The cost savings and reduced complexity from enterprises moving to an all-wireless communications network is a seductive one. However, worries still exist among many enterprise IT managers that Wi-Fi is not up to snuff. Indeed, there are still concerns about scalability, quality, and security issues.
A recent TechZine article by Subramania Vasudevan, Director, Advanced Performance in WCTO, Alcatel-Lucent, All-wireless enterprise with LTE and Wi-Fi, notes that enterprise IT managers have a particular lack of confidence in the quality of the wireless link provided by an all Wi-Fi infrastructure.
“There’s the limited ability of the Wi-Fi network to scale with increasing data rate needs,” Vasudevan noted. “In fact, we’ve seen aggregate capacities barely increase — even as Wi-Fi networks densify.”
LTE small cells can help. Small cells help provide in-building LTE on a cost-effective, as-needed basis.
Many mobile operators are considering unlicensed spectrum to bring greater bandwidth into the enterprise, he added. This can help meet the scalability demands. In fact, operators are looking to aggregate LTE in licensed bands along with LTE in the 5GHz unlicensed bands, which are known together as Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) or LTE unlicensed (LTE-U).
The limitations of Wi-Fi often come from the sharing mechanism between the uplink and the downlink. By using an LTE-based system, enterprises can resolve the problem of contentious uplink by means of scheduled access. This frees up the enterprise’s existing Wi-Fi for downlink, according to Vasudevan.
“By offloading the Wi-Fi uplink to cellular, LTE small cells improve enterprise services,” he wrote. “In addition, in-building enterprise traffic, such as Lync application data, can be shunted across the enterprise LAN (i.e., local breakout is enabled).”
At the same time, the combination relies on pre-existing Wi-Fi APs and user equipment, so the sum total is that the LTE downlink capacity can be aggregated with the Wi-Fi APs downlink capacity. This can lead to users everywhere seeing higher throughput in more locations because they benefit from LTE Wi-Fi aggregation and LTE-only for uplink.
The all-wireless enterprise network might be closer than many enterprise IT managers realize. This is a good thing since so many of us use our smartphones as our primary communications device and a significant number of interactions on those devices originate or terminate in-building where coverage and quality of service are a challenge.
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
MSOs in EMEA already have different types of Wi-Fi hotspot locations:
These Wi-Fi hotspot networks have been mainly used to enhance customer experience by extending broadband access outside the home, and to help provide TV Everywhere services.
Some MSOs have also invested in 4G spectrum and tentatively contemplated this to extend fixed services outside of their hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) network footprint. If MSOs decide to take a more traditional approach to 4G and deploy mobile coverage using small cells, their own networks can provide backhaul for this traffic.
In addition, most MSOs in EMEA have – or are building – a full MVNO (F-MVNO) network that enables them to deliver cellular-based mobile services to their customers. The costs of maintaining a mobile data and voice partnership with a mobile network operator (MNO) are high. In response, some MSOs use their own Wi-Fi investments to steer (also known as offload) data connections from the MNO cellular network to improve the MVNO business case as well as improve customer experience.
A new opportunity
Both Android OS and Apple iOS recently added native dialer capabilities to their phones’ operating systems. This development paves the way for MSOs to not only offer new voice over Wi-Fi services to tablet and smartphone users, but also steer their own MVNO voice smartphone traffic to use Wi-Fi. This directly impacts MSO´s bundled mobility offers and increases competitiveness, while also managing costs.
Most EMEA MSOs now have assets in place to build a sustainable mobility strategy. Some can combine Wi-Fi and 4G small cell networks with F-MVNO agreements to provide both entertainment and communication services to their subscribers at work, at home, and on the move throughout the day.Being able to control voice communications across multiple wireless assets allows MSOs to adopt a “Wi-Fi first” approach. Subscriber voice calls automatically use MSO Wi-Fi networks. Where the device also has cellular capabilities, calls connect to cellular only when Wi-Fi is unavailable. This concept is also important for converged MNO/MSO operators, who can use all their mobility assets to create a heterogeneous network (HetNet).
Necessary ingredients for a Wi-Fi first approach
1. Quality of Experience
MSOs are already familiar with voice. They deliver fixed services over their HFC networks. Voice, unlike most data services, is a real-time application that requires quality of service to avoid jitter and delay. For MSO Wi-Fi networks to be competitive, the subscribers’ quality of experience using MSO Wi-Fi based voice services must be on par with that of traditional mobile carriers.
Similarly, the end-user experience with the Wi-Fi service mustn’t be any more cumbersome than subscribers are accustomed to. People just want to be able to use their phone without hassles. They don’t want to have to worry about which access technology they are using or perform manual changes as they move in and out of different coverage zones. This means MSO platforms and systems have to be completely automated:
Figure 2 shows a possible high-level Wi-Fi first architecture, including:
Many MSOs are already thinking about deploying IMS capabilities as part of their overall voice renewal plans. Including voice over Wi-Fi and other value-added services such as video calling are a natural fit. Figure 2 also demonstrates that beyond Wi-Fi first schemes, IMS can eventually replace the MVNO operation (2G/3G) as well as the fixed access network.
