The Release Program is a free service from Small Cell Forum made up of a suite of documents that anyone can download. Content is regularly updated to include new findings or advances that may affect the business case and technologies driving small cell rollout. This combination of accessibility and continuing relevance has been behind the massive popularity of the program and the solutions it has described.

Today, less than two years since Release One, small cells have gone all the way from the family home to the office, the street, the village and even underground and into the sky. At every turn the focus has been on driving deployment, monetizing the small cell proposition and a relentless focus on improving end user experience.

The work doesn’t stop there, of course. We may soon be able to boast a Release Program that includes all the main use cases, but carrier requirements will continue to evolve, while technology will continue to advance, improving the capabilities of small cells and the business case they offer.

SON enhancements, better interference management, virtualization, location-based services and the continuing drive for greater economies of scale will drive refinements and upgrades to both the Releases and the real world use cases they describe. As of course will the end users themselves. What new needs or requirements will the enhanced connectivity that small cells offer inspire among end users and how will we respond?

In the next few blogs we’ll be looking at some of the findings of the various Releases to date and the achievements they highlight, in the run-up to the publication both of Release Five and of an important new report that discusses the impact of the Release Program so far. But we’ll also be looking forward. This work is far from over.