Carrier Grade (3 9's) DPI RFI by nbn Australia

nbn ("new broadband network") Australia requests  "information from suitably qualified and experienced entities to be part of its Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) initiative.

The scope of the initiative is to implement a solution that will enable nbn to enhance its capacity planning, offer new services and improve congestion management. The solution will perform the following:

• Collection of statistics for a wide range of applications and protocols. 
• Collection of statistics related to active flows, data consumption and data trending.
• Enforcement of a wide range of policies based on the collected information
• Automatic triggering of policies based on a wide range of criteria and thresholds. 

nbn requires that the supplier will be Carrier Grade - "refers to a system, or a hardware or software component that is extremely reliable, well tested and proven in its capabilities. Carrier grade systems are tested and engineered to meet or exceed "three nines" high availability standards, and provide very fast fault recovery through redundancy"

See "RFI: DPI Solution" - here.

Allot: DPI Could Help CSPs Engage w/Customers at the Right Moment

Allot Communications announced that its recently published MobileTrends report "shows how the daily online behavior of each mobile customer can be used by CSPs to discover smarter ways to profile their customers and to propose targeted offers. 

Based on user profiles that were derived from online behavior, we identified 5+1 touch triggers for engaging customers at the right moment and in the right context for CSP service uptake: visits to risky sites, CSP competitor websites, and travel sites, as well as use of OTT cloud storage, mobile hotspots and video streaming.

• On average, subscribers have 72 daily online transactions (each with the potential to become a touch trigger)
   
• Business Users use mobile hotspots 69% more than the typical user profile, and Millennials do this 45% more than Baby Boomers
   
• 45% of Female customers and 38% of Male customers watch video daily
   
• 70% of video consumers are light viewers who watch 1-6 clips per day, while 8% are heavy viewers who watch 21+ clips per day. The majority of heavy viewers are Males (54%).

See "Allot Communications MobileTrends Report Reveals that 6% of Mobile Subscribers Visit Risky Websites Every Day" - here.

Openwave: How Could MNOs Optimize Traffic in the Encryption Era?

According to Openwave Mobility "encrypted traffic travelling on many mobile networks has risen fivefold in just one year and has now reached 60% of all data. 

Based on current trends, encrypted traffic levels will exceed 80% within 12 months in several regions. This is now one of the biggest areas of concern for mobile network operators as sites such as Google, Facebook and Wikipedia use HTTPS encrypted protocols. 

The findings are based on observing and analyzing traffic trends at a number of mobile operator customers around the globe". 

Related post: "[ABI] Encryption Drives Mobile Optimization to a $40B Over 5 Year Market" - here.
 
"As networks go “dark”, carriers are unable to gain insight into the encrypted data travelling on their networks. Operators can struggle to optimize the traffic and this can seriously impact users’ Quality of Experience (QoE). Moreover, some operators are unable to apply filters to block content such as adult material or to identify video streams that could even be used for extreme purposes such as to radicalize vulnerable individuals"

John Giere [pictured], CEO, Openwave Mobility advice to MNOs: “Operators need to consider solutions that optimize the TCP/IP layer of their networks and apply smart heuristics to achieve optimization in the application layer too. There are solutions that can identify bandwidth-hungry objects, even when encrypted, and achieve 50% data savings on HD video, audio and apps. Best of all, they do not compromise subscriber privacy.” (see "Openwave Mobility: Federated SDM; Encrypted Traffic Optimization" - here)

See "Over 80% of Traffic on Mobile Networks will be Encrypted in 12 months" - here.

Sterlite Technologies Acquired Elitecore for $27M

 
Elitecore Technologies, often covered in my blog with its PCRF and other OSS products, was acquired for an "overall enterprise value of approximately Rs180 crore ($27.2M) in an all cash deal".

Sterlite Technologies announced it has "entered into a definitive agreement for the acquisition of Elitecore Technologies.. Elitecore is a leading provider of Operations Support Services / Business Support Services and is majority owned by First Carlyle Ventures Mauritius, whose affiliate is advised by The Carlyle Group. Elitecore was established in 1999 by highly experienced software technocrats with over 20 years of experience.

.. Elitecore is a profitable niche player with FY 15 revenues of Rs147cr ($22.2M) and EBITDA of Rs16cr ($2.4M) and is cash positive on a net debt basis"

Related posts:

• 3 Wins for Elitecore PCC in Cable - here
• EliteCore Offers PCRF as Cloud Service  - here
• Named Deployments: Aircel , O-Zone

"The company has been continuously profitable for the last 7 years and the financial performance would continue to improve given the strategic decision to build its service capabilities and focus on investing in right growth product categories.

