NEC and NetCracker Released a Virtual IMS Solution for VoLTE

NEC Corporation and NetCracker Technology announced that they have ".. released a virtualized IP multimedia subsystem (vIMS) solution through their joint business brand, NEC/NetCracker SDN/NFV Solutions. The NFV-based vIMS solution offers both control and data plane functionalities of IMS for 3G mobile voice services (W-CDMA) and voice over LTE (VoLTE) services. It has successfully achieved the same service quality levels of those realized in a physical environment.

.. The vIMS solution provides users with high-quality VoLTE and high-definition video calling, leveraging general-purpose servers that share resources with other virtual network functions and IT functions. By virtualizing IMS, the vIMS solution can reduce service delivery and assurance costs while optimizing performance attributes such as quality of service and delay.

The vIMS leverages the technical functionality of NEC’s VoLTE solution. Demonstrating high availability and reliability for signaling and protocol handling and data processing, the VoLTE solution is operating live in commercial networks such as those provided by NTT DOCOMO".

See "NEC and NetCracker Release Virtualized IMS (vIMS) Solution" - here.

Openet Attracts the NTT Group with NFV-Based PCRF

Openet announced that "Japanese systems integrator NTT Advanced Technology Corp. (NTT-AT) is its latest reseller partner. The deal will extend Openet’s reach into the NTT Group and significantly enhance its commercial footprint across Asia. 

NTT-AT, which represents the technological core of the NTT Group, will re-sell Openet products and solutions to all subsidiary operators within the NTT Group".

Openet updated me that "We have not deployed within the NTT Group as of yet but the re-seller agreement was only signed this month announcing the partnership. On the back of Openet’s successful trials within NTT-AT’s NFV environment and Openet’s virtualization expertise we expect this to change in the coming months" [see related post - "T-Mobile [Austria] Selected Openet's Virtualized Solution" - here].

 "NTT-AT chose to partner with Openet after successfully trialling a series of Policy and Control functions across NFV environments. By integrating solutions where NFV techniques are applied to OSS/BSS enables NTT Group to deliver on the promises of NFV, such as system agility, faster time to market, reduced TCO, increased elasticity, and greater service availability. Following the successful test, NTT-AT will look to roll Openet’s proven virtualised BSS technology out across the NTT Group.

See "Openet and NTT-AT collaborate to deliver production ready BSS solutions using Network Function Virtualization" - here.

Gartner's WAN Optimization Report

Gartner has updated its "Magic Quadrant for WAN Optimization" (see chart below, courtesy of SilverPeak).

SilverPeak announced that "Gartner has named Silver Peak a Magic Quadrant Leader. Be among the first to see the latest report by completing the form on the right. According to Gartner, as WAN optimization appliances increasingly include WAN path control and local link load balancing capabilities, these products are morphing into SD-WAN solutions".

Gartner's report also indicates that "When WAN access bandwidth is adequate, WAN optimization can also be delivered as a network-based "WAN optimization as a service" (WOaaS), such as those from Aryaka [see "Arayka Launches Usage-based, Optimized WAN Connectivity Service" - here] and NTT Communications. WOaaS services are delivered from service delivery points embedded in carrier service infrastructure and enable enterprises to avoid the need to deploy on-premises physical appliances".

Related posts:

• Orange Business Services Offers Application-aware Business VPN Internet - here
• tw telecom Launches Dynamic Application Prioritization over VPN Service - here
• Frontier Adds Traffic Prioritization based on User-defined Applications - here
• BT Uses Riverbed for Global Applications-aware Networking Services - here
• KDDI and Ipanema Team to Offer Business-Aware Network Services - here
• Telstra's Application assured Networking Uses ALU - here
   

See "Gartner Names Silver Peak a Magic Quadrant Leader in the WAN" - here.

DSC Deployments [326]: NTT DOCOMO Uses Oracle Virtualized DSR for LTE Roaming

Oracle announced that NTT DOCOMO has ".. implemented Oracle Communications Diameter Signaling Router to support roaming for its mobile customers. Oracle Communications Diameter Signaling Router enables NTT DOCOMO to accelerate the launch of new, advanced mobile services that leverage an LTE infrastructure. The CSP can now support roaming on LTE bands to ensure subscribers have access to the same advanced capabilities while traveling abroad. With the Oracle Communications Diameter Signaling Router, NTT DOCOMO completed the entire project—from purchase order to live customer traffic—in just six months.

