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ST-Ericsson joins major operators and vendors in mobile broadcast effort

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IPWireless, a specialist in developing key enabling IMB technology, today announced that it is working together with ST-Ericsson, a specialist in development of wireless platforms and semiconductors, to offer a pre-integrated and verified Integrated Mobile Broadcast (IMB) solution to 3G device vendors.

IMB is said to be capable of streaming live video, and broadcasting and storing popular content on the device for later consumption resulting in significant offloading of data intensive traffic from operators’ existing 3G unicast networks and delivering an improved customer experience. This collaboration brings together IPWireless’ IMB enabling technology with ST-Ericsson’s chipset platforms to enable handset vendors to integrate IMB into future mobile devices and for existing WCDMA USB dongle manufacturers to enhance their existing devices to allow them to quickly participate in the emerging global IMB market.

As a first step in the partnership, IPWireless and ST-Ericsson are jointly developing a demonstration platform that device vendors can use to initiate IMB development. The demonstration platform will feature an IMB ASIC supplied by IPWireless and a 3G baseband radio platform from ST Ericsson. Unlike other broadcast solutions, IMB completely integrates with WCDMA enabling device vendors to reuse existing radio frequency technology and antenna components for a lower overall bill of materials and greater scalability. IPWireless expects to make the first IMB platform available to coincide with commercial IMB network launches planned for 2011.

Dr. Bill Jones, Chief Executive Officer, IPWireless commented, “ST-Ericsson is one of the world’s leading providers of wireless platforms and chipsets. Their platforms combined with our key enabling IMB technology will enable our device vendor partners to shorten the time to market for IMB enabled handsets, boost worldwide IMB adoption, and enable operators to more efficiently use intelligent broadcast to address the looming capacity crunch driven by video and other multimedia applications.”

IMB was defined in the 3GPP release 8 standards, and was recently endorsed by the GSMA as their preferred method for the efficient delivery of broadcast services. In June 2010, O2, Orange and Vodafone – three of the five major UK mobile operators – announced that they have teamed up for an IMB pilot where they will explore using the IMB wireless technology within a little used tranche of 3G spectrum called Time Division Duplex (TDD) spectrum. The trial will commence in the fourth quarter of 2010 and intend to show how IMB can deliver data intensive services, such as Mobile TV in a more efficient way.

This spectrum already forms part of the 3G licenses held by many European mobile operators, but has remained largely unused because of a lack of appropriate technology. Currently, 3G TDD spectrum is available to over 150 operators across 60 countries covering more than half a billion subscribers. IMB is said to enable spectrally efficient delivery of broadcast services, in TDD spectrum based on techniques that are aligned with existing FDD WCDMA standards. This allows for a smooth handover between IMB and existing 3G networks, says IPWireless.

Going against the flow

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There is near universal agreement that mobile operators are heading for a capacity crunch – driven there by year on year increases in mobile data traffic. Yet there are just beginning to be voices that perhaps data growth may not be as strong as the x2 every year standard that has become the orthodox.

The strongest of these voices to date that we have found came from AnalysysMason’s Rupert Wood, who has called the “mobile data will double every year to 2014” view “a myth”.

Wood says that actual measured numbers from operators and regulators show that mobile data traffic in Europe will have grown by just 35% in 2010. And yet Vodafone today, in its results briefing, said that its data grew 88% year on year in the first quarter of its 2010-2011 reporting period.

There are clearly going to be more people lining up behind the “capacity crunch” view than not – there’s too much resting on it. Wood’s numbers may be too much of an outlier, but at the very least they serve as a useful reminder that it always pays to check when a statistic becomes too much of an orthodoxy – especially when it is a forecast.

One company that is of the “capacity crunch is real” view is Amdocs, which has commissioned Telesperience to come up with a survey based on what mobile operators are doing about it. Telesperience spoke to 30 radio network planners, asking them if they are meeting significant capacity constraints, and what they are doing about the capacity crunch.

20% of those questioned (so around 6 operators of the 30 questioned) said they are experiencing “severe overload” at certain times, with a further 43% saying they experience “congestion” in certain areas. 37% said their network is performing OK.

