Sky's the limit for Google
Project Loon may not be Google's only airborne wireless play - the company is
reportedly
eyeing a purchase of Nokia's in-flight Wi-Fi business. Nokia has been targeting European airlines with its offer of air-to-ground LTE service, which it says is robust enough to support in-flight video conferencing. The solution consists of antennas plus an onboard transceiver, and passengers can connect through Wi-Fi or cellular. If Google does end up buying Nokia's LTE A2G business, look for a strong marketing push in the U.S., followed by more Google Wi-Fi on airplanes.
DAS news
The JMA Wireless system at Chicago's Wrigley Field
went live in time for the Cubs' opening day, with anchor tenant T-Mobile as well AT&T and Verizon onboard. Sprint is expected to be live soon, as are Wi-Fi access points provided by Extreme Networks, according to
Mobile Sports Report
.
On the indoor front, we're hearing more about small cells as signal sources and in-building cellular as a service. That doesn't always mean service from a wireless carrier -- third party providers are stepping in to acquire the equipment and manage the networks for enterprise customers. Strategic Venue Partners says enterprises like the opex model because it frees up capital to invest in revenue-generating assets, which can fund the cellular systems. SVP was formed last year to own and operate in-building systems for enterprise customers. The company says it is working with all the major equipment manufacturers as well as several distributors and integrators.
AT&T says the
camera is the killer app
for the internet of things, and expects image recognition software paired with artificial intelligence to deliver critical insights to retailers, logistics companies, and
smart cities
. From body cameras on police officers to cameras at intersections, AT&T sees connected cameras as a key enabler of public safety systems.
What is xRAN?
Wireless carriers, chipmakers, software developers and academic researchers are teaming up to create new specifications for radio access networks through an initiative called xRAN. The carriers want to become less dependent on the major RAN vendors (Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei, and Samsung) and they want ways to make RAN equipment from different vendors work together. Today xRAN announced its first spec - the xRAN fronthaul specification 1.0.
Stanford professor Sachin Katti,director of the xRAN Forum, said the vision of an "open alternative to the traditionally closed, hardware based RAN architecture is becoming a reality."
New research: Global Macrocell Remote Radio Unit (RRU) Market Analysis & Forecast
