As consumers and businesses users throughout the world continue to demand mobile video and multimedia, wireless networks are under intense pressure. In fact, mobile operators are finding that their networks are struggling to keep pace and still deliver the quality of service that consumers demand.
To start to pave the way for the necessary change, Alcatel-Lucent suggests that mobile operators gain a comprehensive view of their market, business models and network strategies. The converged all-IP network can pave the way for LTE and 4G, but mobile operators need to scale their bandwidth while managing costs and protecting their application enablement capabilities; take advantage of new revenue opportunities through advanced services; and deploy a flat IP architecture that will support LTE (Long Term Evolution) and 4G services.
Delivering advanced services is a great pathway to new revenue opportunities for mobile operators. To leverage new platforms, operators must enhance their application enablement capabilities, becoming more service-, user-, IP- and network element-aware. By evolving toward a converged all-IP network, there are three main benefits afforded the mobile operator, including simplified, unified operations; network optimization and efficiency to deliver scalable and available bandwidth; and quality of service (QoS).
This also demands that mobile operators look at the big picture as the goal is to delivery value-added wireless services everywhere. To provide the visibility needed to deliver high QoS, end-to-end wireless intelligence is necessary. And, while some of this information is directly tied to the mobile backhaul network, some of it is also tied to capabilities in the wireless packet core. To drive the necessary underlying services, tight coordination between the RAN and the wireless packet core is needed to deliver the right QoE.
To move toward the all-IP network, mobile operators must converge the many different mobile backhaul networks that support 2G, 3G and 3G+ into a single IP and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) packet-switched infrastructure. The resulting network is highly scalable and will support 2G and 3G requirements, in addition to LTE and 4G. The operator must then converge the mobile backhaul network with the wireless packet core network elements, operations and management.
Alcatel-Lucent is a leader in this space, providing mobile operators with the expertise and tools to build out the converged network to drive 4G and LTE. The company’s High Leverage Network architecture captures Alcatel-Lucent’s best practices into a new vision for high-bandwidth, data-centric wireless IP environments that will optimize the network for industry-leading quality of experience; drive the demand for 4G with end-to-end LTE; and delivering the platform for end-to-end wireless IP.
Additionally, Alcatel-Lucent provides mobile backhaul solutions to enable wireless operators to perform economic and efficient upgrades. The Alcatel-Lucent Ultimate Wireless Packet Core extends the capabilities of the company’s service-aware, high-performance LTE Evolved Packet Core to also support the GPRS Support Node functions of the existing 2.5G/3G network. As a result, the company provides a converged packet core for all mobile broadband services.
The mobile demand shows no signs of stopping, making the drive for 4G and LTE essential for mobile operator success and mobile consumer satisfaction.