2. Mobile device manager (MDM)
An MDM system can be used to provision both iOS as Android devices, allowing MSOs to offer cellular, Wi-Fi and hybrid service plans.
The concept can use embedded MDM clients on user devices that allow operator settings to be installed, including Wi-Fi settings, usernames and passwords, and SIP settings.
In addition, the MDM would enable the MSO´s service to assume control of (or replace) the subscriber devices’ native dialers. The dialer ultimately must be capable of both Wi-Fi and circuit-switched calling, along with handovers between Wi-Fi, LTE and 3G domains to create a seamless user experience.
3. IMS
IMS technology can be used as the call control solution for voice calls. In the Wi-Fi first approach described here, IMS will handle all calls originating from the user device while in the packet-switched domain (4G, Wi-Fi). IMS delivers SMS messages to the device while in the Wi-Fi/LTE/IMS network using an IP short message gateway. It can also allow other IP communication services, such as video calling, to be added easily. IMS is particularly helpful when services are delivered by other access technologies, including 2G/3G, 4G, and fixed access.
Next Steps for Wi-Fi first
Creating a sustainable MSO mobility strategy is complex, and building a Wi-Fi first scheme as part of this strategy will require planning for considerations such as:
Once these questions have been answered, MSOs are well placed to grasp the current market opportunity of offering voice services via Wi-Fi and leveraging a Wi-Fi first strategy to help remain competitive in the evolving marketplace.
To contact the author or request additional information, please send an email to techzine.editor@alcatel-lucent.com.
]]>Benefits of VoWiFi for MNO subscribers
Benefits of VoWiFi for MNOs
Challenges of adding Wi-Fi to LTE networks
There are two main challenges:
Fortunately, these challenges are addressed with the new mobile network architecture that combines Wi‑Fi/cellular access with new Evolved Packet Core (EPC) functions. The architecture is described in 3GPP Technical Specification 23.402 (Architecture Enhancements for non-3GPP Services).
EPC architecture for LTE with Wi-Fi access
In the standards, Wi-Fi is considered a type of non-3GPP wireless access, which the MNO can view as either a trusted network or an untrusted network. To support these two network access types, two core network functions are needed:
For simplicity, we focus in this blog on the ePDG, but both methods perform similar functions for their respective access networks:
Although VoWiFi is the primary focus here, the method is transparent to the services (including Internet, enterprise VPNs and IMS). Indeed, this is the beauty of the solution. Implementation is relatively lightweight: an ePDG is added to the network and a slight update is made to the device’s client. In return, the solution works for any Wi-Fi AP (because no integration is required) and for any service (such as IMS, enterprise VPN and content delivery networks). The TWAG is similar, except it doesn’t require an update to the device, but does require integration with the Wi-Fi AP.
VoWiFi - part of the new IP communications customer experience
When the Wi-Fi/cellular access is used with a virtualized IMS that comes equipped with native APIs, MNOs can deliver new services to their consumers and enterprises. These include:
Witness seamless VoWi-Fi / VoLTE services at MWC
The new conversation experience is becoming a commercial reality: visit our booth (Hall #3, booth 3K10) at Mobile World Congress 2015 for a live demonstration of VoWiFi and VoLTE. You will see it in action on an Apple® iPhone 6, and implemented on an Android by D2 Technologies and InterDigital Technologies, over our vEPC/ePDG and vIMS network.
In doing preparations for what many have called “the circus” aka the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC)—which is arguably now the most important industry trade event as the world goes mobile and which takes place in Barcelona March 2-5—the excitement is already palpable. From all of the new cool devices of all shapes and sizes to interesting advances on things like antenna technology, Network Functions Virtualization, carrier aggregation, etc., the eye candy alone is almost overwhelming in terms of imagining the possibilities. However, MWC always is tantalizing because not only does it answer what we will see in terms of capabilities in the near-term, but also because of the questions it raises about the longer term.
In this regard I was struck by a recent blog by Michael Peeters, CTO, Alcatel-Lucent Wireless, entitled I think appropriately, The Circus is in Town. Peeters’ main point is summed up nicely where he says in characterizing his view on what’s the next big thing that will be the buzz of the show that, “...one thing is certain: its story will be about removing place and time constraints we took for granted.”
While I agree with where we are and where we are going to a certain extent in terms of removing place and time constraints, I happen to believe that the next big thing will be around what it has been and should be, i.e., utility. After all, as we move into always on/all ways connected broadband-enabled world, if all of the things Peeters points to about the Internet of Things (IoT), drones, wearables, more immersive customer experiences and the like are not both easy-to-use, trustworthy and useful, their monetization potential will not be maximized. And, let’s face it, the bottom line is the bottom line which is all about utility. This means utility as pervasively accessible and hopefully affordable and safe, as well as the perceived value we are willing to pay for personally and professionally that enables service providers to continue to accelerate the speed at which the future comes at us.
Talk of the town
If you think about MWC are more of a town meeting of all the stakeholders, along with being a good thing in the context of being a circus, which it is, Peeters’ observations about what will be discussed in terms of the short-term are spot on. In fact, his list of things that will be highlighted and discussed is worth review if you are lucky enough to go to Barcelona or not. They include his forecasts concerning what the show buzz will be about:
Applicability: LTE in new markets such as Public Safety. The ongoing deployment of VoLTE and potential further improvements. What needs to be added or changed to the existing technology?
