Next Generation Communications - WiMAX Archives

Voice over LTE (VoLTE) -- Starting the New Mobile Conversation

2012-01-10T18:54:30Z

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.

Wireless Service Providers Rely on lightRadio to Optimize MIMO Gains on LTE Networks

2011-10-14T21:22:43Z

By Susan J. Campbell

As a service provider, what potential opportunities emerge if you were able to improve capacity, coverage and performance? With lightRadio technologies, you can gain support for current and anticipated wireless technologies that will address quality and growth changes; combine advancements in radios, antennas and baseband processing to support cloud principles, virtualization and architectural flexibility; and enable easy reprogramming and reconfiguration of network elements.

In the Alcatel-Lucent lightRadio Technology Overview, the innovations to address service provider challenges is explored. These challenges easily include adding more radios, antennas, towers and processing capacity; increasing spectral bandwidth; supporting new technologies; and making better use of cell site capacity. The development of lightRadio by Alcatel-Lucent focuses on optimizing total network costs over time so each wireless provider can make the most of their existing assets and capabilities.

The consistency of capacity and coverage relies heavily on antennas. In the past, wireless service providers have added passive transmit and receive antennas for each technology or radio when they needed improvement in these areas. lightRadio antennas eliminate this need as they rely on smart active antenna arrays (AAA) that deliver multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) gains and sophisticated beamforming in a very small footprint. This allows the wireless provider to dynamically direct radio frequency where it is needed according to cell load and traffic density.

The MIMO gains from lightRadio AAA offer the potential to improve capacity as much as 30 percent with vertical beamforming; lower power consumption through improved coverage; and improve the robustness of the antenna by allowing the reconfiguration of the array to effectively reduce the impact of failures within individual elements. Conventional passive antennas are supported with the lightRadio architecture and when combined with centralized baseband processing, signal-to-noise ratios are significantly improved.

A key focus for any wireless service provider is to make baseband processing more effective, efficient and economical. To accomplish this goal and increase capacity, the provider may look to the deployment of Long Term Evolution, or LTE, in a new frequency band in a new antenna configuration, such as 4 x 4 MIMO. Even new technologies such as LTE-Advanced may offer benefits worth consideration.

LTE-Advanced offers carrier aggregation, or the bonding potential of separate frequency bands, as well as sophisticated methods for coordinating various base stations. Such methods include dynamic ICIC and coordinated multipoint transmission (CoMP). Spectral efficiency and end-user performance are enhanced with CoMP as the technology also works to increase network efficiency.

To increase capacity, wireless networks generally must increase the number of carriers or improve the spectral bandwidth for each carrier. If these increases occur in the same band, the same radio technology equipment can be reused. New antennas, baseband and radio equipment are required if spectral increases are in a new frequency. As capacity needs to match multiple factors, a combination of existing and emerging technologies is often the focus. lightRadio enables service providers to effectively deploy a solution that not only matches their needs, but also offers optimization from the antenna to the baseband processing and controller elements.

The lightRadio family of products relies on common digital baseband components across various products and radio technologies to offer service providers a consistent functionality and reusable common hardware and software components. The result is an optimized environment that promotes quality service delivery at a lower cost for improved revenue opportunities.

How can I enable a single, unified sign on for my customers across multiple screens?

2009-11-30T02:27:07Z

The new world of broadband is about applications - more applications made available on more devices and across more access networks. This demand for more bandwidth-intensive services is also generating increased interest in multi-service packages - bundled offerings, like triple and quad play - which represents a significant opportunity for network operators.

Of course, the ability to provide the variety of services that subscribers are looking for, including IPTV, VoD, high-speed Internet access, VoIP, and other integrated multimedia services, also requires a network that is capable of delivering them reliably to the growing variety of user devices.

Quite simply, traditional IP networks were designed for services that don't rely on best-effort data transfer, like email and Web browsing. They are not, however, designed for revenue generating triple play services that depend on varying levels of QoS to ensure reliability and consistency of service.

That's where Alcatel-Lucent's Triple Play Service Delivery Architecture comes in to play - it allows network operators to cost effectively deliver real-time services to the mass market while guaranteeing QoS. The TPSDA's components collectively allow operators to ensure their subscribers have reliable access to the services they want, when they want then, and where they want them.

Supporting any combination of home gateway, access technology, aggregation network, authentication protocol, connectivity model, subscriber management and policy enforcement, the TPSDA provides a flexible, scalable solution for triple play services catering to any market.

But, simply providing access to services - even on multiple devices - is only part of the challenge. Among the keys to a successful multi-service offering is the ability to integrate services and subscriber preferences across multiple devices, and provide single sign-on across them. Users want to be able to sign on to access their services once, and then have access to those services and customized settings on multiple screens. For instance, if a user starts an in-demand video on the train on his laptop, he should be able to, upon arrival at home, be able to turn on the IPTV STB and continue watching the program from the same time stamp at which he left off, without having to locate the program, find the right scene, etc.

Because the IMS-ready Alcatel-Lucent TPSDA integrates network, service, and subscriber management from the network core to the end device, it provides the flexibility for operators to identify and manage subscribers, their preferences, and their activities in a unified fashion across all access networks and devices.

While service innovation and quality are a necessity, today's next generation high leverage networks will soon make bandwidth limitations and service reliability issues a thing of the past. Instead, network operators, in addition to developing alliances with the right application developers and content providers, will differentiate themselves through personalization, customization and integration.

