Monday, September 30, 2013

Marben's Diameter Router Added


My list of Diameter Router products (here) was updated with Marben's DiamX Router an "enabler of a fluid Diameter traffic between the key components of the IMS based network architecture namely HSS, AAA Server, PCRF, OCS on one side and PCEF, MME, PDN Gateway and GGSN on the other side thanks to its combination of DEA and DRA roles .. Marben offers a software solution dedicated to run on any hardware or cloud infrastructure". 

 


Xavier Gadefait, PLM, Marben, updated me that "Marben has been developing its Diameter expertise since 2004 as first Diameter Stack provider with Traffix [now F5 here and hereand has now references".

Marben also offers a Diameter Gateway- "MARBEN DiamX Gateway solves the Mediation between Diameter based interfaces from EPC or LTE equipment and legacy systems with former protocols (MAP, LDAP, CAMEL) or new platform e.g. OCS or PCRF"


Sunday, September 29, 2013

ABI: CAGR to 2018 - LTE Traffic: 82% Video:60% Data Revenues:8%


A new report by Ying Kang Tan, research associate and Jake Saunders [pictured], practice director and VP, core forecasting,  ABI Research finds that "Even though 4G’s share of cellular subscriptions stood at a meager 2.9% at the end of 2Q 2013, it is expected to account for slightly more than 20% of the total data consumed on mobile networks worldwide this year. After surpassing 3G networks in 2016, 4G networks will go on to capture two-thirds of data traffic by 2018 .. 4G data traffic will surge at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 82.2% between this year and 2018".

Already, Verizon saw video accounting for 50% of its network traffic earlier this year. ABI Research believes global annual video consumption will soar at a CAGR of 60.6% to exceed 100 Exabyte in 2018 Despite growing at the slowest rate, Internet surfing will still contribute to 27% of the data traffic consumed ..  The result is that the revenue generated from data traffic – excluding that from texting – will increase at a CAGR of 7.9% between 2013 and 2018”

See "4G Networks to Handle More Data Traffic Than 3G Networks by 2016" - here.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

[Analysys Mason]: Voice is Still >50% of Telco Revenues


A new report by Larry Goldman [pictured], Justin van der Lande, Dean Ramsay and Atul Arora, Analysys Mason finds that "The lack of an immediate crisis in voice revenue is delaying the decisions communications service providers (CSPs) need to make in order to optimise a truly data-centric business .. PSTN and mobile voice services’ combined share of total revenue is in decline, but they still accounted for 50.2% of telecoms service revenue worldwide, down from 51.3% in 2011. Overall, mobile services account for 53.4% of total telecoms service revenue. This reflects the strong growth in revenue from high-speed mobile data services, such as 3G and mobile broadband .. Video service revenue grew by 6.4% to reach USD149 billion in 2012".




See "Worldwide telecoms market shares 2012" - here.

ITU: 70% of all Countries have a National Broadband Plan


A new report by the ITU's Broadband Commission covers the status of Broadband services around the globe.

"Affordable broadband connectivity, services and applications are essential to modern society, offering widely recognized social and economic benefits. The Broadband Commission for Digital Development promotes the adoption of broadband-friendly practices and policies for all, so everyone can take advantage of the benefits offered by broadband".

Among other aspects, the report shows the adaptation of National Broadband plans.

Source: ITU/UNESCO
"Although in many countries, broadband deployment has been realized through the efforts of the private sector, Governments play an essential role in ensuring a stable regulatory and legal framework to foster and incentivize investments, create a level playing-field amongst the different actors present in the market, establish adequate spectrum policy and reasonable spectrum allocation, and ensure long-term and sustainable competition. Governments can also implement programmes such as e-government, digital literacy initiatives and connected public institutions and locations. 



Progress on policy leadership is relatively recent, with an explosion in the number of countries introducing broadband plans in 2009-2010 (Figure 4). Prior to 2006, most plans focused on information society issues, with broadband coming to the fore from 2008 onwards. More recently, Digital Agendas have grown in popularity, incorporating a cross-sectoral perspective. By mid-2013, some 134 or 69% of all countries had a national plan, strategy, or policy in place to promote broadband, and a further 12 countries or 6% were planning to introduce such measures in the near future (Figure 5). However, some 47 countries (or nearly a quarter of all countries) still do not have any plan, strategy or policy in place. Even if countries have plans, achieving progress in implementation may prove challenging or slow".



World Map, according to status of National Broadband Plan (NBP);
Source: ITU/UNESCO

See "The State of Broadband 2013: Universalizing broadband" - here.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Bouygues Telecom Deploys GENBAND's fring OTT Service


GENBAND, that acquired recently the VoIP service fring (estimated price is $40-50M) announced that "French operator Bouygues Telecom has selected the fring Over the Top (OTT) service to provide Bouygues customers with free phone calls and SMS on Wi-Fi while abroad"

Benoît Torloting [pictured], Head of digital & B&YOU at Bouygues Telecom said: “Leveraging the fring OTT solution, we eliminate cellular network roaming charges and deliver our commitment to quality-cost competitive advantage even when our customers are travelling worldwide.”