..Sterlite has taken a strategic decision to capitalize on the broadband data network creation globally by offering a larger range of products and solutions especially focusing on the high value product segments. Elitecore’s portfolio enables Sterlite to serve Telco operators’ mission critical applications that drive profitability and scalability".

See "Sterlite Technologies announces acquisition of global telecom software company Elitecore Technologies" - here.

Here Comes the "Fast Lane" from Verizon (Over LTE & Fixed)

Here is how to offer "Fast Lanes" in the Net Neutrality era: call it a private network.

Matt Hamblen reports to Computerworld that "Verizon today introduced an LTE wireless traffic management service to give business and government customers the ability to prioritize critical network-based applications.

..Verizon said it is the first U.S.-based carrier to offer such a service, which it calls Private Network Traffic Management .. The service will work over both LTE wireless and wired communications and will segregate the priority communications from Verizon's public network 

Verizon will offer different service levels, including a "mission critical" class, that a customer could use for video or voice over IP traffic. In that scenario, a customer could decide to prioritize video communications above emails or even lower-priority communications in a machine-to-machine network.

.. Carlos Benavides, associate director of product management, Verizon predicted the biggest use of the private network will be to support Internet of Things buildouts .. there would be three levels of service: Enhanced, Premium and Public Safety" 

See "Some IoT functions would get higher priority than others in a crowded network" - here.

Google's Introduces New Compression Algorithm

 
Zoltan Szabadka [pictured], Software Engineer, Compression Team, Google announced in a post to Google's Open Source Blog a new compression algorithm ".. Brotli [code here] is a whole new data format. This new format allows us to get 20–26% higher compression ratios over Zopfli. 

In our study ‘Comparison of Brotli, Deflate, Zopfli, LZMA, LZHAM and Bzip2 Compression Algorithms’ we show that Brotli is roughly as fast as zlib’s Deflate implementation. At the same time, it compresses slightly more densely than LZMA and bzip2 on the Canterbury corpus. 

The higher data density is achieved by a 2nd order context modeling, re-use of entropy codes, larger memory window of past data and joint distribution codes. Just like Zopfli, the new algorithm is named after Swiss bakery products. Brötli means ‘small bread’ in Swiss German.

​The decompression speed vs. compression ratio.
Source: Comparison of Brotli, Deflate, Zopfli, LZMA, LZHAMand Bzip2 Compression Algorithms

The smaller compressed size allows for better space utilization and faster page loads. We hope that this format will be supported by major browsers in the near future, as the smaller compressed size would give additional benefits to mobile users, such as lower data transfer fees and reduced battery use"

Can Google Beat this ? See more: Pied Piper Waiting for the next Season! 

See "Introducing Brotli: a new compression algorithm for the internet" - here.

Ubiscope [Korea] to Use Sandvine's Cloud-based PCRF

Sandvine announced that "Ubiscope, a provider of security, network and consulting services in South Korea will be using Sandvine’s Cloud Services Policy Controller to offer innovative new services to their business customers.

Ubiscope selected Sandvine’s Cloud Services Policy Controller because they required a best-of-breed, application-aware, network policy control solution that would provide the flexibility for IT managers to deploy real-time productivity controls across their network of business customers.

Sandvine’s Cloud Services Policy Controller is a completely virtualized platform, built upon the foundation of network functions virtualization (NFV) and is compatible with software-defined networking (SDN) standards. This framework enables on-demand, elastic provisioning for maximally efficient use of carrier cloud resources as well as a wealth of deployment options through integration with numerous provisioning systems, customer-premises equipment (CPE or Virtual CPE) devices, and other Ethernet access devices" 

See "Sandvine Receives First Cloud Services Policy Controller Order" - here.

ITU: "57% of the world’s people remain offline"

A new report by the ITU finds that "Broadband Internet is failing to reach those who could benefit most, with Internet access reaching near-saturation in the world’s rich nations but not advancing fast enough to benefit the billions of people living in the developing world".

Other highlights:

• 57% of the world’s people remain offline
   
• 3.2 billion people are now connected, up from 2.9 billion last year and equating to 43% of the global population.
   
• the Net is only accessible to 35% of people in developing countries.
   
• the top ten countries for household Internet penetration are all located in Asia or the Middle East. The Republic of Korea continues to have the world’s highest household broadband penetration, with 98.5% of homes connected; Qatar (98%) and Saudi Arabia (94%) are ranked second and third respectively.  
• Iceland has the highest percentage of individuals using the Internet (98.2%), just ahead of near-neighbours Norway (96.3%) and Denmark (96%).