By leveraging technology like Alcatel-Lucent's TPSDA, operators will be able to eliminate the traditional gaps between different devices and different access technologies, unifying all services for their subscribers on a single architecture.

For more on the Alcatel-Lucent TPSDA, read the white paper, Triple Play Service Delivery Architecture.

A look at the future: Re-defining the communications partner ecosystem

2009-11-23T07:09:50Z

The communications market today is more complex than ever - and more competitive than ever, with subscribers becoming less tolerant of what they perceive to be poor service. Because of a large number of alternative providers for both wireline and wireless services, carriers are must consider whether their traditional business models will continue to drive growth into the future.

The simple fact is that they are not. The services and capabilities that have, until now, served carriers well, are only a part of what subscribers are demanding - they want more services and applications, more access, and more integration with their various access devices and networks.

However, telecom operators can hardly meet these various needs alone - they simply lack the resources, and even if that were not the case, the time and effort involved would immediately put them behind their competitors. Instead, these new subscriber demands have created a phenomenon in the communications market, where telecom operators must develop new relationships within the community that previously were unheard of. Instead of seeking to build out networks to cover all areas, and instead of developing all applications and services in-house, operators must collaborate with other communications vendors - all of whom are in the same situation, and face the same concerns - to build mutually beneficial relationships to lower costs and time to market.

For mobile and fixed-line operators alike, one of the keys is forming strategic partnerships with each other, allowing each to deliver a full suite of multi-play services leveraging each other's networks and resources. The recent economic downturn forced many subscribers to turn to operators that were able to offer lower monthly charges by signing subscribers to bundled service packages. And despite a flattening of the economy now, that trend is not likely to change - once subscribers have enjoyed lower rates - not to mention reducing the number of vendors to deal with - the trend is, in fact, only likely to grow.

Mobile operators, for instance, should seek out fixed broadband providers, with whom they can develop bundled offerings.

This new partnership and network sharing model will undoubtedly present its own issues - including resource management, network integration (subscribers will naturally want the benefit of converged services across their different access networks and devices), and billing and revenue sharing. But, with standards-based technology deployed by nearly every operator, and with interoperability work having already been undertaken between equipment vendors looking to drive IMS-based networks to market, the benefits that can be achieved greatly outweigh the pains.

For more on how network operators can adopt new business models - including the emerging trend for carrier network outsourcing - to leverage their infrastructure investments and remain competitive, read the Alcatel-Lucent white paper, The Coming Carrier Network Infrastructure - A Very Different Landscape.

Best practices for managing events, policy and traffic on your network

2009-11-23T05:50:32Z

Wireless networks today are delivering infinitely more content to more users than could have been imagined only a few years ago. Business users and consumers alike are leveraging mobile capabilities to stay in contact, remain productive, and enjoy the conveniences afforded my mobile access to email, business applications, the Internet, and other services.

But, for all the benefits the latest wireless devices and services offer subscribers, they present a management challenge for wireless network operators, who are tasked with ensuring services and content are delivered reliably and quickly.

To effectively eliminate congestion, services outages, and general inefficiencies, operators must be able to ensure the effective use of their network resources. Fortunately, there are many tools available for network monitoring, traffic shaping and management, deep packet inspection, security, event monitoring and management, as well as provisioning and billing. Unfortunately, however, in most cases, these tool all require separate software or hardware that not only require added investment, but once deployed, must be integrated into the overall network management process in order to perform effectively - and even then, there are limitations, since these separate elements have not been designed as a single solution and, therefore, are likely to not perform as effectively as needed.

Through its Bell Labs facilities, Alcatel-Lucent has developed a single tool that addresses each of these needs in a single solution - its Alcatel-Lucent 9900 Wireless Network Guardian (WNG). The 9900 WNG is designed to simplify management of network operations and resources and provide real-time end-to-end visibility into network behavior.

By looking at how every packet, flow, subscriber, device, domain, access point, Internet server, and applications manifest impacts network resources, the 9900 WNG is able to provider all wireless operators a solution that allows them to effectively control their networks, regardless of wireless technology.

Because it monitors every packet that is exchanged between mobile devices and wireless networks, the 9900 WNG is able to develop a predictive analysis of how different types of traffic will impact every part of the network. A real-time dashboard provides visibility into the network and its traffic flow, including usage trends, which can be used to resolve service deficiencies, billing errors, and generally determine opportunities for increasing network efficiency. Importantly, the 9900 WNG also identifies anomalous events in real time to identify down to the specific device or network element when resources are being overloaded, impacting network services for other users.

Through its two components - the Alcatel-Lucent 9900 Detector (deployed in the packet core) and the Alcatel-Lucent 9900 Central (deployed in the NOC) - the 9900 WNG delivers a significant advantage to wireless operators looking for an edge over their competition, providing advantages in a number of areas, including operations, planning, security, engineering, marketing, and revenue assurance.

Wireless operators' success hinges on their ability to deliver services reliably; the Alcatel-Lucent 9900 WNG is designed to increase operators' ability to combine operational management with infrastructure design for an optimally designed delivery mechanism. With the certainty that the network has been built effectively, and the proper tools are in place to monitor activity in real-time, operators can then shift their focus to working with partners to develop new services and applications that can be rolled out with confidence.