See "fring Eliminates Roaming Costs for French Mobile Users" - here.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Cache Deployments [266]: Mediacom [US] Deployed Qwilt

 
Qwilt announced that "Mediacom Communications Corporation, a major cable network operator in the United States, has deployed Qwilt’s online video delivery solution"

Related post - "[Vendor Review] Qwilt: "We can Save US Operators Hundreds of $Millions in Few Years" - here.

Mediacom (see also "Ad-Insertion is back - Spotted at Mediacom" - here) is the is US' eighth largest cable television company (or #12 according to NCTA - here, with 1M video subscribers), and serves over 1,500 communities in the US. It offers 5 Internet plans ranging between 3-105Mbps and usage cap of 150-999 GB.
  
JR Walden [pictured], SVP technology, Mediacom Communications Corporation “As a major cable operator, we need a cost-effective way to extend our network infrastructure, while improving the quality of viewing experience”.

See "Mediacom Selects Qwilt for Online Video Delivery and Improved Quality of Experience for Subscribers" - here.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Dialogic Launches a Diameter Router


Dialogic announced recently its "BorderNet™ Diameter Services Helix (DSH), revolutionary in its ability to seamlessly integrate an interworking function (IWF) alongside Diameter traffic routing, mediation and security features in a single software-based solution, eliminating the need to deploy and manage separate platforms. The BorderNet DSH also solves challenges service providers encounter when delivering services across LTE, 3G and wireless networks to offer a consistent end-user experience .. The BorderNet Diameter Services Helix offers service providers a unified platform that integrates the Diameter Routing Agent (DRA), Diameter Edge Agent (DEA) and Diameter Interworking functionality on a standalone platform.

According to Dialogic the new product will be reach general availability later this year. My Diameter router product page (here) was updated to include the new product.

"The BorderNet DSH combines interworking and service orchestration with an advanced Web 2.0 GUI that applies advanced logic to message flows to support services involving multiple protocols like Diameter, MAP, RADIUS, LDAP and HTTP. The extensible multiprotocol architecture of the DSH allows a degree of flexibility that can accommodate new protocols and protocol variants without the need for expensive development or additional hardware
".

See "Dialogic Unveils BorderNet Diameter Services Helix for Service Provider Interworking, Routing and Security" - here.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

AT&T Expects SDN and NFV to Reduce Capex in 5 Years

  
Vendors are getting ready for NFV and SDN (including DPI vendors - Procera, Allot, Sandvine and Qosmos), and now we can see the demand being created.

AT&T announced that us has launched the "..next generation of its Supplier Domain Program .. Integrated through AT&T’s Wide Area Network (WAN) and utilizing Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Software Defined Networks (SDN), as well as modern architectural and operational approaches, AT&T plans to simplify and scale its network by: Separating hardware and software functionality; Separating network control plane and forwarding planes; and Improving management of functionality in the software layer. 

AT&T plans to begin selecting vendors and awarding business beginning in late 2013 and through 2014. AT&T is not revising its previously announced capital expenditure guidance for 2014-15 as a result of this announcement. However, in the next five years, AT&T expects this program to reflect a downward bias toward capital spending
".

See "AT&T Launches Supplier Domain Program 2.0" - here.

Ipanema Helps Enterprises Manage Cloud Applications Performance


Ipanema Technologies announced its new "Cloud Application Management (CAM) solution. The CAM solution helps companies manage applications flowing across networks to and from the cloud. With CAM, enterprises can easily understand and control their business application usage and performance from public cloud, private cloud and hybrid cloud, protecting vital network resources from being consumed by recreational apps such as YouTube and Facebook"

".. Ipanema’s CAM solution is complimented by its Dynamic Hybrid Network solution, which allows enterprises to combine both traditional MPLS networks with Internet networks. The Dynamic Hybrid Network solution simultaneously and automatically monitors, controls, accelerates and selects the most appropriate path for an application traffic flow, across two or more networks".

See "Ipanema Technologies launches new solution to easily manage cloud-based application performance" - here.

Monday, September 23, 2013

[Heavy Reading]: "SDN and NFV are disruptive from a management perspective"

 
A new report by Caroline Chappell [pictured], Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading concludes that "SDN and NFV are disruptive from a management perspective because they require change at every level: in employee skillsets, process reengineering and automation, and new OSS capabilities .. The market is at an extremely early stage, and NFV is likely to involve at least a ten-year migration. Over this period network management architectures will evolve, and there will be an impact on the entire OSS vendor ecosystem".

Key findings:
  • Network equipment vendors, rather than the best-known IT OSS vendors, are leading the development of next-generation architectures attempting to harmonize OSS with SDN and NFV.
     
  • Three new network management approaches (see chart below) are emerging that will create different levels of disruption for service provider organizations:

  • Vendors with very different backgrounds and perspectives are entering the race to provide a next-generation OSS capability for SDN and NFV, creating considerable confusion in the market

See "Managing the Virtualized Network: How SDN & NFV Will Change OSS" - here.

[Guest post]: Preventing Conflict in Self-Optimizing Networks

By Chris Larmour*, CMO, Celcite

Self-organizing networks (SON) address the challenges posed by increasingly complex mobile networks by automating the provisioning, configuration and reconfiguration of the radio access network (RAN) for optimal capacity and performance. The benefits are clear. Operators who have installed it have seen more than a 15 per cent improvement in capacity utilization and greater than 20 per cent improvement in the dropped call rate. However, like any powerful technology, it needs to be put in the right hands.

