Open RAN isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the foundation for a more agile, cost-effective, and future-ready network. As demands for coverage and capacity grow, the industry needs open, interoperable solutions that break vendor lock-in and accelerate innovation. Here’s why Open RAN matters now more than ever—and what it means for the future of wireless.

News provided by 6WIND via EINPresswire.com

PARIS, FRANCE, April 3, 2025 6WIND, a leading provider of high-performance virtualized and secure networking software solutions, is proud to announce its collaboration with Dense Air, delivering virtual security and routing solutions to power and protect their next-generation Neutral Host offering.

Dense Air is a neutral host-as-a-service provider pioneering shared infrastructure and Neutral Host solutions to extend and enhance mobile coverage and capacity, especially in hard-to-serve areas. Their approach helps MNOs accelerate 5G deployments while improving the economics of connectivity.

Security is a non-negotiable foundation for our Neutral Host services. 6WIND’s vSecGW stands out as the best security gateway solution on the market.

Andy Hobbs, Chief Technology Officer at Dense Air.

As part of this collaboration, 6WIND provides its virtual Security Gateway (vSecGW) to secure Dense Air’s Neutral Host infrastructure. This solution plays a critical role in safeguarding communications between the Distributed Unit (DU) and Centralized Unit (CU) Radio Access Network (RAN) components, while also ensuring secure connectivity to the individual Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) that Dense Air serves.

Dense Air’s Neutral Host solution enables high-quality mobile connectivity in venues and locations where providing consistent service has traditionally been challenging. These areas, often characterized by transitory traffic and variable demand, present difficult business cases for MNOs to deploy their own dedicated infrastructure. Dense Air solves this by offering a shared, cost-effective solution that allows multiple MNOs to deliver high-performance services without the overhead of individual deployments.

In addition to vSecGW, 6WIND also provides its virtual Customer Site Router (vCSR) solution to Dense Air, enabling scalable, secure, and flexible connectivity at the edge.

“Security is a non-negotiable foundation for our Neutral Host services,” said Andy Hobbs, Chief Technology Officer at Dense Air. “6WIND’s vSecGW stands out as the best security gateway solution on the market. Its performance, scalability, and reliability give us the confidence to deliver seamless, secure connectivity to our MNO partners in even the most challenging environments.”

We’re excited to support Dense Air in building a more connected future with secure, virtualized networking… Our solutions are designed to meet the high performance and security demands of modern telecom environments, and this deployment with Dense Air reflects our commitment to supporting innovative approaches like Neutral Host.

Julien Dahan, CEO at 6WIND.

This collaboration underscores 6WIND’s commitment to innovative, secure, and scalable networking solutions, empowering operators to expand coverage and improve service quality efficiently.

For more information about this collaboration contact:

Wynter Elwood: media@denseair.net

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Join D. Scott Daniels and Mark Meuleman in a 3 part series exploring how hotels can future proof their networks with a secure, multi-carrier solution.

New Connectivity Landscape: In the 1st session, learn how the hospitality industry is adapting to a new connectivity landscape while DAS funding is disappearing, and security concerns are rising, but guest expectations are higher than ever.

Cellular vs. Wi-Fi: In part 2, they explore the critical differences between cellular and Wi-Fi for hospitality – and why seamless, uninterrupted connectivity matters more than ever.

Big Data Analytics: Finally, learn how network analytics are pinpointing weak cellular coverage and enabling targeted improvements, so customers get the seamless connectivity experience they expect.

As Commercial Real Estate goes wireless only, listen to Mark Meuleman and Jim Martin share their perspectives and key insights from two of the industry’s leading events this past month; CREtech in New York and #CoRETech by Realcomm Events in San Jose.

In this two-part series, they first explore the need for wireless connectivity and how it is being adopted within the CRE market, transforming investment strategies and fueling the “amenities war.”

Then in part two, they dive into the best use cases for various cellular solutions and reveal how big data insights are empowering customers to make the right decisions at the right time

About the deployment  

Dense Air is pioneering the use of Split 6 fronthaul and smart antenna technology for the scaled deployment of small cell clusters to support or infill existing holes in carrier networks, or to provide densified, dedicated private mobile coverage, enabling a range of use cases and applications.  

The development of streetCell was supported through the UK Government’s Future RAN competition. Dense Air led the development, design and trial deployment of small cell clusters which would enhance network resilience and robustness – this project was called CoMP-ORAN, which stands for Coordinated Multipoint – Open Radio Access Networks.  

One key use case for Split 6, an architecture championed by Small Cell Forum (SCF), is in high performance scenarios such as Connected Automated Vehicles (CAV). Using smart antenna technologies like CoMP, Dense Air’s small cell cluster design reduces the frequency of handover, providing contiguous connectivity to the vehicles, minimising the chance of data drops or disconnect.  

Trial deployments and field testing happened in both Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire and at Teesside International Airport in the north of England. However, the technology being developed is versatile and applicable to various global markets. After gaining Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval in 2023, streetCell is currently being deployed at scale across the United States. 

The impact 

The development of streetCell brought together several SCF members – Dense Air, Radisys and Airspan – not only to design and develop the hardware solution but also to deploy an effective end-to-end Open RAN solution, built on industry partnerships. This model, proven at the Millbrook trial, can now be offered as a complete neutral host solution where each cell within a cluster using licensed spectrum can provide densified carrier services or private secure connectivity. Although at Millbrook the use case centred on automotive, Dense Air is now deploying for enterprise and industry and working closely with a number of local government bodies, utilising existing street infrastructure to cost effectivity bring mobile service to areas in need of service. 

This video illustrates a vehicle (represented by the blue dot) driving around the city course at Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire at the Cenex Expo event in September 2023. The dynamic white lines illustrate the constant connection to the vehicle from multiple cells within this cluster of 5 cells (represented by the hexagon).  

The technical details  

CoMP takes lead from macro level Multi Input, Multi Output (MIMO) technologies, provides significant advantages, such as: 

• Each streetCell can provide both 360-degree coverage, or multi directional sectorisation with adaptable beam patterns. 

• Enables the remote optimization of streetCell clusters via a Radio Intelligent Controller (RIC) to the targeted coverage and capacity objectives. 
• Multiple Transmit Receive Points (Multi TRP), designed for CoMP, maximise the gains from spatial diversity and spatial multiplexing. 
• Compliments macro cells by providing additional in-fill. 
• Improves deployment robustness. 
• Removes the need for pre-deployment radio frequency (RF) design phase to consider antenna alignment / placement. 
• Eliminates nulls in target coverage area and optimises cell footprint post deployment. 
• Designed to support multi-sector 2×2 MIMO operation. 

The outcome  

To support new 5G use cases, the industry is required to become increasingly innovative in how to reduce cost while at the same time provide enhanced reliability. By augmenting the existing network, identifying, and targeting network weak spots, Dense Air has enabled carriers to tap into seamless, low-cost additional coverage and capacity through a scalable, flexible small cell deployment model.  

Their use of Split 6 fronthaul and switch beam antenna significantly reduces the cost to deploy clusters of shared network infrastructure in supporting diversified use cases. This technology which is an integral aspect of their streetCell product line, initially tested and proven at UTAC Millbrook Proving Ground, has been implemented into Dense Air’s end to end As-a-Service solution with partners Radisys and EdgeQ, currently been deployed to support several CAV use cases across the United States.  

This video provides an overview of the Dense Air small cell deployment at Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire. 

To read more about this use case click here.