Capacity: carrier aggregation in licensed bands, be it FDD or TDD, but also the combination of, and the tension between licensed and unlicensed spectrum and technologies. Do you go for LTE-U or Wifi-LTE aggregation?
Performance: specific deployment scenarios such as small cells for indoor and especially enterprise needs. Virtualization of the RAN. How and when do they make sense?
And, because the industry loves to discuss what comes next, despite 4G now finally being rolled out around the world, although “mature” might be a stretch given how far we have to go, 5G will be top of mind and interactions. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great thing. Who doesn’t like talking about the future? However, with things like VoLTE, Voice-over-Wi-Fi, Hotspot 2.0, IoT and M2M, really all in their nascent stages, my hope is that the industry is not getting ahead of itself. Indeed, the use cases that will emerge as to what is valuable as the mobile world moves toward being all IP and broadband are in most instances yet to be written.
This is a great thing as well. It is a so because it will be us figuring out the utility of new high-performance wireless networks and how to extract value from them and all of the new devices, business models (mobile payments for example) and competitive options that will determine what will be successful along with the who, what, when, why and how.
So as Peeters implies, by all means enjoy the show. Be entertained and enthralled. Like the circus, MWC is dazzling and if for no other reason can and should be appreciated for that alone. Indeed, take him up on the invitation to stop by the Alcatel-Lucent booth (Hall 3 – Booth 3K10) to learn more about the realities and possibilities.
In many ways we stand on the bottom of the on-ramp of the possibilities of the combination of pervasive computing and ubiquitous communications. The coming ability of networks to deliver more immersive experiences and better insights into how we can be more productive at work and enjoy more of the things that delight us in our personal lives makes this a unique time and a great time to be part of the buzz.
However, it is important to not lose sight amidst the technology of not just what it does but what it can and should deliver. In my mind the deliverables are utility and trust. It is my hope that at a high level these are the two things that are buzzing at MWC as they are what the industry should and can deliver as to what comes next.
Peeters has it right about the inexorable march of the industry toward providing us with the broadband infrastructure and agility the future is mandating in terms of breaking down the barriers of time and place, however, what this means in terms of deliverables creates fascinating open questions and opportunities and that is why the show is so engaging on so many levels. This may not a “new story,” but it certainly is an all important one.
]]>The Law of 80 Percent clearly explains why in-building Internet access currently matters a lot. Mobile data traffic grew by roughly 80 percent in 2014, about 80 percent of mobile usage occurred in-building, and 80 percent of WLAN installations are at risk of not being able to handle traffic loads, according to research by ABI and Gartner.
This is a problem as Internet access expectations shift from coverage to quality and capacity. While some form of Internet access is available just about everywhere, there is a huge difference between good Internet and inadequate capacity.
Enterprise cells and indoor small cells can help meet this demand.
In-building cellular Internet can be addressed by three technologies, according to a recent Alcatel-Lucent webinar, Fact vs. Fiction – The Debate on In-Building Architecture Options that can be found on YouTube. These three technologies are distributed radio systems (DRS), distributed antenna systems (DAS), and distributed baseband (also known as small cells technology).
Each technology has its pros and cons when deployment options are considered.
With DAS systems, the benefits include a neutral host, coverage, and well understood technology, according to the Alcatel-Lucent webinar. But it requires dedicated backhaul, and this limits capacity. It also has a high total cost of ownership due to cooling and space requirements.
DRS is good for very high-capacity situations, such as sports stadiums. It also is an early example of cloud random access network architecture. But it is not a neutral host, and it needs unlimited backhaul.
Indoor small cells are perhaps one of the most useful of the three when it comes to in-building cellular. Small cells are easy to scale, use shared backhaul, and are cost-effective for both capacity and some coverage. Yet, small cells also require RF interference management are not a neutral host and is a relatively new technology.
The right mix of technologies depends on the situation.
For instance, DAS is good for public spaces where there is no operator differentiation. This includes shopping, trains, airports and restaurant situations.
DRS, on the other hand is good for retail storefronts and stadiums, since they allow for vendor and operator differentiation.
Small cells make the most sense for private and enterprise in-building cellular needs due to their cost and scalability. Banks, hospitals, factory building and regional headquarters should consider small cells, according to Alcatel-Lucent.
Whatever technology is ultimately chosen, however, the need is clear: In-building cellular is the current battleground, and the need for adequate quality and capacity is crucial.
]]>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.
One way to reduce the challenge of small cell deployment is through a collaborative approach, according to a recent TechZine article by Jean Jones, Director of Marketing, Wireless, Alcatel-Lucent, 3 tips for faster small cell deployment.
“As small cell deployments grow in the next few years,” noted Jones, a “collaborative approach offers a highly effective way to acquire the sites you’ll need. So you can achieve faster, cost-effective deployment on a large scale.”
