TALKING BUSINESS
RUCKUS WIRELESS
SHARES VISION
FOR THE FUTURE
OF IN-BUILDING
CELLULAR
In the second article of a three-part series, Moe
Raslan, Director, Middle East, Ruckus Wireless,
outlines how ground-breaking OpenG technology
promises to address long-standing in-building
cellular challenges.
Y
ou’ve been there before: you
popped into a store and wanted
to look something up on your
smartphone while waiting in line.
However, the cell signal shows just one
lousy bar. You consider logging on to
Wi-Fi but there are multiple inconvenient
steps that aren’t worth the hassle while
you’re waiting in line. Nope, you’ll
just wait to go back outside and go
somewhere else next time.
Why can’t Wi-Fi be as simple as pulling
the phone out of your pocket, like cellular?
Or, better yet, why can’t cellular just
be everywhere Wi-Fi is, including deep
inside buildings? The answer lies in a
little-known fact about cellular: your
phone company owns the right to use the
cellular airwaves everywhere, even if, as in
the example above, it’s not actually using
them where you happen to be.
You may think that the store, realising
that you may never come back, would
be willing to spend a little cash for better
cell service, but it can’t. The store doesn’t
own the right to use the airwaves inside
its walls, thus it must work with each
phone company individually to convince
them to install a new tower nearby or
some new-fangled piece of equipment
within the premises. The process takes
28
INTELLIGENTCIO
MOE RASLAN
Director, Middle East,
Ruckus Wireless
months, and only if the phone company
also sees a benefit to its own bottom line.
There’s got to be a better way.
Last month, Ruckus Wireless, Inc., in
collaboration with six wireless leaders,
announced its intention to address the
challenge of in-building cellular coverage
and capacity through the introduction
of OpenG technology. OpenG
technology combines coordinated
shared spectrum, such as 3.5 GHz in the
US, with neutral host-capable small cells
to enable cost-effective, ubiquitous inbuilding cellular coverage.
Ruckus plans to drive the adoption of
OpenG technology via leveraging its
extensive enterprise channels, service
provider, public venue and enterprise
customer base, and its portfolio of