Cisco is collaborating with Pelephone Communications Ltd., an Israeli telecom service provider, to test on its live production network the world's first self-optimizing heterogeneous configuration that combines small-cell, Wi-Fi and macro technologies.

The Cisco self-optimizing network (SON) software, which automatically manages the solution, is a component of the recently announced Cisco Quantum software suite, an integrated suite of network management tools that give service providers such as Pelephone greater capability to efficiently monetize and optimize their networks as well as to deliver a superior experience.

"We are always eager to innovate. We did it more than four years ago when we launched a high-speed access network and three years ago when we deployed the world's first self-optimizing network solution. Today, together with Cisco, we are delighted that the same technology will now enable us to transform our network with small cells and make it truly heterogeneous," said Gil Sharon, CEO, Pelephone.

Combining Small Cells, Wi-Fi and Macro Technologies

Worldwide mobile data consumption is expected to increase 13-fold by 2017; traffic patterns are becoming even more dynamic and unpredictable, with the majority of usage now shifting indoors, frequently beyond the reach of macro networks. At the same time, users demand consistent quality of service, anywhere and anytime.

Mobile networks are becoming exponentially more complex, and their operators seek new heterogeneous network topologies that will encompass unified core, multiple radio technologies (e.g., universal mobile telecommunications system, long-term evolution, small-cell and Wi-Fi) and a SON system to orchestrate all the elements dynamically.

Cisco has built the market's most comprehensive small-cell solution, encompassing its existing mobile core and Wi-Fi offering and bolstered by the recent acquisitions of Ubiquisys, the market leader in small-cell software, and Intucell, the market leader in SON technology.

SON is crucial for mass-scale small-cell deployment as it can automatically integrate into the network numerous new cells and synchronize them with the existing macro network. Coexistence between small cells and the macro radio network is widely seen by mobile operators as their most pressing network topology challenge.

Cisco acquired Intucell, a leading SON solutions provider, in February 2013 and announced the availability of software and infrastructure solutions featuring Cisco Quantum and new licensed radio technology. These elements, along with enhancements for the core mobile Internet network, demonstrate how an open, programmable, application-aware framework enables service providers to profit from data in motion.

"Small cells have become a crucial element in any modern mobile Internet network. Without them service providers would be challenged to meet the coverage and capacity needs created by the explosion in mobile data demand and the shift of mobile traffic indoors. Through Cisco Quantum, we offer the industry's most compelling and holistic small cells proposition, stretching from the cells themselves right to the network core. We will demonstrate its capabilities with Pelephone," said Kelly Ahuja, senior vice president and general manager, Service Provider Mobility Business Group, Cisco.