At this year’s LTE North America, ERCOM will demonstrate how Mobile Network Operators, (MNOs) can master the complexity of HetNet deployments for increased efficiency using network emulation. Ahead of the show, LteWorld interviewed Guy Lecurieux Lafayette, VP Marketing, ERCOM MOBIPASS about ERCOM's LTE offerings and  growth path.

Please tell us a little about ERCOM

ERCOM is a telecom solution provider which has dedicated more than 25 years to improving quality and security of telecommunication networks. ERCOM develops high-end telecommunication technologies and solutions. In the past five years the company has grown exponentially, with three main R&D centers located in France and two international support offices located in Shanghai and Chicago. ERCOM is dedicated to two main product lines:  wireless network optimization systems and secure communication solutions.

Can you give us an update on the ERCOM's focused areas in the LTE technology?

Since 2007, ERCOM has been focusing on providing tools to validate and optimize 4G LTE Networks for equipment vendors and for Mobile Network Operators through its MOBIPASS® Network Emulator solution. MOBIPASS® is a breakthrough solution used to assess and optimize 4G LTE network performance and was recently shortlisted as the Best Test and Measurement product at LTE World Summit 2013.

Some of the key aspects of MOBIPASS® are:

• Drastically reducing OPEX with appropriate automated tests.
• Accelerating the Time-To-Market to implement advanced LTE features faster.
• Anticipating network performance under high traffic conditions.
• Securing adequate & reliable QoE for subscribers.

What do you plan to showcase at LTE North America?

At this year’s LTE North America, ERCOM will demonstrate how Mobile Network Operators, (MNOs) can master the complexity of HetNet deployments for increased efficiency using network emulation. Small cell deployments are starting, and we believe it is mandatory for Operators to predict how their system is going to react in different situations, and therefore how they can optimize these deployments. 

We will explore these issues during a conference presentation, which will focus on intercell interference coordination algorithms validation and power control management testing. We will also be joining the Test and Measurement Best Practices panel discussion, which will focus on: how to ensure performance and experience through comprehensive network measurement devices, how to reduce interference issues and how to achieve more through optimized drive tests.

ERCOM will showcase its MOBIPASS® solution, which is a real life LTE network emulator. MOBIPASS® can emulate thousands of UEs with different types of traffic (VoLTE, Video, Web) and mobility; it also has a unique and advanced map-based per-UE channel and interference emulator; an easy-to-use call model builder; and high performance QoS and QoE measurement tools.

How does ERCOM's real life LTE network emulator MOBIPASS help MNO's across the world?

MOBIPASS® is helping MNOs master their LTE and HetNet rollout. HetNet (Heterogeneous Network) deployments are emerging as the solution to provide more capacity and more cost savings. It is vital that MNOs address HetNet critical success factors and complexity using the appropriate tools. MOBIPASS®’ features enable MNOs to: 

• Increase productivity and quality through automated tests; 
• Greatly reduce the expensive cost of outdoor testing and allow up to 50% OPEX reduction. 

The solution also allows MNOs to understand the effects of key RAN parameters and allows them to fine tune their network for optimal performance and anticipate real gain for users. Finally, it is a perfect platform to master multi-vendor integration. 

What is ERCOM's current LTE market reach and what is expected growth path?

ERCOM’s MOBIPASS® Network Emulator is used by several large equipment vendors to validate and optimize their equipment and algorithm, for either MacroCells or SmallCells.  For the second year running we have seen a rise in demand from Operators to get such a solution to do end-to-end validation and optimization. This year there has been an increase in the amount of MNOs rolling out LTE and we see this as a big opportunity for MOBIPASS®. MOBIPASS® Network Emulator allows the MNOs to master the increasing complexity of modern networks. This complexity is only going to increase in the future with HetNet, LTE-A, SON and 5G; we believe network emulation is just at its early stage.