By Mae Kowalke

When it comes to public safety, how much oversight and surveillance is enough, and how much is too much? Where do you draw the line between safety and invasion of privacy? These are questions policymakers and law enforcement officials struggle with every day. There are usually no easy answers.

A good starting point is to look at the role technologies like video surveillance can play in public safety, and what applications such technologies are most effective for particularly for providing an adequate degree of situational awareness.

Video surveillance is very prevalent in the U.K. where the typical person is recorded 20 times a day.  It is gaining ground in the U.S. where post-9/11 has made people feel less safe and created a desire to have their “guardians” always watching in public spaces. However, omnipresence for the sake of security has a price. It does invade personal privacy. 

This concern has only grown as sophisticated video and network technologies like 4G LTE— which is increasingly the technology of choice for massively deployed machine-to-machine (M2M) monitoring solutions— enable video can be not just automatically captured but also quickly analyzed to, for example, use facial recognition to ID a person or check a license plate against records in a database.

In a recent article in Alcatel-Lucent’s LifeTalk e-zine, “Video Surveillance: Balancing Security and Privacy, Capability and Cost,” author Andreas Olligschlaeger, Ph.D., President, TruNorth Data Systems notes that, “Privacy advocates complain these systems can be used to track the comings and goings of citizens with no connection to crime, and have concerns about how this data will be used.” He goes on to say that, “Privacy is less of a concern in Europe, where surveillance systems have been in use longer and personal privacy is constitutionally guaranteed.”

The facts are that video surveillance can and should play a part in public safety.  It is proven to be a valuable tool that helps law enforcement officials do their jobs more effectively.  That said, public safety officials also like to say it is only a part of a holistic approach and it cannot replace human judgment, and is obviously most effective when paired with human monitoring and decision-making.

“Video monitoring probably doesn’t do much to prevent crime, although it can be helpful in investigating, solving and prosecuting crimes…Key to this issue is the need to have human monitors watching the video output,” Olligschlaeger says.

Even the most sophisticated license plate or facial recognition system isn’t designed to sound an alarm if a criminal snatches someone’s purse or hits someone over the head with a beer bottle.

However, video surveillance systems—which take the closed circuit TV (CCTV) concept to a new level—are becoming more popular in the U.S. and in developing countries alike, in part because of lower cost made possible by wireless broadband growth. It’s easier than ever to balance capabilities with cost.

“Wireless networks eliminate the need to run coaxial cable to camera installations, and the smaller cameras reduce power requirements,” notes Olligschlaeger. “Now, a camera and transmitter can run for days or weeks on a battery, and may be able to recharge via a solar collector.”

Such video surveillance systems enable users to set up monitoring on demand, a feature made popular by social media trends like flash mobs. Flash mobs can be entertaining for a global audience if streamed live or published afterward on the web (which they often are, using smartphones and social media networks) but can also cause problems.

“Flash mobs can have a dark side, too,” Olligschlaeger points out. “One flash mob raided a convenience store in Maryland, with thieves running inside to steal merchandise off of the shelves, protected by the anonymity of the crowd. Another flash mob attacked people leaving the Wisconsin State Fair, knocking people to the ground and stealing personal belongings.”

It’s clear that video surveillance is here to stay, and has its place in the arena of public safety.  However, it is also clear that striking the right balance as to how much security, when \, where why and how has been and increasingly will be a challenge for the officials charged with keeping us safe.

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One of the challenges faced by mobile network service providers deploying 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) is using it to deliver popular multimedia content to a mass audience in the most efficient and effective manner. In the past, operators had two options: unicast or broadcast.

For those unfamiliar with the terms, below is a brief description of each:

• Unicast — the sending content to a single network destination, with a unique address.  It is a one-to-one method of distribution. Traditionally, unicast has been when each individual recipient wanted or needed different content.
• Broadcast — as the name implies, is sending the same content to all possible destinations, e.g., it is a one-to-many or one-to-all method of distribution. The obvious downside of broadcast is that everyone receives identical content.

Recently, a new technology call evolved multimedia broadcast multicast service (eMBMS) entered the scene.  It makes possible the efficient broadcasting of content only to interested recipients. An added attraction is that eMBMS is highly scalable.  It uses only a fraction of the capacity compared with unicast. This gives operators the best of both worlds: the flexibility of unicast and the efficiency of broadcast.

The latter benefit of eMBMS is highlighted in a recent Alcatel-Lucent TechZine article, “Further Efficiencies with eMBMS.”   Researchers RJ Vale, Network Architect for Alcatel-Lucent’s Corporate CTO Technology Advisory Group and Harish Viswanathan, CTEO Advisor on M2M and Devices at Alcatel-Lucent, not that while having the ability of broadcasting personalized content leverages the inherent capabilities to broadcasting:

“To increase this efficiency even further, near-live, perishable and pre-published content can be multicast to specified users during off-peak hours. The content is loaded into their mobile device’s flash memory for viewing (or other use) at a later time.”

In addition, it is noted that network operators that embrace application enablement through open APIs in combination with eMBMS and preloading have powerful tools for both creating new services and addressing the coming explosion of mobile data traffic in a manner that puts less stress on network loads and thereby reduces costs.

 “These advantages allow Mobile Service Providers (MSPs) to offer optional low-priced bundles, on top of data plans, with usage quotas,” note Vale and Viswanathan. They added that, “A MSP could gain significant savings when even a small percentage of the content has been preloaded and is consumed by a large number of users during peak periods.”

Preloading content for eMBMS is not surprisingly best suited to data—such as advertisements, software driver updates, TV series installments, software patches, or daily news.  The reason is that this information is time insensitive, available before its publish time, or is intended for time-shifted consumption.

As the ALU researchers state, “This content can be packaged as free or low-cost mobile services with an array of choices for consumption at a user’s convenience…For subscribers, the experience would be much like having access to unlimited content, while MSPs could get a higher yield from the bandwidth allocated to eMBMS.”

