MONTREAL – Videotron and its partners (Ericsson, École de Technologie Supérieure, Quartier de l'innovation) in LabVI, the Open-Air Laboratory for Smart Living, today announced the commissioning of License Assisted Access (LAA) technology at Marché Atwater.
The move, says the release, is another major step in the creation of a supportive environment for the development of innovative new applications and services.
LAA combines the unlicensed 5 GHz spectrum band (Wi-Fi) with licensed spectrum to help provide better data rates and a faster end-user experience.
Videotron and Ericsson are behind the deployment of the new system, which supports very high continuous throughputs with peak speeds of more than 600 Mbps, in tandem with the conventional cellular network.
The LAA network is part of the LabVI ecosystem that gives the scientific community, small and medium-sized businesses and start-ups an opportunity to test new technologies that will improve the lives of Montrealers, adds the release.
"LAA is a key component of LTE's continued evolution, delivering a performance boost for mobile users. Ericsson is pleased to join with Videotron to demonstrate significantly improved download speeds and an enhanced user experience in the Marché Atwater area through the combination of licensed and unlicensed spectrum,” said David Everingham, Ericsson Canada’s chief technology officer.
In 2016 in collaboration with Ericsson, Videotron created Canada's first open-air smart living laboratory with École de technologie supérieure and the Quartier de l'innovation de Montréal (QI). The facility is designed for field-testing under real-life condition and the unique partnership brings together in one vast test site the knowledge, expertise and technology to implement various components of smart living, including 5G technology and the Internet of Things.