Interestingly, these planners rated “extra capacity” as the best solution to the capacity crunch. Not data optimisation, not policy, not QoS-based tariffs and customer experience tools. Of course, ask a network planner what the best solution is, and he’d likely to reach for the “more network” button. Although there was some regional variation here – you European operators were more likely to rate pricing as an effective tool, and least likely to rate data optimisation as a strategy. The Americans liked data offload the best. Overall, though, “expanding capacity” was the most popular option.

We’ll have a fuller report on this data, including reaction from commissioning party, Amdocs, later this week.

Of course, if you believe in the capacity crunch, then one answer could be femto – especially deployed as Class 3 femto, or metro femto, or whatever you want to call a larger-sized small cell used to get extra capacity into a given location. One sign of the expanding ecosystem was an announcement between Ubiquisys and Nokia Siemens Networks that the two companies will have a standards-compliant femto cell solution (access point + gateway) ready by early 2011. Both parties described this as a “milestone”, and made the point that standards compliant elements will enable operators to be much more flexible in how they deploy these small cells – whether that be as indoor residential units, or as outdoor capacity relievers.

Finally, speaking of forecasts (as we were a little earlier), here’s a reminder that our “What’s going to happen in 2011” survey is still live. If you would like to have your say on what mobile topics will be hot in 2011 then you can access it, and I really would urge you to, here. (SURVEY LINK)

Keith Dyer
Editor
Mobile Europe

 

http://www.mobileeurope.co.uk/news/news-anaylsis/8267-ubiquisys-and-nsn-announce-standards-based-femto-solution

http://www.mobileeurope.co.uk/news/news-anaylsis/8267-ubiquisys-and-nsn-announce-standards-based-femto-solution

http://www.mobileeurope.co.uk/news/news-anaylsis/8256-ericsson-wins-first-qran-plus-coreq-lte-contract

http://www.mobileeurope.co.uk/news/news-anaylsis/8255-ec-backs-project-to-address-mobile-fragmentation

http://www.mobileeurope.co.uk/webinars/upcoming-webinars

Ubiquisys and NSN announce standards based femto solution

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Both parties hail “milestone” for femto

Ubiquisys and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) have announced they will have a femtocell solution available in the first quarter of 2011 featuring standardised Iuh and TR-196 interfaces between Ubiquisys Femtocell Access Points and NSN Gateways and Femto Management Systems.

IuH is the standard protocol that the femtocell community has decided upon to support integration between femtocells and the network gateways that control and aggregate traffic from femtocells into the core network. TR-196 is the data model, expanded from the Brodband Forum’s TR-069 protocol, used to manage femtocells. Standardised interfaces make femtocells independent of the network systems they connect to, enabling mobile operators to offer their customers a range of femtocell devices with specific capabilities, from a variety of vendors.

There was a Femto Forum organised plugfest in March 2010, in which access point and gateway products were tested against each other, and this is now the first end to end, standards compatible femtocell solution on the market, according to Ubiquisys.

Keith Day, VP of Marketing for Ubiquisys, said “This is a big milestone, as this is the first standards-based, real product that has been tested for use. IuH has been a hyped topic that has faded a bit, but it is still the biggest carrier item in terms of driving the adoption of femtos. Tested, standards compatible equipment means operators can make an independent choice of femtocell access point vendor and gateway provider.”

Timo Hyppölä, head of 3G Femto product management for NSN said, “Bringing to market what we believe is the world’s first 3GPP standard compliant femto system, together with a well-known femto access point pioneer, Ubiquisys, marks an important milestone for us. This is a notable goal achieved in terms of the industry work done towards an open ecosystem where we are co-operating with a number of partners in the industry. In addition, this marks a kick-off for a whole new era of standard based femtocells; intercompatible across company borders.  I think it is of note for the industry that the femto standard, so much discussed, is now turning “live”, or into reality, in product offerings.”

NSN did previously have a partnership with Airvana in which NSN would market the gateways and Airvana its UMTS access points, but Airvana pulled out of that alliance before recently halting work on UMTS femtos altogether. So could this announcement be seen as NSN re-entering the market with an end-to-end solution?