The potential applications are nearly endless. Some examples: coupon services, special restaurant deals, or deal-of-the-day mobile app offers.  The full posting provides a lot of detail about business models and solution architectures for preloaded eMBMS deployments that should be considered by any mobile service provider seeking to leverage the effectiveness of the 4G LTE deployments and do so cost efficiently.

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How Service Providers Can Capitalize on the Enterprise Cloud Market - Jan 24, 2012

Sponsored by the Call Center Outsourcing Community & the Virtual Contact Center Outsourcing Community

Two opposing forces are driving the need for more efficient use of energy – the increased use of mobile device coupled with the power needed to sustain their use are necessitating that the telecom industry step up its efforts to improve eco-efficiency overall.

Given the trend of increased demands of today’s mobile users – and the proliferation of new and different end-user applications and devices – an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is a smart choice for service providers who are also looking for new revenue opportunities.

“Consumers are no longer content with a simple telephone; they want broadband and accessibility, wherever they are, on any device they choose. They want access to information, plus instant and reliable communications,” a recent whitepaper by Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), “Alcatel-Lucent IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS): Eco-efficiency Makes Economic Sense,” points out.

At the same time, while a “green” lifestyle may not drive demand for new communications services, it changes the way we live and work, and in many cases, reduces our environmental impact. According to Alcatel-Lucent, telecommunications can reduce the environmental impact of other industries as well, by changing the way people live and work.

Considering this “anywhere, anytime” phenomenon continues to grow rampantly, service providers need to work toward a solution that will benefit the earth, as well as their own bottom lines.

The amount of electricity needed to browse the Internet and talk on the phone in the U.S. alone shows that a new system is needed. According to the Telecommunications Indus­try Association (TIA), data centers and telecom systems account for 3 percent of the U.S total electricity demand, and the proportion is growing rapidly.

Since the telecommunications industry uses so much electricity, the industry can make a positive impact on total energy consumption, not only by reducing its consumption through more efficient network infrastructure, but also by helping other industries to reduce their impact.

For example, Alcatel-Lucent IMS solutions help service providers reinvent communications across fixed, mobile and web, while paving the way for a smooth migration to all-IP networks with scalability and security.

“Technologies that can be enhanced with IMS (video conferencing, presence aware messaging, and anytime access) reduce or eliminate the need to travel to meetings or commute daily,” the whitepaper said.

The Alcatel-Lucent End-to-End IMS Solution helps operators offer multimedia communication services including voice, video, web, messaging and other conversational services using the most effective communications tools, whether it is their PC, TV, mobile phone, or home phones.

In fact, Alcatel-Lucent claims its IMS solution reduces the environmental and economic impact by over 90 percent, compared to a TDM-based solution. The service allows service providers to respond to the demands of today’s consumers, while also opening the door to new revenue streams.

As importantly it highlights Alcatel-Lucent’s commitment to ecosustainability as a vendor and as an enabler for its customers to be responsible stewards as well.  As ALU CEO Ben Verwaayen says, “Corporate Responsibility is our business imperative. It defines our organization.”  

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How Service Providers Can Capitalize on the Enterprise Cloud Market - Jan 24, 2012

Sponsored by the Call Center Outsourcing Community & the Virtual Contact Center Outsourcing Community

Mobile network operators are always looking for new ways to more efficiently use their existing infrastructure without making large capital expenditures. With the explosion of tablets and smartphones, which will increasingly be used for a variety of video applications, streamed as well as interactive, use of a 4G LTE channel for delivering multicast services such as mobile TV is viewed as one way to do so. The reason is simple. It enables network operators to offer mobile TV without the need for additional expensive licensed spectrum and without requiring new infrastructure and end-user devices that might be required to unicast content.

A recent Alcatel-Lucent TechZine article, “eMBMS for More Efficient Use of Spectrum,” describes the enhancements to LTE specifications that have been standardized to accommodate rapidly changing user demands and concomitant network requirements. Evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (eMBMS) is now a multicast standard for 4G LTE precisely because it allows one-to-many distribution of video content.

“For example, during live streaming of major sports or news events, unicast must send the same video to every user individually,” explain RJ Vale, Network Architect for Alcatel-Lucent’s corporate CTO technology advisory group, and Harish Viswanathan, CTO advisor on devices and machine-to-machine (M2M) technology for Alcatel-Lucent. The authors state that eMBMS makes licensed spectrum usage more efficient by leveraging multicast capabilities.  These capabilities, “take advantage of the inherent broadcast qualities of wireless networks to send video only once to reach an equal number of end users.”  This reduces the cost per bit sent.  

The authors’ detail why the underlying structure of eMBMS is what makes it more efficient.

The example given puts the numbers in stark relief.  “In one-to-many transmissions, a large number of mobile devices can tune in and receive the video from a single transmission…So, if eight mobiles within a sector all want the same content, multicast can transmit it just once. But unicast would have to transmit it eight times — using on the order of eight times the resources that would be required in multicast.”  In addition, eMBMS sessions can be set up dynamically to share resources using unicast sessions, operating on a single frequency across a group of cells to improve reception.

Initial deployments of eMBMS, a standard supported by 3GPP R9, are slated to begin this year (2012). As the article highlights, eMBMS can be used to expand the capabilities of LTE networks by using the same frequency layer for multicast, broadcast and unicast. This goes to the heart as to how and why operators can not only save money and but also provide an improved customer experience because of better reception and throughput.

eMBMS deployments, Vale and Viswanathan note, involve a somewhat complex interplay of network elements:

• Broadcast/Multicast Service Center (BM-SC) – schedules and manages MBMS services
• Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) Area – group of cells that coordinates MBSFN transmission
• Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services Gateway (MBMS-GW) – sends IP multicast packets, performs session control
• Evolved Node B (eNB) and Mobile Management Entity (MME) – existing elements in LTE
• Multi-cell/Multicast Coordinated Entity (MCE) – function that performs admission control, radio resources allocation and session control signaling
• SYNC Protocol –identifies radio frame transmission timing, detects packet loss
• M2 and M3: signaling interfaces

With these elements rolled together into a solution, eMBMS provides a valuable alternative to unicast for distributing a variety of preloaded and live multimedia content.