By collaborating with site acquisition specialists, construction companies, cable operators, systems integrators and other key businesses work as partners, wireless operators can get faster, simpler access to all the resources, skills and expertise they need.
Part of this is looking for site acquisition specialists who are pooling their resources with backhaul facility providers, which can give providers quick access to backhaul and skilled technicians.
Alcatel-Lucent, through its Metro Cell Express Site Certification Program, found that operators who leveraged such specialists were able to speed up their small cell deployments by as much as 40 percent. By using such specialists, operators also can reduce acquisition costs by as much as 20 percent, according to Alcatel-Lucent.
A third way to reduce the challenge of small cell deployment is through the use of pre-approved small cell deployment sites.
“With immediate access to these kinds of qualified sites and assets, it’s quicker and easier to find locations that put capacity close to your subscribers,” noted Jones. “You also save time negotiating with site owners. And you eliminate the effort involved in getting the required permissions.”
Mobile operators know the benefits of small cells. But they also know the pain of small cell deployments. With good collaboration and smart use of existing relationships, however, this pain can be greatly reduced.
]]>Most mobile traffic is consumed indoors, and operators need to get a better grip on serving this market since it is a huge one.
Roughly 80 percent of mobile traffic is now consumed in-building, according to a recent Gartner study, whether mobile bandwidth is consumed in a public space, a shopping mall, or at the office. The total market for in-building services is estimated to be $4.3 billion currently, according to ABI research, and it is expected to grow to $8.5 billion by 2019.
Business leaders recognize the need, too; 72 percent of businesses are interested in enterprise cells that can boost performance on their premises. An Alcatel-Lucent infographic tells the tale.
Source: Alcatel-Lucent (for larger view)
That’s a big opportunity.
Yet mobile operators have several challenges they must face when it comes to in-building wireless.
“Mobile operators have a number of challenges really,” noted Mat Leaver, head of Alcatel-Lucent’s in-building small-cells solutions group, in a recent video. “There is no one size fits all. There’s no standard building; they come in different sizes, they are built with different materials that affect the RF; and they can’t even get their mobile signal in there.”
Alcatel-Lucent has been working on a number of solutions to serve the needs of in-building small cells and enterprise cells.
“We have three real solutions we’re focusing on,” noted Leaver. “We have a distributed antenna system we’ve been working with to really revolutionize DAS and make it more friendly in terms of CAPEX and how much space it takes up in a building. From that, we have DRS [distributed radio systems systems] where we use our metro radio unit and that’s really good for tackling stadiums and high-capacity venues.”
Then, of course, Alcatel-Lucent also has an indoor small-cell solution that offers both 3G and WiFi, enabling providers to offer mobile broadband even in highly congested areas and where buildings limit radio signal coverage.
Such end-to-end services can essentially eliminate in-building challenges such as indoor clutter, network design, RF interference, cell optimization and installation. And if data from Gartner and others is to be believed, this is an urgent need.
Most mobile traffic is consumed indoors, and operators need to get a better grip on serving this market since it is a huge one.
Roughly 80 percent of mobile traffic is now consumed in-building, according to a recent Gartner study, whether mobile bandwidth is consumed in a public space, a shopping mall, or at the office. The total market for in-building services is estimated to be $4.3 billion currently, according to ABI research, and it is expected to grow to $8.5 billion by 2019.
Business leaders recognize the need, too; 72 percent of businesses are interested in enterprise cells that can boost performance on their premises. An Alcatel-Lucent infographic tells the tale.
Source: Alcatel-Lucent (for larger view)
That’s a big opportunity.
Yet mobile operators have several challenges they must face when it comes to in-building wireless.
“Mobile operators have a number of challenges really,” noted Mat Leaver, head of Alcatel-Lucent’s in-building small-cells solutions group, in a recent video. “There is no one size fits all. There’s no standard building; they come in different sizes, they are built with different materials that affect the RF; and they can’t even get their mobile signal in there.”
Alcatel-Lucent has been working on a number of solutions to serve the needs of in-building small cells and enterprise cells.
“We have three real solutions we’re focusing on,” noted Leaver. “We have a distributed antenna system we’ve been working with to really revolutionize DAS and make it more friendly in terms of CAPEX and how much space it takes up in a building. From that, we have DRS [distributed radio systems systems] where we use our metro radio unit and that’s really good for tackling stadiums and high-capacity venues.”
Then, of course, Alcatel-Lucent also has an indoor small-cell solution that offers both 3G and WiFi, enabling providers to offer mobile broadband even in highly congested areas and where buildings limit radio signal coverage.
Such end-to-end services can essentially eliminate in-building challenges such as indoor clutter, network design, RF interference, cell optimization and installation. And if data from Gartner and others is to be believed, this is an urgent need.
In our never ending quest to deliver higher capacity networks and more effectively deliver a true broadband experience to wireless consumers, our industry continuously engages in vigorous debates about new technology, architecture, and processes followed by rapid acceptance and adoption.