To explain the implications, we need to start at the beginning. There are two main types of SON, decentralized and centralized. Decentralized SON (D-SON) only applies to a single node and does not allow for any coordination between different infrastructure vendors' equipment.  With D-SON, because the SON process happens at a distributed level, its effects are very localized.  Nonetheless, that can set up conflicts with other instances of SON elsewhere on the network.  From experience, most operators that have installed some level of D-SON on their network soon realize that they need some level of centralized organization layer.  Because of those limitations and scope for conflict, there is even some concern that D-SON may already be a redundant technology. 

Centralized SON (C-SON), on the other hand, allows the whole network to be self-optimized because it is a conglomeration of multiple, smaller use cases that focus on solving a single problem across the whole network.  But even with C-SON, the vendor absolutely needs experience of live, in-network installations of SON or risk setting up conflicts in the operator network, which could potentially lead to making the network worse, not better.

There are two key functions required to prevent conflict in C-SON. These are the trigger function, which determines which use case to initiate based on specific symptoms, and the coordination function, which manages any conflicts on the outbound command path to the network. The coordination function plays a pivotal role in deciding which command should take precedence over another, and in which order they should be transmitted.

Without the coordination function in place, a worse-case scenario of “Runaway SON” could occur.  It would come about if a command gets into a never-ending loop between two cells, setting in motion a chain of events which can ultimately lead to network outages. For example, one bad command may create a condition on one cell that the SON system senses, and corrects it on that and subsequent cells. Then, the first SON system catches the “bad” condition on the “corrected” cells, amplifying a single mistake and catalyzing a chain reaction of errors.  While this is currently only a theoretical scenario, for SON vendors without in-network SON experience and years of network management experience, it is a potential reality.

Mobile operators are sometimes wary of autonomous systems because of the risk of such outages occurring without human involvement. But humans do not have to be completely left out of the picture, particularly at the early stages of an installation.  Operators can start by incorporating some human involvement into the command loop. This “open-loop” method allows for greater control of the SON system since live personnel can decide if a particular change to a cell should be pushed to the network or not, minimizing the risk of a command being incorrectly prioritized and causing network outages. Once the foundation of trust is built, human intervention can slowly be removed from the equation to enable a completely autonomous SON system, once real people have seen how effective the system is.

Operators that have installed an “open-loop” system have made the switch to fully autonomous in as little as four weeks in our experience.  This shows just how quickly operators can be convinced of the real-world benefits of SON when they see it in action.  If operators keep a skeptical eye on D-SON and do not rush to engage partners without live SON experience, there is no need for conflicts to ever become an issue.  Then finally, the positive impact of SON, and C-SON in particular, of improved customer experience and reduction in CAPEX and OPEX can be felt universally.

______________
*Chris Larmour, CMO of Celcite, is an INSEAD MBA graduate with over 25 years of mobile industry experience. Chris was most recently VP Global Sales & Marketing at SwissQual (acquired by Rohde & Schwartz) and Chief Marketing Officer at Actix.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Offload Deployments [265]: Cricket [US] Uses DeviceScape w/16M Hotspots


Devicescape announced that "Cricket Communications, Inc., a nationwide no-contract wireless provider, has deployed Devicescape’s Curator Service to provide offload services and capacity-reach. Cricket customers now have access to the fast growing Devicescape Curated Virtual Network (CVN) of over 16 million high-quality Wi-Fi hotspots and intelligent connection software to provide seamless and automatic connectivity to Wi-Fi. 


The Devicescape Curator Service will allow Cricket customers to gain simple and immediate access to Devicescape’s CVN of public Wi-Fi hotspots, which are continuously tested in real-time to ensure they meet Cricket’s requirements for a quality experience. Devicescape’s Curator Client, working together with the cloud-based Curator Service Platform, identifies the best available connection and proactively connects, including auto-navigation of click through portals".

See "Cricket Communications, Inc. Selects Devicescape for Wi-Fi Offload" - here.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

[Analysys Mason]: Fragmented Telco S/W Market Reached $24.1B; Ericsson Displaced Amdocs as #1


A new research by Patrick Kelly [pictured], Mark H. Mortensen, Glen Ragoonanan, Justin van der Lande, Dean Ramsay, Anil Rao and John Abraham, Analysys Mason finds that "The value of the worldwide telecoms software market grew by 5.2% (or USD1.2 billion) between 2011 and 2012, from USD22.9 billion to USD24.1 billion. The overall market is still highly fragmented: the top-six suppliers accounted for just 48.8% of the total market, and several hundred OSS/BSS vendors accounted for the remaining 51.2% of revenue"

" .. In 2012, Ericsson took the leading market share position, following its acquisition of Telcordia Technologies [see "Ericsson to Buy Telcordia for $1.15B" - here]. We have consolidated both companies’ revenue under Ericsson this year. This pushes Ericsson to the top spot, displacing Amdocs .. Oracle continued to increase its share .. Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) – now Nokia Solutions and Networks – and Alcatel-Lucent both lost market share following a challenging year of flat revenue in a growing market".