• Monaco remains very slightly ahead of Switzerland as the world leader in fixed broadband penetration, at over 46.8% of the population compared with the Swiss figure of 46%. There are now six economies (Monaco, Switzerland, Denmark, Netherlands, Liechtenstein and France) where fixed broadband penetration exceeds 40%, up from just one (Switzerland) in 2013.  

• The Asia-Pacific region now accounts for half of all active mobile broadband subscriptions, with Macao, China easily taking top place with 322 active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 people – or just over 3 subscriptions per inhabitant – followed by second-ranked Singapore (156 subscriptions per 100 people) and Kuwait (140 subscriptions per 100 people).  

• In total, there are now 79 countries where over 50% of the population is online, up from 77 in 2014. The top ten countries for Internet use are all located in Europe.  

• The lowest levels of Internet access are mostly found in sub-Saharan Africa, with Internet available to less than 2% of the population in Guinea (1.7%), Somalia (1.6%), Burundi (1.4%), Timor Leste (1.1%) and Eritrea (1.0).

See "Global broadband growth slows sharply: 4 billion still offline" - here.

Allot: $8M Expansion Order for Security Services

Allot Communications' strategy of focusing on security (see "Allot CEO: We Compete Against Security Vendors" - here and "Allot's Former CEO: "Security is the Right Direction for Allot"" - here) shows results.

Allot's Allot ServiceProtector

The company announced that it has ".. received an expansion order of approximately $8 million from a major APAC tier-1 fixed-line operator for Allot Service Gateway Tera, Allot Service Protector and Allot Websafe. 

This incumbent operator is using Allot’s Service Protector in-line solution to protect national critical infrastructure, business communication, and IT infrastructure nationwide against destructive DDoS attacks. 

This is an expansion order to an existing project, which augments the solution’s scale, providing rapid identification and in-line mitigation of large scale attacks . 

The solution manages and secures traffic of up to two Terabits per second without the need to redirect traffic to a scrubbing center. The operator’s complex and high capacity network requires effective protection at a vast scale, which is achieved by Service Gateway Tera and its integrated security services". 

See "Allot Communications Receives $8M Expansion Order from a Tier-1 Operator" - here.

Tango Enables Subscriber Interaction in Africa

Tango Telecom announced a "major upgrade and expansion deal with a leading African operator for its Subscriber Interaction and Self-Care solution. This deployment will increase the operator’s capacity to handle the significant uptake of mobile services by its rapidly growing subscriber base. 

The Tango Telecom Subscriber Interaction and Self-care solution, a key use-case of the Tango Telecom Data Retail Engine (Tango DRE™), enables subscribers to manage and personalise their mobile experience right from their devices without the need for costly customer service intervention. 

Tango Telecom’s solution enables the operator to offer its subscribers a personalised and interactive on-device experience via Smartphone App, USSD, SMS, Web portal, etc. by providing a proven self-care alternative to costly IVR platforms and call centres. 

It allows subscribers to access and manage all aspects of their accounts including balance queries, voucher recharges, credit transfers and subscription management for voice, data and messaging services via easy to use and highly-interactive USSD-based self-care menus. The solution monetises the operator’s self-care traffic by enabling subscribers to discover and subscribe to key revenue-generating content services such as music, news and mBanking". 

See "Enabling the rapid monetisation of mobile services in Africa" - here.

[PeerApp]: Caching iOS9 Delivered 80% of the Traffic

Dan Rayburn posted some information. collected by PeerApp and US ISPs on iOS9 download traffic:

".. around 1pm ET on Wednesday after iOS 9 was released, combined traffic from iOS 9 downloads spiked to almost 13Gbps. Nearly 80% (over 10Gbps) of this traffic is being delivered through PeerApp’s cache, avoiding congesting of the operator and University network. 

Looking at individual systems, PeerApp said they are seeing speed improvements on the order to 10-20x; meaning customers served by their caches are getting the apple.com traffic 10-20x faster from cache. One University in particular is experiencing up to 100x speed improvement in downloads.

..In conversations I’ve had with some ISPs in the U.S., iOS 9 downloads have been accounting for anywhere between 8%-15% of traffic inside their network"

See "iOS 9 Download Traffic Peaks At 13Gbps Across 70 Telco & University Networks" - here.