Oracle Communications Diameter Signaling Router was implemented as a virtualized solution providing high reliability and advanced functionality with a small physical footprint well suited to support LTE roaming".

On June 30, 2014, NTT DOCOMO had 63M mobile subscribers, close to 44% of the Japanese market.

See "NTT DOCOMO Implements Oracle Communications Diameter Signaling Router to Support New LTE Infrastructure" - here.

[Infonetics]: VoIP & IMS Market Grows by 37%, Due to VoLTE; ALU Leads

A new report by Diane Myers [pictured], principal analyst for VoIP, UC, and IMS, Infonetics Research finds that "Worldwide service provider VoIP and IMS equipment revenue totaled $992 million in 1Q14, an increase of 37% from 1Q13, but a sequential decline of 9% .. the standout vendor in 1Q14 is Alcatel-Lucent, rising to the top due to strong growth of core IMS and voice application server revenue, particularly in North America"

“Voice over LTE (VoLTE) continues to positively impact the service provider VoIP and IMS equipment market, though we look for the market to slow this year as operators commercially launch services and draw down capacity built over the past year .. Already this year we have seen AT&T, PCCW/HKT, and other operators launch VoLTE services, and NTT DoCoMo is set to do so in June"

See "VoLTE fuels 37% year-over-year growth in Q1 carrier VoIP and IMS market; Alcatel-Lucent rises to top" - here.

[Infonetics]: World's Top CSPs - NTT Leads

 
Infonetics Research published "preliminary data on the world’s top 60 telecom service providers .. NTT, which passed AT&T as the top revenue-generating service provider in 2011, remains the number-one service provider in the world in terms of revenue and capital expenditures, and in 2012 it became the leader in terms of operating expenses as well .. Telefónica Group leads among European operators in terms of capex, revenue and opex .. Comcast is the only pure cable operator among the top 10 revenue generators".

"When measuring capex, the top 3 service providers are NTT, China Mobile, and AT&T. Geographically, China dominates spending, with 3 providers in the top 6".

See "Infonetics report reveals top telecom service provider spenders and moneymakers" - here.

Resource: Overview of GSMA VoLTE Profile

Document by Itsuma Tanaka (pictured) and Takashi Koshimizu, Core Network Development Department, NTT DOCOMO.

Uploaded by Zahid Ghadialy, editor of the 3G and 4G Wireless Blog.

NTT Explains Outage and its $1.5B Corrective Action

 
Last month NTT DoCoMo experienced network outage due to smartphone signaling storm originated by an Android VoIP appication (see "VoIP Signaling Crashed NTT DoCoMo; Asks Google to help" - here). 

So probably help from Google was not enough, and NTT decided to "optimize resource allocation of packet switches, to expand the number of signals that can be processed", by mid August 2012, for ¥2B, and to "expand the capacity of packet switches and increase installation of packet switching system capable of accommodating 50M smartphones"  for another ¥120B, to be completed by 2014. Both totaled to $1.5B, and NTT also provided an explanation of the problem itself.

NTT decided to solve the problem by expanding network capacity, however vendors claim for a better solution (although I am sure someone is happy with the "brute force" solution) - see "[NSN]: Chatty Android Phones should Move on to Network Controlled Fast Dormancy" - here. 

See "Response to Series on Network Malfunctions" - here.

[Infonetics]: Diameter Signaling Router Market to Grow at 106% (!) CAGR Through 2016

 
A new report by Infonetics Research forecast a very impressive growth to the young Diameter Signaling Router market.

Diane Myers (pictured), directing analyst for VoIP and IMS, notes that "Diameter traffic in the signaling and control plane of all-IP based networks is guaranteed to continue to increase, forcing operators to utilize Diameter signaling controllers to more efficiently manage and scale that traffic .. As LTE networks expand, driving even more traffic to the network, the Diameter signaling controller market will take off rapidly: we forecast a 106% compound annual growth rate in vendor revenue through 2016, in line with global growth in LTE networks and LTE subscribers".

5 years (to 2016), at 106% CAGR, means that 2016 vendor revenues will be 37 times the revenues made in 2011. Yankee Group, who is very optimisic on the DSR market as well, is a bit more modest. In a report issued last August they said "Diameter signaling is taking off. Yankee Group has seen significant request for proposal/request for information (RFP/RFI) activity and expects spending on IP-based Diameter signaling to more than double between 2011 and 2012—growing from U.S.$22 million to U.S.$45 million. And overall, we see the market mushrooming to U.S.$212 million in 2015, for a whopping CAGR of 57.2 percent" (here).

