Clavister Demonstrates LTE Small Cell Security Solution for Mobile Operators

Small Cell World Summit 2014

The solution provides authenticated, encrypted connectivity from multiple small cell base stations to 4G and LTE mobile cores, protecting both the network and subscribers’ data traffic against unauthorised access and interception.  This addresses the need to secure the fast-growing number of small base stations being deployed to address subscribers’ bandwidth needs in public areas. 

Research firm Heavy Reading estimates that cell site numbers will grow by around 50% globally by 2016 to 4 million, with over 500,000 of these being micro- and small cells that cannot be physically secured as easily as conventional mobile base stations.

Clavister’s solution is a virtualized environment running on Intel® products, which greatly reduces deployment time and costs for MNOs.  It features next-generation firewalling for packet core security; encryption from the eNode B to small cells, for secure data backhaul; and enables intelligent mobile data offloading to WiFi networks.

Jim Carlsson, CEO of Clavister said:  “It’s critical that new, small cell deployments are secured, to protect mobile networks and data against attack and interception.  Our LTE Small Cell Security solution enables MNOs to do this by provisioning virtualized network security zones for small cells, and encrypting subscriber traffic to mitigate the risks of breaches.  By working with Intel to deliver the solution on its x86 architecture, we can ensure MNOs enjoy fast and flexible security deployments.” 

Clavister’s LTE Small Cell Security solution is based on the company’s Virtual Security Gateway next-generation firewall (NGFW).  When deployed on an operator’s LTE network, the Gateway acts as an IPsec termination point from multiple small cell base stations, providing authenticated and encrypted connectivity to the mobile network core.  Virtualization enables segregation of traffic from different small cells, with the ability to apply different policies and feature sets.  This delivers full protection in mobile operators’ distributed environments. 

Clavister’s Virtual Series Gateways enable the highest levels of throughput, and offer up to six nines (99.9999%) availability for carrier-grade applications, enabling the most demanding nobel network network environments to be secured with unmatched performance and low latency.

Clavister is a member of the Intel® Network Builders program (networkbuilders.intel.com), a cross-industry initiative that enables telcos to build and manage business-critical infrastructures, with lower capital and operating costs.