For more on the capabilities of the Alcatel-Lucent 9900 WNG and how it supports wireless operators needs for network management, read the Alcatel-Lucent white paper, "Alcatel-Lucent 9900 Wireless Network Guardian: Powerful solution to classify wireless data traffic, understand wireless resource usage and improve network performance."

For more on how operators can ensure the efficiency and viability of their networks and work closely with partners to deliver the most effective services and applications in an evolving communications environment, visit the Next Generation Communications community.

Competition vs. Collaboration: Strategies for New Revenue Generation

2009-11-17T04:34:09Z

The question of which approach - competition or collaboration - is best in a competitive business landscape is hardly new. The natural instinct is to lean towards competition. After all, collaborating with other industry players can expose your business. However, collaboration breeds innovation, especially in the communications space, where most technologies are based on accepted standards, so there is little risk to intellectual property - your competition is leveraging the same technology.

Gary Iosbaker, Principal Technologist in the Office of the CTO for Communications and Media Solutions at Hewlett-Packard, recently discussed this issue in his article in Alcatel-Lucent's online magazine Enriching Communications, noting that HP prides itself on its extensive industry partnerships. In fact, he claims that, because of the standards-based technologies driving the communications market, and the rapid rate of evolution today, it is imperative that businesses be willing to share their information and experiences for the benefit of the industry.

Because today's communications experience depends on a broad range of vendors - devices, clients, access, transport, support systems, and more - the only way to truly succeed and deliver a quality experience to the end user is to work through partnerships, "rather than wasting limited resources chasing the same goals," as Iosbaker says.

It's the old strength in numbers theory: "By pooling the rich complementary capabilities of a broad range of players, the collective expertise and experience benefits everyone," writes Iosbaker.

The idea is that working in tandem with other industry experts facilitates more rapid development of products that will be more widely available, more reliable, and more cost effective to develop. In addition, market acceptance is increased due to the collaborative nature of the product(s) - there is less hesitation resulting from the perception of single-vendor bias.

The same ideal of bringing more innovative revenue-generating products to market more quickly drives the Alcatel-Lucent initiated ng Connect program, which is designed to foster the very kind of collaboration between vendors Iosbaker promotes. In fact, according to Iosbaker, HP didn't hesitate to become an ng Connect member because, quite simply, it made good business sense.

"It's about truly transformational and innovative companies that are willing to collaborate and understand how they are going to use broadband technologies in a way that betters the user experience," said Derek Kuhn, Vice President of Emerging Technology and Media at Alcatel-Lucent, of ng Connect.

Ultimately, with the growth of broadband communications and the pace of evolution of communications technology, it is impossible for any single vendor to keep pace alone - they simply lack the resources. Si, the logical alternative is to rely on mutually beneficial partnerships that help achieve existing goals, but are also likely to unveil new opportunities as well.

For more on how HP leverages its partnerships to drive its business success, read Iosbaker's article, along with several others in an entire issue of Enriching Communications dedicated to how collaboration is driving innovation in the communications market, enabling new, revenue-generating products to be introduced more efficiently and cost-effectively.

What is the impact of new IP applications on wireless networks?

2009-11-17T03:34:06Z

Today's wireless networks hardly resemble those of only a year or two ago - of course, the applications delivered across them and the devices users use to access them are equally different. This new generation of data-intensive applications has created a surge in network usage, which has, naturally, placed increased strain on wireless networks due to an increased number of device connections. We also know that the number of bandwidth-intensive applications is only going to grow, as network operators and application developers learn how to collaborate more effectively. This will only increase the number of active sessions between devices and networks in any given time period.

Simply put, in order to send and receive data - to access applications, that is - devices must open active connections to wireless networks. In their "normal" state, when they are accessing on-board data or in not using mobile applications, devices typically do not maintain active connections; it's predominantly a question of battery life, which is among the key development issues with mobile devices, so they are designed to conserve power whenever possible.

So, between active sessions - the idle time after which a network shuts down a connection is determined by the operator, but ranges anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds, typically. But, because every active RF connection consumes network resources, whether spectrum, power, or processing resources, these active connections must be carefully monitored and managed by operators to avoid interference or congestion and, ultimately degradation of service.

While the signaling process - the activation of a connection between the device and network - with data applications is much like that of voice communications, the difference lies in the patterns with which devices connect to data applications and services. It's a simple scenario for voice calls - the connection is set up when the call is placed, remains active for the duration of the call, and is terminated when the call is ended.

Data transmissions, however, can act is several different ways, adding significant complexity to resource management and utilization. File transfers behave much the same way voice calls do, with continuous transmission until the transfer is complete. But, other applications, such as security or location-based services, can access the network at regular intervals, requiring set-up and tear-down of the connection each time. In addition, subscribers accessing Web pages or manually retrieving sports scores, for instance, create an inherently unpredictable pattern of access. Then there's also the equally unpredictable scenario where certain external events, like push email, or scores in football games that trigger text messages being sent to countless users at once every time a team scores so that users can follow not only their favorite teams, but their fantasy sports players as well. Both present equally unpredictable connectivity patterns.

The point is that, while some connections are predictable, most today are not, and the variations in user and application behavior can have a significant impact on radio access resources.

