Hub One, the digital tech subsidiary of ADP (Aéroports de Paris), has appointed Italy-based network software provider Athonet to provide an LTE core across three airports in Paris. The new deployment will share existing radio access network (RAN) infrastructure from Ericsson at the sites with a second private core network, also from Ericsson, which is being utilised by Air France.
Athonet is providing the private network core for LTE and 5G voice and data services at Paris Orly, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Paris le Bourget airports. It said “all employees” at the three airports will have access to Hub One’s new private network. It covers “facilities and equipment”, including public-access areas, and airside, office, and industrial zones.
It is understood the network will be available to other (non Air France) airlines, as well; the parallel core network, from Ericsson, is for use only by Air France at the sites. Hub One has handled the setup and management of the all-Ericsson private network, deployed a year ago, on behalf of Groupe ADP and Air France.
Athonet said the new Hub One setup is geared to offer reliable and secure (“professional-grade”) connectivity for “digitisation, critical operations, and “quality of experience”. Hub One has launched the network already at Paris-Orly airport. It will enable customers to “take advantage of the opportunities associated with the smart airport,” it said.
A statement said: “Hub One has grouped all its professional uses on a single dedicated infrastructure and reduced the complexity and lack of agility of legacy technologies. [Its] 4G/5G network improves network performance and meets end-users’ requirements for fast and secure access. Customers… will benefit from a real lever to improve their operational efficiency in an environment made difficult by the health crisis and increasingly competitive.”
Grégoire de La Crouée, Mobile Pro Business Line Director, at Hub One, said: “Athonet’s core network provides uncompromised reliability [and]… full functionality of carrier grade networks, and does so with the agility and ease of use of a next generation, all-software solution. It gives us the flexibility to work with best-of-breed radio solutions to meet our specific performance and interconnection needs with our service platforms and scalability.”
Gianluca Verin, president at Athonet, commented: “Athonet’s core network, guaranteeing business-critical and mission-critical use, is the bridge between enterprises and private cellular networks. It combines the reliability of cellular networks with the simplicity of deployment and operation of a WIFI network for example.”