I only look to small cells as an example, where the industry has quickly evolved from a macro-centric view that small cells were an unnecessary nuisance, to the current view where they are accepted as necessary for scaling the network and create compelling new opportunities for network optimization, efficiency and applications. With the small cell debate behind us, we have turned to new ones: How should we use unlicensed or shared spectrum? How do we enable a centralized SON layer in the field that works across multiple vendors? How do we integrate small cells with a virtualized or cloud RAN architecture? …and the list goes on.
One debate, which appears to have not yet achieved uniform acceptance and adoption, is around the concept of building multi-vendor networks. I have long held the position that for wireless networks to scale long into the future, it is important to leverage best in class technologies and solutions even if that means allowing for wireless networks to be built with technologies from multiple vendors.
This view most certainly goes against the prevailing model where the network is sub-divided into the RAN and the Core, and everything in the RAN for a given region, country, or circle was provided by a single vendor (mono-vendor). The typical justifications for deciding on a mono-vendor strategy range from technical to operational, but as we move from a macro network to a heterogeneous network, I believe we should challenge these long-held positions.
I’ll admit, I am heavily influenced by reading Christenson’s “Innovator’s Dilemma” early in my career, which cemented in my mind that status quo is often fiercely justified for the purpose of protecting a position, often a financial position, but we should never fear disruption and innovation if it could open a new pathway to something better. I can’t bring myself to believe that our industry will capitalize on our opportunities if we cling to our mono-vendor legacy.
For that reason, I accept multi-vendor, I push multi-vendor, I embrace multi-vendor, and I enable multi-vendor heterogeneous networks. Time and time again, we have proven in the field that technical barriers, like shared carrier, X2 interop, interference management, carrier aggregation, CoMP, SON, and even the up and coming cloud RAN architectures do not present insurmountable technical problems to handle in a multi-vendor heterogeneous network (macro and small cells from multiple vendors). Believe it or not, it can work and it does - surprisingly well. But for it to continue to work, we as an industry have to put this debate to bed and memorialize multi-vendor as the way we are willing to build networks of the future.
Recently, my team supported a hetnet ’Plugfest’ event organised by the Small Cell Forum, in partnership with ETSI, and hosted by the ORANGE Labs in Paris, where we demonstrated successfully that multi-vendor works with our small cell portfolio interoperating with macros from a different vendor, and other small cells working with an Alcatel-Lucent macro. This didn’t surprise me, because we have already demonstrated this repeatedly in commercial networks, but it was great to demonstrate this in a more open setting. I really appreciate the leadership of both the Small Cells Forum and ETSI in promoting multi-vendor networks.
I am proud to say that a number of influential wireless operators, who continuously define and industrialize new wireless architectures, are beginning to support multi-vendor hetnets through their commercial awards. And I am excited to see that new wireless entrants with wireline heritages accept multi-vendor by default, as that was their legacy. However, it concerns me that some still hold true to the mono-vendor story. Wireless operators should have the option to build a best-in-class network using innovative solutions from multiple vendors. As an industry, we cannot afford to stifle our growth.
I’ve received a lot of questions from mobile operators, who are asking about mobile data growth and how it’s related to the youth market — meaning consumers from the age of 18 to 25 or sometimes 18 to 22. The mobile operators’ own research shows that the youth segment is valuable — and influences adult segments. The Business Case for Youth section of the Mobile Youth Report also says: “The youth market is worth $1 trillion dollars. Youth drive high-end smartphone markets. Youth have the highest lifetime value of all customers.” As a result, mobile operators around the world are taking notice of young consumers, and some are investing in a new youth brand to attract that segment.
For example, in Ireland, “48” is the new wave of youth mobile services targeting the 48-month duration between the ages of 18 and 22. See how 48 cleverly branded its video campaigns. It’s not about subscriptions, but about low-cost membership in the 48 community. Its members can get calling, texting, and mobile Internet services with a manageable cost — and find online support through FAQs, community support, and a 48 customer care agent offering online help with a 24-hour response time. On top of all that, 48 is encouraging members to grow their community by giving “Kickback” to members and their friends who join.
On the other hand, the Mobile Youth Report also points out under Youth Branding: “You don’t have to be a Youth Brand. Most popular brands with youth are Youthful not Youth brands (e.g. Starbucks, Apple, Facebook). Youthful means open to ideas and dialogue. The Next Big Thing always starts in the youth market and spreads to the mass market/adults later e.g. SMS, mobile messaging, Facebook, Instagram.”
Clearly, the recent “un-carrier” events launched at T-Mobile USA are working to attract youth through the CEO’s twitter account and the company’s Facebook and Instagram campaigns on “Break-up Letter” and “Rebel Maker.” These communications are getting a lot of notice by the youth segment.
Whether creating a youth brand or a youthful brand, mobile operators need to consider how to craft offers that promote the “mobile data first” experience. Young people don’t usually have a lot of money, but they are highly motivated to use data on the go, especially in countries where public Wi-Fi is readily available. The goal for 3G/4G LTE mobile operators is to drive the “mobile data first” experience into young consumers’ behaviors, so they will stop being afraid to use mobile data and feel in control of what they use and when they use it.
What other successful examples of youth brands vs. youthful brands do you know about? Do you agree that the youth segment influences adult segments in mobile data growth? Why or why not?
