Cisco is opening the doors to a new innovation center in Israel Monday to test out a self-optimizing network (SON). Local telco Pelephone Communications Ltd. will pilot the new network typology, what Cisco is billing as the world's first self-optimizing heterogeneous network to combine small cells, Wi-Fi and macro technologies. Cisco's SON technology is part of its Quantum software network management tools that can manage the hodgepodge of small cells and integrate them with the macro network core. The software suite integrates Cisco's recent acquisitions of small-cell vendor Ubiquisys and SON vendor Intucell. (See Cisco Buys AT&T's Favorite SON Startup.) Why this matters
As operators continue to increase capacity with small cells, SON becomes an important network technology in that it helps the network react more quickly to data deluges, dispersing traffic to other cell sites as needed. It can also enable cells to share bandwidth when network capacity is limited or automatically route a user to another cell when one goes down. SON essentially makes the network more application aware and enables operators to manage complex, disparate small-cell networks. To date, the wireless operators haven't publicly talked much about their plans for SON. In the U.S., only Intucell customer AT&T has said it plans to deploy it across its network. Cisco's goal with the innovation center is to test the concept, as well as the business case for operators looking to monetize the growing data on their network. (See Cisco Reports Mobile Domination in 2017.) For more

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— Sarah Reedy, Senior Editor, Light Reading