Federated Wireless Expands CBRS Plans, Talks Up Packet Partnership

News Wire Feed Light Reading 2/21/2019

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Federated Wireless today announced the submission of a supplement to its Initial Commercial Deployment (ICD) application to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), expanding it to include planned deployments from 25 customers spanning all 50 states and the District of Columbia. This ICD application supplement signals accelerated industry adoption of CBRS across vertical markets as full commercialization approaches and a wide-range of Band 48 compatible devices are introduced.

The Federated Wireless Spectrum-as-a-Service offering brings the benefits of interference-free spectrum to a variety of customers and locations with multiple business models. Customers included within Federated Wireless’ ICD application span a broad range of markets and use cases, including:

ExteNet Systems, a leading provider of Neutral Host solutions, has partnered with Federated Wireless to roll out CBRS service in over 1,000 sites in the coming months. The installations will provide fixed wireless services and offer Private LTE as a managed service to their customers through both indoor and outdoor networks. Deployments will include high power CPEs that connect to outdoor CBRS towers using LTE and communicate in-home to existing consumer electronics via Wi-Fi.

Syniverse has partnered with Federated Wireless to launch a Private LTE CBRS solution, which will first be deployed at their flagship global headquarters. The integrated CBRS solution will enable both communication service providers and enterprises to set up Private LTE networks that offer easy deployment, superior coverage, higher-quality user experience, greater security, and support a variety of new applications and use cases.

As an important indicator of commercial readiness, Band 48 devices are now entering the market as well. This week Samsung launched the Galaxy S10 with full support for CBRS across the product line. Add that to Google Pixel 3 Band 48 phones, Sierra Wireless Band 48 modules for Enterprise devices like laptops, and Cradlepoint Band 48 devices for IIoT, and it is clear that the device bottleneck is broken and CBRS deployments can begin in earnest across all key industries.

In a separate announcement:
ARLINGTON, Va. and NEW YORK -- Taking the next step towards a developer-led model for wireless infrastructure, Federated Wireless and Packet today announced a joint “Wireless Test Kitchen” in Boston, MA that allows developers and Enterprises to programmatically build mobile network solutions. The joint lab, which will be available starting in March, combines Federated Wireless’ shared spectrum technology and deep partner network ecosystem with Packet’s automated bare metal edge cloud and DevOps ecosystem to enable Private LTE in a fully cloud-based model.

The “Wireless Test Kitchen,” which is located in Packet’s new Foxborough, MA edge cloud site next to Gillette Stadium, provides a test bed for a range of enterprise wireless use cases including Industrial IoT (IIoT), smart cities, and entertainment. The site can control shared spectrum assets throughout Boston metro, enabling developers, enterprises, research institutions and solution providers to innovate with production ready wireless access in their backyard.

The two companies bring a massive ecosystem that includes over 20 OEMs pre-integrated into Federated Wireless’ Spectrum Controller and over 15,000 developers and leading DevOps integrations, such as HashiCorp’s Terraform and Red Hat Ansible, through Packet’s cloud platform.

Federated Wireless