Nokia's Recipe for Lower Latency

A post by Thomas Kaps [pictured] to Nokia's blog lists "3 ways to reduce latency to milliseconds [for] real-time applications and data communication that demand instant responses from the network to create an enjoyable experience:

• Throughput:... Good news is that throughput increase and latency reduction are now important design criteria, as we progress from one generation of technology evolution to the next. LTE reduces round-trip-time (RTT) by 50% compared to the previous technology generation and 5G will reduce it further to single-digit milliseconds.
  
  In addition, throughput can be improved with known techniques such as Carrier Aggregation or Coordinated Multi Point (CoMP), in addition to deploying LTE, Single RAN and Small Cells. Increasing fiber availability will also provide bandwidth galore.

• Proximity: The only absolute constraints on latency are distance and the speed of light .. The only way to improve this is to reduce the distance between devices and the content and applications they are accessing. Bringing data storage and processing closer to the user can be achieved through approaches such as Mobile Edge Computing [see "Mobile Edge Computing Group Formed" - here] as demonstrated by Nokia’s Liquid Applications solution [see "Rumors: NSN's Liquid Applications Uses Saguna's Technology" - here].
  
  Another promising development is Software Defined Networking (SDN). When applied to mobile network functions such as gateways, SDN can bring applications and network resources closer to the end user or even fast forward traffic to local nodes, bypassing central nodes when relevant.
  
  Introducing flat IP and distributed cloud-based architectures can also help improve latency by reducing the number of hops and elements required for packets to traverse through.

• Control: .. software-driven measures that provide ‘dynamic network control’ can also help improve latency at a session/application level. For example, software applications ensure that heterogeneous resources are applied intelligently on a case-to-case basis in real time depending on the network situation, application needs, and desired QoE.
  
  Functionalities such as Application aware RAN and Network aware applications can improve latency for specific applications. Nokia’s Dynamic Experience Management (DEM) delivers required QoE at a session level, including measured and perceived latency, through a fast loop control of measurement, analytics, decisions and actions all in real-time. DEM combined with network-level orchestration across all domains will pave the way to get from optimized reaction to automated prediction and control of latency dynamically". 

See "Don’t let latency make you dizzy" - here.

Sandvine: Netflix Reaches Almost 10% of Peak Downstream traffic in Austria and France

Sandvine released its ".. latest Global Internet Phenomena Report focusing on Asia-Pacific and Europe. The report is based on data from a selection of Sandvine’s 250-plus communications service provider (CSP) customers .. and contains findings from both fixed and mobile networks: 

• Netflix is making gains in the new European markets they entered late last year, with the service now accounting for almost 10% of peak downstream traffic in Austria and France
   
• Apple Music, bolstered by a three month free trial, has surpassed Spotify as the leading music streaming service on mobile networks in Australia and New Zealand
   
• YouTube is the top mobile application in both Europe and Asia-Pacific, making it the global leader in mobile traffic
   
• Online gaming continues to drive traffic on fixed networks with Twitch and Steam now top-10 applications for the first time in Europe and Asia-Pacific respectively
   
• A prediction that Filesharing traffic share has peaked in Asia-Pacific and will begin to see significant declines as more over-the-top (OTT) video services expand to the region
   
• On a European airline, the three most popular applications by bandwidth are Facebook, general Web Browsing, and Apple’s iMessage

See "Sandvine Report: Netflix And Apple Music Making International Gains" - here.

[Survey]: Operators See OTTs as Fiercest Competitors in 2016

Openet announced that a "survey of more than 100 operator respondents reveals the extent to which the limitations of legacy technology are restricting the creation, targeting and distribution of revenue-generating digital services .. while operators want to target customers with personalised, relevant offers in real-time in order to drive upsell opportunities, they are let down by the inflexibility of existing systems.

Key findings:

• Operators now view VoIP and messaging OTTs as their fiercest competition in maximising the effectiveness of digital services

• 57 per cent of operators feel quite well prepared for the battle, citing their network as their key area of competitive advantage
   
• More than half the operators surveyed have tried to leverage real-time data to create targeted customer offers and services
   
• However the majority (70 per cent) confessed that they are either worse, or much worse, than OTTs at personalised customer engagement
   
• 63 per cent of operators think it should take between one and seven days to create and send targeted and personalised offers
   
• 64 per cent admitted it actually takes up to 6 months in reality
   
• Operators surveyed anticipate that their most lucrative new revenue sources in 2016 will come from providing multi-play offers. This is closely followed by selling digital life services (e.g. home automation, and security services) to their existing customer base – providing their BSS can keep up and monetise new offers.
  