See "The telecoms software market generated USD24.1 billion in revenue in 2012, up 5.2% from USD22.9 billion in 2011"- here.

[MarketsandMarkets] Network Analytics Market to Reach $1.7B by 2018

 
A new research by MarketsandMarkets finds that the "The network analytics market is estimated to grow from $487.9 million in 2013 to $1672.5 million in 2018, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 27.9% from 2013 to 2018. In the current scenario, telecommunication vertical continues to be the largest contributor for network analytics solutions. In terms of regions, North America is expected to be the biggest market in terms of revenue contribution, while the APAC region is expected to experience increased market traction, in due course.
 
Solution providers such as IBM, HP, Sandvine, Empirix [see "Empirix Enhances Analytics" - here], Procera Networks, Accenture, Danaher Corporation [Tektoronix, Arbor Networks], and many others are expected to provide innovative solutions by continual encapsulation of multiple use cases and at competitive prices in order to fulfill the need of providing complete network analytics solution. Network operators, cloud service providers, and Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector will remain the major consumers of network analytics solutions"
 
See "Network Analytics Market worth $1672.5 Million by 2018" - here.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Monday's Guest Post: “Real world” Experience for Reliable SON


A new guest post will be published on Monday. In his article, "Preventing Conflict in Self-Optimizing Networks" my 29th guest, Chris Larmour, will discuss the importance of “real world” experience of network management, large-scale optimization and live SON deployments.

"Immature SON solutions often do not contain an appropriate degree of error handling to avoid such problems, but more mature systems already contain such measures today, ensuring reliable and stable network results" says Chris.
Stay tuned!

Openet and Smith Micro Show Intelligent Wi-Fi Offload Interoperability


Openet, working with Smith Micro Software (see "Smith Micro Helps MNOs with Smarter Offloading" - here), announced "completion of successful interoperability tests leveraging standards-based methods to deliver intelligent Wi-Fi offload and traffic optimization for heterogeneous networks .. The interoperability test utilized Smith Micro’s NetWise™ I/O Toolkit and centered on Openet’s Access Network Discovery and Selection Function (ANDSF) server [see "Openet Acquires Routing Policy Technology" - here], a 3GPP and OMA standards-compliant component of Openet’s Interaction Gateway. The server interacts with on-device agents to dynamically coordinate network selection based on device, network, and subscriber contextual information. Network selection decisions can incorporate any information source; examples include the quality of Wi-Fi and radio network signal, or specifics from the subscriber’s service plan agreement.

Openet’s Interaction Gateway [see "Openet Extends Policy Enforcement to the Device; Reduces Signaling Congestion" - here] provides integration with operator policy and charging control systems as well as intercommunication through the S14 interface with handsets that support ANDSF to coordinate device policies. Openet’s capabilities extend ANDSF with additional policy and charging options, in the context of device usage, for discovery and intelligent network selection. The solution also provides analytics for network and device performance, assisting operators to better the quality of users’ experience".


See "Openet, Smith Micro Validate ANDSF Interoperability for Intelligent Wi-Fi Offloading and HetNet Optimization" - here

[F&S] Transparent Caching Market to Reach $516M by 2017; Will Merge with CDN


A new report by Dan Rayburn [pictured], Principal Analyst, Frost & Sullivan Information and Communication Technologies finds that the "Global Transparent Caching Market ..earned $138.0 million in 2012, which will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.2 percent to reach $516.3 million in 2017 .. For now, however, the size of transparent caching technology deployments remains low as operators are yet to fully embrace the technology, owing to a lack of awareness ..Over the next few years, product lines will integrate to offer transparent caching solutions and content delivery network offerings on the same platform .. Once considered a cost-saving initiative, transparent caching is now viewed as an investment with demonstrable returns as it allows service providers to better monetize their video services.

Transparent caching also gained acceptance due to its ability to reduce infrastructure and bandwidth costs, and enhance performance by eliminating any potential delays associated with the Internet or content origin .. All leading vendors in this market grew through strategic acquisitions. As the landscape remains fragmented and technical evolution continues at a rapid pace, mergers and acquisitions will be the key to market leadership.

See "Increasing Internet Traffic Heightens Global Demand for Transparent Caching Solutions" - here.

iOS7 Update Traffic was 20% of Total; Crashed College Internet


Apple's iOS 7 update had its effect on the internet, causing increase in broadband traffic and disconnections to universities' campuses:  
  • Dan Deeth brings to Sandvine's blog some stats on Apple's iOS7 update - "below is a report from a single North American fixed access operator, showing both the bandwidth and traffic share that Apple Updates accounted for over the past few days. Upon release at 1PM ET, Apple Updates immediately became almost 20% of total network traffic, and continued to stay above 15% of total traffic into the evening peak hours".

    See "Traffic Spotlight: iOS 7 Launch" - here.


  • Peter Jacobs reports to Business Insider that "Several college campuses have reported that their wifi networks have crashed today and were likely affected by mass downloads of Apple's new iOS 7 operating system". 