Hyppölä said, “The announcement does not mark a change in the Nokia Siemens Networks 3G femto strategy. We remain committed to standards and co-operate with a number of partners to drive an open Femto ecosystem, based on a standards-compliant Femto network architecture concept. It is important for us to create (Iuh/TR-196) interoperability across a range of access points.”

Day said, “We will carry out interop work with other vendors as well, and you will see more and more of that. It opens up the value for operators in a femto deployment across the network part, the integration part and on the device side. We will also see many more variants of femto hardware as operators are freed from the idea of just one kind of access point.”

Ubuiquisys and NSN have had an existing relationship since 2008, Hyppölä pointed out.

4G LTE revenues projected to exceed $100bn globally in 2014, despite uncertainty about new data plans – report

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According to a new report from Juniper Research, worldwide service revenues generated by LTE mobile networks are forecast to grow quickly once networks are launched, reaching $100 billion by 2014. These revenues will be driven by laptops, smartphones and other devices, it says.

Paradoxically, says Juniper, several operators are ending flat rate tariffs, whilst at the same time the number and variety of connected data-hungry devices is multiplying. Tablets are a recent example, it says. Whilst Juniper found that 90% of respondents questioned believe that today’s pricing models will have to change, there is a lack of consensus about the structure of new pricing models.

4G LTE Business Models report author Howard Wilcox noted: “In the new report, our business modeling evaluated three scenarios. The most optimistic view revealed scope for higher revenues and ARPU if network operators adopt premium pricing strategies for enterprise users.”

However, the report warns that whilst there continue to be high profile LTE announcements by network operators, some regions will not see substantial numbers of users benefiting from these high speed services for up to three years. Western Europe is an example.

Further findings from the 4G LTE report include:

• The industry is thinking “out of the box” to originate innovative approaches to pricing such as partnership models and usage based tariffs      
• High traffic enterprise subscribers using web, email and video services will be the early adopters of LTE and are the key segment to be targeted      
• Revenues from consumer users will remain under half of total revenues until at least 2015.      

Standalone mobile hotspot device revenue already approaching $500 million in 2010, says new research

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While the concept of a mobile hotspot, a device that connects to a mobile broadband connection and provides a bridge to a Wi-Fi LAN, is relatively new, with the first standalone mobile hotspot devices only appearing in the last two years, new research from In-Stat forecasts that revenue from standalone mobile hotspot devices will approach $500 million by the end of 2010. Mobile hotspot service revenue is projected to reach into the tens of billions of dollars annually, it says.

“Mobile hotspot device shipments are expected to grow for several years, but we expect some jockeying for the top position occurring between device categories,” says Allen Nogee, Principal Analyst. “Smartphones with embedded mobile hotspots have already cut into shipments for battery-powered mobile hotspot devices.  Automotive hotspot devices might do the same.  Standalone mobile hotspots will take on a new life again as they are positioned as home gateway devices for mobile operators selling broadband services to the home.”

The research by In-Stat reveals:

 *   Smartphone mobile hotspot functionality allows a mobile operator to typically charge an additional $20/month.
 *   While many automobiles will have mobile hotspot capabilities, only a small percentage of these car owners will activate their hotspot and pay for monthly services.
 *   A large market opportunity exists for mobile operators to provide WiMAX or LTE broadband services to home users and compete with DSL and cable providers.

The research – Mobile Hotspots: Heating Up and Driving Mobile Data Growth – is said to cover the three main types of mobile hotspot devices, standalone mobile hotspot devices, automotive mobile hotspots, and mobile smartphone hotspots. 

Empirix announces Hammer Edge 2.0

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Empirix, a specialist in service quality assurance solutions for new IP communications, today announced the availability of Hammer Edge 2.0, a next-generation test solution that measures the effects of varied network traffic on real-time voice and video quality.

According to Empirix, the release expands the product’s multiservice, security and high-density media capabilities, which significantly reduces the time and cost of testing complex IP communications solutions. For network equipment manufacturers, this benefit translates into higher quality products, shorter engineering cycles and faster time to revenue. For service providers and enterprises, it means gaining the ability to assure customer experience.

Using the Hammer Edge solution, organisations can quickly create and execute test plans that simulate a wide range of realistic user traffic to predict its impact on Quality of Service (QoS). Along with session border controllers, firewalls and security gateways, Hammer Edge 2.0 now verifies ENUM, e-mail, chat and IM servers, as well as solutions featuring Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) and high-density voice and video media.

