NEC Expands North American Mobile Backhaul Strategy, with Introduction of Enhanced Offering

NEC Corporation of America (NEC), introduced the expansion of its North American Mobile Backhaul strategy; based on the collective strengths of the NEC NLite™ series of digital microwave radios and NEC’s CX2600/CX2200, multi-service transport gateway equipment. Through this product line-up NEC’s Mobile Backhaul solution supports a flexible mix of TDM and packet traffic, and provides advanced functionalities, including: flexible traffic aggregation, intelligent Quality of Service (QoS) and Ethernet-based powerful Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) services.

Broadband technologies, including WiMAX and in the near future LTE, have already started to encourage mobile operators to expand their current backhaul links in order to transport new services like mobile TV, video conferencing, interactive gaming and mass adoption of full Internet browsing and communications. As such, operators are challenged to increase mobile backhaul capacity to support these services, and fear new expenditures, based on potential need to invest in IP infrastructure. However NEC’s enhanced Mobile Backhaul model enables efficient transport of current and new services through both legacy and future all-IP networks.

NEC takes a new hybrid packet radio approach to Mobile Backhaul, combining its world-class NLite E and CX2200/100 multi-service transport gateway to effectively optimize available wireless resources; helping operators reduce mobile backhaul investments and deploy IP to the network edge. In addition, deploying the CX2200/100 close to the NLite E allows for better radio bandwidth utilization; further reducing the capital expenditure (CAPEX) impact of mobile broadband deployments, such as WiMAX.

Designed as a more compact, flexible version of the upscale CX2600 Series Multi-service Aggregation Switch product, yet inheriting the same intelligent switching functions in terms of backhaul extension and unbundling at any point in the network, the CX2200/100 leverages the same critical IP backhaul features such as a statistical multiplexing, link aggregation and lease-cost hybrid SONET/IP routing through its very low latency packet switch and TDM cross-connect. In addition, a new Modular Port Configuration System, allows NEC customers to choose from a broad range of TDM, ATM and Ethernet interface modules for each gateway deployed.

Significant OPEX savings result from migrating backhaul traffic from traditional T1/SONET to IP. Using standardized pseudowire technology, NEC’s Mobile Backhaul solution also transmits and routes TDM and ATM traffic over IP backhaul networks without the need to replace legacy base station or base station controller equipment.

Another core benefit is enhanced provisioning of carrier-grade manageability and survivability of multi-service transport with the new NEC model, customers can meet business service level agreements (SLAs), as the CX2200/100 provides minimum rate guarantee and maximum rate limit functions to differentiate priority and capacity for premium and best effort traffic.

”Consumer demand for broadband services has prompted mobile operators to explore where legacy and alternative TDM/ATM-based services can migrate to Ethernet for faster, more cost-efficient transmission, yet still leverage existing infrastructure assets,” said Tsuneyoshi Miura, vice president, NEC Corporation of America, Radio Communications Systems Division. “This need to shift to Ethernet is where NEC’s Mobile Backhaul strategy thrives; as it offers operators the best of both worlds with innovations that realize a converged network on a single platform.”