Picocom, Antevia collaborate to provide in-building private 5G for enterprises

With the uptake of private networks gaining pace over the past two years, the focus to date has been to kit out the likes of ports, shipyards and manufacturing sites. But now, 5G Open RAN baseband semiconductor and software specialist Picocom has revealed that Antevia Networks has selected its silicon technology to empower 5G in-building solutions.

Formed in March 2021, Antevia Networks designs and develops 5G in-building solutions for enterprises. It has research and development teams in its UK base and in Canada. Its leadership team claims significant experience in 2G, 3G and 4G in-building coverage, and the company is currently using Open RAN-based technology to pioneer a new class of in-building 5G coverage and capacity for enterprises.

The 5G solution is designed to deliver a cost-effective private network that enables intelligent routing of coverage and capacity within buildings or campuses to accommodate variable demand or simply to provide highly reliable 5G connectivity. Antevia Networks’ specific approach to 5G in-building private networks is claimed to “revolutionise” RAN design, which improves coverage, capacity and service robustness while keeping costs low enough to make it affordable for enterprise use.

“Picocom’s state-of-the-art 5G silicon and collaborative approach is allowing us to innovate faster, reach the market sooner and deliver ground-breaking solutions for enterprises needing cost-effective 5G private networks”

The partnership will combine Antevia Networks’ technology with Picocom’s latest generation 5G system-on-chip silicon, with the aim of driving innovation to address the many challenges of deploying indoor 5G private networks. The PC802 product will ship in mass production quantities, together with mature software for Open RAN Distributed Units (O-DU) and Radio Units (O-RU), as well as integrated small cells. In addition, PC802 supports both 4G LTE and 5G NR.

“Antevia Networks is pioneering a new class of 5G private network coverage for enterprises worldwide,” said Simon Cosgrove, CEO of Antevia Networks. “Picocom’s state-of-the-art 5G silicon and collaborative approach is allowing us to innovate faster, reach the market sooner and deliver ground-breaking solutions for enterprises needing cost-effective 5G private networks.”

Picocom president Peter Claydon added: “I have been very impressed by how Antevia Networks has taken Picocom’s Open RAN O-DU and O-RU components and built a truly innovative solution for indoor coverage, built on the standard open interfaces defined by the O-RAN Alliance. This is a great illustration of how Open RAN enables network operators to create highly differentiated products on top of the building blocks that Picocom’s flexible silicon provides.”

The launch comes just after Picocom announced a collaboration with networking and communications solutions provider Accton Technology Group for upcoming 5G Open RAN products. Picocom silicon and software will power Accton’s 5G O-RUs, and Picocom PC802 silicon will power Accton O-RUs. Accton is to commercialise Picocom ORANIC in-line PHY/NIC O-DU card to the mass market.