Next Generation Communications Blog

Alcatel-Lucent Technology News

Next Generation Railway Communications Highlighted by Alcatel-Lucent at InnoTrans 2014

Edited By Peter Bernstein on November 18, 2014

From original posting on Alcatel-Lucent TRACKTalk Blog

InnoTrans might have been and gone for another two years but Alcatel-Lucent’s highlights from the world’s largest railway exhibition live on in three videos which are now available to view at any time online.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Corporate News, Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Broadband, Fixed Networks, IP/MPLS, Next-Generation Communications, Security, Wireless

Small Cell Deployments Can Gain from Thoughtful Collaboration

Edited By Peter Bernstein on November 18, 2014

By: Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

Mobile operators know that small cells deliver efficient, cost-effective wireless coverage since they can be placed anywhere to add or augment service. But while the technological benefits are not in dispute, actual small cell deployment can be a challenge. The very advantage of small cells is also a disadvantage.

That’s because unlike macro cells, small cells require many deployments and agreements with many sites. Instead of one deployment, there are several. This adds complexity, especially with small cells outdoors.

The numbers bear this out. A recent study by Informa Telecoms & Media found that roughly 60 percent of the operators it surveyed said that deployment problems were the biggest challenge with small cell technology.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Next-Generation Communications, Small Cells, Wi-Fi, Wireless
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VDSL and Vectoring are Important Parts of Broadband Deployment

Edited By Peter Bernstein on November 7, 2014

By: Wendy Zajack, Dir. Product Communications, Alcatel-Lucent

From original on Alcatel-Lucent corporate blog

A few months ago our home WiFi slowed to a crawl. At first we thought it was a temporary thing, but after my son ran a diagnostic there was a problem with our high-speed broadband.  

While the technician was fixing it, he mentioned that for an extra $10 a month we could get a faster plan.  Living in the US we already (in my opinion) pay enough for our monthly broadband package so I immediately said ‘no.’ But I told my kids that IF they wanted to pay for it … we would consider it.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Bell Labs Innovation, Broadband, Fixed Networks, Next-Generation Communications, VDSL2

German Internet Exchange Shows its Support for Alcatel-Lucent's IP Core Routing Solution

Edited By Peter Bernstein on November 3, 2014

By: Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

The routers and infrastructure that lay at the foundation of Internet service provider (ISP) networks rarely are named; which service routers that ISPs use are not often openly discussed.

But sometimes the veil does get pulled back, as was the case recently with the announcement that the world’s largest ISP, Germany’s DE-CIX, has leveraged the Alcatel-Lucent 7950 XRS Extensible Routing System (XRS) for its newly deployed DE-CIX Apollon German Internet exchange.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Broadband, IP Platforms, IP Routing and Transport, Next-Generation Communications

NFV INSIGHTS: The right SDN is right for NFV

Edited By Peter Bernstein on October 31, 2014

By: Roland Mestric, Director, Video Solutions Marketing

It feels like it was just a few months ago when you could read articles in the trade press lumping together SDN and NFV with NFV being a form of SDN or vice versa.  Yes, both somehow are about virtualization and about converting hardware into software. Today – after numerous proofs-of-concept run by service provides around the globe – we know the role of SDN as virtually indispensable for NFV solutions that aspire to deliver the kind of agility and operational simplification we all expect from NFV. Only SDN can deliver quickly enough the (virtual) networks needed for newly deployed network functions. Alcatel-Lucent has recently demonstrated a complete virtual evolved packet core (vEPC) including a virtual IMS/VoLTE deployed in less than 30 minutes.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Cloud, Data Center, NFV, Network Functions Virtualization, Next-Generation Communications, SDN, VoLTE

IP Video: A Whirlwind of Innovation

Edited By Peter Bernstein on October 28, 2014

By: Roland Mestric, Director, Video Solutions Marketing, Alcatel-Lucent

Before the iPhone, the world of TV was relatively simple. Linear TV programs were delivered to the TV set over the air or to its set-top box (STB), which was directly tied to the cable coax, the home gateway or the satellite dish.

Now everything has changed.