Depending on the specific applications and their automatic or manual refresh sequences, and the nework dormancy timer (the maximum time before a connection is automatically deactivated after non-usage), and, of course, download speeds, a recent Alcatel-Lucent white paper describers how different variations on a single application can result in significant differences in transmission loads and the number of signaling events in a one-hour actual RF airtime span.

This, of course, is in addition to the fundamental network bandwidth usage required by the variety of applications, from mobile email and location-based services to VPN access and P2P communications, to, of course, video, the biggest bandwidth-consuming application of all.

What it means is that network operators must be more diligent than ever in monitoring, managing, and effectively allocating network resources to ensure a consistent, acceptable level of service for all users. To understand how Alcatel-Lucent's 9900 Wireless Network Guardian (WNG) provides wireless network operators a management platform that combines traffic analysis, network performance monitoring, and behavioral anomaly detection, helping operators better understand how their users' behavior impacts their networks - and how to adapt accordingly - read the white paper, "Alcatel-Lucent 9900 Wireless Network Guardian - Powerful solution to classify wireless data traffic, understand wireless resource usage and improve network performance."

Using Multimedia Content Management Solutions to Drive New Revenue While Increasing QoE

2009-10-05T02:46:42Z

In an age where applications and content are king, and the networks that deliver them play second fiddle, telecom provider, in order to effectively penetrate their target markets, must unsure they are able effectively manage that content. It's not enough to simply develop and introduce new services; they must be able to integrate these offerings across multiple platforms, networks, and devices to create a seamless, integrated, and personalized user experience.

The evolution of networks, content, applications, and devices, combined with user's understanding of the capabilities available to them and their new expectations that result from this enlightenment make it critical for providers to be able to leverage flexible service delivery and management infrastructures.

Alcatel-Lucent's 5920 Multimedia Content Manager (MCM) has been designed for this very purpose - to enable service providers to manage, market, sell, and deliver content and services to any device their subscribers choose to use. The MCM allows mobile, broadband, IPTV, and converged services providers to manage the delivery of their services - including applications, video, music, ringtones, news and updates, and other personalized content - based on unique subscriber preferences.

To facilitate the efficient delivery and management of content, the 5920 MCM includes the following features:

· Service and Delivery Orchestrator - Gateway for coordinating access to and management of core functions, including marketing, rating, charging, digital rights management (DRM) and service delivery;

· Content, Storefront Manager and Subscriber portals - Provides flexibility in managing multi-screen catalogs and storefronts and allow service providers to build custom Web portals;

· Marketing and rating - Enables multi-screen subscriber segmentation and management functions and the creation of targeted campaign promotions based on subscriber activities, including the definition of multiple pricing options and discounts;

· Delivery and DRM - Allows the integration of the latest delivery protocols for both download and push services and offers a complete DRM solution to secure premium content;

· Mediator - Provides a service order activation-enabled distribution workflow that integrates the Alcatel-Lucent 5920 MCM with downstream systems.

By bringing these capabilities to service providers in a single platform, Alcatel-Lucent not only simplified the content distribution capabilities for its customers, but also ensures they are able to focus on growing revenues and increasing operational efficiencies. It also allows them to focus their energies on the kinds of content and application partnerships Alcatel-Lucent promotes through its ng Connect program, while ensuring high quality, reliable services.

If you read the latest edition of Alcatel-Lucent's online magazine, Enriching Communications, you saw a case study explaining how Israeli telcom Pelephone used the 5920 MCM to launch its new music service that includes more than 250,000 tracks and playlists - Israel's largest music catalog. Not only does the Alcatel-Lucent solution allow Pelephone to manage and deliver the content through a friendly interface, it allows it to synchronize multiple user devices, a real advantage in an age where many - if not most - users have a desire to access content on multiple fixed and mobile devices.

"For example, if you use a PC to download a "jogging music" playlist to your private content area, that playlist is automatically available on your mobile phone," according to Pelephone. "You can listen while you jog -- without the need for local synchronization via wires or WiFi."

This is just one example, and providers like Pelephone are increasingly looking to introduce new, innovative, and more personalized services to grow their market presence and subscriber bases using Alcatel-Lucent technology.

To read more about how Alcatel-Lucent is helping the service provider community address growing market complexities on the Next Generation Communications community.

If you haven't read the Pelephone case study, check that out here.

Driving Innovation Through Multi-Industry Ecosystems

2009-10-05T01:18:21Z

The second installment of Enriching Communications, Alcatel-Lucent's eZine highlighting many of the hottest topics in communications today, takes a look at how ecosystems and the business models they promote help businesses leverage a collaborative environment to enhance the opportunities for all members of the communities.

As editor-in-chief Ruth Killeen writes, "Why work alone when partnerships help mitigate risk in a highly competitive marketplace?"

Indeed, ecosystems provide an opportunity for businesses that would have had little cause to work together under traditional business models, to generate added value for the members of a growing number of ecosystems as well as their end users. Taking a deeper look at some of the trends and topics in the LTE market introduced in the previous issue, this iteration looks at how participation in ecosystems helps members create new value from their own products and solutions, while leveraging the expertise of other members.

Ecosystems Vital to LTE-enabled Applications in Both Developed and Emerging Markets

While the ecosystem isn't necessarily a new concept, this is an ideal time to foster long-lasting relationships to help the community as a whole more quickly assess and respond to evolving trends and requirements. Essentially, these ecosystems are the foundation for business relationships between strategic, multidisciplinary companies from a variety of industries, providing an opportunity for them to collaboratively deliver new solutions.