In addition to the inherent cost savings derived from content delivery being one-to-many instead of one-to-one,  as stated above the fact that eMBMS sessions can be set up dynamically — and share resources with unicast sessions — eliminates the need for dedicated spectrum.  Lower cost of using a scarce and expensive resource and a better customer experience sounds like a solution that is likely to be in the future of many of us.  

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Sustaining a successful public transportation system, such as train service, depends on that system being both convenient and safe. For train passengers, especially women, safety (both actual and perceived) can be a major issue.

In a recent article in TRACKTALK, “What puts women off using the train?” Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Associate Dean at University of California Los Angeles’ School of Public Affairs and Urban Planning, shined a light on the critical role video surveillance and passenger information systems (PIS) can play in helping female travelers feel safe. As she noted, “Dark and deserted stations and trains are understandably off-putting and can encourage people to seek alternative means of transport, or even not travel at all, to avoid feeling threatened, or in some instances becoming a victim of crime.”

For the uninitiated, PIS are electronic information systems that provide real-time information about estimated arrival and departure times, as well as brief descriptions regarding the causes of disruptions. PIS not only can be strategically located at transportation hubs but their information can be accessed remotely via a web browser or mobile device.  As the author says, video surveillance solutions like those developed by Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), using a new Critical WAN Infrastructure solution based on IP/MPLS, go hand-in-hand with PIS as tools that, when combined with human staffing, can address the most pressing aspects of safety for all train passengers.

Loukaitou-Sideris researched this topic in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada, and found that women train passengers are most concerned about their personal safety in several types of situations: 

• Waiting for a long time at a station
• Poor visibility at the station (e.g. night, poorly lit)
• Lack of staff members at the station
• Being the only passenger on board a train carriage
• The presence of another single, male passenger, or a crowd of drunken passengers

“Darkness, isolation, and limited opportunities for surveillance were all identified as the major reason that anxiety might increase among passengers, particularly women,” the author said. However, she found that unfortunately there is a gap between security measures that women feel are appropriate, and security measures operators generally choose to provide.

Transport authorities, Loukaitou-Sideris found, tend to prefer installing technology like closed-circuit TV (CCTV) video surveillance rather than adding more security staff, because it costs less. Video surveillance, of course, is only effective at actually stopping crimes if security staff is watching the feed and responds promptly when there are issues. “Technological solutions that are currently available and widely used such as communication points, and emergency buttons are viewed as a positive means of drawing attention,” stated  Loukaitou-Sideris. She added, “However, concerns though remain about where exactly the operator at the other end of the line might be, and how quickly they will be able to respond.” 

While the most fear-inducing possibility is a violent crime like rape or other physical assault, instances of intimidation, verbal assault and groping are much more common yet hard to prove, and thus tend to haunt female passengers.  Women, Loukaitou-Sideris says, feel that if there were more security staff around, these “lesser” crimes would occur less often. 

That said, if used appropriately, video surveillance and other technology can and does make passenger safer. For example, accurate information about train arrival and departure times—displayed on screens at the platform, or delivered through other means like on-board communications—helps passengers minimize the time they spend waiting at an unstaffed station.

Where Alcatel-Lucent’s Critical WAN Infrastructure Solution serves a vital function is to automate and simplify operations management. As TRACKTALK highlights, as a result of the increased desire by transit authorities around the world to protect not just passengers but critical physical assets that might be targeted by terrorists, there has been an increasingly holistic approach to railroad security.  This is driving the need for interconnected surveillance and alerting.  In this regard, several perspectives — social, economic, customer and transit system operations — must be taken into account.

It may sound a bit obvious but this approach must rely on a networking environment that is always on, always available, and can provide a level of granularity that enable authorities to accurately identify trouble spots and people and react quickly. In short, there can be no alternative to being on constant watch and having trained professionals ready to react to any contingency.   

Finally, Loukaitou-Sideris states that security must be balanced with efficiency. After all, the goal is to get people to use the system.   The implementation of cumbersome and time-consuming security practices, especially for mass transit systems in urban hubs, could dissuade not just women but all potential customers from riding the train.  She found that, “Anything that delays the transport process makes public transport less attractive compared with automobiles…Airline passengers are able to tolerate more delays, but it is not the same for rail passengers who would not wait for hours to go through security. In busy cities where thousands of people are flowing through stations this is impractical anyway.”

While we live in an increasingly dangerous world, having a high-performance communications network that can support all aspects of rail security (in stations as well as throughout the physical transit network) is no longer being viewed as a luxury, but as a necessity.  Finding the optimal balance to assure safe journeys with minor inconvenience is a complicated task which is why transit authorities are working closely with communications solutions providers to achieve that balance.  

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How Service Providers Can Capitalize on the Enterprise Cloud Market - Jan 24, 2012

Sponsored by the Call Center Outsourcing Community & the Virtual Contact Center Outsourcing Community

In an increasingly competitive marketplace, service providers (SPs) are staying one step ahead by finding new and innovative ways monetize their offerings. For providers who recognize and leverage it effectively, the emerging new social conversation experience arising from the pervasive adaption and use of social media is proving to be a valuable tool in this endeavor.

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) has been busy developing solutions for fixed and mobile SPs to help them leverage the evolution of social media. On the mobility side, much of this development has been focused on two technical projects—Rich Communication Suite (RCS) and RCS-enhanced (RCS-e)—led by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA).

In a recent white paper, “Building a Social Conversation Experience with RCS and RCS-E,” Alcatel-Lucent researchers explain that RCS (developed in 2008) is intended to:  “Leverage the global interoperability and ubiquity of existing voice services and Short Message Services (SMSs) and enrich them with Internet-type features more in line with user demand.”

As of early 2011, when the more compact iteration of the capability RCS-e was launched, the RCS Group had more than 100 members, including service providers, device manufacturers, and infrastructure and software vendors. Alcatel-Lucent is among them.

