Intracom Telecom, a global telecommunication systems and solutions vendor, has completed the live field trial of StreetNode, its Self Organizing Network (SON) based Point-to-Multipoint (PtMP) platform, implemented by MTN’s South African operation.
Intracom Telecom is a supplier of PtMP solutions to MTN Group. The company has extensive experience in the design, implementation and support of PtMP networks in Africa.
The trial took place in Johannesburg and the aim was to evaluate the platform’s unique capabilities to provide the most advanced high-quality and high-availability services to MTN’s enterprise customers.
MTN was assessing ease of deployment and the capability of the platform. The StreetNode solution was tested in both lab environment and external network, and the platform’s software-defined operation allowed activation and reconfiguration in the field in PtMP mode.
While traditional PtMP technology only allows homing to a single base station, the trial successfully proved that StreetNode automatically reconnects to alternative base stations in the event of the primary base station failing, thus re-establishing connectivity for subscribers rapidly.
The trial also confirmed that non-technical telecom engineers could install and commission the StreetNode unit quickly and easily, even at night, assisted greatly by the unique auto-alignment feature of the platform.
Navindran Naidoo, CTO at MTN Group, said, “StreetNode demonstrated the same features as its traditional WIBAS PtMP platform, but StreetNode’s auto-alignment feature and capability to automatically reconnect to an alternative base station when needed, is certainly an advanced feature.”