Ecosystems increase the value of products and solutions from each partner by offering input and feedback from a variety of members who have distinctly unique perspectives on what users want, what they will buy, and how much they will use new services and products, adding a new measure of predictability into the value chain.

Partnerships: A Case of Enlightened Self-interest

Real-world experiences often provide a powerful message regarding products and services. The same can be said for the successes driven by participating in collaborative ecosystems. Hewlett-Packard, for instance, continues to expand its partnerships because of the benefit it has seen from the openness and collaboration promoted by ecosystems. These partnerships, in fact, are a key part of its corporate culture.

With the rate of evolution in the communications market, it is more critical than ever for individual vendors to ensure the ability to move equally quickly. Few companies have the resources to successfully respond to changing customers requirements without risking financial stability, making pooling resources and experiences more than a reasonable option - it is becoming a necessity. This article illustrates the success Hewlett-Packard's has seen from membership in ecosystems like ng Connect.

Ecosystems Help Evolution to 4G Services

Even as many wireless provides are still moving into the 3G world, wisdom dictates that their goal must be to evolve further, to 4G technology, to deliver services with greater quality and reliability. However, the secret is not in merely evolving their networks - they must have a keen focus on the applications and services they bring to their subscribers. They need compelling new services that can cross networks, devices, and geographies - and they must provide enough value so that subscribers will be willing to pay for them.

This article looks at how network operators can leverage ecosystems to quickly develop and deploy 4G services, including eliminating risk through interoperability testing in a standards-based environment. By working closely with their partners, operators will increase their ability to grow revenue and market share in an ultra-competitive mobile market.

Pelephone Mines Value from Content Management

Israeli telecom Pelephone indentified some time what is now common theory - content and applications will be the keys to successfully penetrating the mass market. As such, it knew it had to be able to design new and innovative services for flexible, scalable deployment and rapid launch.

By working closely with its ecosystem partners, it is now able to deploy new services in a fraction of the time it would otherwise take. It has also been able to expand and manage its content and application library through simple, intuitive, and appealing interfaces, resulting in what it calls a "stunning user experience," including location-based services, mobile Internet, and multimedia content.

Application/Content Provider and Network Provider Cooperation Drives Innovation and Value for All

A key part of Alcatel-Lucent's market strategy is its application enablement model, which combines next generation network technology with the ecosystem and partnership theory to create more effective business models and greater efficiency in bringing services to market.

Earlier this year, Alcatel-Lucent conducted a study to gain an understanding of how various members of the communications value chain might be able to better work together to combine network capabilities with the speed of the Web - a key part to its application enablement strategy.

This article provides answers to the questions it was looking to answer, and which will help network providers more effectively partner with content and application providers to create a highly collaborative environment that drives value for both sides and create a win/win/win situation for network providers, application and content developers, and end users.

In this issue, experts from Alcatel-Lucent, Hewlett-Packers, ABI Research, and Pelephone discuss the need for and benefits of technology ecosystems in a competitive landscape. The next issue will delve into to telecom operators can transform their businesses to create more effective, sustainable operational models.

How the Recession is Impacting Consumer Spending on Network-based Services

2009-09-28T12:43:59Z

There is no question the economic downturn has had a significant impact on spending in both business and consumer markets. In the business market, the results have been well documented, with a marked decrease in spending, including staff cuts as well as an increased need to justify any new investments. For the communications market, this has created an opportunity to feature the cost saving features of IP-based technologies, in addition to their productivity enhancing capabilities.

Because its service provider customers are critically impacted by the needs and trends of consumers, Alcatel-Lucent sought to determine how the recession has impacted consumer spending, knowing that overall confidence has been at an all-time low for many of them and that spending patterns can change drastically with the economy.

The good news, based on Alcatel-Lucent's research, is that, while two-thirds of consumers are cutting their overall spending, their first cutbacks are not related to their network services. In fact, only one of the top 11 cutbacks is communications related - downloading online pay per view movies is the fifth most frequently cited cutback. The remainder of the top 11 includes other ancillary entertainment and activities, like going to bars (1), concerts (2), sporting events (4), movies (6), and restaurants (7). Renting movies from physical shops came in third. Travel, charitable contributions, health club memberships, and non-essential shopping rounded out the top 11.

The lower half of the response table included many network and communications services, but their frequency was significantly lower than the top cost cutting measures. In fact, the three of the four least likely services to be cut include the basic communications services: broadband, landline phone, and cellular service (education also fell among these three at the bottom of the list).

What it means is there is an ongoing opportunity for network operators, whose services are viewed as a much more fundamental part of everyday life than other leisure activities. Indeed, broadband service can be considered recession-proof.

Interestingly, paid VoIP has a much higher likelihood of being cut, despite the overwhelming sentiment that broadband Internet is a must-have service. Clearly, providers have a significant opportunity here in developing the PSTN replacement market. But, this is also a reflection of comfort - consumers are used to their reliable traditional phone service and, in a challenging economy, tend to favor tried and tested products to new technologies.

On the other hand, free and low-cost services still present an opportunity - though they also present a challenge in subsidizing those services with other revenue streams, including advertising. Even with an improvement in economic conditions, Alcatel-Lucent says 13 percent of respondents still plan on making cuts, while 20 percent are likely to increase spending, leaving the majority at a level spend.

