Link Cell is an integrated 5G mmWave small cell designed for indoor use and is the first product to be released from Samsung’s full suite of 5G in-building products. It gives wireless operators a way to extend 5G services into businesses and venues and is billed as helping to “expand and enhance” 5G experiences.
For its commercial debut, Verizon has been named as the first US wireless operator to deploy the Link Cell, which it will use to extend the footprint of its 5G Ultra Wideband network.
“Verizon continues to rapidly advance our 5G deployment, and the addition of indoor cell sites will extend the availability of the fastest 5G service in the US. This is a key step in providing industry-changing, scalable, latency-sensitive, robust 5G solutions for enterprises,” said Adam Koeppe, senior vice president of technology planning and development at Verizon.
On the Verizon partnership, Samsung said it marks a new phase in delivering enterprise private 5G networks and advancing next generation cellular technology use cases and applications. Verizon recently announced lab trials of 5G in-building solutions, which used Samsung Link.
The first version of Samsung’s Link Cell brings together a radio, antenna and digital unit into one compact box, and is less than four litres in volume, one of the smallest in the industry. It supports 28GHz and has the capability to combine four 100MHz bandwidth of frequencies, offering high capacity and ultra-fast download speeds.
Samsung said Link Cell can be “discretely” placed on walls or ceilings, similar to a WiFi access point, while minimising noise through fanless convection cooling.
Further it is designed to “self-organise” and can adjust for optimal RF performance, allowing mobile applications to seamlessly operate within a facility or—as applications transition from a macro 5G network outside to the in-building network—maintain high-quality communications continuity.
It is expected Link Cell will become central to private 5G network in enterprises, such as manufacturing, healthcare, retail and warehouse facilities.