The RCS standard, as the white paper notes, has three key attributes:

• Social Presence – makes social interactions more frequent, easy and vivid
• Multi-device – defines mechanisms for aggregating presence information across multiple devices
• Service Capability – lets users easily discover which services they can use with their friends

Since it was first developed, trials of RCS services were conducted by many service providers, including two 2010 nationwide tests in Spain and France. ALU has been involved with all the trials gleaning valuable insights about the new social conversation and what tools will most effectively give providers a leg up when developing services users demand.

The researchers stated that, “Users have a strong interest in Instant Messaging capabilities, mainly because IM corresponds to service already offered to them through other means.” It is thus not surprising that they further found, “Accordingly, for them, integration with social networks is logical.”

Because RCS is technically complex, some providers in the development group created a simplified version: RCS-e.

“RCS-e aims to provide assured services by delivering a simplified extension to voice and text, enabling subscribers to send IMs, video chat, and image/video share and transfer/exchange files in real time,” ALU’s authors state.   

RCS-e has three key attributes, using the power of RCS to offer streamlined improvements:

• Chat Services: If both parties in a chat session are online at the same time, the social conversation is treated as regular IM. If one of the people is not online, the service stores the message and sends it when the second person logs on.
• File Transfers: Defined either as standalone or as combined with voice or IM chat sessions.
• Video Streaming: Using the “see what I see” paradigm.  

The goal of RCS-e is to increase subscriber adoption of SMS services, using enhanced service activation, user discovery, service capabilities, and delivery assurance.  

“With such assured services, there is no need to suspend one service or to bring up a new client and reestablish communications,” the authors say.  In fact, the white paper concludes that, “This strategy attempts to replicate the success of SMS with a rich set of new services by providing the same mobile ubiquity and service assurance as SMS.”

The rapid global user adoption of IM, chat and texting of all sorts including he extraordinary ascension of Twitter has proven there is an insatiable demand for non-voice communications.  In fact, it is a demand that is constantly seeking new conversation experiences that enrich social interaction.  The good news, as ALU and those working on the development and rollout of RCS and RCS-e have discovered, is that improving the social conversation through these tools is a desirable means for SPs to not only captivate customers but also to monetize/profit from what can be a central role in evolving social media ecosystems.

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How Service Providers Can Capitalize on the Enterprise Cloud Market - Jan 24, 2012

Sponsored by the Call Center Outsourcing Community & the Virtual Contact Center Outsourcing Community

By Susan Campbell

Many mobile services available to consumers today are perceived as commodity services. The assumption is that every provider offers the same thing at the same level of quality. The result is that those willing to go the extra mile in terms of customer service are often those deemed worthy of customer business.

This perception is driving a new focus in this space as providers seek methods for:

• Improving monitoring
• Personalizing the experience
• Optimizing the network resources
• Enriching the customer experience to drive loyalty

As captured in this Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) TechZine article, Mobile Application Assurance, the main focus for any service provider should be on advanced deep packet inspection (DPI) for doing the above.

DPI allows mobile service providers to take a closer look at network application flows and into their IP traffic to gain important insights on how network resources are used. This information then can serve as the starting point to ensure the quality of experience (QoE) for end users. The article offers the key details necessary to ensure service providers can create optimal service delivery options for every type of traffic.

Reality is that advanced traffic processing as enabled by DPI is not only a necessary technical element within the proper management of the service provider’s network, it is at the end of the day a critical business imperative. In fact, as the authors highlight, Mobile Application Assurance (Mobile AA), should be integrated broadly with policy and charging capabilities to create a framework that as the name implies helps assure better performance and a consistent and improved user experience.

Alcatel-Lucent offers Mobile AA for the substantial, real-time processing and service assurance associated with mobile IP traffic.  It is the deployment of DPI techniques at Layers 4 to 7 that assures the end-user quality of experience (QoE). As the authors state, with the number of devices, users and IP applications exploding, mobile service providers are under increased pressure to implement DPI techniques for the two critical goals of traffic management and optimal user experiences.

The article makes the case that by partnering with Alcatel-Lucent to implement DPI mobile service providers can better examine and analyze the characteristics associated with each user or traffic generated by each application. ALU’s Mobile AA is delivered on the 7750 Service Routers Mobile Gateway configured to act as the Serving Gateway and/or a Packet Data Node (PDN) Gateway for Long Term Evolution (LTE). This process enables the end-user QoE for application identification and for quality of service (QoS) policy actions.

As a result, the service provider can more easily improve performance and personalize the experience for the user, turning the packet core into a powerful business engine to drive market dominance and secure long-term customer loyalty.

It has been said that for most things “knowledge is power.”  Given the necessity of mobile service providers to differentiate themselves, based on improved customers experiences, leveraging DPI to enable the provisioning of the right capabilities at the right, place and time in an optimized manner to assure compelling outcomes, proves the statement.  Having a deeper knowledge of IP traffic is the best way to assure enriched customer experiences.   

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How Service Providers Can Capitalize on the Enterprise Cloud Market - Jan 24, 2012

Sponsored by the Call Center Outsourcing Community & the Virtual Contact Center Outsourcing Community

With the demand for cloud services expanding rapidly, service providers are in a unique position to exploit new markets and generate new revenue, in addition to benefiting from the significant capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operating expenditure (OPEX) savings associated with a cloud infrastructure.

However, to fully capitalize on this market opportunity, service providers need to develop an accurate sense of current and future market conditions as well as enterprise attitudes and perceptions of the cloud.

In an effort to provide a more granular look at these conditions and attitudes  Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) recently conducted a global study, “Soaring into the Cloud,” involving nearly 4,000 IT decision makers (ITDMs) from medium, large and multi-national companies.

ALU researchers found that 78 percent of companies are currently employing at least one cloud-based application, with organizations in tech, professional services and manufacturing/defense leading the way. Healthcare, government and education enterprises rely less on the cloud, but not by any significant margin.

Looking forward, nearly 45 percent of ITDMs said that they anticipate leveraging more cloud services within the next three years. Finance and insurance companies are expected to be largest adopters.

However, the perception of inferior security still seems to exist with just 34 percent of companies entrusting their mission-critical applications to the cloud.

When looking regionally, India and the U.S. are the biggest adopters of the cloud. France and the U.K., meanwhile, are the two most reluctant nations included in the study.