What does this mean for providers? Certainly, they will have to adapt their business strategies to account for consumer behavior. More than likely, they will see an increase in the use of free services, like IP-based voice and video services, an increase in messaging (email and IM) as opposed to traditional telephony, a rising interest in bundled services, and a greater acceptance of advertisement-driven services.

The latter presents a real opportunity for operators as they look to offset a reduction in the use of fee-based services. The creation of more bundled offerings also is an opportunity, because it creates stickiness and helps reduce churn, which is at least as important as singing new subscribers - and builds a relationship operators can leverage as the introduce new services. And of course, their ability to enhance the overall experience for the end user will only help increase subscriber loyalty.

For more on Alcatel-Lucent's research, read the full report, including tables and charts that show exactly how the consumer market is expected to behave as a result of the recession.

Speed Introduction of New Intelligent Applications and Time to Revenue

2009-09-14T05:26:26Z

When you consider the work network operators are doing to build out their next generation communications infrastructures to be able to deliver new services and applications, and when you think about the evolution of end devices on which these new applications will run, the obvious question is, how can network operators keep up with the demand for applications to leverage these latest technologies.

Quite simply, the only way they can reasonably deliver new, innovative, intelligent applications quickly is to solidify relationships with third-party developers and content providers. Today's network operators have to focus on their delivery capabilities, and lack the resources to remain competitive if they also have to develop all the applications on their own.

It's clear that network operators understand the need to work with third parties, as most applications already come from other sources, not from the operators themselves. In fact, other than expanding footprints in underserved markets, network operators are seeing relatively flat revenues from network access, due to market saturation. Thus, in order to increase revenues in a highly competitive environment, they need to explore new options for bringing compelling services to market, which they cannot accomplish on their own. The only new wireline service, for instance, that has found wide-scale market penetration is IPTV, compared to the number of new Web services developed by the developer community and other third parties.

It's a clear trend, and one that will continue to grow as more software platforms are leveraged to create environments to allow easy development and introduction of creative, and potentially revenue generating services.

Highlighting this fact, a recent Alcatel-Lucent white paper discusses a survey of 132 service providers that were asked to identify the three most important factors that will contribute to the success of mainstream telcos. Two responses dominated their opinions: Rapid transition to all-IP networks and, topping all responses, more effective partnering and collaboration with third-party providers.

These two factors effectively comprise Alcatel-Lucent's application enablement strategy, a combination of building out intelligent, all-IP high leverage networks, and using the capabilities of those networks to develop deeper relationships and new business models with third-party providers.

By collaborating closely with third-party developers and content providers - and by allowing them greater access to network resources, including QoS capabilities, network-based storage, and key subscriber and device data - operators will not only create long-lasting relationships with these providers by increasing their networks' value to them, but will also allow intelligent, contextual applications and services to be more efficiently developed and rolled out, lowering all-important time to revenue.

Certainly, there are barriers that must be overcome - namely, despite a desire to work with third parties, network providers have traditionally not created a valuable enough value proposition that would drive these relationships to new levels. But, by enhancing their network capabilities and, more importantly, exhibiting trust in their partners by making these capabilities available to them, operators will have taken a significant step towards creating an meaningful ecosystem that will increase collaboration and entice developers to work more closely with the operators to quickly develop new revenue streams.

To understand more about how network operators can leverage their networks to solidify their third-party relationships and help speed the introduction of new intelligent applications, read the white paper, Working with Third Party Services: An Action Plan for Network Providers.

Lowering Network Costs While Increasing Your Broadband Footprint

2009-09-10T03:53:35Z

Regardless of what industry you're in, you've heard the mantra, "Do more with less." Cost reduction while increasing value and productivity is what every business aspires to be able to accomplish. That includes network operators, who are faced with the same fiscal challenges as any other business, but also have to increase their network capabilities in order to meet the demands for new bandwidth intensive services and applications. And they have to be able to deliver them more reliably than ever to a larger user base than ever, as more and more subscribers adopt the latest generation of mobile devices to take advantage of next generation communications features and services.

So, how can network operator lower costs while increasing their coverage area - including how can they extend their footprints to include rural and under- or unserved regions. Of course, this is the impetus driving the Broadband Stimulus portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which seeks to provide funding for broadband operators to facilitate broadband service delivery to these areas.

Certainly, one factor is deployment cost, which can be partially offset by funding from the Broadband Stimulus program. Alcatel-Lucent, which has developed complete end-to-end networking solutions for network operators, regardless of which technologies they have chosen, has spent considerable time and effort providing consultative advice to its customers as to how they can best benefit from the stimulus program, including how to balance accessibility, capacity, and affordability as they built out new or extend existing networks.

Alcatel-Lucent also understands that the most effective way to enhance network capabilities - including building out new footprint - is to ensure that appropriate relationships are in place that will enable quick and seamless rollout of new, revenue-generating applications and services. The ability to build those relationships with content providers and application developers by adding value through access to network resources is a key component of its Application Enablement strategy, which is designed to ensure that network operators are able to balance their investment in infrastructure with high-value services from their partners.

In order to develop those relationships, they need to first be willing to make that investment in infrastructure, building out what Alcatel-Lucent refers to as a High Leverage Network.

A high leverage network is designed to allow highly personalized applications, services, and content to be delivered, leveraging subscriber data, which is also made available to the service provider partners, allowing them to derive additional value from the relationships and create even more appealing services - particularly those that users are willing to pay for.