Video-enabled, IP-connected devices with ever-greater screen resolution are flooding the market. Tablets, smartphones and smart TVs are running on many flavours of operating systems. All use different protocols, formats and standards. With these devices, end users have many options to watch video. These include being attached to the service provider’s managed network, or being directly connected to the Internet and consuming ‘over-the-top’ content. Moreover, end users want to watch their favorite content on demand; they no longer want to be restricted to linear programing. This adds yet another level of complexity to this whirlwind of change.

Covering all IP video options results in countless protocols, proliferating standards and loads of acronyms. Even industry watchers can find the rapidly evolving world of IP video confusing. That’s why I created this IP video streaming infographic.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Broadband, Cloud, Customer Experience, Next-Generation Communications, Video
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The New Facet of Customer Experience Management - Field Service 2.0

Edited By Peter Bernstein on October 27, 2014

By: Rhodo Odysseos, Product/Solution Marketing, Alcatel-Lucent, and Jess Verbruggen, Motive Integrated Marketing Assistant, Alcatel-Lucent

Traditionally, communications service providers (CSPs) have treated the field service aspect of their organization as a cost center. Field technicians engaged in maintenance activities were simply a part of the cost of doing business.  More recently, the communications industry in general and the field service arena in particular, has been disrupted by immense changes in the customer profile, service expectations, and behaviors.

Field service is often the only face of the company that a customer will ever see, so it’s not a surprise that CSPs are striving to make a positive impact on customers in this realm. Achieving full potential in field service saves CSPs a lot of time and money. Productivity and efficiency reviews targeted at field service operations, done correctly, can reinforce other areas of the business by increasing customer satisfaction and improving safety and quality. 

Posted in A New Conversation Experience, Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Customer Care, Customer Experience, Mobile Data, Next-Generation Communications, Wireless

Here is how Telecoms Can Keep Over-the-Top in Check

Edited By Peter Bernstein on October 21, 2014

By: Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

Why I don’t use Skype much largely is the result of a savvy move from a telecom provider in Southeast Asia.

I have many friends in Asia, many of whom are not exactly rolling in money. So they can’t afford a data plan on their cell phone to use Skype. But what they all can do is use Facebook, and they all can use Facebook because many telecoms in the region give Facebook access away for free while charging for other Internet access such as web browsing. This is a good way to slowly upsell consumers—and to indirectly get me to use Facebook even more than I normally would.

Similar value-added services through selective access to particular mobile applications can be seen here in the U.S., too. T-Mobile, for instance, has recently begun offering unlimited streaming Internet radio even for customers who can’t step up for the larger data plans that normally would be needed to support Internet radio on a mobile device.

This is good business. It is a way that operators can help fend off the over-the-top challenge that threatens to turn telecoms into commodity businesses.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, LTE, Mobile Data, Mobile Marketing, Next-Generation Communications, Wireless

Answering the Question of How to Manage NFV Effectively with an vEPC

Edited By Peter Bernstein on October 14, 2014

By: Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

The advantages to mobile operators of network functions virtualization (NFV) and moving to a virtualized evolved packet core (vEPC) have become clear, and mobile networks operators are pretty much sold on the technology in theory.

As the technology side has been figured out and operators begin to plan commercial deployments of NFV and vEPC, however, discussion is starting to move toward operational requirements and challenges. Mobile network operators need to figure out how best to manage these new virtual network functions (VNFs) and the NFV infrastructure, and also how to modify the existing network operations model when these VNFs are deployed.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Broadband, Cloud, Data Center, NFV, Next-Generation Communications

NFV INSIGHTS: Is OpenStack ready for NFV?

Edited By Peter Bernstein on October 13, 2014

By Andreas Lemke, Ph.D. - Alcatel-Lucent

Open source has had a massive impact on information technology and the web: The Linux operating system, the LAMP stack, browsers, the Android smartphone OS. Individual enthusiasts, universities, and businesses spend enormous resources to build technologies, and then give them away for free. Are they out of their mind? The success of open source shows they are not. 

OpenStack, the open source cloud management software, has come into the focus of service providers as a rapidly advancing, cost-effective technology foundation for NFV. With OpenStack, service providers are expecting to escape the tangles of individual vendors and build an open horizontal platform for their future networks.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Cloud, NFV, Next-Generation Communications
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