  
• Operators recognise that there is a significant level of danger and a need for rapid BSS transformation, with 65 per cent fearing mobile data commoditisation in the next two years.

See "Operator survey: legacy technology a key inhibitor of digital transformation" - here.

Ovum: 3 Key Factors to Best Broadband Consumer Experience

A new report by Michael Philpott [pictured], Practice Leader Consumer Services, Ovum finds that "In order to support their expectations of their broadband experience, the majority of fixed line consumer broadband users surveyed need a download speed of at least 10Mbps .. the best consumer experience is supported by three key factors: 

• a download speed of at least 10Mbps; [related post - "Broadband Minimal Speed is ..." - here]
• a stable and reliable network that delivers content with a wait time of no more than 3 seconds; and 
• outstanding customer service that can resolve most customer issues at the first point of contact.

The research, which combined a consumer survey with quantitative market data on the fixed broadband market in 30 countries, confirmed the rise of SD and HD video as a commonplace application that is driving the end-user experience, and hence the need for networks to be able to support high-quality video delivery". 


See "Ovum:10Mbps has become the new minimum to support customer broadband expectations" - here.

ALU to Make Velocix CDN Elastic Next Year

Alcatel-Lucent announced it is set to "boost the performance of its cloud-based IP video storage and content delivery technologies with the introduction of its enhanced Cloud DVR platform and the new Elastic Content Delivery Network. This will allow service providers to manage network capacity more dynamically as they deal with ever-growing customer demand.

.. Alcatel-Lucent’s Velocix content delivery network (CDN) technologies allow service providers to optimize video content for delivery on any device. With functionality moved to the cloud, the Elastic CDN allows resources to be allocated more flexibly, when and where they are needed. 

During a major sporting event or incident, the provider can dynamically provision virtualized machines in minutes rather than weeks or months and cache popular content closer to users to better manage video traffic over the networks. Once demand has slowed, extra capacity can be released and used on other applications or services. Elastic CDN will be made commercially available in 2016.

See "Alcatel-Lucent enhances delivery of video content with introduction of Elastic content delivery network and cloud-based DVR storage" - here.

Huawei Launches MOS Based Video Experience Measurement

Huawei unveiled its "video experience evaluation system, U-vMOS .. The system measures indicators from sample analysis of subjective video experiences coupled with analysis from related technologies to provide objective assessments on the overall video service experience. It provides a unified standard to measure the user experience which guides operators and the video industry chain in enhancing user satisfaction.

..  Huawei video research teams combined ergonomics, sample research, and in-depth technical studies to identify the top three factors that affect the video experience: video quality, interactive experience, and video view experience. 

Huawei defines three core philosophies in U-vMOS, which can measure these three main factors.

• Core philosophy 1: Huawei carried out in-depth research on the limits of the human eye and how much resolution it can actually take in. The grading standard from the subjective viewing experience of various users watching videos of different resolutions on screens of different sizes from a typical distance is also defined in the algorithm. U-vMOS supports a resolution ranging from 360P to 8K and video played on screens ranging from 4.5 inches to 100 inches, breaking through the confines of the original vMOS definition in which differences could only be compared across screens with the same resolution. Considering the features of the human eye and actual reactions from viewers over different screens with varying resolutions, a score is assigned with the optimal viewing experience of the human eye as the full score.
   
• Core philosophy 2: With data from extensive lab tests and verifications, Huawei defined the objective indicators that evaluate user interoperability in varying use scenarios and the viewing experience, including the initial loading time, zapping time, and seek response time. This philosophy enables the U-vMOS to measure user experience indicators throughout the viewing process.
   
• Core philosophy 3: Huawei takes sample analysis on the subjective preferences of various audiences in different video application scenarios, and sets up a mathematical model that uses those preferences and parameters as weights. Huawei then adds a subjective preference parameter to the formula so that the U-vMOS system can adapt to different scenarios and continue to expand its "knowledge base".

See "Huawei Unveils Video Experience Measurement System U-vMOS" - here.

Radisys and EZchip to Offer Integrated Service-Aware Solution

Radisys FlowEngine
TDE-1000

Radisys and EZchip Semiconductor announced the "integration path towards EZchip’s next-generation NPS network processor with Radisys’ FlowEngine™ intelligent traffic distribution solutions [see "Radisys Introduces Service-Aware Load Balancer" - here] for Communications Service Providers (CSPs). 

The telco-centric, carrier-grade solution provides CSPs with a service-aware integrated solution of hardware, software and professional services, enabling CSPs to guarantee services and roll-out new services in an SDN environment – at the scale required for millions of subscribers around the world".

