The second largest mobile operator in the US, AT&T unveiled a new platform dubbed Network 3.0 Indigo that will use software defined networking (SDN) and will underline AT&T's 5G networks.
AT&T also announced at an event in San Francisco that it will begin rolling out 5G, under the name of '5G Evolution' in Austin and Indianapolis in the coming months. This network is expected to provide initial top speeds of 400 Mbps to smartphone users.
AT&T laid out several elements of its network innovation that are helping the company drive to Indigo: 5G Evolution. At&T said as it continues to densify its network and deploying technologies, like carrier aggregation and LTE-License Assisted Access (LAA), the Operator expect to enable theoretical peak speeds up to 1Gbps in some areas in 2017
Additionally, AT&T said it is building 2 new 5G testbeds set to go on-air this spring at the AT&T Labs in Austin. The testbeds will include dedicated 5G outdoor and indoor test locations and feature flexible infrastructure to allow modifications and updates as 5G standards develop.
The Operator added that it will work with multiple vendors to evaluate advanced 5G technology concepts for both fixed and mobile solutions, test network infrastructure and devices and explore 5G signal coverage for the 28GHz, 39GHz, and sub-6GHz frequency bands.
John Donovan, Chief Strategy Officer & Group President, Technology and Operations, AT&T
Indigo is our term for a world where it isn't just your connection speeds that are accelerating, but every element of the network becomes more seamless, efficient and capable. It is a living, evolving, upgradeable platform. Think of Indigo like the operating system on your phone. We're taking that model to the network.
Andre Fuetsch, President AT&T Labs and CTO, AT&T
Those are powerful tools, but they also require a unique level of collaboration with software developers and other third parties. In particular, we think the open source community has a huge role. Open source ECOMP is part of that. We're also heavy users and developers of OpenStack, Open Contrail and other open source software tools.