    "Ohio University’s Internet access is problematic [see "Ohio University Tries to Block Netflix as 'Internet pipeline is overflowing'" - here] but the Office of Information Technology is working to remedy the situation .. In a university-wide email, students were asked to wait to download iOS 7, Apple’s new software upgrade, to potentially prevent further delays" (here)

    "It looks like iOS 7’s release managed to crash NYU wifi" (here).

    See "iOS 7 Downloads Have Likely Caused Multiple College Campuses To Lose Internet" - here.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

NSN Warns MNOs: OTT Outages Increases Signaling (20X!)


A blog post by Gerald Reddig [pictured], Head of Smart Labs Marketing, Nokia Solutions and Networks, reports that "Recent OTT service outages in cloud service provided by Google hit mobile operator radio access networks with an unexpectedly high signaling load. Online services rely entirely on the service availability in large data centers provided by Google, Amazon and Microsoft, for example.

NSN Smart Labs verified that a cloud service outage can trigger smart phones to generate signaling loads up to 20 times greater than normal. This is an important heads up for mobile operators to prevent chain reactions that could lead to network outages .. For the test, NSN Smart Labs utilized one popular high-end Android smart phone. Now multiply that signaling storm by thousands of smart phones simultaneously and radio access networks would definitely be compromised".



See "OTT service blackouts trigger signaling overload in mobile networks" - here.

Interop Technologies to Offer Tango Telecom's Cloud-based PCC in US


Tango Telecom announced last month its cloud-based PCC (see "Tango Telecom Offers Cloud-based Policy Management" - here).

Now Tango and Interop Technologies announce a "partnership to provide a cloud-based policy and charging control solution to United States-based mobile network operators. The technology enables operators to monetize growing demand for mobile data while optimizing their use of network resources ..  The feature-rich, cloud-based platform enables operators to benefit from quality of service control and other policy services without the CAPEX required for an in-network solution. The highly flexible, standards-compliant technology enables operators to bundle multiple use cases and can be seamlessly integrated with operators’ charging infrastructure. The solution also includes a feature-rich subscriber self-care application that can be customized for individual operators".

Source: "White Labelled Self-Care App" - Interop Technologies
See "Tango Telecom partners with Interop Technologies" - here.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

DSC Deployments [264]: M1 [Singapore] Uses F5 for Control and IPX Integration


F5 Networks announced that "M1 Limited has deployed the F5® Traffix™ Signaling Delivery Controller™ (SDC™) Diameter solution to optimize mobility management in its LTE home network and provide high quality LTE roaming services".

Patrick Scodeller [pictured], COO, M1 said: “.. we selected the F5 Traffix Signaling Delivery Controller as a Diameter Edge Agent (DEA) to enable simple and seamless integration between our network and IPX carriers, and as a Diameter Routing Agent (DRA) for consistent network reliability and tight control”.

At the end of Q2, 2013, M1 had 1.1M postpaid and 985K prepaid subscribers which is ~25% market share.

 

See "M1 Deploys F5® Traffix™ Signaling Delivery Controller™ to Optimize LTE Roaming Services and Mobility Management" - here.

IFC (World Bank) Invests $5M in DiViNetworks


The IFC (a member of the World Bank Group) announced that it has invested $5 million in DiViNetworks (see "DiViNetworks Offers Cloud-Based Optimization Service" - here), an Israeli company that provides network operators and internet service providers (ISPs) with cloud-based broadband solutions that significantly improve data delivery while saving costs .. The majority of DiViNetworks’ clients [here, here, here, here, here, hereare located in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and South East Asia, with 80 percent based in the world’s least developed countries as classified by the World Bank’s International Development Agency .. This is IFC’s first investment with an Israeli company in the technology sector".

See "IFC Invests $5 million in DiViNetworks to Optimize Broadband Data Delivery in Developing Countries" - here.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Sandvine Partners with RADCOM for "true mobility awareness"


In a post I had in early 2012, I presented Sandvine's "Mobility-aware Traffic Management Analytics and Enforcing" (here), quoting Sandvine's CTO saying that "Sandvine interoperates with 3rd party partners, such as RAN-based probes, to get the cell (or sector) handovers updates. Sandvine will expose the partners soon".

So the time has come, and Sandvine announced it has "partnered with RADCOM to deliver the only network policy control products with true mobility awareness. Sandvine’s Fairshare Traffic Management product, integrated with RADCOM’s QiSolve solution, offers a dynamic control system that utilizes real-time subscriber location indicators to precisely maximize network utilization and quality of experience. Sandvine’s empirical data demonstrates that traffic management products without real-time location awareness may “lose” up to 20 percent of users in an hour, and mismanage traffic as a result".

Indeed, most location-aware traffic shaping solutions are only aware of the initial location of the subscriber at connection time and do not support mobility. Therefore they may make the wrong conclusions about cell congestion and do not set the right policies to avoid congestion (or avoid setting the right policies..). 
Nevertheless, similar partnerships were established by RADCOM with PCRF products from Amdocs (here) and HP (here).




Sandvine’s Fairshare Traffic Management product recently measured, using RADCOM’s QiSolve solution, the movement of over 20,000 mobile data subscribers in a major North American city to understand and predict sector-based congestion. Over the course of the hour, roughly 20 percent of users were still engaged in the same data session but had moved to a second cell sector. No two sectors have an identical congestion profile at a moment in time"
.