If you like this article, please feel free to share it with your followers. Next week, I will offer my insights on the 10 ways to drive mobile data growth through the youth market.
]]>The glass can be half empty or half full when it comes to mobile broadband.
On the one hand, data usage is growing at exponential rates, and seems to be no end in sight. In fact, it is projected that by 2017, the monthly mobile broadband usage of the average subscriber will reach 5 GB, according to research from Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs.
On the other hand, the emergence of LTE enables operators to more cost-effectively monetize this traffic demand by rolling out quality-of-service (QoS) guarantees for sensitive data traffic such as voice-over-LTE (VoLTE), as well as other data service packages that until recently did not make sense.
Finding the glass half full from the emerging data storm requires some planning when rolling out LTE, however. Network optimization is not a given. While LTE flattens IP traffic and enables new business models it also introduces new problems. Chief among them is increased network signaling rates.
Signaling rates are much higher with LTE over 2G and 3G systems, according to research from Alcatel-Lucent. Conservative estimates paint the networking signaling load increase at 166 percent with LTE. The reasons for the increase include heightened mobile application use on such networks, chatty apps, device idle-to-active and active to idle transitions and frequent LTE/3G/Wi-Fi/small cells coverage handovers.
To handle this increase, operators must ensure that they have an evolved packet core that efficiently deals with this signal load increase. It needs to be split into a mobile gateway that represents the service edge of the LTE network, and a mobility management entity.
“Gone are the 2G/3G days of setting up a big fat, best-effort pipe, sending everything through and hoping for the best,” noted a recent Alcatel-Lucent blog post By Pat McCabe and Dave Nowoswiat, Product and Solutions Marketing, IP Routing and Transport, Alcatel-Lucent, entitled, Evolved Packet Core: at the heart of LTE’s global momentum . The authors note that, “To meet these data processing and capacity requirements, the EPC mobile gateways (GW) – the Serving GW and Packet data network GW – are best suited to an IP router-based platform – specifically one with separate and dedicated processors for control, packet forwarding and deep packet inspection.”
They further explain that on the mobility management entity side of things, operators need to make sure that they are built with high-performance CPUs in a low cost industry standard computing platform to cost-effectively maintain performance.
The recognition that a beefed up evolved packet core is the way and wave of the future can be seen in recent work done by Infonetics Research who has estimated that the evolved packet core market will balloon to $8 billion by the end of 2017.
Whether operators take the glass as being half full or half empty, one thing is clear: There’s a data storm, winners will be determined by how they handle it and an evolved packet core is going to be a central piece of the equation for success.
]]>The demand for oil and gas capabilities has never been greater and continues to grow. In fact, world energy needs are expected to increase by roughly 40 percent by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency, with the fast-developing China and India leading the way in energy consumption growth. The demand for oil is expected to grow by 20 percent, and gas needs should expand during this time by 50 percent. As much as dependency on fossil fuels is seen as needing to be reigned in, clearly oil and gas demand is going to go up despite greater reliance on alternatives. .
With that said, meeting energy needs is getting more complex. Hydrocarbon delivery is challenged by the fact that so much of the relatively low-hanging fruit has been plucked. The energy reserves of the future will increasingly come from deep-sea drilling, tar sands mining and other more challenging methods. Hydrocarbon delivery also will have to travel farther distances.
To effectuate cost-effective and efficient exploration and fuel deliveries in more challenging environments, it has become paramount that gas and oil communications be upgraded to next generation capabilities.
“Maximizing production in these settings has become essential, yet the greater the geological barriers to easy extraction, the greater price, security and safety risks any given project faces,” noted a recent paper by Alcatel-Lucent, DYNAMIC COMMUNICATIONS for Oil & Gas.
Alcatel-Lucent has worked with energy customers for decades and as stated in the headline has focused on three key areas to help oil and gas companies reach hydrocarbons faster, farther, and safer.
“Clearly, the need to minimize risk, ensure the safety of personnel and protect the integrity of plant, pipeline, platform and wellhead projects, plus deal with highly dynamic market factors, has increased the need for new business and operational models,” noted the company in the paper. “This is where technology serves as the cornerstone for innovative and winning solutions.”
Communications speed is needed to help connect distant sites with the energy company central offices, and to deliver real-time and highly resilient communications solutions to deal with the changing conditions on the ground.
Being able to go farther with gas and oil communications means there can be better supervision and more cost-effective operations.
“Challenges include monitoring and troubleshooting remote and hard to access wellheads, pipelines and collection points,” noted the paper. “Just as important is the ongoing comfort, and productivity of one of the most valuable assets of any company — its workforce.” Workers cut off in an oil rig far out at sea need as many creature-comforts as they can get. That means good communication with family and the outside world.
Cutting edge communications also can help with safety.
A flexible network ensures that there is end-to-end safety of physical assets, personnel and data. The network must support a wide variety of standards, work across both legacy and IP-based networks, and have good uptime to deliver on this safety need.
Alcatel-Lucent helps the industry get there with its end-to-end oil and gas solutions. It offers a converged, multiservice, mission-critical Wide Area Network (WAN) composed of: microwave; optical and IP/MPLS products; mobile/wireless networks that include WiFi, WiMAX, 3G, 4G/LTE, TETRA/P25; analogue UHF/VHF, dispatchers and applications; integrated SCADA and CCTV; and integrated navigational aids, meteorological instruments, entertainment systems and operations control center systems.
