Device Management for Femtocells

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Published on Tuesday, 06 November 2007

Written by David Chambers

Mass deployment of millions of consumer self-installed femtocells will require device management that is extremely easy to use and fault tolerant. Many femtocell vendors are adopting the TR-069 standard developed for DSL modems by the DSL forum to address this solution.

The TR-069 standard was originally developed to manage and configure DSL modems. This specification has been adopted by mainstream DSL modem vendors and mandated by a number of large broadband DSL operators. The standard includes functionality for a consumer device to register securely with a central server (called the Auto Configuration Server - ACS). Auto-configuration, firmware updates, diagnostics and performance control functions are then automated.

The standard is continuing to be developed and will encompass other IP enabled devices in the home, so that a complete home network can be automatically "discovered" and configured by the main home hub. Several vendors supply components for the standard, including clients to embed in devices and ACS servers. It has also been adopted by the Home Gateway Initiative and DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) standards.

This standard has been adopted by at least two femtocell vendors. Netopia, an Access Control Server vendor (now wholly owned by Motorola) has announced a partnership with Ubiquisys to develop an integrated solution. The Ubiquisys ZoneGate access point will be shipped to customers with an active SIM card. Once connected to a customer’s home network, the access point will first authenticate with the wireless carrier, and then connect to the Netopia NBBS management server hosted by the mobile operator. Based on the customer’s service profile, the appropriate configurations will then be automatically downloaded to the access point. Finally, the access point will be tuned to the optimal settings for the particular home environment, and the customer’s individual account will be activated. This all occurs without the intervention of either the mobile operator or the customer.

2-Wire has also announced full compliance with TR-069 in their initial product launch press release.

It is thought likely that other femtocell vendors who also make DSL modems (eg Alcatel-Lucent) are extremely likely to have adopted this same standard for the femtocell product.