Cisco has been boosting its portfolio in the heterogeneous networks arena with a series of recent acquisitions, aiming to become a star player in the small cell space.
The company has purchased Intucell for self-organizing network software that reduces interference in small cell deployment, BroadHop for policy control, Meraki in the Wi-Fi arena and most recently announced that it will buy small cell vendor Ubiquisys.
Jared Headley, senior director of Cisco’s small cell solutions, said that with the acquisitions Cisco has built an end-to-end solution around small cells and access points, integrated into the packet core and encompassing indoor and outdoor solutions. The company installs as many as 2,000 Wi-Fi access points a week, he said, and “we see a lot of dynamic services with licensed radio, Wi-Fi and small cells.”
“Fundamentally, we’re all in on small cells,” he said.
Headley said that small cell solutions allow Cisco to address both spectrum scarcity and better monetization of networks – both pain points for operators.
Hear more from Headley in this video.