Areas for Improvement

Although the overall response to the cloud was positive, respondents noted a few areas of concern where improvements are necessary. As the chart below shows, the chief demand is for solutions that offer a higher level of performance, including greater security, response time and end-to-end availability. ITDMs are also looking for solutions that provide improved data security.

 
Implications for Service Providers

Researchers discovered that service providers are well positioned to take advantage of the booming enterprise cloud market. Respondents noted that they don't necessarily need to partner with a current leader in cloud technologies, but rather are looking for a trusted provider that can offer secure solutions for mission-critical applications.

More importantly, enterprises acknowledged that they are willing to pay for quality. Carrier-grade solutions were found to be four times more attractive of less robust solutions and capable of producing ten times the revenue.

"To fully capitalize on this opportunity, service providers must provide a cloud solution that can support complex network topologies, offers a bandwidth and latency guarantee, as well as encrypted storage options," says Alcatel-Lucent. "The ideal solution should also enable user-configured redundancy options, and rapid virtual machine instantiation."

Alcatel-Lucent-Lucent’s CloudBand portfolio is comprised of two key elements:

• The CloudBand Management System, which delivers orchestration and optimization of services between the communications network and the cloud.
• The CloudBand Node, which provides the computing, storage and networking hardware and associated software to host a wide range of cloud services.

The entire portfolio enables service providers to capitalize on enterprises growing move to cloud-based solutions.

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As service providers (SPs) shift to all IP-networks, users expect features to become standardized.  This gives SPs an opportunity to provide their customers a new conversation experience.

A recent Alcatel-Lucent Enriching Communications article, “RCS Success Requires Community-based Ecosystem,” highlighted how the market for Rich Communications Services (RCS) has changed based on two developments that have converged — accelerating deployment of wired and wireless end-to-end IP networks and the rapid rollout and adoption of rich communications applications and services.

The article says this convergence creates the ideal environment for the deployment of RCS-based services that offer subscribers a new conversation experience.

As noted, the first trend is the fact that service providers are rapidly moving to all-IP networks, especially with the heated race around the world in the mobility space to deploy 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) and IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem)-based IP communications. In fact, a major benefit of the growing international footprint of 4G LTE is as a designed and preferred fixed wireless and mobile infrastructure for advanced RCS services such as unified messaging, video sharing and enriched voice, according to Alcatel-Lucent.

The other developing trend is that rich communications types of services are already appearing from application and content providers (ACPs) such as Google, Facebook and Skype. “Features are becoming standard, such as presence and video calling, as well as instant messaging (IM) and voice over IP (VoIP) to others on the same ACP network,” the article said.

For service providers to get started on this mission of delivering RCS, 4G LTE is necessary but not sufficient. They do need to have an IMS architecture to deliver innovative services with the proper quality of service (QoS) that ensure a quality user experience. That said, in order for rich communications to fully see their potential, global interoperability will need to occur. However, as the article states, that won’t happen until at least some service providers in some areas of the world start launching these services.

To help facilitate the market, given that interoperability will be a key determinant for success, Alcatel-Lucent recommends that service providers embrace a community-based model that will leverage IMS as their communications core.

“As a group, service providers must evolve their infrastructure to an open model where select network capabilities are available and easily accessible by application developers through secure web services application programming interfaces (APIs),” according to the article.  It further states that service providers in essence are creating a virtuous circle of success.  By enabling, and acting as the foundation of robust and open ecosystems, more developers will be attracted to work with the SPs. This will in turn drive more innovation that leverages the expanded reach of 4G LTE and IMS-based networks.  

The industry is still early in the learning curve of ecosystem development for rich communications services.  One thing is clear, service providers will need to focus not only on the technical aspects of RCS, but also on building and fostering communities around the capabilities that RCS provides.  Indeed, whether it is called a community or an ecosystem, reality is if easy-to-use, reliable, secure and high-performance rich communications services are to proliferate, it is going to take a lot of different interests with a variety of skills to maximize the possibilities.

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How Service Providers Can Capitalize on the Enterprise Cloud Market - Jan 24, 2012

Sponsored by the Call Center Outsourcing Community & the Virtual Contact Center Outsourcing Community

As active transactional individuals in the Internet age, here are a few questions to ponder for a moment.

• How do we present ourselves to the world, or choose not to, and why? 
• What does our view and management of our multiple identities —on multiple physical, virtual (and where they intersect/converge/blur) platforms —tell us and others about predicting and/or leveraging our behavior?
• Does where you are in your life matter? 
• In an age where dynamic context-based identity mediation will be paramount (for individuals and organizations alike), whom do we and can we trust and entrust with our identities?
• How does trust factor into our purchasing decisions?

These are not existential questions.  In fact, as pointed out in a previous blog, they are the subject of an important new book, Identity Shift : Where Identity Meets Technology in the Networked-Community Age, written by Alcatel-Lucent’s Allison Cerra and Christina James. 

I recently had the privilege of speaking with author Cerra to get deeper detail and insights into her work with Ms. James. It happened to coincide with an Ad Age article by Michael Learmonth entitled, “CMOs Explain Why They're Flocking to Vegas for CES,” which was fortuitous. 

The book is about advancing the science of understanding behavior (aka shifting IDENTITY) and the role and criticality of trust in a world of accelerating technologic change. The article had a great quote from GE CMO Beth Comstock that validates why the Cerra/James work goes far beyond being an academic exercise.  Comstock says she and other marketers need to be at CES because, "I'm a marketer and that makes me a behavioralist…How is tech changing the behavior?"  Finding the answer to that and other questions like the ones above is why CMOs should attend CES. She might have added, as the book does, that there is a vice versa involved here since what the Internet has done is profoundly change the nature and relative power in buyer/seller relationships.

A look between the covers

OK, so maybe this is not just a deeper dive between the traditional covers but the virtual ones as well. It is instructive to look at the flow of the sections of the book to get to the meat of the matter.