Related post: "Network Processors - are they Here to Stay?" - here.

Radisys and EZchip’s integrated solution delivers guaranteed support to millions of subscribers and flows with complete flexibility, statefulness and service assurance.

• Service Availability: The solution provides needed scalability to support millions of subscribers and flows; subscribers can count on service being available – when and where they need it

• Service Visibility: The solution provides network analytics, giving CSPs visibility into their network to identify and drive services, enforce intelligent policies and guarantee Service Level Agreements. The ability to guarantee service requires guaranteed state. Together, Radisys and EZchip deliver stateful awareness of flow classification in one compact, integrated system with less processing and minimized latency compared to alternate solutions.
   
• Service Flexibility: The solution delivers unmatched flexibility. Its feature-rich software libraries, open source SDN interfaces, Layer 2-7 processing and professional services to deliver customization as needed allow CSPs the flexibility to rapidly introduce new services and generate new revenue

See "Radisys and EZchip Announce Partnership to Solve Mobile Operators’ Service Scalability Challenges" - here.

Opera Offers "Ultra Data Savings" on Samsung Galaxy J2

Opera announced that "Opera Max together with Samsung R&D Institute of India powers Ultra Data Saving feature on Samsung Galaxy J2 in India. Consumers can get the most out of their mobile data plans.

Samsung Galaxy J2’s Ultra Data Saving let users to allow and block individual apps from using mobile data and save data by enabling data optimization at the same time. Each action takes just one click in Ultra Data Saving Mode. Users will also get an overview so they can track how much mobile data is consumed and saved, so they can enjoy the mobile internet with better peace of mind.

.. Opera Max offers unique data-optimization technology. It reduces data consumption on images, webpages, videos and audio streams, especially with image-heavy or video apps, such as Instagram, YouTube, Vine, IMDB and Flipboard. Ultra Data Saving mode provides up to 50% savings in data and also frees up to 11% RAM, thereby refining customer’s experience on a smartphone".

See "Opera Max supports Ultra Data Saving Mode for Samsung Galaxy J2" - here.

Flash Networks xtraAir Reduces Signaling Events by 5-15%

Flash Networks announced the release of "xtraAir Data Signaling Optimization that enables operators to manage the exponential increase in connected devices as a result of the Internet of Things (IoT) by reducing signaling events by 5-15%. xtraAir automatically improves radio network performance by managing traffic flows at the network core using field proven, proprietary, and patent pending technology.

Using a variety of techniques to streamline signaling traffic xtraAir reduces the volume of signaling events. xtraAir streamlines data signaling traffic for 3G and 4G networks, HTTP 1.1/2.0, HTTPS and other TCP based networks.

See "Flash Networks Launches xtraAir Data Signaling Optimization to Enable Operators to Manage Surge in IoT Traffic" - here.

Parallel Wireless Enhances PeerApp and Saguna MEC Solution

Parallel Wireless announced a "partnership to enhance the Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) solution provided by PeerApp and Saguna Networks. Saguna’s technology is incorporated in PeerApp’s previously announced MEC solution (see "PeerApp Integrates Saguna's Mobile Edge Solution" - here and "Mobile Edge Computing Group Formed" - here).

To further improve backhaul capacity for the PeerApp/Saguna MEC solution architecture, Parallel Wireless is using its software-defined, multi-mode, multi-band Converged Wireless System (CWS) base station and HetNet Gateway (HNG) orchestrator.

See "Parallel Wireless Reimagines Mobile Content Delivery with PeerApp and Saguna" - here.

Verizon Uses Cisco to Offer SDN-Based, Application-Aware, Network Services

Verizon unveiled its "new software-defined WAN service using Cisco's Intelligent WAN (IWAN) technology that harnesses the power of the Internet with the performance and reliability of a private IP network, to help enterprises keep up with the continued growth of network traffic.

Through Cisco's software-defined WAN solution, Verizon is enabling a:

• Better User Experience: Integrated application optimization for improved and faster application performance
   
• Highly Secure Infrastructure and Applications: Robust, highly secure and certified routing platforms (ISRs and ASRs)
   
• Low Operational Cost: Intelligent Path Control to fully utilize both MPLS and the Internet
   
• IT Agility: Provision new sites and services faster with a hybrid WAN to support key business initiatives

Verizon and Cisco will both market and sell the managed solution to their respective enterprise customer bases in the U.S. beginning in September. The companies plan to roll out the solution in EMEA by the end of the year. The new solution will be supported by Verizon's IT consulting group which help enterprises manage their transition to SD-based networking". 

