Next-Generation Communications

Four Ways Cable Operators Can Boost the Customer Experience

Edited By Peter Bernstein on April 13, 2015

By Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

The customer experience has always mattered, but its importance has grown in recent years. This has been driven by increased global competition, including the almost instant availability of alternations, and the rising expectations by fickle and informed consumer. Yet, cable operators have a long way to travel if they want to deliver the customer experience (CX) that consumers demand.

The Temkin Group’s Q3 2014 survey of 10,000 US consumers’ opinions about goods and services registered the lowest ranking average Net Promoter Score (NPS) for pay TV providers, a telling statistic. Internet service providers did almost as poorly, coming in only one position higher.

“As technology innovations drive shifts in consumer behavior and open new service opportunities, operators must start eliminating pain points,” stressed Alcatel-Lucent’s Nicholas Cadwgan in a recent TechZine article, Cable MSOs transform the customer experience. “This includes any obstacles that will impede their ability to launch and provide adequate care and quality assurance for those services.”

Cadwgan lays out four customer experience management (CEM) areas that cable operators should focus on.

Posted in A New Conversation Experience, Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Cable MSOs, Customer Care, Customer Experience, Next-Generation Communications, TechZine

Motive Big Data Analytics (BNA) Helps Operators Leverage Network Data for Service Creation

Edited By Peter Bernstein on April 7, 2015

By: Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

Service providers are seeing an increasing number of applications moving outside of their control. At the same time, they are facing stiff competition within their geographical markets. Developing new revenue streams has become a top priority. As a result, many service providers have invested in business intelligence systems to help them figure out these new offerings and how to win and keep customers.

Interestingly, despite this need and a sense of urgency most service providers are ignoring their greatest asset: Their network. The network provides more visibility into subscriber usage and trends than Google, Yahoo and Facebook combined, according to a recent Alcatel-Lucent Motive posting on the value of big networks analytics (BNA). They believe it is time for this visibility to be unlocked and put to work.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Analytics, Big Data, Customer Experience, Next-Generation Communications

vEPC in LTE networks: Time to move ahead

Edited By Peter Bernstein on March 17, 2015

By: Keith Allan, Director IP Mobile Core Product Strategy, Alcatel-Lucent

From original TechZine article

Can the virtualized evolved packet core (vEPC) be deployed today in large scale, LTE networks? Mobile network operators (MNOs) are increasingly convinced that the vEPC has become viable both financially and technically. And I think so, too, based upon the advances made over the past year that I’ll discuss in this blog.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, IP Routing and Transport, LTE, NFV, Network Functions Virtualization, Network Management, Next-Generation Communications, TechZine

Ultra-broadband isn't just for big-city folks

Edited By Peter Bernstein on March 17, 2015

By: Arnaud Legrand, Customer Marketing Manager, Alcatel-Lucent

From original TechZine article

Rural communities and small cities need fast broadband access to prosper in an increasingly globalized and connected world. Municipal governments recognize the socioeconomic benefits that ultra-broadband connections can bring. Many also understand the technical and financial challenges involved in bringing these connections to small communities. Still, most municipalities lack a clear strategy and implementation path for realizing their ultra-broadband vision.

Cities like Opelika, Alabama and Chattanooga, Tennessee have proven that the transformative benefits of ultra-broadband are within reach for smaller population centers. Both cities have successfully deployed fiber networks that deliver gigabit speeds and services to homes and businesses. Their citizens now enjoy ultra-broadband experiences that had previously been unknown outside the world’s elite cities.

So how can your small city or rural community emulate the success of Opelika and Chattanooga? There’s no universal ultra-broadband deployment strategy. But there are fundamental steps you can follow to build a fast network that lets your citizens and businesses thrive.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Broadband, Municipal Broadband, Next-Generation Communications, TechZine

Broadband as an essential component of sustainable development

Edited By Peter Bernstein on March 9, 2015

By: Michel Combes, CEO, Alcatel-Lucent

From original Alcatel-Lucent Corporate Blog (Feb. 27)

I had the great pleasure today of participating in the 11th meeting of the Broadband Commission for Digital Development, which was held here in Paris.

