London, 11 June 2009 – Actix, the leader in Network Status Management (NSM) solutions, today announced it was collaborating with a tier one mobile operator group in Europe to conduct research and development on Self-Optimizing Network (SON) capabilities for 3G and 4G mobile networks. The collaboration will focus on automated network status management diagnostic capabilities and the refinement of centralized, closed-loop SON systems to provide self-optimization of 3G and 4G networks.

Both the 3GPP and NGMN Alliance have recognised the need for SON, seeing it as a key functionality in Next Generation Networks such as LTE. LTE brings with it new engineering parameters, which will require more effort to optimize and lead to instability in the network, particularly in early deployment phases. Before deployments go live, it will be necessary to have self-optimizing processes in place. Actix is the only company currently able to offer a solution in the SON space that moves beyond basic self-configuration into more centralized, operational tasks of self-optimization and self-healing.

“It is clear that as we move towards the deployment of 4G networks, SON technology is going to be critical to both the economics and technical practicalities of delivering on the mobile broadband user experience promise,” said Alex Hawker, Actix CEO.  “Operators are already running multiple networks in 2G, 3G and HSPA and overlaying yet another means network status management automation really is the only cost-effective option. This latest SON research and development collaboration, which will be based on the real-time processing capabilities of the widely deployed ActixOne NSM system, is a testament to the continued industry leadership of Actix and its operator customers in pushing the boundaries of RAN automation and the self-optimization of 3G and 4G networks.”

Actix has consistently worked with industry leaders and peers on a number of research projects including, for example, the Easy-C consortium. Easy-C (Enablers for Ambient Services and Systems – Part C) is a 4th generation network research group that will research and trial the wireless broadband technology of the future. Partners in the Easy-C project included two leading German mobile operators, German universities and network equipment providers.

For more about SON, please email [email protected].