“Empirix has been a test partner for many years and an innovator in IP testing for even longer, so they were a perfect choice for demonstrating our NBS product performance to our customers,” said David Tipping, vice president of worldwide systems engineering and marketing for Sonus Networks. “Hammer Edge addresses our high-density media requirements along with a wide range of service and security test scenarios.”

Today, a true assessment of real-time voice and video quality is vital to understanding the customer experience. A recent report from the Customer Experience Foundation found that 68 percent of consumers will hang up if they experience poor voice quality. For those calling about a new product or service, they will likely call a competing company instead. As networks are asked to support more traffic, media, devices and applications to enable todays multiservice solutions, issues with voice quality will only become worse. With Hammer Edge, organisations can quickly identify and fix these problems before they ever reach the end-user, says Empirix.

“With the entrance of new applications and modes of communications, assuring the quality of all new products and services is even more critical to the success of a business,” said Tim Moynihan, vice president of marketing, Enterprise Solutions at Empirix. “Organisations need to verify the effect of multi-modal communication on overall QoS prior to deployment otherwise it will cost them time, customers and money.”

Millimeter wave equipment market to near half-billion dollars by 2014 – report

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Market research firm, Infonetics Research, today released a new Millimeter Wave Equipment Market Outlook report, which provides market size, vendor market share, forecasts, and analysis for E-band and W-band millimeter wave radios used in access, backhaul and transport networks.

“Millimeter wave equipment based on E-band spectrum has characteristics — namely higher frequencies and single-channel configurations — that enable it to address several key markets,” said Richard Webb, directing analyst for mobile devices at Infonetics Research. “For instance, in the US, a total of 13 Gigahertz of band is available, easily accommodating Gigabit Ethernet with relatively simple radio architectures and without complex modulation schemes. The fact that the 71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz frequency bands are configured as two single channels means traditional frequency planning does not apply. These unique characteristics enable a high degree of frequency re-use, and allows operators to configure links in close proximity to one another without interference concerns, making it effective for short-haul, high-capacity links in dense metro areas for mobile backhaul, fiber extension, or campus LANs,”

Report highlights include:
.       Millimeter wave technology is still in its infancy, particularly when compared to the much larger, well established microwave equipment market, which is expected to reach $6.5 billion by 2014
.       Although relatively small, the worldwide E-band and W-band millimeter wave equipment market is fast-rising, with worldwide revenue forecast to grow to $458.5 million in 2014
.       W-band millimeter wave radios are expected to begin shipping in 2012
.       By 2014, nearly 3/4 of all millimeter wave equipment purchased will be for mobile backhaul applications as the demand for high capacity mobile backhaul solutions for metro areas with high cell density increases with the deployment of 4G networks
.       Millimeter wave specialist BridgeWave leads the millimeter wave equipment market with over  half the world’s revenue in 2009
.       Market share standings are expected to shake up once the big microwave vendors (Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei, NEC, NSN, etc.) launch millimeter wave products in 2010 and 2011

Infonetics’ Millimeter Wave Equipment Market Outlook provides worldwide and regional market size, vendor market share, analysis, and forecasts through 2014 for E-band (75-90 GHz) millimeter wave equipment by network application (access, backhaul, transport), as well as forecasts for W-band (75-110 GHz) millimeter wave equipment.

The report tracks units sold, manufacturer revenue, and average revenue per unit (ARPU) and provides market share for BridgeWave, E-Band Communications, GigaBeam, LightPointe, Loea, and Proxim. The report also tracks equipment (but not market share) of ADC, Alcatel-Lucent, Asyrmatos, CableFree, Elva-Link, Ericsson, G4, NEC, Rayawave, Siklu, Trango, and others.

There’s no capacity crunch on the way

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Industy predictions are over-inflated, and LTE could create a surplus – analyst

Earlier today we carried a press release from AnalysysMason on mobile data traffic growth that created a small stir.