See "Verizon Becomes First Service Provider to Offer New Cisco Software-Defined Networking Technology" - here.

Nokia Adds Security Solutions

Nokia Networks announced it has "extended its security portfolio with new protection capabilities complemented by expert professional services in assessment and deployment:

• Nokia’s Network Access Guard addresses the sheer intricacy that operators face in managing internal staff access to multiple network element systems. It secures, identifies and monitors employee access while simplifying the way privileged users handle critical network elements.

• Nokia’s Signaling Security Solution can identify weaknesses in an operator’s SS7 infrastructure and implement a firewall to protect against subscriber data being hacked as well as other malicious intrusions. Nokia Networks is the only major telecom infrastructure vendor to offer such end-to-end SS7 protection.

See "Nokia Networks safeguards network operations with two new security launches" - here.

How Long will you Wait for Video to Load? Will you Pay Extra for QoE?

An "independent research conducted by Censuswide commissioned by Openwave Mobility has found that poor mobile video streaming is an even bigger headache than a dropped call for iPhone users. Over 2,000 iPhone users in the UK and US were interviewed ahead of the new iPhone launch on 9th September to study people’s mobile video habits:

• Over half (59%) of subscribers in both countries will abandon streaming a mobile video if they have to wait longer than 15 seconds
   
• Nearly a fifth (19%) will abandon a video after only a 5 second wait
    
• In both countries almost 1/3 of subscribers (31%) expressed a strong view that video buffering is simply unacceptable, and video delivery by mobile operators is lagging behind the latest handset technology that is driving the industry forward
    
• 39%, said they would pay extra dollars if the operator could only provide some assurance on the quality of video delivery
    
• 1 in 2 customers blame the carrier for poor mobile video service and 1 in 3 blame Apple. Notably almost nobody blames the content providers or the Over The Top (OTT) players". 

  

See "Mobile Video Buffering is the Biggest Annoyance for iPhone Users" - here.

[Strategy Analytics]: "Wi-Fi traffic is growing at more than double the rate of Cellular traffic"

Data from Strategy Analytics’ Telemetry Intelligence Platform shows that "consumer appetite for data (Cellular and Wi-Fi combined) has exploded over threefold between H2 2013 and H1 2015. During the first half of 2015, on average, US Smartphone users consumed 9.7 GB / Month, of which only 1.6 GB / Month or 17% of the total data was generated on Cellular networks .. Wi-Fi traffic is growing at more than double the rate of Cellular traffic across all ethnicities".

Related post - "[ABI]: Wi-Fi Offload Traffic Volume will Exceed All Cellular Traffic" - here. 

The analysis is based on over one million individual application sessions from 3000+ panel members in the US. The results are powered by Strategy Analytics’ state-of- the-art Telemetry Intelligence Platform by leveraging three core components – a best-in-class telemetry application, an opt-in panel, and big data analytics framework to support rich analysis". 

See "Smartphone Data Traffic Explodes in US, Witness over 300% Growth in 2 Years" - here.

PCC Deployments [364]: QBoCel [Mexico] Uses FTS for Application-based Plans

FTS announced that "QBoCel, a Mexican MVNO that operates on Telefonica's Movistar Mexico network, has selected FTS' MVNO billing and policy control solution to offer innovative services to its customers. The multi-year, multi-million dollar project marks a significant expansion for FTS in the Latin America region.

Using Leap Billing's policy control and charging capabilities, QBoCel plans to offer application-based plans such as video, Facebook and VoIP packages, to enhance the customer experience and meet user demands for personalized pricing tiers and flexible data plans. 

In addition, QboCel intends to offer zero-rated data with free access to specific content as well as sponsored data plans, where data is paid by the over the top (OTT) content partner and not by the user.

See "Mexican MVNO QBoCel Selects FTS’ MVNO Billing & Policy Control Solution" - here.

Allot Special Offer to Cisco's SCE 8000 Owners Facing EOL

Allot Communications now offers "significant discounts" to the  owners of Cisco's SCE 8000.

Cisco will stop selling the SCE 8000 on October 1st, stop releasing s/w releases on September 30th, 2017 and the last day of support is September 30th, 2020.

Allot offers its Service Gateway SIGMA-E6 (the 6 slots older Service Gateway model) as a replacement.

Some candidates (if they are still using those SCEs) are: Optus [Australia], Spectranet [Nigeria] and Maxis [Malaysia] and NTT Plala

See the details here.

