London, UK – Ubiquisys, the developer of 3G and LTE small cells, will demonstrate smart cells running on a live mobile network at Small Cells World Summit in London on 26-28 June. The smart cell is a new class of device: a small cell base station with a fully integrated cloud computing platform. Ubiquisys has developed a new range of communications-tuned computing modules based on Intel® architecture. With support from Intel, Ubiquisys has integrated these modules into a range of 3G/LTE/WiFi small cell base stations, adding massive processing power and storage at the edge of the network.

Small cell deployments in public spaces – incorporating combinations of 3G, WiFi and LTE – are growing rapidly, as they multiply the capacity of mobile networks whilst driving down costs. Users experience major improvements in data performance because the signal is delivered over a short range. But cloud media and core network applications remain at the far end of an often congested commodity backhaul connection, severely restricting the user experience benefits. Smart cells overcome this challenge by bringing context-specific media and applications closer to mobile users, opening new opportunities for operators, end-users and application developers.

“Smart cells are the future – they deliver integrated, high performance cloud computing and communications to the hotspots where mobile users need them,” said Chris Gilbert, CEO Ubiquisys. “Through our strategic collaboration with Intel we’ve turned our founding vision into a compelling new class of products, and judging by the initial commercial interest from operators, they will be deployed in vast numbers.”

The Ubiquisys® smart cell computing modules feature the 2nd generation Intel® CoreTM processor CPU family with data plane hardware accelerators. There are variants based on Intel® Core™ processors for public space hotspots and large enterprises, and Intel® AtomTM processor-based variants for SOHO and residential environments.

The demonstration features new applications from Edge Datacoms, one of the first companies to harness the new potential of the smart cell platform.

Examples of smart cell EdgeCloud® applications include:

Edge content: selectively storing and serving content direct from the smart cell for instant, reliable playback. Edge content can also have a major impact on backhaul, reducing traffic by up to 40%.

• Viral cache: storing YouTube videos during the first view, serving subsequent views direct from the smart cell
• Predictive cache: pre-fetching popular content such as news pages during quiet periods on the backhaul connection
• Local media: maintaining a range of local maps, images and guides on the smart cell
• Preloaded media: serving e.g. broadcast content direct from the cell
• Advertising media: serving ad media, especially video, direct from the cell

Edge processing: smart cells have the processing power to work on the communications stream in real-time, performing tasks more efficiently at the edge that were previously only possible inside the core network. Examples include user protection (anti-virus, URL filtering, deep packet inspection) and adaptive video transcoding.

Edge platform: hosting cloud applications on the smart cell, closer to mobile devices, to transform the user experience. Examples include:

• Upload proxy apps: photos and video uploads go to a proxy app in the smart cell. Users get fast uploads with minimum battery drain whilst the small cell takes on the task of gradually uploading to the main cloud app.
• Content Delivery Network (CDN) clients: CDNs are an intrinsic part of content delivery in the cloud. These apps extend CDN functionality closer to mobile users.
• Enterprise applications: a one-box enterprise solution that integrates appropriate enterprise applications such as an IP-PBX.

Intel, Core and Atom are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries. Ubiquisys and EdgeCloud are registered trademarks of Ubiquisys Limited.