AlcaLu Teams for 3G CDMA Femtocells

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU - message board) made its first official move in the 3G CDMA femtocell market today with the announcement that it will work with Airvana Inc. to develop a CDMA EV-DO femtocell solution that is based on IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). (See AlcaLu, Airvana Team Up.)

The news won't come as a complete shock to femto followers as the two companies staged a demonstration of this solution at the CTIA show in Las Vegas earlier this year. (See AlcaLu, Airvana Demo Femtocell and In Focus: Femtocells.)

The combined offering, which Airvana claims is the first 3G femto solution for CDMA operators, comprises Airvana's HubBub femtocell access point and Alcatel-Lucent's IMS core network elements. Airvana will add new interfaces to its femtocells so that they can be integrated with AlcaLu's IMS mobile core products.