The LTE/SAE trial initiative: Taking LTE-SAE from specification to rollout

Now that the standards for LTE/SAE are functionally frozen, we consider the activities needed to implement the technology and prepare it for commercial rollout: prototyping, interoperability testing, and field trials. The LSTI is a global initiative of operators and vendors who are coordinating and reporting progress on these activities to ensure that everyone has a realistic understanding of what performance and functionality to expect from LTE, and the readiness of the technology for commercial roll out. The LSTI aims to accelerate commercialization of LTE/SAE by fostering technology alignment across all key vendor participants. This article provides an overview of the activities and gives an update on the results published so far.