Small Cell Forum launches a blueprints program to make scalable private networks a reality for key verticals

London, UK – Small Cell Forum (SCF), the telecoms organization making infrastructure solutions available to all, today announced the launch of a new program of work focused on developing blueprints for enterprise and industry, a significant step toward scalable and sustainable multi-technology private cellular networks.

More details about the program can be found in SCF255 How blueprints unlock the potential of private 5G networks, published today in support of the initiative.

Reference blueprints go beyond technical specifications to provide common guidelines, based on real world experience, for deployment in specific scenarios and industries, and for specific purposes. This greatly reduces the time and cost of deployment.

The initiative is being led by Ravi Sinha, from SCF Board company Reliance Jio. He said: “With the advent of the 5G-Era and the expanding mobile eco-system, there is increasing need to anticipate the technologies, specifications and blueprints needed to drive the industries and connected cities of the future.

“For vendors, deployers and operators, and their customers, the technology roadmap is becoming increasingly complex. We aim to develop practical, use-case focused blueprints that not only cut through that complexity, but also provide robust, scalable and sustainable solutions for key verticals. This is an ambitious program and SCF will work with partners and recruit from across the ecosystem to support the initiative.”

SCF continues to focus on private networks to bridge the gap between the capabilities of available and emerging technologies, and the availability of a range of services that can scale to suit differing business requirements. Small cells, especially 5G small cells, are at the heart of delivering such solutions, but a growing range of technologies also come into play including Wi-Fi 6, Edge Computing and Cloud based implementations. The huge range of potential use cases brings added complexities.

Recognizing this trend and the market need, SCF is launching a blueprints initiative within its newly formed Emerging Technology Group. The program will develop a suite of blueprints for specific use cases, deployment scenarios and service offerings with a range of cost and performance options that can be used by both vendors and deployers.

SCF Chair, Dr Prabhakar Chitrapu, commented, “Existing solutions for private, enterprise cellular networks have been tailored to single use-cases. The industry needs flexible, yet specific, end-to-end blueprints for scalable private networks that can be systematically replicated across multiple user scenarios.

“Our blueprints will leverage existing work from SCF and partner organizations, recruit new members and partner with external organizations to address the needs of vendors, deployers, especially in enterprise and industry. Working with specialist partners, we will also aim to address the topic of badging and certification, which should ensure cost-effective scalable solutions for the digital transformation of enterprise and Industry 4.0.”