As mentioned in the previous blog, the research model employed is Ethnography. This approach goes beyond the number crunching of demographics and psychographics to focus on how close-up observation of human interactions correlate, corroborate and yield insights that can be extrapolated and used with insights from larger behavioral studies.

Cerra fleshed out the authors’ “3-P Model of Identity.” and why understanding the categories and where and how they intersect, as well as relate to the issue of trust, is so critical as a tool for causal explanations of what was observed and how the observations can be applied.  

Presentation:  This is the predominant thing most of us worry about.  It is about how the world views us.  In the physical world we tend to have more than a modicum of control over our image/reputation.  However, in virtual world our image is as much created by anyone else as by us.  This creates tension according to Cerra, “I can choose who I want to be, but have little or no control necessarily over who I am.”  In the context of identity management online it means having a presentation strategy that encompasses our various persona modes —personal, professional, visible and known and anonymous.

Protection:  Cerra says this is the one that grabs the headlines, but it turns out the research indicates people say they are very concerned, yet for the most part willingly provide information online without taking precautions.  As she pointed out in the interview, “Not all harms are created equal. We are equipped with primal senses that guide us as to whether “fight or flight” is the path to feeling safe about our privacy, loved ones, and valuables.”  She noted that physical defenses are rendered useless in the virtual world, and that the dynamics of constantly changing and blurred personae at any given decision point are all related back to the issue of trust in terms of behavior. This is a case of “watch what I do and not what I say”, since actual behavior can veer widely from stated intention.

Preference:  This aspect of the role of identity looks at how, when, where and why future actions can be understood in the context of what we prefer is likely to be what we want. In fact, preference is an important component of sites such as Amazon, Pandora, Spotify, etc.  

Cerra cautions that the conscious and sub-conscious dynamics of these aspects of identity can turn on a dime which is why observation of individuals as they act are key.

Universal laws

Based on the model, and a close analysis of observed behavior as tested against a broader look at the actions of 5,000 individuals, the authors came up with what they call “universal rules.” They are examined in the book to demonstrate how the power of rationalization and confluence exemplified in these laws, “lay the foundation of behavior and perceptions that unites consumers, no matter their age, socioeconomic status or gender…Represent the entry point for understanding individuals in a virtual world – whether as ourselves or as consumers we attempt to serve.”

The laws are as follows:

• The Law of Learned Helplessness— we fail to do things because of a perceived lack of control over our environment.
• The Law of Illusion— roughly translated means I can’t handle the truth but am ok with a rationalization that makes me feel good about a decision.
• The Law of Recall— we fall back on what’s familiar – either because an experience or recollection is recent or prevalent in our own lives – regardless of the true probability of an occurrence.
• Rationalization: Finding Harmony in the Discord — doubt is good because it gives us license to act without feeling responsible or accountable.

It is all about trust 

The section following universal laws on identity attributes during life stages is worth a read because it shows that when it comes to transactional issues and how we behave when faced with a decision, even taking into account the laws, where we are in our life and what is important to us at that stage matters. However, at the end of the day, the 3P Model and the universal laws, roll up into that “behaviorist” thing, i.e., given our various personae in a virtual world, whether we are driven by presentation, protection, preference or looking through the world via age-colored glasses, it all comes back to trust. 

In other words, at any given moment in time, based on the policies and rules we associate with the virtual dissemination of our volition via electronic means, what level of control are we willing to give up/tolerate to not only get what we want, but to feel good about the experience. Why the book is such a breakthrough is the application of its analyses as predictive of what identity profiles are willing to accept, including such things as privacy conditions and opting-in versus opting-out models of interaction, to be transactional.  This includes a thorough discussion related to the title that our identities are not static but are constantly shifting. In fact, they need to be mediated by us manually, automated through the enforcement of our policies and rules, or in partnership with trusted service providers.

In fact, as Cerra highlighted, the book goes a step further.  It provides a peek into the value of the analysis. She offered a couple of titillating findings from the authors’ testing of 20 possible identity-oriented services against the 3P profiles:

• Those who are primarily presentation-oriented represented  50 percent of those studied
• They also represented 66 percent of buyers of identity services
• Four of top five services were presentation ones  

In addition, they found that when they measured trust there was a 60 percent correlation with a willingness to pay for identity services.  And, reflecting the universal laws, customers love or hate of a brand seemed to bear little or no correlation with willingness to pay if a customer perceived value in the offering.   As Cerra stated, “it turns out that what I say is different from what I do and from what I value.” This is certainly a profound finding for CMOs.

Getting closer to finding the Holy Grail

As the saying goes, “the bottom line is the bottom line!”  CMOs as accurately observed are behaviorists.  They do need to understand technologic change and its impact on shifting consumer transactional tipping points.  CES is the perfect place for them to get educated.  However, they also should read, Identity Shift: Where Identity Meets Technology in the Networked-Community Age, if they want deeper context. 

People do not buy and use technology for technology’s sake.  The Internet changed that aspect of the buyer/seller relationship forever. It has also accentuated the need to recognize, understand and act upon the shifting nature of our multiple personae, especially as more and more of who we are, and how we act/transact moves into the virtual world. 

A marketer’s Holy Grail is being able to target a market of one with perfect knowledge as to what can/should/will motivate a transaction. A consumer’s Holy Grail is having perfect knowledge, absolute comfort when they purchase something, and control over the terms and conditions of a transaction. Are we there yet on either front?  No!   In fact, as we all know there are no perfect worlds. However, there is certainly invaluable illumination to be gained from the quest.

That said, thank you, Allison and Christina, for your contribution to making the journey well worth it. 

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How Service Providers Can Capitalize on the Enterprise Cloud Market - Jan 24, 2012

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Hopefully, you have been an avid follower of the Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) Market & Consumer Insight (MCI) team’s recently concluded three-week India journey across urban and rural parts of the states of Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and the National Capital Region (NCR).  As it came to a close, the group culled several important insights on neo-urbanization:

• How it has been unfolding
• The impact it is having
• The role of information and communication technologies (ICT) as a driver

As seen through all of the posts from the team members, and the series of items I have described in previous blogs, neo-urbanization is modernizing many areas of the world that were previously without access to healthcare, education, employment – and technology. In particular, parts of India are becoming networked hubs that are oriented and planned around smart functionality and sustainability.

