Next Generation Communications Blog

July 2013

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How the Cloud is Making Datacenters Dynamic

By: Sunil Khandekar, CEO, Nuage Networks

The future of datacenters is virtual, automatic, cloud-based, instantaneous, and boundary-less. These might not be the words associated with datacenters today -- you're more likely to hear slow, cumbersome, and related words in the same breath -- but software is driving this revolution in networking.

It has been undergoing a massive shift to the cloud for years now, driven by enterprise motivations to consolidate, as well as to use computer resources more optimally and efficiently. While computing virtualization has driven this transformation, the network has fallen woefully behind. Imagine having 20 virtual machines (VMs) in a server: Tomorrow that number grows to 100, to 200 the day after, and so on.

As you realize the implications of this growth in the datacenter, it becomes clear that the traditional networking approach of connecting those VMs is mindboggling because it doesn't deliver the true promise of the cloud -- instant access to apps anytime, anywhere and with no disruptions.

Six Degrees of Mobile Data Plan Innovation: Third Party Pays

In this fifth installment of the Six Degrees of Mobile Data Plan Innovation blog series, Alcatel-Lucent’s Rich Crowe examines third party pays mobile data plans. With third party pays plans, application and content providers pay mobile network operators for the data that subscribers use in consuming their content.

Data on the house!

Have you ever enjoyed a great meal at a restaurant and then been told that it’s on the house? It’s a wonderful feeling! Third party pays mobile data plans bring that same feeling to the mobile experience. You consume mobile content and someone else — the content provider or another business — pays your mobile network operator for the data you used. It doesn’t count toward your monthly allocation.

Today’s business model favors application and content providers. They provide the content and consumers cover the mobile data bill through their data plans. So why would a content provider pay for mobile data? The reason is simple: If the provider’s content consumes a lot of data, mobile consumers may access it sparingly or not at all to save precious megabytes. This behavior may be even more pronounced toward the end of the month, as consumers approach data plan limits.

Six Degrees of Mobile Data Plan Innovation: Third Party Pays

In this fifth installment of the Six Degrees of Mobile Data Plan Innovation blog series, Alcatel-Lucent’s Rich Crowe examines third party pays mobile data plans. With third party pays plans, application and content providers pay mobile network operators for the data that subscribers use in consuming their content.

Data on the house!

Have you ever enjoyed a great meal at a restaurant and then been told that it’s on the house? It’s a wonderful feeling! Third party pays mobile data plans bring that same feeling to the mobile experience. You consume mobile content and someone else — the content provider or another business — pays your mobile network operator for the data you used. It doesn’t count toward your monthly allocation.

Today’s business model favors application and content providers. They provide the content and consumers cover the mobile data bill through their data plans. So why would a content provider pay for mobile data? The reason is simple: If the provider’s content consumes a lot of data, mobile consumers may access it sparingly or not at all to save precious megabytes. This behavior may be even more pronounced toward the end of the month, as consumers approach data plan limits.

WebRTC Event Highlights the New Era of Communications

By: Ed Elkin, Marketing Director, Advanced Communication Solutions, Alcatel-Lucent

Sure enough, upon arriving at the WebRTC Conference and Expo, it’s clear this is the same stretch of Cobb Parkway where I came every few weeks to the AT&T SDN Control Center – for 1993’s version of SDN.  Then as now, better enterprise communications were needed.  In 1993, the substance of the WebRTC’s conference was a dream, which now becomes 2013’s reality because of two decades’ investment in terrific devices, convenient broadband access and dynamic network cores. 

This was a hot conference, full of diverse views and ideas. At our live demo table, variation was the norm. Visitors spanned from numerous service providers (AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Cox, Orange, NTT, etc.), to a variety of startups such as Dvisor Hypermedia who are applying gaming’s threaded media to communications, to industry notables such as Intel checking out WebRTC for consumer media units.  Not many enterprises were visibly present, which is a concern because WebRTC will boost their business process efficiency (internal and external) and they need to prepare for how it affects their competitiveness. 

Six Degrees of Mobile Data Plan Innovation: Application-Based Plans

In this fourth installment of the Six Degrees of Mobile Data Plan Innovation blog series, Alcatel-Lucent’s Rich Crowe examines application-based data plans. These plans let mobile subscribers use specific applications without consuming their data allowance.

Removing the worry from mobile application use

How would you like to use your favorite mobile applications without having to worry about going over your data limit and paying overage fees? That’s the idea behind application-based data plans. You pay a monthly fee to use one or more specific applications as much as you want. The data consumed by these applications doesn’t count against your data plan. In some cases, your mobile network operator may decide to make selected applications available without impacting your data plan in exchange for a very nominal fee.

Two categories of applications are particularly well suited to application-based pricing. The first are data-hungry applications, like video and multimedia. Today, some consumers use these applications sparingly because they fear going over data limits and incurring overage charges. The second includes core applications that don’t consume much data, such as text-only e-mail or social networking. These applications may be used to introduce subscribers to the world of mobile data.

Six Degrees of Mobile Data Plan Innovation: Shared Data Plans

Mobile data: It’s nice to share

From an early age, we’re taught that it’s nice to share. With time, we learn the value of sharing things like cookies, good books and the wisdom that comes from experience. But what about sharing mobile data? Do consumers want to share their mobile data? What would this look like?

Keeping Up With the Modern-Day Nomads

By Philip Carden, Head of Alcatel-Lucent Consulting Services

Meet the digital nomads, a growing group of heavy mobile data users that's redefining how service providers think about connectivity.

There is a small, but growing, new class of data users amongst us. You've likely spotted one – that man hunched over a laptop at your neighborhood coffee shop, the woman swiping through a tablet in the park, or even that teen on the train whose eyes are glued to a video on his larger-than-average smartphone.

They are the digital nomads. Unlike the hunters and gatherers of the past, these nomads are always connected, regardless of where they are, and their expectations for connectivity have never been higher.

Six Degrees of Mobile Data Plan Innovation: Service Level-based Plans

In this second installment of the Six Degrees of Mobile Data Plan Innovation blog series, Alcatel-Lucent’s Rich Crowe takes a closer look at service level-based data plans. These plans can be used to give subscribers opportunities to enhance their mobile data services in exchange for a monthly or per-use fee.

What do consumers think about service level-based plans?

In February 2013, Alcatel-Lucent asked mobile broadband consumers in six countries about the concept of service level-based data plans. Globally, two-thirds of respondents said they would be interested in a premium service that could provide an enhanced quality of service (QoS).[1]

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