Just as a quick precis: AnalysysMason found that data traffic growth in Europe is nothing like ‘doubling every year’, a frequently reiterated claim usually based on Cisco’s Visual Network Index Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast. Instead, AnalysysMason said that while European mobile data traffic grew by 110% in 2009, it will grow by only 35% in 2010, and there is no real prospect of a pick-up in growth rates in 2011.

If you are reading this you are probably used to seeing reports much to the contrary, such as this, and of course to seeing the aforementioned Cisco forecast that projects that globally, mobile data traffic will double every year through 2014, increasing 39 times between 2009 and 2014.

So how did Rupert Wood, Principal Analyst at Analysys Mason and author of the research, come to such radically different conclusions from many in the industry, and what does he think the implications are?

Keith Dyer:
Rupert, you are taking quite a different view here from much of what we hear across the industry.

Rupert Wood:
Yes, our view is that the market is significantly over-hyped. All the evidence we have from 2010 in terms of what’s actually happening is that growth in traffic is pretty weak. We have good data that all points to a growth of 30-35% in the year, and we see even less next year.

Keith Dyer:
Where did you get your data from?

Rupert Wood:
Operators and regulators, and it is hard numbers. It’s not complete data but it is good data, and it contains some startling figures that buck the “doubling every year” idea. For instance, data traffic in Norway in the first half of this year grew just 5% over the second half of last year – an annualised growth of 10%. That’s numbers from the Norwegian regulator. Of course, there will be markets and operators that have more than that but that’s the overall picture we are seeing.
People also misunderstand the types of data growth. The dongle market is slowing up very very sharply. Not in terms of subscribers, but each new subscriber is using less and less. Average usage per mobile broadband, by which I mean dongle, subscriber is in decline everywhere. The mobile broadband market is by far the largest part of the market, forming 95% of data traffic and it is slowing up rapidly. Smartphones will not create anything like the doubling of traffic that is projected year on year.
The second aspect that people misunderstand is the proportion of data that is simply being off-loaded to WiFi and fixed broadband. The analysis on our numbers is that the overwhelming bulk of data traffic is fixed line. Most of it is in-home and going over WiFi, HomeHub and Cable, etc
So our view is that there’s no capacity crunch on the way. There will be nodes and points where there are issues, but in general there is no capacity crunch on the way.

Keith Dyer:
Of course, a slow down in growth doesn’t necessarily mean there is then no capacity crunch. There could be a slowdown in data traffic growth and still operators could struggle for capacity.

Rupert Wood:
It depends where the operators are – and I agree this doesn’t mean there won’t be any capacity issues. I noted Elisa recently saying that they have more than enough capacity on HSPA+ to manage data at the moment quite easily. But there are issues such as backhaul and specific urban areas that need addressing, such as the issue of outdoor cellular smartphone traffic in certain locations.

Keith Dyer:
You say your research included numbers from operators and regulators. Ofcom is one regulator that has released stats that show the growth in data traffic over the last 2-3 years.

Rupert Wood:
Sure, in 2007 and 2008 and 2009 that happened. I absolutely agree with that. But we are saying look at what is actually happening this year, and what is likely to happen next year. These are also European numbers.
The danger is that if LTE investment are made too early we will see a capacity surplus. You create over-capacity in the network and then you sell it off cheap, and it’s not in the industry interest to create another decline.
This is not bad news for mobile operators –  if they can get a better mix of data between small screen and large screen data and retain the price premium for small screen data, then the value of a bit transported goes up rather than down. It’s in their interests to do that , so it’s not bad news for the mobile operators.

Keith Dyer:
You realise that you are going to necessitate a change in every powerpoint presentation on this topic – the Cisco slide is going to have to go out the window,

Rupert Wood:

Well yes. It’s a myth – the doubling of mobie data traffic every year…

Keith Dyer:
And you’ve also put a hole in an awful lot of business cases which aim to take advantage of the capacity crunch – from equipment vendors to policy management, from data optimisation to billing providers…

Rupert Wood:
As I say, you can draw your own conclusions. It wouldn’t be the first time in the telecommunications industry that traffic forecasts have been wrong.

GSA confirms 99% HSPA operator deployment in just five years

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Recent updates to the HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) series of reports published by the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) is said to show its phenomenal and continuing success as the catalyst and key foundation for mobile broadband services, which has been achieved in only five years since the first commercial network introduction.