A year ago Cisco released the SCE 10000 (see "Cisco Expands SCE Line with a 60Gbps and Virtual Models" - here).

Offload Deployments [363]: ETB [Colombia] Expands LTE Coverage w/Alepo

     

Alepo announced that "La Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogota (ETB), has successfully launched Alepo’s Wi-Fi Offload solution in Bogota, Colombia .. With Alepo’s Wi-Fi Offload solution, ETB is able to broaden its next-generation data footprint with a combination of high-speed LTE and Wi-Fi Hotspot services. In doing so, ETB can deliver complete data coverage for its subscribers. Whether connected to ETB’s recently launched LTE network or – in absence of LTE coverage – offloaded to the operator’s expansive Wi-Fi hotspot network, ETB subscribers enjoy a consistent and convenient data experience".

Related post - "ETB [Colombia] Uses Alepo's PCRF-Lite" - here.

"In order to enable LTE to Wi-Fi offload at ETB, Alepo integrated its carrier-class Wi-Fi Offload platform with ETB’s LTE Home Subscriber Server (HSS). Armed with subscriber profile information, the Alepo solution is able to authenticate ETB subscribers to the Wi-Fi hotspot without requiring them to manually log on to the Wi-Fi hotspot network at each use. The scalable solution employs open, standards-based interfaces, making ready to deploy in best-of-breeds network environments of any size". 

See "Alepo Makes Wi-Fi Offload a Reality for ETB in Colombia" - here.

[Oppenheimer} : "Mobile security is a key VAS driver" for Allot

Ittai Kidron [pictured], Analyst, Oppenheimer provided the following assessment on Allot Communications' business:

"In recent years Allot has evolved its core DPI platform into a value added services (VAS) engine with parental control and security as new features. Progress has been solid thus far with VAS now accounting for as much as ~40% of bookings for the company. We believe that mobile security is a key VAS driver and expect revenue from this area to grow at ~50% YoY for the foreseeable future. Tier 1 customers are already at hand and trial activity is heavy. 

We expect the company to show more progress in this area in 2016-2017 as trial activity moves into deployment and as the company refines its software licensing program (from perpetual to term) to better capture upside 

.. About 10 Tier 1 carriers have signed up for Allot's mobile security platform. Several of these have already launched the associated services in their networks and have seen strong subscriber adoption (yielding higher ARPUs for mobile carriers). Trial activity with many other carriers remains strong and should yield results in 2016-17.

.. We believe Allot is now promoting term-based licensing more aggressively to better capture the upside. This process could take time to show results.

See "Oppenheimer Reiterated Perform Rating on Allot Communications (ALLT) Expecting Mobile Security to Drive VAS - here and here.

T-Mobile US CEO: "[6,000] Subscribers are stealing data with all kinds of workarounds"

The MNOs fight against abusers by tethering is back again - this time in a direct and open way.  

John Legere [pictured], President & CEO, T-Mobile USA published an open letter to his customers:

"This week, I am taking aim at a select group of individuals who have actually been stealing data from T-Mobile. If their activities are left unchecked their actions could eventually have a negative effect on the experience of honest T-Mobile customers. Not on my watch.

.. these violators are going out of their way with all kinds of workarounds to steal more LTE tethered data. They’re downloading apps that hide their tether usage, rooting their phones, writing code to mask their activity, etc. They are “hacking” the system to swipe high speed tethered data. These aren't naive amateurs; they are clever hackers who are willfully stealing for their own selfish gain. It’s a small group – 1/100 of a percent of our 59 million customers – but some of them are using as much as 2 terabytes (2,000GB!) of data in a month. I’m not sure what they are doing with it – stealing wireless access for their entire business, powering a small cloud service, providing broadband to a small city, mining for bitcoin -- but I really don’t care!"

Related post - "[Analysys Mason]: Smartphone Traffic Uses Wi-Fi (81%) and Generated at Homes (90%)" - here.

"These abusers will probably try to distract everyone by waving their arms about throttling data. Make no mistake about it – this is not the same issue. Don’t be duped by their sideshow. We are going after every thief, and I am starting with the 3,000 users who know exactly what they are doing. The offenders start hearing from us tomorrow. No more abuse and no risk to the rest of our customers’ experience. It's over. If you are interested, you can find more info in our support forum.

I’m not in this business to play data cop, but we started this wireless revolution to change the industry for good and to fight for consumers. I won't let a few thieves ruin things for anyone else. We’re going to lead from the front on this, just like we always do. Count on it!"

See "Stopping Network Abusers: An Open Letter to T-Mobile Customers" - here.