Sprint announced it is offering a new small cell solution from SpiderCloud as part of its plan to densify its network and improve service at enterprises and public venues across the country.
The solution, which is currently available for Sprint’s 1.9 GHz PCS spectrum with 2.5 GHz support coming next year, is designed to make LTE small cell deployment as easy as enterprise Wi-Fi. The announcement was made at the SCWS Americas conference in San Jose, California.
“This innovative LTE small cell literally clips onto existing Cisco WiFi infrastructure and can be deployed in less than 30 minutes, providing a very cost-effective way to rapidly improve indoor service,” said Robert Kingsley, director of Small Cell and Wi-Fi Development at Sprint, in a statement. “We’re excited to keep expanding our toolbox of small cell solutions with this latest innovation for the enterprise.”
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SpiderCloud announced the SCRN-220 earlier this year. It’s a PoE+ powered unit capable of serving as much as 15,000 square feet in an office environment. Its other Radio Node, the SCRN-250, attaches to an existing Cisco Aironet 3600 or 3700 Wi-Fi access point providing 7,000 square feet of coverage in a typical office environment. The upshot: Enterprises that have already invested in these Cisco Wi-Fi access points can add LTE coverage from Sprint without pulling any cable.
According to the companies, an enterprise can deploy SpiderCloud LTE Radio Nodes on its Ethernet LAN. The nodes connect to SpiderCloud’s Services Node located on the enterprise LAN. A network of 100 Radio Nodes and one Services Node can provide over a gigabit of capacity and coverage across a public venue, enterprise or university campus as large as 1.5 million square feet.
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SpiderCloud was acquired by Corning earlier this year, making for a transformational time for the smaller company. “It’s a huge advantage for us as far as perception in the market,” Art King, director of enterprise at SpiderCloud, told FierceWirelessTech during Mobile World Congress Americas in September. At the time, he signaled that there was “more magic to follow” thanks to the tie-up with Corning and the popularity of its brand.
Indeed, while SpiderCloud announced a deal back in 2014 to supply small cell systems for Verizon Wireless business customers, this pact with Sprint is new. SpiderCloud also worked with Verizon on an indoor trial with LTE-U.
Support for Sprint’s 2.5 GHz band is expected to be available in mid-2018.