Ruckus Launched CBRS-Band LTE Access Portfolio

Ruckus Networks introduced a new portfolio of U.S. Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) 3.5 GHz LTE access points (APs) and associated cloud-based subscription services for use in enterprise and service provider networks. The Ruckus LTE portfolio enables enterprises to deploy private LTE networks to ensure high quality-of-service (QoS) for critical business applications. For service providers, the portfolio provides cost-effective LTE for in-building and outdoor coverage with more capacity for areas with heavy data traffic.

The U.S. CBRS spectrum will be allocated using a shared spectrum scheme that represents a historic shift in spectrum allocation, making it available to a vast number of entities. The economics of CBRS are expected to enable new enterprise use cases, while uniquely addressing the need for additional mobile network capacity and bandwidth.

“We anticipate the CBRS radio access network (RAN) market to grow 10-fold between 2018 and 2022 with total RAN investments approaching $1 billion,” said Stefan Pongratz, senior director of carrier economics and mobile RAN, Dell’Oro Group. “The CBRS band lowers the barrier-to-entry and provides opportunities for a wide range of participants to operate a public or private LTE network, utilizing shared spectrum. We expect significant momentum for service providers and private enterprise LTE after the FCC certification for CBRS.”

The Ruckus CBRS-band LTE portfolio consists of:

• Ruckus Q710—a 3.5 GHz indoor LTE AP that covers approximately 10,000 square feet.
• Ruckus Q910—a 3.5 GHz outdoor LTE AP that covers approximately the area within a 660-foot city block.
• Ruckus cEMS—Cloud-based element management system (cEMS) delivered as a subscription service that brings Wi-Fi like simplicity and zero-touch provisioning to LTE AP management. The Ruckus cEMS enables single-pane-of-glass management of LTE and Wi-Fi APs as well as future-combined LTE/Wi-Fi devices.
• Ruckus cEPC—Cloud-based evolved packet core (cEPC) delivered as an optional subscription service that provides required LTE network core functionality and subscriber management.
• Ruckus cSAS—Cloud-based spectrum allocation server (cSAS) delivered as an optional subscription service that ensures spectrum availability per the CBRS requirements.
• ARRIS professional services for service provider network planning and deployment.

Cloud services are available as a single-bundled subscription or on an a la carte basis. In combination with Ruckus LTE APs, the three subscription services provide all the necessary elements to operate a CBRS-band LTE network.

Private, Mobile and Fixed Wireless Applications:

Better enabling critical business applications with Private LTE

Today, organizations in the U.S. that want to use LTE to support high-QoS requirements for industry-specific applications must either purchase commercial service from a mobile network operator (MNO) or private LTE-as-a-service from an MNO. For the first time, the Ruckus LTE portfolio enables enterprise customers and Ruckus channel partners to deploy and manage their own private LTE networks to support critical business applications in industries such as transportation, utilities, logistics, healthcare, manufacturing, and hospitality.

Cost-effective mobile RAN

Deploying CBRS services will be orders of magnitude more cost-effective than with traditional licensed spectrum. Consequently, it offers service providers the opportunity to achieve faster return-on-investment (ROI) on new or augmented LTE coverage and capacity buildouts, as compared to using traditional licensed spectrum. Operators can use the Ruckus LTE portfolio in its entirety or choose what they need to complement their systems.

Using CBRS to extend existing wireline

Telco, cable and wireless service providers seeking to deliver increased broadband speeds to the home may face technical, economic and physical challenges to extending cable or twisted pair infrastructure. The combination of the Ruckus LTE portfolio and the ARRIS NVG558 fixed wireless gateway enables providers to broaden their market, reduce installation costs through home self-installs – and deliver tomorrow’s speeds and services…today.

“In CBRS, we see an opportunity to bring the ease-of-deployment and ease-of-management attributes of the enterprise wireless local area network (WLAN) to the world of LTE,”

said Dan Rabinovitsj, president, Ruckus Networks, an ARRIS company. “We’re giving the enterprise a simple, cost-effective way to address critical application requirements that today go unaddressed while adding a novel tool to help our customers and partners meet the insatiable demand for bandwidth.”

Availability

The Ruckus LTE access portfolio is in trials now. Following anticipated FCC certification, the Ruckus Q710 and Q910 LTE APs, along with cEMS, cEPC and cSAS subscription services, will be available in 2H18.