Back to Infonetics - "Several high-profile network outages have exposed weaknesses in Diameter signaling and proved how debilitating excessive signaling traffic could be to operator networks, including Verizon Wireless’ LTE network crash in early 2011 [here], Telenor’s 18-hour LTE network outage that prevented calls from connecting and text messages from being delivered, and NTT DoCoMo’s outage in January 2012 [here] that was attributed to Android devices, which load the network with control signals even when users are inactive".

"Tekelec has an early lead in this nascent market .. Infonetics expects at least 15 vendors to have diameter signaling controllers by the end of 2012 [my list of 8 - here], when market leadership will begin to take shape .. Today the majority of Diameter signaling controller revenue comes from North America, due in large part to leading LTE network deployments [here]; however, there is growing activity in Asia Pacific and EMEA as LTE continues to expand in those regions"

See "Mobile broadband, smartphones, LTE drive Diameter signaling controllers to 106% CAGR through 2016" - here.

VoIP Signaling Crashed NTT DoCoMo; Asks Google to help

    

Caroline Gabriel reports to :rethink wireless that "NTT DoCoMo has added its loud voice to the wave of operator criticism of how smartphones overload carrier networks with their 'signalling storm'. The Japanese cellco recently suffered a major outage in its network, which it is attributing specifically to an Android VoIP application, and more generally to the way Android constantly polls the network, even when users are inactive, generating huge levels of signalling traffic"

While DoCoMo goes to the source of the problem (at least one of them), there are also some ways to address the problem from the network side. Nokia Siemens Networks has been very active in this space. See "NSN: "VoIP Applications Create Huge Signaling Load" - here and "NSN: Android and Blackberry Phones Overload Networks with Signaling" - here. 

"DoCoMo, according to the Nikkei news agency, has demanded that Google rein in the signalling and data loads imposed by Android, particularly the habit of handsets transmitting control signals to the network, and pinging the servers, automatically rather than as-needed. These behaviors support constantly updated apps such as social networks, as well as the rising tide of cloud-based software, in which data and apps are held on the server and constantly sync with the device".

See "DoCoMo demands Google's help with signalling storm" - here.

NTT: 30M Fixed and 130M Wireless Broadband Subscribers

 
An interesting slide from NTT's 2011 July report (here) shows the number of subscribers they have, by access method - DSL, FTTH, Cable, Mobile, Wi-Fi and Wi-Max all enjoying  very high access speeds:

ABI Research: "LTE adoption will take off more rapidly than expected"

    

A new report from ABI Research finds that "In the first quarter of 2011, Verizon Wireless activated half a million LTE-enabled devices, while Japan’s NTT DoCoMo scored 25,000 LTE subscriptions .. These are solid gains out for LTE, and point to strong demand for fast wireless data connections .. North America is forecast to reach 387 million mobile subscriptions by 2016, out of which close to 85 million are potentially LTE-enabled subscriptions .. In Asia, 3G networks are starting to gain momentum. With Indian spectrum auctions concluded last year, ABI Research puts the number of 3G subscribers in that country at more than 100 million".

See "LTE Subscriptions Racing Ahead of Expectations" - here.

Fei Feng Seet, analyst, said: "We believe LTE adoption will take off more rapidly than expected, with more operators announcing network launches and existing players widening network coverage .. and as mobile data speeds increase, the idea of replacing fixed lines with wireless connections becomes more popular among consumers.” (See also - "Ofcom: 21% of Broadband Homes Use Mobile Broadband" - here).

The following chart may put these numbers in global perspective. According to a report by Infonetics Research - "The number of LTE subscribers is forecast by Infonetics to top 290 million by 2015" (while total number of subscribers will be close to the world population - 7B).

See "LTE equipment catches up to WiMAX; $245B to be spent on mobile equipment 2011–2015" - here.

DPI Deployments (73): NTT Plala Deploys CISCO new ASR-9000 with SCE

   

Cisco announced a new ASR-9000 aggregation router (see "Cisco Introduces Superior Network Capacity and a Simpler Way to Build Next-Generation Internet for Zettabyte Era" - here) and a number of deployments by Tier-1 carriers (Cox, Tata Communications, Fastweb).