See "Sandvine’s Integration With RADCOM Offers Real-Time Mobility Awareness To Manage Mobile Traffic Accurately" - here.

ipoque's DPI Engine Used for "Smart Pipe" Small Cell


ipoque announced a "new use case for its DPI to revolutionize consumers’ mobile Internet experience, as presented by Intel Lab’s engineers at Intel Developer Forum 2013 in San Francisco. Intel Lab’s Research Scientists showcased ipoque’s PACE engine, a Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) software library based on sophisticated detection techniques including behavioral and heuristic analysis, integrated into the “Smart Pipe” server used in small cells as a mobile Internet access gateway. The demoed prototype enables network operators to classify Internet traffic at the application level to ensure improved QoE for mobile Voice over IP (VoIP) calls and video streaming.

The “Smart Pipe” allocates all bandwidth available across all networks (WiFi or mobile networks) to these prioritized applications and also enables seamless handover for VoIP calls when connectivity is lost from one of the networks, ensuring the customer’s service is never interrupted
.



See "New Deep Packet Inspection use case demoed at IDF13 helps small cell manufacturers to revolutionize consumer’s mobile Internet experience" - here.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Flash Networks, Sandvine Join Juniper's SDN Partnership


Juniper Networks announced the "availability of Juniper Networks Contrail, a standards-based and highly scalable network virtualization and intelligence solution for software-defined networks (SDN). Contrail is a production-ready SDN solution shipping today that is based on stable and proven networking standards. Contrail creates a virtual network, enabling seamless integration between physical and virtual networks while providing service providers and enterprises with a solution that is simple, open and agile. This network virtualization and intelligence solution has been in trials with more than 40 global customers.

"Juniper also announced technology partnerships that enable the development of solutions through integration with Contrail to facilitate SDN and cloud deployment, enable dynamic service chaining and improve visibility and insights into network operations. New partners include Cedexis, Check Point Software Technologies, Citrix,Cloudscaling, Dorado Software, Flash Networks, Gencore Systems, Gigamon,Guavus, ISC8, Lumeta, Mirantis, Red Hat, RiverBed, Sandvine, SevOne, Silver Peak, Sonus Networks, and Websense". 



See: 
  • Juniper Networks Launches Production-Ready Software-Defined Networking Solution to Bring Networking Into the Cloud Era - here
     
  • Flash Networks Integrates Virtualized Harmony™ Mobile Internet Services Gateway with Juniper Networks Contrail SDN Controller here
     
  • Sandvine Integrates Policy Control Technology With Juniper Networks Contrail To Provide Subscriber-And Application-Awareness Visibility To The Network - here

Rostelecom Optimizes Video Delivery with Ericsson CDN

 
Ericsson ("It is about Video" - here) announced that "Rostelecom, Russia's largest telecoms operator and leader in the country's broadband and pay TV markets, has deployed the world's largest operator content delivery network (CDN) - thanks to a solution developed and integrated by Ericsson (See "Ericsson Enhances Operator CDN" here and "Ericsson: 'we will not rely on Akamai technology'" - here)

The CDN design and integration is ground-breaking in terms of both capability and geographic span, with content servers located in 30 major cities across all federal districts of Russia. In addition, the network has a capacity of more than 1 terabit per second serving Rostelecom's 9.5 million broadband customers [see chart below], from a total base of 28 million subscribers"

Source: Rostelecom 2Q2013 Report

Through this pioneering deployment, Rostelecom is addressing the escalating rise in network traffic, the global consumer uptake of online video, and the growing popularity of over-the-top (OTT) services, such as those provided by online movie firms. The new network will enable Russian consumers to enjoy higher video quality and a better user experience with diminished load time and buffering thanks to reduced network latency and increased throughput. This ability to guarantee high-quality content at maximum speeds gives Rostelecom a significant competitive edge".

See "Ericsson deploys world's largest operator CDN for Rostelecom" - here.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Elitecore Helps Operators Monetize Wi-Fi (w/Location, Analytics and Revenue Generator)


Elitecore Technologies announced the launch of "Wi-Fi monetization framework comprising: Smart Connectivity ..  simplifies user’s connectivity to Wi-Fi through efficient network discovery, selection and user authentication for both data offload and walk-in users ; Location-specific services -  identify and categorize user locations based on multiple methods to improve operator service capability ; Subscriber Analytics and Revenue Generator – Operators can launch new revenue models through personalized push notification for Wi-Fi using flash advertisements, freebies discount coupons, on-demand events, clicks-on-portal, roaming (iPass, Boingo) and 3G+Wi-Fi plans"


 
See "Elitecore Introduces “Wi-Fi Monetization Framework” for Telecom Operators" - here.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Sandvine: "leading edge CSPs around the world are currently working with Sandvine on virtualization pilot projects"


Procera (here) and Allot Communications (here) are not alone in the DPI NFV promise (see also "[Lee Doyle]: "'In the future, we will see virtualized DPI functions'" - here), as Sandvine joins the game.

