MCP and RAD Data Communications Make Regular GSM Service Affordable and Accessible in the Middle of the North Sea
GRIMSTAD, Norway, March 29/PRNewswire/ --
Cruise Ships Now Have an Efficient Solution for GSM Over Satellite
You're on-board a ferry cruising across the North Sea between Newcastle
and Amsterdam and you realize that you have to call home. Or someone back
home has to call you. But you're hundreds of kilometers from the nearest
cellular operator's service area. So what do you do? What can they do back
home?
One alternative is to see if the ferry is equipped with a satellite
telephone. But these services tend to be expensive and do not solve the
problem of being accessible via your own cell phone number. Increasingly,
therefore, a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) has become a permanent fixture on
cruise ships and ferries. A BTS, connected to a cellular operator's
land-based Base Station Controller (BSC) over a satellite link, enables
passengers to use their regular GSM telephones while at sea. But given the
expense of leasing satellite bandwidth, this alternative cannot serve a large
number of simultaneous users either. So how can ship operators ensure that
every passenger who wants or needs GSM service coverage will be able to
afford it?
Maritime Communications Partner AS (MCP), a Norwegian-based provider of
onboard cell phone connectivity to cruise ships and ferries that provides
global coverage through leading suppliers of maritime satellite services, has
come up with an ideal solution. MCP has deployed GSM A-bis optimization
gateways from RAD Data Communications to reduce costs by saving on satellite
bandwidth.
MCP's BSC, located at its headquarters in the Norwegian coastal town of
Grimstad, is connected over IP satellite modems to BTSs installed on a fleet
of Danish-owned cruise ships that each year transport approximately 1.8
million passengers and 200,000 cars on eight routes traversing the North Sea
between Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Holland, and Great Britain. MCP connected
RAD's Vmux(TM)-400 at both ends of those satellite links.
The Vmux-400 is a standalone device that enables cellular operators to
lower backhaul costs across the Radio Access Network (RAN) by optimizing
A-bis (BTS-to-BSC) bandwidth by a factor of up to 3:1. This significantly
reduces operating expenses in applications in which cellular backhaul traffic
has to be routed over satellites because terrestrial telecom infrastructure
is unavailable.
Eliminates Inefficiencies
"RAD's Vmux-400 A-bis and A-ter optimization gateway is the ideal product
solution in this type of situation," notes Toby Korall, Senior Product Line
Manager at RAD. "Interoperable with equipment from other major vendors, the
Vmux-400 ensures that satellite links are utilized as efficiently as
possible, eliminating inefficiencies by not transmitting idle and silent
frames," he continues. "In this way, the Vmux-400 can reduce satellite,
microwave or wireline bandwidth by 50 percent and more, enabling service
providers to offer their customers a more attractive complete solution."
Unique Clock Regeneration Enables Backhaul over Packet Switched Networks
A unique feature incorporated into the Vmux-400 provides reliable
regeneration of very accurate and sensitive 2.048 MHz TDM-based clocks for
synchronized network operation between the BSC and each ship's BTS. This
enables the use of packet-switched networks - and, in this case, the IP
satellite modems on-board the ships -Â for the transport of cellular voice
traffic.
The BTS on-board each ship includes two radio transceivers. Each radio
receiver includes one time slot for signaling and SMS messaging and three
time slots for voice and data. By dynamically supporting different speech
codecs, RAD's Vmux-400 allows up to twelve simultaneous calls using the
higher-quality Full Rate codec when demand is low and up to 24 simultaneous
calls using the Half Rate codec when demand peaks, doubling the number of
cellular calls that are made to and from a ship at any one time.
"RAD's development of the Vmux-400 enables us to offer mobile services
over an IP network with optimal bandwidth usage," concludes Roar Walderhaug,
MCP's Chief Technology Officer. "The Vmux-400 operates very satisfactorily
and has proven its high stability and robustness."
About Maritime Communications Partner AS:
MCP is the global maritime cellular operator focused on providing cost
effective GSM and CDMA communications solutions especially created to fulfill
the requirements of the shipping industry. MCP enables cell phone coverage by
installing and operating shipborne radio networks, linking the vessels with
public networks via satellite. MCP operates its mobile services via roaming
agreements with cellular operators throughout the world. Through a
partnership with MCP, the ship-owners benefit by providing a service in
demand to their passengers, and thus enhancing their own competitiveness.
MCP works in close cooperation with customers, providing unique business
models based on revenue sharing and co-investments in the vessel's
operational infrastructure.
MCP is a fully recognized international cellular operator that handles
all legal and regulatory challenges associated with the unique technology and
service solutions that it provides to its customers.
MCP's main shareholders are Telenor ASA, Northzone Ventures IV KS and
Ugland Invest Ltd.
For more information about MCP, please visit www.cellatsea.com
About RAD
Established in 1981, privately owned RAD Data Communications has achieved
international recognition as a major manufacturer of high quality access
equipment for data communications and telecommunications applications. These
solutions serve the data and voice access requirements of service providers,
incumbent and new carriers, and enterprise networks, by reducing
infrastructure investment costs while boosting competitiveness and
profitability. The company's installed base exceeds 9,000,000 units and
includes more than 150 carriers and operators around the world. These
customers are supported by 23 RAD offices and more than 200 distributors in
164 countries.
RAD is a member of the RAD Group of companies, a world leader in
networking and internetworking product solutions.
RAD Data Communications site: www.rad.com
Press Contact
Bob Eliaz, RAD Data Communications
+972-3-6458134
bob@rad.com
Source: RAD Data Communications Ltd.
Press Contact: Bob Eliaz, RAD Data Communications, +972-3-6458134, bob@rad.com