Another interesting deployment is NTT Plala, which is "Using Cisco SCE (Service Control Engine) as a DPI (Deep Packet Inspection) product that controls bandwidth and applications, NTT Plala is currently offering "Net Barrier Basic" [see below] value-added service that enables the provision of a safe and secure broadband environment.  From now on, the company can establish an infrastructure that further enhances consumer security service that offers safe and secure Internet environment by combining the Cisco ASR 9000 and Cisco SCE".

See "NTT Plala Employs Cisco ASR 9000 Series" - here.

This is a rather old Cisco SCE deployment, originated to P-Cube days, and deployed already in 2003 for security and P2P control (see "Plala Networks Implements Cisco Systems Service Control Solution" - here). As we can see from the recent announcement - it is still there!

"NTT Plala Inc. provides as standard for B-Flets users the Net Barrier Basic security service consisting of a URL filter, packet filter, and Winny filter [a DPI-challenging Japanese P2P protocol]. In order to strengthen this service, the company has started using NetSTAR's URL databases. By blocking access to one-click fraud sites, an environment in which the Internet can be used with peace of mind has been achieved. This has importantly contributed to a rise in customer satisfaction " (more - here).

Review of Current LTE Pricing, by Openet

  

Openet published a white paper that "examines some of the pricing and packaging used by operators in launching LTE services".

The operators covered are: TeliaSonera [here], Netcom Norway, Telia Denmark, Sonera Finland, EMT Estonia, Omnitel Lithuania, MetroPCS [here], A1 Austria, Verizon wireless [here], CSL, Vodafone Germany [here], NTT DoCoMo and Deutsche Telekom

The document "LTE Pricing and Packaging - Current Operator LTE Pricing and Packaging Overview" is downloadable here.

".. The specific usage limits imposed by mobile operators vary dramatically, ranging from 20-30 GB/month in many European markets, to 10GB/month or less in the US and 5GB/month in other markets like Japan. Once these caps are reached, operators are applying a mixture of throttling and overage charges, with no uniformity .. As of May 2011, it can be seen that LTE is focused on meeting the needs of a small subset of users. Operators are starting to innovate with their data plans and during the writing of this report several operators changed their pricing plans in a drive to attract new LTE subscribers"

Sandvine - 39% of Q1 Revenues Generated by Mitsubishi (reseller to NTT)

   

In its MD&A report for Q1 Sandvine states Mitsubishi as the only major customer for the quarter. The Japanese reseller generated 38.8% of revenues, or $7.45M, during the quarter - compared to 29%, or $7.2M, during Q4 2010 (see "Sandvine Q4 Results - Mitsubishi [Japan] Generated 29% of Revenues" - here). See the chart below for additional details.

NTT's ISP arm, OCN, is a major customer of Sandvine in Japan (See "NTT Communications Corp. Selects Sandvine" - here).

Sandvine - Who is the Global DSL/Mobile Cusotmer with 20 Properties ?

  

Sandvine announced today their Q1 (Feb 28) results. Nice quarter for the Canadian DPI vendor - 18% growth from Q1 09 and 15% from Q4 09 and a profitable quarter. Revenues were CAN$21.9M. (See press release here).

Stock (TSX:SVC) is up 10% in early trading this morning.

CEO Dave Caputo, presented during the results conference call  some highlights concerning major accounts (slide #9- here) and said (part of it comes from the Q&A session):

• Comcast was a 10% customer this quarter (i.e. revenues from Comcast were over $2M). Comcast deployed the new PTS 24000 - Sandvine's newest product, announced last September (see here)
    
• Revenues from the NTT deal  (here) were not disclosed, but the AsiaPac revenues (17%, or CAN$3.7M) included other "significant" revenues
   
• Mr. Caputo presented continued growth with a "Global DSL an Mobile Service Provider Group, 20 properties in Latin America and Europe". Well, there is one group that excels in those two regions - Telefonica. So I am guessing it refers to the Spanish-LATAM group (including O2, their subsidiary in 5 European countries).
  
  Googling for "Telefonica-Sandvine" brings a report on Sandvine, from March 10, 2010, saying: "Much of this success has been driven through the Sandvine's re-seller agreement with Huawei and that OEM's supply contract with the Telefonica group" (here).