Fully converged, all-IP high leverage networks allow for easy scalability of bandwidth when and where it becomes necessary. They also provide application and service awareness, QoS, and packet optimization to ensure optimal network efficiency, reliability, and availability.

These are all capabilities that are necessary to extend an operator's footprint, while providing incentive for third-party partners to continue to develop new services and applications, which allow operators to offset CAPEX.

In addition, high leverage networks, which can be implemented in stages - again to accommodate budget constraints - allow for the convergence of network infrastructures both vertically (across network layers) and horizontally (across residential, business, and mobile users), allowing for a single infrastructure to support multiple access technologies, providing a lower TCO - ultimately driving down cost of operation.

For more on High Leverage Networks and how Alcatel-Lucent is helping is customers recover from the recession, read its white papers:

Evolving Towards a High Leverage Network - Extracting additional value from the network to create sustainable business models.

Targeted Investment in Broadband Infrastructure - Addressing key issues for revitalizing the United States economy and regaining broadband leadership.

Evolve to a More Stable Business Model and Create New Revenue Opportunities

2009-09-07T21:09:20Z

Today's Internet has evolved into a real resource - perhaps the greatest resource - for business and personal interaction with other individuals, communities, businesses, and information portals. It is typically the first place people look to for information, and the networks that provide access to that information and content are the primary vehicle for all communications today.

The applications that enable these various modes of interactivity, whether person-to-person communication, downloading content, online shopping, or merely gathering information are becoming more complex and more personalized to meet particular needs of each individual user. They are able to do that only by leveraging user data available through network providers.

However, the traditional relationship between network providers and content and application providers, where the network is merely a physical resource for delivering content and applications, has resulted in an unstable business model. The fact is that neither party has the resources to fully provide enhanced services to users, but neither has access to all the resources they need for developing a viable long-term business model.

Network providers are not being compensated for providing the bandwidth to deliver applications, and service and application providers are not being given access to full network capabilities that would increase the value of their services (i.e., location, presence, QoS, security). The challenge, as the demand for applications continues to grow - and features directly tied to these network capabilities with it - is for operators and providers to agree on a business model that benefits both and allows them to deliver optimized services to their users.

Naturally, any mutually beneficial strategy will be focused on delivering an improved user experience and a keen understanding of what services users want, how do they want them delivered, which ones will they pay for, and, perhaps most importantly for long-term success, which ones will they be willing to provide profile information for. Those operators and providers that can collaborate to determine these factors will be on the front lines for successful new product launches.

Alcatel-Lucent's application enablement ideal is built on enabling these kinds of business models and delivering these key services. On the network operator side, it focuses on the need to evolve to a high leverage, all-IP network, which can deliver these services and collect subscriber data - and then recycle that data for delivering even greater value to users.

These new high leverage networks will allow operators and their provider and developer partners to collaborate in a much more meaningful fashion, where the best capabilities of both sides are highlighted to present a more stable business model with new revenue potential. A new, significantly larger market opportunity can be opened up, network providers can open their resources to their partner community in a controlled way, such that applications and services can be optimized and delivered to each unique user anywhere, anytime, on any device.

It presents a new opportunity for operators and providers, where each can showcase their strengths, and leverage each other's assets to enrich the user experience and drive new revenue streams.

For the content provider and application developer, it creates a targeted audience for services. For network providers, it means an offset to network investment through advertising and network access and resources.

By evolving to a high leverage network, network operators will quickly be able to build new business models with partners via a network that is:

Multi-service, to reduce cost and enable both fixed and mobile services that are transparent to the network
Available at anytime, anywhere, and on any device
Application- and service-aware to allow contextual, personalized delivery of content and services
Scalable and flexible in both directions to provide high QoE at all times without increased cost
Open to developers and for service providers to leverage

By embracing the application enablement ideal, and a high leverage network, operators will put themselves, and their partners, well on the path to a sustainable, mutually beneficial business model for the next generation communications environment. And ultimately, both will benefit from the ability to combine to deliver new, innovative, and rich set of applications to the user community.

Read more about application enablement in Alcatel-Lucent's white paper, Application Enablement, Delivering a trusted Web experience to increase revenue.

Enhance Network Relevance to Strengthen Customer Relationships

2009-09-05T16:21:05Z

As the network continues to become an increasingly valuable tool - indeed a necessity - for both business and personal communications, entertainment, and information, network operators are faced with a serious challenge. Specifically, they must address the need to expand and enhance their network capabilities to deliver a quality user experience, but they must develop a strategy for doing so that will allow them to remain financially competitive.

In other words, while network evolution and investment are required - for instance, by evolving to all-IP high leverage networks that enable scalability and increased flexibility -- operators must find the right business models to balance that investment with new revenue streams to ultimately meeting users' demands for new applications and service quality and reliability.

The current environment is not conducive to meeting that goal. Network operators are hesitant to invent in network resources because they feel they are not being appropriately compensated for their resources. On the other hand, application and content providers are not given access to the resources and data they need to deliver the experience users demand.

To overcome this hurdle and to create a network ecosystem that benefits all constituencies - from network providers to developers and content providers to end users - the network must be evolved into a more relevant resource, more than just a "dumb pipe."

