The cells to be demonstrated next week will have Intel Core processors, 8GB of memory and 80GB SSDs (solid-state disks), Day said.

"It does a lot of things much more efficiently, which otherwise would be done elsewhere," Day said.

Using well-established tools for determining what content users will most likely want to download, the Ubiquisys system can store certain data in the smart cell and avoid round trips to storage or servers deeper in the network. For example, once one person near the cell watches a YouTube video, that video can be cached locally so another person nearby can download it more quickly, Day said.

The performance benefit could work upstream too, letting users quickly upload photos to the cell and then have them sent the rest of the way into the network over time.

Certain applications, such as antivirus protection, could also run on the small cell, giving a performance benefit over trying to run them in the core of the network, Day said.