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At the 3G World Congress in Hong Kong, the Siemens Communications Group and NEC Corporation presented the new "NB-88x" product family, the third generation of the Siemens/NEC 3G W-CDMA base stations (Node B). They offer better performance and yet consume considerably less power. Mobile operators can now save up to a third of their energy costs and manage twice as many subscribers than with the predecessor models. The NB-88x base stations also come equipped with data turbo HSDPA. This provides download speeds averaging 2 to 3 megabits per second, which is comparable to that of DSL. The new Node-B generation will be available from January 2005.

The capacity of the new base stations (Node B) was doubled by optimizing the channel cards that administer the mobile radio resources in the mobile network. This also results in a doubling of the voice channels: The NB-880 now provides 1000 channels compared with the predecessor model NB-440. Siemens and NEC also provide comprehensive investment protection since the new channel cards ? like all the other modules ? are completely compatible with the predecessor NB-44x product family.

The considerably low power consumption was achieved with the aid of CAT technology, which enhances the performance of the power amplifier. As a result the Node B works more efficiently and requires about a third less power. A further saving in operating costs for the mobile operator is achieved through the reduction of the modules in the Node B from six to five, since software updates can then be carried out more quickly and easily.

With HSDPA, the NB-88x product family is already ideally prepared for the future in 3G mobile communication. All new Node B units from Siemens/NEC are equipped with the data turbo for W-CDMA. HSDPA enables more subscribers to be handled with higher data rates and shorter access times. Given increasing network utilization, this enables mobile operators to better exploit the existing spectrum and hence improve their margins. And with minimum additional investment, they can generate a significant added value for the lucrative business customer segment. These customers often want to download very large data volumes to their notebooks while away from the office. They therefore attach great importance to features that no wireless broadband technology apart from HSDPA can offer, mobility and a high level of data security.

The Node B product family NB-88x from Siemens/NEC, which encompasses a total of seven models, is the first to use the "Common Public Radio Interface" (CPRI). CPRI permits separation of digital and analog control functions in the base station, i.e. separating the digital server from the analog radio section. This standardized interface enables flexible scaling of base stations. This helps operators to match the radio capacity of their networks to requirements using ?Remote Radio Heads?. These are external units that can be used for example to provide mobile coverage within buildings (indoor coverage) without having to install additional base stations. In addition, new wireless broadband technologies can be integrated in the network more easily with CPRI. Siemens and NEC are the first vendors to launch products equipped with CPRI.