Based on preliminary findings, each of the three locations – Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and the NCR – represents different stages of neo-urbanization. However, combined, they have allowed the MCI group to capture neo-urbanization in most of its gradations, according to a the final blog post that summarizes highlights of the three-week journey.

NCR is an example of the impact of new and rapidly established industries on the local population, while Ahmedabad (Gujarat state) captured the optimism of being on the path towards a smart city of the future smart about to be created on the periphery of the city.

“Similarly, Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) provided compelling examples of ICT-enabled development and governance – great models for other parts of the world, especially for those in emerging markets,” wrote Revital Marom, head of the Market and Consumer Insight (MCI) at Alcatel-Lucent.

For example, the group discovered that while ICT usage beyond voice is present only in “faint traces” with the computer entering urban homes, Internet accessibility in cyber cafes it is still perceived to be expensive.

Ultimately, the MCI team has determined a need for accessibility to government initiatives and schemes, which, powered by ICT-enabled solutions that ALU views as integral to its corporate responsibility, could really make a difference to the lives of those living there.

While the three areas the group traveled to have differences, they also share a common trait: a strong need for ICT-enabled development.

“This development will be critical in order to deal appropriately with the opportunities and implications of an increasingly neo-urbanized world,” Marom said.

The MCI group will share a final report and outcomes of this research. In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments about this project, Alcatel-Lucent invites you to email revital.marom@alcatel-lucent.com.

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How Service Providers Can Capitalize on the Enterprise Cloud Market - Jan 24, 2012

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One of the reasons video is so pervasive today is because of the personal dynamic it brings to conversations and meetings, creating higher-level interactions. Just like a face-to-face conversation, video brings subtleties and other nuances that cannot be communicated in an email or text.

A recent article in Alcatel-Lucent’s Enriching Communications, Living Video Conversations Go Mainstream, details how “living video” gives service providers opportunities to deliver a compelling new conversation experience. It says mobile networks, devices and people are ready for enriched video conversations, and service providers’ are in a position to deliver them.  

Ready, set and go

The authors point out that three converging factors are proof that service providers and users are ready for a new conversation experience via video over not just wired and fixed wireless networks but mobile ones as well.

Networks are ready:  While not yet ubiquitously available but rapidly becoming so around the world, fixed and wireless networks can deliver the big bandwidth, low latency and high quality of service (QoS) needed for mobile video conversations.

Devices are ready: Virtually every smartphone can display video with increasingly good quality including HD.  The race to deploy 4G LTE wireless networks only increases the incentive for users to increase video  streaming and communications.

Users are ready:  They are more than ready.  They are actively engaged.  In July 2011 Skype announced that its video traffic averaged 50 percent, up 10 percent from December 2010. Simply put, people like the human element that video adds to their conversations.

Need more proof?

According to technology research firm Gartner, mobile video telephony increased by 11 percent at the expense of online video calling, which fell by 12 percent. The market has started moving towards mobile video calling due to better mobile broadband and friendlier user experiences.

Armed with this information, the challenge now for service providers is to keep pace with user expectations and continue to accelerate the improvement of today’s video experience. 

This means deploying and leveraging technologies like 4G LTE and IMS to deliver a new conversation experience that helps them:

• Enrich service offerings
• Entice subscribers to higher service plans
• Creatively generate new revenues with new business models
• Reduce churn

Service providers that capitalize on their advantage in the market to improve on today’s video experience will be in the best position to deliver tomorrow’s living video experience.

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How Service Providers Can Capitalize on the Enterprise Cloud Market - Jan 24, 2012

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By Erin Harrison

Most of us are familiar with the technology of Voice over IP (VoIP) – which simplistically is the use of the Internet Protocol to do voice communications over data networks that include the Internet itself.  And, while most VoIP traffic has been over wired networks, a new voice technology is evolving called Voice over LTE (VoLTE) that is shifting the communications paradigm and enabling new services beyond traditional telephony over mobile networks.

In a recent article in Alcatel-Lucent’s Enriching Communications e-zine, The New Mobile Conversation Starts with VoLTE, author Edmund Elkin states that, “It’s no longer a question of whether VoLTE is the right choice for the new mobile conversation. It’s really a matter of determining when to begin the move to VoLTE, developing a migration strategy and selecting a partner to accompany them on the journey.”

He points out that only a couple of years ago many people believed that legacy 2G/3G circuit voice would be adequate for 4G LTE subscribers.  However, operators have now realized the value of VoLTE. For example:

• The GSM Association (GSMA) has aligned on VoLTE and IP multimedia subsystems (IMS) as the preferred way to deliver voice and texting in 4G LTE networks. This has created a global ecosystem of service providers, handset manufacturers and equipment vendors all focused on a method that supports scale, reduces complexity and enables roaming plus interoperability.
• Service providers are taking a closer look at the competitive value of mobile voice and VoLTE’s relationship to broader communications services’ innovation. They realize that 4G LTE puts application and content providers (ACPs) in a stronger position to deliver communications services and enable a new conversation experience with their customers — increasing not only revenues but loyalty. 
• Service provider partners, such as Alcatel-Lucent, are developing business strategies and technology solutions for VoLTE and IMS. VoLTE is a serious engineering undertaking and service providers need a partner that can help them follow a profitable path

At the end of 2010, 72 percent of all mobile service revenue worldwide was associated with voice traffic. However, the average revenue per user (ARPU) for voice services has been shrinking.  In addition, pressure is mounting from things like inexpensive or free voice services like Skype which can be used over the increasingly ubiquitous Wi-Fi networks that can be accessed by smartphones. 

What this means is that customer “stickiness” and long-term economic viability is now an issue of accelerating the deployment of 4G networks, and through a variety of strategies and new business models managing the transition of making IP-based voice an integral part of the mix. With VoLTE as part of their 4G LTE portfolio service providers will be well-positioned to make the transition to the all IP world users are driving and competition is demanding, and still extract the value that voice services will continue to generate as part of new charging regimes.