Don Bowman [pictured], Sandvine's Co-Founder and CTO, presents in post to the company's blog Sandvine and DELL collaboration on SDN and NFV.  Don explains that this has been easy move for Sandvine, due to the decision to use Intel's x86 architecture back in 2001. At that time, other DPI vendors were using propitiatory network processors.

"[SDN and NFV] Standards are still under development, but a number of leading edge CSPs around the world are currently working with Sandvine on virtualization pilot projects in order to help usher in the next generation of networking, and tackle the challenges that come with the introduction of any new architecture.

As part of these pilot projects, Sandvine and Dell OEM Solutions are collaborating on a SDN & NFV solution that combines Sandvine’s industry leading network policy control solution, and its flexibility to apply subscriber-centric services, with Dell’s high performance PowerEdge™ blade server platform .. 

".. When Sandvine started in 2001, it made the decision to design and build exclusively on the Intel x86 processor architecture. In doing so, Sandvine has been able to spend over a decade optimizing our software solutions so that they are the best performing network policy control solution on the market, whether a CSP chooses to run it on our purpose built hardware, or Dell’s industry leading, high-performance hardware.

Additionally, our decision to run on x86 based infrastructure made it incredibly easy to virtualize our products. In fact, much of our current product development and testing is done in a virtualized environment. So, it is an easy transition to migrate Sandvine software and solutions onto Dell’s x86 based hardware platform
".

See "Sandvine and Dell collaborate on a virtualized SDN architecture" - here.

Friday, September 13, 2013

Qosmos Integrates DPI with the Intel® Data Plane Development Kit


Qosmos continues to show progress in SDN/NFV based DPI (See "Qosmos Updates DPI Engine with SDN/NFV Readiness, Performance and New Protocols" - here).

The DPI vendor announced that it will "show a live demo of the world’s first virtual switch with embedded DPI at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) .. The demo features Qosmos ixEngine® integrated with the Intel® Data Plane Development Kit (Intel® DPDK) vSwitch, where Intel® DPDK ensures high packet processing performance and Qosmos provides application intelligence on Intel Architecture"

See "Qosmos Announces Demo of World’s First Virtual Switch with Embedded DPI" - here.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Allot Adds Parental Control and Anti-Malware VAS


The DPI vendors continue to invest in the fast growing parental control market (see "[ABI]: Parental Control Market to Reach $1B in 2013" - here).

Allot Communications announced that it has expanded its Websafe solution beyond its previous single black list filtering to "WebSafe Personal. Fully integrated with Allot Service Gateway .. WebSafe Personal offers two flexible service bundles, which can be deployed together or individually. WebSafe Personal Parental Control allows parents to filter and monitor the websites and content their children view, as well as the amount of time they spend online. WebSafe Personal Anti-Malware prevents incoming viruses, worms, Trojans, bots and other forms of malware from infecting their smartphones, tablets and other handheld devices. WebSafe Personal Anti-Malware provides network-based protection against attacks and 24/7 signature updates, while requiring no action to be performed by subscribers".

".. Allot WebSafe Personal has already been deployed by leading mobile operators in multiple regions across the globe" (see "Allot Sees Growth in VAS Projects, Led by Parental Control" - here and "$6M Parental Control Win for Allot in EMEA (with Partner)" - here).

"Allot WebSafe Personal is a licensed software application that is fully integrated with Allot Service Gateway and Allot NetEnforcer platforms and can be hosted either on a blade in the Allot Service Gateway or hosted externally. Allot WebSafe Personal is NFV-ready and offers operators a pay-as-you-grow concept with the addition of software licenses". 




See "Allot Communications’ WebSafe Personal Delivers Personalized Parental Control and Anti-Malware Services to Fixed and Mobile Operators" - here.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Procera - Another Big Order


Procera Networks continues to announce large orders - this time "it has received another multi-million dollar expansion order from a Tier 1 service provider in Western Europe. This customer previously selected the PacketLogicTM PL20000 following extensive competitive product evaluation and testing that included many stand-alone and integrated competitors. This large subsequent expansion order was placed in quick succession to an order that was announced in early August [see "[Rumors]: Procera Mega-Carrier is .." - here] .. Procera expects to recognize the revenue from this follow-on order in the second half of 2013".

Procera's shares added 8.3% yesterday following the announcement.

See "Procera Networks Receives Another Multi-Million Dollar Follow-on Order from Tier 1 Western European Operator" - here

[Survey] Policy Management Shifts From Congestion to Service Plan Management


A recent survey by Graham Finnie, Chief Analyst Heavy Reading (sponsored Volubill, based on responses from 81 individuals at 56 network operators across all regions and types of providers) finds that "network operators’ primary priority has shifted from managing network congestion to offering subscribers more control and higher quality of service (QoS) through enhanced mobile policy offerings, like LTE and self-care dashboards".

