Cisco and Neul, a subsidiary of Huawei have become part of the MulteFire Alliance joining founding members - Ericsson, Intel, Nokia and Qualcomm. MulteFire Alliance is an independent, diverse and international member-driven consortium that is working to release its MulteFire specification Release 1.0 in the last quarter of this year.
MulteFire by the alliance is a technology that enables 4G LTE on Wi-Fi in unlicensed spectrum bands such as 5GHz, providing up to 120 Mbps of total download and upload throughput. It differs from Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) and LTE - Wi-Fi link aggregation (LWA), both of which aggregate unlicensed spectrum with an anchor in licensed spectrum.
Via its initiative, the alliance aims to expand the LTE ecosystem to new and established wireless providers, including mobile operators, small, medium and large businesses, fixed and wireless ISPs, cable operators, venue owners and more. It is suitable for any spectrum that needs over-the-air contention for fair sharing, such as global 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum, and supports neutral host services.
The MulteFire Alliance said that it is developing the MulteFire specification Release 1.0 based on 3GPP Release 13 and Release 14 advancements, including downlink and uplink in unlicensed spectrum.
Stephan Litjens, MulteFire Alliance Board Chair and head of Innovation Steering, Nokia
Since launching the MulteFire Alliance at the end of 2015, we’ve made significant progress in the development of MulteFire and have demonstrated multiple proof points of the technology, including harmonious coexistence with Wi-Fi in the same spectrum and neutral host capabilities.
Paul Mankiewich, vice president, Chief Technology Officer, Cisco
We are eager to join the Alliance to explore the potential of MulteFire technology, and lend both our expertise and our customers’ requirements to continue industry discussions about fair use of unlicensed spectrum for future modes of wireless service delivery.
