World Wide Technology (WWT) and Federated Wireless, in collaboration with Intel, yesterday announced they will open a state-of-the-art Private Wireless and Neutral Host Network Lab (the Lab) within the WWT Advanced Technology Center (ATC) in St. Louis, Missouri.
The Lab enables customers and partners to build and test private wireless and neutral host use cases leveraging a joint private wireless solution built on the Federated Wireless cloud platform and running on Intel-based platforms. A range of services and solutions are offered in the lab, such as the Federated Wireless Neutral Host 2.0™, and a suite of enterprise use-case solutions that WWT can integrate for its customers.
Powered by Intel's cloud to edge capabilities including Xeon processors, ethernet adapters and software tools, the Lab's infrastructure is designed to handle a variety of edge workloads. These include virtualized packet core and neutral host, as well as specialized use-case solutions such as video security, machine vision, and cybersecurity.
The facility is geared toward Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and enterprise end-users by providing a managed, multi-vendor environment for development and testing of enterprise-grade solutions. Federated Wireless' Neutral Host 2.0™ solution, which utilizes CBRS spectrum and is compatible with virtually all types of network hardware, is a cornerstone of the lab's capabilities.
Neutral Host 2.0™ enables multiple service providers to utilize a shared network infrastructure to deliver a seamless coverage experience to users of a private wireless network as they move around facilities of various sizes and with various requirements.
Several Tier 1 and Tier 2 mobile service providers are already leveraging the Lab, making the facility the nation's only testing environment for their specific use cases.
The Lab will be used to help partners validate equipment and processes against performance requirements to ensure readiness for deployment in their private networks.
Brannon Holliger, Practice Lead, Private Cellular Networks at WWT
Our collaboration with Federated Wireless and Intel has culminated in a facility that enables our service provider and enterprise partners to explore the advantages of private wireless networks in general and neutral host solutions in particular. Our state-of-the-art ATC provides the flexible lab space required to rigorously evaluate multiple commercial-grade private wireless and neutral host deployments across a dynamic partner ecosystem.
Federated Wireless CTO Kurt Schaubach
Neutral Host 2.0™ is a killer app for private wireless. The solution is triple-win, helping relieve burdensome workloads for MNOs, removing the need for costly DAS deployments for enterprises, and delivering much more coverage and capacity than traditional and costly band-aids to the issue of ubiquitous connectivity,