The thirst for energy resources is seemingly unquenchable, and the fact that increasingly hard to reach places need to be explored and brought online, is putting a premium on having next generation dynamic communications to assure operational excellence regardless of where location or climate.
]]>Mobile technologies such as smartphones and tablets have made users a little more ornery. They now expect both a high quality of experience and high bandwidth availability to run their mobile devices. Yet, this can be a challenge for operators.
One solution to tackle the bandwidth issue is leveraging carrier Wi-Fi, which eases the cellular load. But Wi-Fi has historically been challenging in terms of user experience, as logins and moving between cellular reception and Wi-Fi have made the experience anything but simple and elegant.
Policy empowered carrier Wi-Fi control looks to change that, however, delivering both bandwidth and a high quality of experience. This empowered Wi-Fi is possible thanks to 3GPP, Access Network Discovery and Selection Function (ANDSF).
ANDSF allows a client-server relationship between a client on a mobile device and a centralized server to allow service providers and network operators to manage carrier Wi-Fi access, basically. It opens a communication channel between the server and the device, enabling operators to let users seamlessly move between cellular and carrier Wi-Fi signals without additional authentication state loss.
“With this policy empowered Wi-Fi control, operators can manage carrier Wi-Fi access, in coordination with cellular access, to deliver a consistent quality of experience,” noted a recent TechZine post by Alcatel-Lucent’s Nicholas Cadwgan and Laurent Guégan, Policy Empowered Carrier Wi-Fi Control.
ANDSF is relatively new. One of the first devices to fully support the technology is Alcatel-Lucent’s 5780 Dynamic Services Controller (DSC) Wi-Fi Control Module. It not only leverages ANDSF to mix carrier Wi-Fi and cellular access, it also manages network selection by using multi-dimensional parameters to intelligently and dynamically make decisions about which carrier Wi-Fi access options are available to the subscriber.
It does this with the company’s Agile Rules Technology (A.R.T.), a policy rules engine with 150 patents pending.
“A.R.T. has been used to define policies to personalize and streamline new service options leveraging information such as location, time, network status and intelligence as well as subscriber profile information,” noted the authors. “The solution has been demonstrated to optimize network usage based on intelligent decisions which can be used to alleviate load from over-utilized cells while maximizing the existing licensed spectrum.”
The engine allows services to be created and modified quickly and easily without long lead times and consulting costs, offers a broad set of customizable service capabilities and parameters without requiring new software updates/upgrades, delivers exceptional performance, handles complex use cases with detailed policy rules and data processing scaled across many subscriber broadband sessions with little performance degradation, and simplifies maintenance according to the company.
Taken together, ANDSF and technologies such as A.R.T. help operators keep pacing with growing user expectations.
]]>Note: Originally posted in Alcatel-Lucent Analytics Beat blog
Similar to previous iOS updates, over 50% of Apple device users upgraded their device to iOS 7 within 2-3 days of its release, 30% upgrading within the first day. Apple made improvements to their software release process to ensure mobile networks are protected from these techno-hungry iPhone users. Specifically, the notification announcing availability of the new iOS is staggered over a few days to help spread out the signaling load. They also implemented a “no-greater than 100 MB app size” policy which restricts apps over that size from downloading over mobile networks. And Apple’s iOS 7 update came with a mandatory WiFi-based upgrade path.
So, quiet day on mobile networks on September 18th? Not quite – iOS 7 update came with a hidden cost to mobile operators. But, only systems correlating signaling, volume, applications and device data – down to the iOS version – could detect these trends.
In this blog, we report on Apple iOS update trends discovered using the Alcatel-Lucent 9900 WNG on mobile networks worldwide.
Source: 9900 Wireless Network Guardian
General upgrade cycle observations
The upgrade cycle started a few hours prior to the iOS 7 release when applications notified users of to upgrade their app to be IOS 7 compatible. Next, users were notified that iOS itself was available – the small red bubble on the “Settings icon.” Users connected their mobile devices to WiFi to upgrade. During that time, we observed a decrease in per user data volume from the Apple device population over the mobile network. Then, a portion of users soon resumed their mobility and received notification to upgrade their app to synchronize with the upgraded OS. Many opted to download these apps over the mobile network.
Manageable paging day
The notification process starts with locating the device (paging it) and then forwarding the alert. Apple staggered their alerts to iPhone users when iOS7 became available. A number of applications also alerted that a new version of their software was available; the latter is what we term “iTunes” signaling.
The iOS 7 availability notification load was equivalent to adding an extra 12-20% paging over a typical iTunes day. iTunes itself experienced a paging increase of up to 35%. Together, they contributed a 22-49% increase in paging compared to typical daily iTunes rate. Yet, the impact on the overall signaling across the network for these two days was negligible, in great part due to the policies Apple implemented to spread out signaling. It worked.