The Broadband Commission is a remarkable institution that exemplifies the growing trend of collaboration between multilateral organizations, governments, civil society, and business. The commission follows a process of co-creation, which brings together the different skills and resources of the member institutions - such as financial management, operational skills, on-the-ground knowledge, regulatory or public policies expertise – to develop solutions to some of the world’s most complex, multi-dimensional challenges.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Corporate News, Eco-sustainability, Next-Generation Communications

Network operations tools can be more efficient

Edited By Peter Bernstein on March 9, 2015

By: Kevin Landry, Product Marketing Manager, Alcatel-Lucent

From original TechZine article

Assurance visualization can prepare network operations tools to meet the demands of increasingly complex networks. And the limitations of today’s tools are indeed a cause for concern.

Will they be efficient enough to meet new network operations requirements?
Will they scale to meet the challenges of tomorrow’s network operations environment?

As networks evolve to next-generation IP/optical technologies, cloud networking, software defined networking (SDN), and network functions virtualization (NFV), network operations tools need to evolve, too.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Network Management, Next-Generation Communications, TechZine

How a "Wi-Fi first" strategy benefits EMEA MSOs

Edited By Peter Bernstein on March 9, 2015

By: Steve Davidson, European Marketing Director for Cable, Alcatel-Lucent

From original Alcatel-Lucent TechZine posting

A Wi-Fi first strategy can help multi-system operators (MSOs) remain competitive in the evolving marketplace. Wi-Fi enabled devices default to using the cable operator’s Wi-Fi network for voice, and cellular equipped devices can switch to cellular when out of Wi-Fi range.

Although nuances in the business drivers for adopting such a strategy vary by region globally, this model turns the traditional cellular voice paradigm on its head.

Just like other communications or media industries, MSOs face a dynamic and extremely competitive market. As a result, in EMEA, they have evolved their end-user offerings to embrace market-leading fixed high speed internet access, Wi-Fi connectivity, and bundled mobile cellular services using mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) partnerships.

As the pace of change continues to accelerate, subscribers have made a widespread move to Wi-Fi enabled smartphones and tablets. A European commission study stated that 71% of all EU wireless data traffic in 2012 was delivered to smartphones and tablets using Wi-Fi. This is expected to rise to 78% by 2016.

European MSOs have already invested in Wi-Fi and offer data connectivity services in and out of the home. This not only is a customer retention strategy, but also lets MSOs build out further value added services (VAS) and can reduce data costs of their MVNO agreements. So if we now contemplate the delivery of voice to these Wi-Fi enabled devices, how do we get started?

Existing Mobility Assets

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Broadband, Customer Experience, LTE, Next-Generation Communications, TechZine, Wi-Fi, Wireless

Get more from public safety packet backhauling

Edited By Peter Bernstein on March 9, 2015

By: Jérôme Brouet, Public Safety Solution Director, Alcatel-Lucent

From original Alcatel-Lucent TechZine posting

Increased number of security threats, demand for greater efficiency, and requirement for cross-agency coordination all point to the need to modernize public safety communications networks toward IP and broadband. And, backhauling is at the forefront of this evolution.

The rationale for the evolution of public safety backhaul networks is twofold:

In the short-term, existing voice-centric PMR/LMR networks need upgrading to support more data-centric applications.
But they also need to get ready for upcoming deployment of wireless broadband 4G/LTE systems complementing existing narrowband PMR/LMR systems.

By deploying a converged MPLS-based backhaul network now, public safety organizations can address current and future requirements for public safety IP communications while controlling costs. And when properly designed, mission-critical public safety transport networks also feature more efficient and more resilient support of legacy TDM-based applications.

Employ backhauling as a strategic asset

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Broadband, LTE, Next-Generation Communications, Public Safety, Wireless

Quantifying IP/optical integration synergies

Edited By Peter Bernstein on March 2, 2015

By: Alcatel-Lucent’s:

Ben Tang, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in the Bell Labs Consulting Services department
Mohcene Mezhoudi, Senior Consultant Member of Technical Staff in the Bell Labs Consulting Services department
Arnold Jansen, Senior Product Marketing Manager

From original Alcatel-Lucent TechZine posting

IP/optical integration typically results in cost savings, but maintaining service availability is also essential when measuring total return on investment (ROI). An analysis of 3 modes of operation found multi-layer protection and restoration to be the most cost efficient while meeting availability requirements.

Posted in Alcatel-Lucent Technology News, Broadband, IP Platforms, Next-Generation Communications, Optical Networking

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