Ericsson, Huawei, NEC, Nortel Networks and Siemens today announced the creation of a new industry cooperation, CPRI - Common Public Radio Interface, aiming to define a publicly available specification for the key internal interface of radio base stations.
The CPRI industry cooperation enables base station manufacturers to focus their research and development efforts on their core competencies and to buy selected radio base station subsystems. Key benefits are faster development when introducing new technologies and allowing base station manufacturers to offer a wider portfolio of products to the operators with shorter time to market. The operators will benefit from a broader choice of products and more flexible solutions, improving the efficiency of network deployment.
The founders of CPRI are committed to open up a competitive mobile network element component industry and will make the CPRI-interface openly available for the benefit of the wireless industry. The CPRI-initiative complements current activities in existing standardization organizations (for example, 3GPP/3GPP2). The interface developed will be used for Radio base station products in mobile systems.
The CPRI-specification is planned to be available 2003, with the objective to introduce compatible products on the market by the end of 2004.
About Ericsson
Ericsson is shaping the future of Mobile and Broadband Internet communications through its continuous technology leadership. Providing innovative solutions in more than 140 countries, Ericsson is helping to create the most powerful communication companies in the world. Read more at: http://www.ericsson.com
Contact: Mats Thorén, Ericsson Corporate Communications
Phone: +46 70 346 54 36; email: mats.thoren@lme.ericsson.se
About Huawei Technologies
Incorporated in 1988 and headquartered in Shenzhen, China, Huawei Technologies is a private high-tech enterprise fully owned by its employees. Huawei specializes in the research and development (R&D), production and marketing of telecommunications equipment, providing customized network solutions for telecom carriers in fixed, mobile, optical network and data communications network. Sales in 2002 were 2.7 billion US dollars. Huawei products have been put into wide applications in over 40 countries including Germany, Spain, Russia, Brazil, Kenya, Thailand, Singapore and South Korea. Among Huawei's 22,000 employees, 46 percent are engaged in R&D. Each year Huawei invests no less than 10 percent of its revenues into R&D. More about Huawei at: http://www.huawei.com
Press Contact: Frank Yao
Phone: +86-755-28562838, Fax: +86-755-28562821
E-mail: yaoyongfang@huawei.com
About NEC Corporation
NEC is one of the world's leading providers of Internet, broadband network and enterprise business solutions dedicated to meeting the specialized needs of its diverse and global base of customers. Ranked as one of the world's top patent-producing companies, NEC delivers tailored solutions in the key fields of computer, networking and electron devices, by integrating its technical strengths in IT and Networks, and by providing advanced semiconductor solutions through NEC Electronics Corporation. The NEC Group employs more than 140,000 people worldwide and had net sales of approximately $39 billion in the fiscal year ended March 2003. More about NEC at: http://www.nec.com
Contact: Akiko Shikimori
Corporate Communications Division
NEC Corporation
Phone: 81-3-3798-6511,
E-mail: a-shikimori@ay.jp.nec.com
About Nortel Networks
Nortel Networks, the Nortel Networks logo and the Globemark are trademarks of Nortel Networks. Nortel Networks is an industry leader and innovator focused on transforming how the world communicates and exchanges information. The Company is supplying its service provider and enterprise customers with communications technology and infrastructure to enable value-added IP data, voice and multimedia services spanning Wireless Networks, Wireline Networks, Enterprise Networks, and Optical Networks. As a global company, Nortel Networks does business in more than 150 countries. More about Nortel Networks at: http://www.nortelnetworks.com
Contact : Claire Cranton, Nortel Networks Corporate Communications
Phone: +44 1628 617178,
E-mail: cranton@nortelnetworks.com
About Siemens
The Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Group (Siemens mobile) offers the complete range of mobile solutions including mobile devices, infrastructure and applications. Devices include mobile phones, wireless modules, mobile organizers and cordless phones as well as products for wireless home networks. The infrastructure portfolio includes GSM, GPRS and 3G mobile network technologies from base stations and switching systems to intelligent networks, e.g. for prepaid services. Mobile Applications cover end-to-end solutions for Messaging, Location Based Services or Mobile Payment. For fiscal 2002 (September 30), Siemens mobile recorded sales of EUR 11 billion and employed approximately 28.600 people worldwide. More about Siemens mobile at: http://www.siemens-mobile.com
Contact: Christian Hoenicke
Phone: +49-89-722-53910,
E-mail: christian.hoenicke@siemens.com