The cellular downloading loophole & post-iOS application update
Next, we noticed traffic coming from Apple’s servers tasked with providing the iOS 7 upgrade software. Given the mandatory WiFi upgrade, we did not expect any volume over the mobile network from those servers. We were puzzled about this mystery traffic, especially given its volume. In some networks during peak time, iOS 7 upgrade over the cellular network generated as much traffic as all of iTunes could on a typical day! How to explain traffic of this magnitude when none was expected? Combining this OS update traffic with iTunes app upgrade traffic triggered by OS synchronization drove iTunes traffic 1.8 – 3 times above normal baselines. This resulted in a staggering overall network bandwidth increase of 5-10% the day after the release.
Were it not for tagging IP flows with the data received from signaling (IP address, device type, and device OS), that fact would have been relegated to the annals of “Odd and Unexplained Occurrences.” However, we discovered a loophole to the mandatory WiFi upgrade. The MAC or PC used for upgrading Apple devices is allowed to have its internet connection over WiFi or the cellular network. Using a mobile device to provide internet connectivity to a laptop is called tethering and is used to provide connectivity when not in range of a WiFi connection. Tethering is used by 4-12% of users depending on geography, plans and promotions. During the iOS 7 upgrade, we discovered that some users tethered their laptop with Android devices and were able to receive the IOS update over the mobile networks. A loophole that defeated Apple’s WiFi-only upgrade policy.
While relatively few users choose this connectivity method, those who did downloaded a large iOS 7 file of 750 MB minimum. This certainly accounts for the large amount of traffic observed, but can also result in bill shock. To put in perspective, the average 3G user in North America generates 17 MB of data per day.
Conclusion
Apple has clearly improved its mobile savviness by implementing smart policies for software delivery. Barely noticeable signaling increase is great progress. But continued cooperation is greatly needed. These improvements are only possible when service providers have the right data in hand to discover inefficiencies and to understand their causes before initiating optimization discussions with the equipment vendor.
We also noticed a wide variation in overall network traffic and signaling statistics. This phenomenon depends on how heavily invested a service provider is with a particular OS. Device OS homogeneity means that a large percentage of phones will exhibit the same pattern, all concurrently. Another factor is what applications users downloaded to their phones. Not all applications had an update synchronized with the iOS 7 availability. So while trends were similar all over the world, the exact impact varied significantly across service providers.
Over the next few weeks, users will tryout the new iOS 7 features. Our next blog will compare the performance of this latest iOS version with previous ones and determine if usage of new feature drive changes in overall signaling, volume and airtime.
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Our Analytics Beat studies examine a representative cross-section of mobile data customers using the 9900 Wireless Network Guardian and are made possible by the voluntary participation of our customers. Collectively, these customers provide mobile service to millions of subscribers worldwide.
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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.
Nomadism isn't confined to an age group or a gender. It's simply a behavior determined by heavy engagement with data using one or more portable devices – someone who is sitting down and concentrating, not just casually checking it on-the-go. It's a phenomenon that's been talked about in the past, but it’s a behavior growing in prevalence thanks to the rise of wireless broadband in public places and the recent explosion of device form factors with which to take advantage of it.
Digital nomads may use any portable device, from a smartphone to a laptop, and likely own multiple, but the device this group of users is most likely to tote around is the tablet.
Tablets are highly portable – they work just as well on the sofa as they do on a train, in a stadium, or at a desk. The tablet category has also grown and morphed since Apple paved the way in 2010. It is now common to see larger-screen smartphones or "phablets" like the Samsung Note and smaller-screen tablets, like the Kindle Fire and, potentially, the rumored, soon-to-launch iPad Mini. Both new categories share the characteristics of the smartphone but have the data intensity of a larger tablet.
As a result, the digital nomad is using several times more data than the average smartphone user. They could be connecting via a home broadband network, a 3G or 4G cellular network via their phone or a data dongle, Wi-Fi, small cells, or some combination thereof. And, while they may not care which network they're on, provided it works well in their current location, the service providers should care immensely.
After all, it's up to the service provider to make sure the network is fast, the handoff is seamless, and the experience is comparable to that of in-home broadband. And, when any of those things fails to happen, it's up to the service provider to have one set of self-help tools and one number to call for support, whether the issue is on the fixed network, mobile network, or somewhere in between.
That's because nomadic users are not "broadband users" or "mobile users" – they are just data users above all else. That's a new way of thinking for many service providers.
Many operators have been busy deploying 4G LTE, filling in capacity gaps with small cell networks and managing offload to WiFi. This is all good, but a further network transformation will be needed to account for wireless nomads as the group continues to grow. Specifically, updates in policy and authentication are required to provide consistency of experience across different access technologies. Also, more sophisticated data plan pricing that takes into account fixed-mobile convergence – not only at the network level, but also in the IT that sits behind the network – would be much more conducive to the nomadic lifestyle.
If service providers are going to deliver the seamless experience and the kind of packages digital nomads really want to buy, there are a quite a lot of implications for the networks and the way they do business.
Luckily, this group also presents a host of new opportunities for service providers. And, just as it took a long time for the first species of nomads that roamed the earth to secure their niche, so the race to keep up with the wireless nomads is just beginning.
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