Key findings:  
  • 75% of respondents consider introducing new services, price plans and options the primary purpose for policy management technologies in the next two years 
  • 25% of respondents citing the management of network congestion as the priority

    The following percentage numbers refers to the network operators:
  • Approximately 70%  currently enable or plan to enable users to monitor data volume usage via a policy-linked self-care app or dashboard
  • 54% plan to allow customers to change plan options directly via their device. 
  • Nearly 87% are deploying, or plan to deploy, LTE
  • 43% are upgrading or adding capacity to existing policy platforms to accommodate LTE
  • 52% expect to manage WiFi Offload using a policy solution
  • 54% currently, or plan to, use policy control to give certain content or applications priority, and charge subscribers accordingly
See "Heavy Reading Research Reveals Quality of Service a Primary Goal for 75 Percent of Network Operators" - here

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

[Juniper Research]: Analytics May Save MNOs $9B by 2018


Great savings for MNOs are just around the corner: while SDN will save them $4B by 2017 (here), big-data analytics will do more than twice: $9B.

A new report by Juniper Research finds that "The continued deployment of analytics platforms is expected to deliver combined savings and incremental revenues to MNOs (Mobile Network Operators) totaling more than $9 billion by 2018, .. Greatest savings are expected to result from reduced customer churn and more efficient capex allocation, with MNOs also able to derive significant revenues through the licensing of opted-in subscriber data to third parties".


"Some operators – such as Telefonica [see "Telefonica to Monetize on its Mobile Analytics Data" - here] and Verizon – have established in-house business units to offer aggregated subscriber data to enterprise customers, while in the UK, Everything Everywhere (EE), Telefonica O2 and Vodafone have founded the advertising joint venture Weve".

See "Harvesting ‘Big Data’ Offers Network Operators a $9bn Cost Savings & Revenue Opportunity by 2018: Juniper Report" - here.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Citrix Enhances Bytemobile w/Internet Radio Opt, User Experience Indexing, More Protocols


Citrix announced the ".. release of ByteMobile 7 ..  available now for deployment on the T-Series Adaptive Traffic Management System (see "Bytemobile Launches Integrated DPI, Caching, Optimization and NI Solution""- here)

Among the new features: 
  • Internet Radio Optimization: Managing the Mobile Music Boom .. to provide mobile operators with the tools to confront this reality, enabling them to reduce Internet radio traffic volume by up to 30 percent with no perceptible effect on the subscriber listening experience. 
  • User Experience Indexing: Measuring What Subscribers Actually See: Separate scores for web and video experience, each based on a greater number of factors encompassing both content delivery and visual quality; The ability to establish any given subscriber’s absolute UXI score and a relative UXI score, which assesses that user’s experience relative to other users; The ability for operators to ingest, in real-time, per-subscriber UXI scores for use in analysing—and responding to—trends in the individual and collective subscriber experience.
     
  • Adaptive Optimization: Apply When Needed .. a second generation of adaptive optimization and related capabilities, which include: Video stalling is reduced by up to 30 percent .. The required degree of optimization, if any, for a specific user is predicted based on a running history of factors such as UXI score and available network bandwidth .. File downloads are up to 30 percent faster, with the greatest benefits seen on LTE networks.
     
  • IP Traffic Classification: A Key Enabler for Consolidation - the T-Series is now able to classify more than 800 different IP applications and protocols representing the full scope of data traffic across the network. These classification abilities give mobile operators all the tools necessary to collapse separate DPI elements into a single adaptive traffic management element.
See "Citrix Supercharges Mobile Subscriber Experience with ByteMobile 7" - here.

[Infonetics]: SDP Systems ($6B Market by '17) Need API Exposure


A new report by Shira Levine [pictured], directing analyst for service enablement and subscriber intelligence, Infonetics Research finds that "Increasingly, operators are deploying service delivery platforms (SDPs) as a bridge between their existing and next-generation service efforts .. Business-to-business applications are growing in popularity, notably enterprise app stores and vertical-specific apps for telemedicine, smart grid, and telematics .. API exposure continues to be a hot topic in the SDP space, as operators look to capitalize on assets such as call control, payment systems, and subscriber information by providing secure access to both internal developers and third-party providers"

See also:
  • [Infonetics]: $3.6B SDP Market Led by Oracle and Huawei (here
  • [Analysys Mason]: SDP Market $4.6B for 2012; Ericsson Leads" (here)
  • Infonetics 2012 forecast ($5.8B for 2016 vs. $6B for 2017 in 2013 report) - here.
"On the vendor front, Alcatel-Lucent and NSN have backed away from the SDP market, and M&A activity is heating up: Intel acquired Aepona and Mashery, and CA purchased Layer 7"

See "APIs playing key role in service delivery platform and M2M markets" - here.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Vodafone Egypt Deploys Ericsson Mobile Broadband Charging [for 10M Subs]

   
After seeing data traffic growing by 94% during the last 4 quarters, Vodafone Egypt is expanding the service flexibility provided to its subscribers.

Ericsson announced that it ".. has been chosen by Vodafone Egypt to deploy Ericsson Mobile Broadband Charging (MBC), which will provide up to 10 million users [Vodafone Egypt is 40M subscribers] with a vast array of data options and more flexible on-demand subscriptions .. This solution, which is being integrated into the operator's existing Ericsson Charging System, gives users the flexibility to utilize the best plan for their needs at any time. Already fully implemented for all Vodafone Egypt's prepaid data users, the system will soon be rolled out for postpaid subscribers - with the total subscriber base expected to top 10 million data users in 2014".




See "Ericsson deploys flexible data charging for Vodafone Egypt" - here.