According to the HSPA Devices report from GSA, more than 1,000 new HSPA user devices were launched onto the market in the past 12 months, an annual growth of 60% which raises the total number of HSPA products to 2,776 from 251 suppliers. 1,300 products are capable of a peak downlink data throughput speed of 7.2 Mbps or higher. 68 HSPA Evolution (HSPA+) devices have been launched, with peak downlink speeds ranging from 21 to 42 Mbps. The number of HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access) user devices has increased by 140% to 825 models, with the majority (51%) supporting or upgradeable for 5.8 Mbps peak.  This figure includes 6 devices which support a peak uplink capability of 11.5 Mbps.

GSA’s latest HSPA Operator Commitments report confirms that the number of commercial HSPA networks has reached 370 in 151 countries. HSPA is the first evolution of WCDMA. The report confirms that more than 99% of WCDMA operators worldwide have deployed HSPA on their networks.

HSPA Evolution (HSPA+) deployments are continuing as the main trend in 2010. Over 1 in 3 HSPA operators have committed to HSPA+ with 81 commercial HSPA+ networks now in commercial service in 48 countries. 9 HSPA+ networks supporting 42 Mbps peak downlink data throughput are commercially launched, using dual carrier (2×5 MHz) DC-HSPA+ technology. A further 30 DC-HSPA+ (42 Mbps) network deployments are on-going or committed, and at least 5 operators have committed to 84 Mbps as the next evolution step for their HSPA+ networks.

Alan Hadden, President of the GSA added: “HSPA networks today deliver mobile broadband service to hundreds of millions of customers. From the first HSPA network launch in 2005, commercial network availability has expanded to more than 150 countries. Access to mobile broadband benefits many more people as operators upgrade network capacity and performance. New communities and segments will capitalize on system deployments in lower frequency bands, in particular re-farmed GSM 900 MHz spectrum where available. More than 20% of HSPA phones and dongles (USB modems) on the market already support 900 MHz operation.”

Many network operators consider HSPA/HSPA+ and LTE as fully complementary and are rolling out both technologies. GSA recently confirmed that 156 operators in 64 countries are currently investing in LTE. This figure comprizes 113 firm operator commitments to deploy commercial LTE systems in 46 countries, which is an increase of 49 operators in the past 6 months. 85% of operators committed to LTE also invest in HSPA. A further 43 “pre-commitment” LTE trials or pilot networks are deployed or planned in 18 more countries.

O2 Health announces new Centres of Excellence

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O2 Health has today announced it has teamed up with three leading health organisations to ensure future patient needs are central to health innovation.

When O2 Health was launched in July this year, a key aim for the business was to affect positive change across the NHS which puts patients at the centre of their care, it says. This would be achieved by forming genuine relationships with healthcare providers to gain a deep understanding of their challenges – before deploying bespoke solutions that create benefits for patients and health workers alike.

Only four months on, NHS Western Isles, Berkshire East Community Health Services and NHS Rotherham are the first health organisations announced as part of a Centre of Excellence programme focused on developing new and innovative healthcare systems.

Each health organisation will provide clinical resources and health expertise to shape new solutions being developed for a range of care settings, and pilot these to create regional centres promoting clinician-led service transformation.

Over the coming years, O2 Health will invest significantly in UK health innovation, not just mobile, and plans to channel resources through its Centre of Excellence partners in the form of managed pilots, technical expertise and forums to encourage shared learning.

Keith Nurcombe, Head of O2 Health said: “NHS Western Isles, Berkshire East Community Health Services and NHS Rotherham have all shown a real appetite to embrace innovation to drive better patient experiences. The Centre of Excellence programme is an industry first – it gives us a great opportunity to learn directly from clinical teams. We plan to expand the programme over the next few years to other like-minded health organisations.”

NHS Western Isles Medical Director, Dr Jim Ward said: “We are committed to delivering high quality healthcare to people living in a remote island setting.Improved organisation of care supported by technology, combined with training for our teams will result in a service delivered more efficiently and effectively, with more time for patient care. The O2 Health team have shown a real commitment to our relationship to date. They have demonstrated a depth of understanding that could only have been achieved through detailed engagement with our clinical teams.”

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