Alcatel-Lucent's answer is its application enablement strategy for operators, which is designed to leverage both the network and the content and applications to help create a more stable, more easily monetized - and significantly enhanced - user experience. By making network resources available - in a controlled and managed environment - the idea is to help operators develop and build new relationships and business models increasing the ROI on their network investment.

The strategy is founded on the fundamental that network operators and content and application providers add value to the overall network and services environment, and are all necessary to deliver a viable end product. It also is based on an understanding that each must derive value from the relationships between them.

In addition to the network infrastructure, operators have significant resources that can be leveraged to deliver applications and content more efficiently and reliably and, importantly, to the users that need or want them. It is these resources that can be leveraged to extend the value of the network to developers and content providers, increasing the ability to generate recurring revenue.

These resources include:

Integrated billing systems that allow multiple alternative billing options
Security to enable private transactions
Network-based storage to allow more efficient delivery of digital content
End-to-end bandwidth management for ensuring QoS and enhancing the user experience
Contextual information and other user data that can be leveraged to personalize services and applications

Alcatel-Lucent drives additional innovation to drive these new services through its Alcatel-Lucent Ventures division of Bell Labs, which focuses on creating innovative products and services, from concept to market availability, all designed to enhance the value of the network for both operators and their applications developer and content provider partners.

By taking measures to ensure content providers and application developers gain value from their relationships, network operators can increase their value as a vehicle for delivering services, ultimately cultivating stronger relationships between themselves and their partners, as well as with end users.

For more on Alcatel-Lucent's application enablement strategy, read its recent white paper.

How to increase network value using 3rd party partnerships

2009-09-01T00:40:29Z

In today's new age of communications, each piece of the service chain, from equipment manufacturers to application developers to network operators and everyone in between has had to challenge their traditional business models, looking for new ways to drive revenue while cutting both operational and capital expenditures.

In the service provider community, we've already talked about the idea of outsourcing network resources and management to reduce the need for network additional infrastructure buildout on one hand, and as a means for increasing ROI on network assets on the other.

For those network operators that intend on continuing that model - network ownership - in addition to looking at leasing bandwidth and network capacity to partners, the other critical element will be to identify the right third-party partnerships that will provide the applications, services, and content most desirable to their customers. After all, the end game is about customer service, which means securing the right products that will create brand loyalty.

The challenge is not only to find the right mix of third-party providers, but to also find the right model that will provide value to not only the end user, but the network operator and third-party developers and service providers as well. The benefit for the operators is obvious - they can leverage these services to attract and retain subscribers.

For these third parties, it's not as simple, because the value proposition for them comes from gaining access to operators' resources, which they have traditionally been reluctant to part with. The new business model however, is changing their position - out of necessity more than desire - and many are looking at ways to build these third-party relationships by providing access to telco resources and assets, such as guaranteed QoS, presence status, BSS/OSS support, hosting of services, customer support, etc.

While these trade-offs seem a logical step, little ground has been gained, largely because network operators are reluctant to allow access to their closely guarded goldmine of client-related information. However, in order to make this new collaborative model work, they will need to come around to some middle ground. As network operators look to move forward with these plans, a recent Alcatel-Lucent whitepaper offers a set of 10 guidelines for doing it successfully.

1. Establish a set of KPIs that set benchmarks for improving performance in this area. Key benchmarks (set on a timeline) could include number of developers actively using the program, time to develop new services, time to onboard and configure new services, number of services developed per annum, revenue earned from third party programs both in absolute terms and as a proportion of revenues, and RoI on new services deployed.

2. Take a pragmatic initial approach to working with third parties, aiming to show through simple early-to-market solutions how the new relationship could work and demonstrating that superior value really can be created.

3. At the same time, be ready to have a variety of business and commercial solutions available over time. Since the universe of third parties is vast and varied, different business models and resources may in time need to be made available and marketed, depending on the type of partner, the value of the relationship and so on.

4. Understand which third parties are most likely to respond positively to an invitation to work with you, probably through detailed market research. There is no general rule here, as it depends on a range of factors including the network operator's size, competitive position, geographic position, customer set, strategic objectives, services available and so on.

5. Use software platforms that are suitable or adaptable for use by particular kinds of developers. This may include using the RESTful and Ajax software architectures used by Web developers, as well supporting more heavyweight environments used by mainstream IT developers.

6. Sell the ability to connect third parties with end users wherever they are--through both partnerships and technology. This means resolving issues on behalf of third parties such as the customer's location, type of access network, device and so on. It also means focusing on enablers that feature automatic configuration and auto-adaptation on the fly, as well as customer support. It may also mean actively supporting suitable standards as they emerge from the community.

7. Break down internal walls and barriers between the key stakeholders, which will include CIO, CTO, OSS/BSS, network operations, CRM, product management and marketing. This in turn means that programs must be supported and driven at board level.

8. Deploy policy and QoS tools that are designed from the start to help enrich relationships with third parties, rather than simply as tools to control the behavior of applications or the telco's own services.

9. Focus on dismantling subscriber data silos and getting consensus on rules for using that data. Subscriber profiling in its widest sense could be the most valuable tool that network providers own, enabling highly personalized subscriber offers to be constructed, but consolidating, harmonizing and securing that data is a long-term task.

Emphasize the ability to identify and authenticate individuals in a secure environment, as well as the ability to bill them. Network providers (especially mobile network providers) are in a strong position to do this, and it is a capability that will be valued by third parties.