the wallet for operators by converting these pre-paid customers to mobile wallet accounts. Ericsson will demonstrate its Wallet Platform, which enables operators to launch branded mobile wallets that provide direct and indirect revenue opportunities through a variety of services for consumers, merchants and financial institutions, including money remittance, currency exchange, account management, payments, prepaid cards and more.  

During Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona, Ericsson showcases its combined technology and services leadership for the Information and Communications Technology industry. Our solutions deliver superior network performance in the field, enable complete customer experience management, simplify and automate operations workflows thereby leading to operational excellence. We show how the Networked Society comes to life - what it will mean for the industry and how it will enable our customers to capture growth opportunities. Ericsson is found in Hall 2, Stand 2D140.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Download high-resolution photos and broadcast-quality video at www.ericsson.com/press

Ericsson is the world's leading provider of communications technology and services. We are enabling the Networked Society with efficient real-time solutions that allow us all to study, work and live our lives more freely, in sustainable societies around the world.

Our offering comprises services, software and infrastructure within Information and Communications Technology for telecom operators and other industries. Today more than 40 percent of the world's mobile traffic goes through Ericsson networks and we support customers' networks servicing more than 2.5 billion subscribers. 

We operate in 180 countries and employ more than 100,000 people. Founded in 1876, Ericsson is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2011 the company's net sales were SEK 226.9 billion (USD 35.0 billion). Ericsson is listed on NASDAQ OMX, Stockholm and NASDAQ, New York stock exchanges.

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• Ericsson’s must-sees at MWC 2013