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By Beecher Tuttle

Skyrocketing energy demands and the push for greener, more sustainable energy solutions has helped bring smart grids to prominence, and has encourage a number of utilities to deploy a next-generation network alongside their electrical grid.

AltaLink, one of Canada's largest electricity transmission providers, is one of the utilities that is currently undergoing the complex, yet highly advantageous transition from a TDM architecture to a next-generation IP-based network.

In an effort to provide other utilities with a roadmap for the migration, Clinton Struth, principal engineer at AltaLink, and Dr. Marc Maurer, key account manager at Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) recently authored a TechZine article, IP/MPLS-based Networks for Mission-Critical Services, that details some of the benefits and challenges of embracing a smarter network.

AltaLink's initiative was born back in 2007, when the company made the decision to replace their ATM and TDM-based network with a next-generation, packet-based Wide Area Network (WAN). When looking at their options, the company felt that it had two reasonable choices; it could deploy an Internet Protocol/Multi-Protocol Label Switching (IP/MPLS) infrastructure or a next -generation Synchronous Digital Hierarchy/Synchronous Optical Network (SDH/SONET).

When looking at the SDH/SONET option, AltaLink found that it didn't offer as much value as they had hoped, other than its ability to extend the lifespan of the network itself.

IP/MPLS, on the other hand, provides a cost-effective, visually-oriented network management system that enables utilities to provision, manage and operate critical smart grid services as well as the ability to report on their statistics. Couple this with the solution's dynamic bandwidth allocation and the fact that most AltaLink services would likely transition to IP, and AltaLink made their choice.

After evaluating several vendors and completing a series of pilot tests, AltaLink selected its supplier, Alcatel Lucent, in January 2010 and began the rollout a year later.

Now about halfway through the migration, Struth and AltaLink believe the IP/MPLS infrastructure is highly capable of enabling the "better management of the transmission infrastructure to ensure more reliability, safety and cost efficiency."

Struth's confidence in IP/MPLS stems from the fact that the technology overcomes two common doubts:

• Low latency
• Cyber security

Some utilities have questioned whether IP/MPLS can meet the strict latency requirements necessary to run an electrical grid. Struth has found this concern to be inaccurate, noting that IP/MPLS has been used to deliver time-sensitive applications like backhauling of mobile data traffic for many years.

As noted in the posting, "IP/MPLS is sometimes and incorrectly still perceived as connection-less IP-technology that can provide very cost-efficient data transport but only with a 'best-effort' like quality of service (QoS)… This is the case for IP only however in contrast, the MPLS part of IP/MPLS makes the solution connection-oriented and capable of multiple guaranteed QoS levels."

As for cyber-security, AltaLink and ALU were able to implement a multi-tier security concept with multiple security layers and intrusion-detection check-points.  This move, which adds full control plane protection, comprehensive password protection and several additional security layers, is enabling the company to align it network security with that of Tier-1 carriers.

"By successfully engineering the network to support critical applications such as SCADA and TPR, this next-generation network can not only replace existing TDM networks but is flexible enough for a smart grid future," the two authors add.

Struth and Maurer offered a few key takeaways from the migration that can help utilities that follow in AltaLink’s footsteps:

• Personnel:  With a drastically different network in place, employees will need significant technology and equipment training. Either that or operations of the network need to be outsourced. Utilities should plan accordingly.
• Technology choices:  Struth and Maurer stress that electric utilities should make their technology choice based on the current and future services that they will support. "A technology change for the sake of technology is often the wrong approach," they note. "Depending on the type and size of the utility, other technologies might be more suitable."
• Strong partnering relationships:   Essential for success.

While much of the attention of smart grid deployments has been on the benefits for consumers and electric utilities in terms of things like customer control and choice and utility efficiency and eco-sustainability, the next generation communications infrastructure to enable smart grid benefits to be fully realized is a critical piece of the story.  And, as AltaLink’s example shows, IP/MPLS - based networks are a core part of ensuring utility communications infrastructures are up to the challenge. 

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By Susan Campbell

The ever-increasing demand for energy has created the need for the development of the Smart Grid. This efficient approach to energy management and consumption will change the way we produce, consume and recycle energy. The efficient operation of the Smart Grid will be a long time in coming, however, as many challenges still exist to complete implementation and adoption.

According to a recent Alcatel-Lucent article, Dealing with the Smart Grid’s Key Drivers and Challenges, the future of smart grids includes significant changes to the way we live, work and play. It is expected to impact the business landscape, the energy marketplace and the ways in which we interact both culturally and socially.

In the future smart grids will also enhance control and convenience in the industrialized work, while also enabling positive social progress in developing nations. These benefits are expected to gain traction, but the speed and success will depend greatly on how skillfully energy providers today manage change.

The Smart Grid's challenges demand that we overcome the question of “will we thrive, or merely survive?” The Smart Grid can truly create significant change for both operators and consumers and how well players on both sides anticipate and prepare for those changes will determine the outcome.

One key area of change will be in cultural values. The Smart Grid’s key drivers have always been increased efficiency and reduced reliability on costly resources or offshore supplies. Traditionally, users thought little of their energy use, perhaps paying attention only to the number of lights on in the house or the temperature on the thermostat. In the new culture, we will be in control of how and how much and from where we consume energy.

The Smart Grid will extend beyond the walls of our homes and businesses, reaching out to transportation, communications and other key areas. Exciting and powerful new applications will allow us to fully manage all activities, determining our energy consumption and controlling just how much we rely on the grid itself.

The future of the Smart Grid includes electric vehicles and thousands of renewable generation sources that will add significant management complexity, while also assisting in the migration to peak demand issues, political instability and fluctuating energy prices. With the introduction of partnerships and coalitions, higher value will be extended to both energy operators and consumers.

All stakeholders understanding the opportunities in this space will benefit from the advanced technologies and regional regulatory environments as they create the perfect landscape for new high-potential business models. Those who can understand and effectively address the key drivers for success will benefit the most. The Smart Grid can help support these transformations as long as scalability, reliability and full inclusion for millions of consumers are included.

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