Wi-Fi Deployments [356]: INWI [Morocco] Selected Aptilo and Smartcom

  

Aptilo Networks announced that "INWI, the third largest telecommunications operator in Morocco, has selected Aptilo Networks and Smartcom for a major upgrade to “Wifi7dak,” INWI’s public Wi-Fi service. The upgrade will increase bandwidth, support network expansion and add new payment functionalities.

INWI has deployed the Aptilo Service Management Platform™ (SMP) .. Mobile users can logon to the service using an app developed by Smartcom and available in the INWI online marketplace. The app offers the same functionality as a branded web portal (also available) while also providing INWI with valuable analytics and more granular control over the Wi-Fi service.

Alepo's Service Management Platform 

INWI is part of Zain Group, a leading mobile and data services operator with a commercial footprint in the Middle East and Africa"

INWI is also using Openet's PCRF (see "INWI [Morocco] Uses Openet for Monetization" - here)

See "INWI Taps Aptilo Networks and Smartcom for Carrier Wi-Fi" - here.

Arris, Aptilo, Ruckus and Benu Introduce a SP Wi-Fi Solution

Arris announced a new new "Service Provider Wi-Fi solution", build with components from Aptilo Networks, Benu [see "Benu Promises to Increase QoE, Optimize RAN and Reduce Costs for MNOs" - here], and Ruckus Wireless.

The solution extends "residential Wi-Fi services outside the home and addressing paying verticals including SMB, MDU and campus type environments. The carrier-class solution will allow operators to offer centrally managed, coordinated service offerings to their customers and greatly improve their ROI on wireless infrastructure.

ARRIS’s Service Provider Wi-Fi Systems Design and Integration combines key service components— Authentication Authorization and Accounting (AAA), policy enforcement, web portals, wireless access gateways, radio resource management, access point controllers, and access points—for delivering a single, unified customer experience regardless of device, location or transport technology.

The platform’s turnkey, carrier-class capabilities integrate seamlessly into operators’ delivery network and back-office systems as a result of ARRIS’s integration with Aptilo Networks, Benu Networks and Ruckus Wireless ..  The combined platform leverages Aptilo’s service management platform, Benu’s wireless access gateway, and Ruckus carrier-class, Smart Wi-Fi access points and control systems to provide a scalable, global platform for new Wi-Fi service delivery"

See "ARRIS Introduces Carrier-Class Platform for Wi-Fi Deployments" - here.

Oi [Brazil] Uses Aptilo to Create a Public Wi-Fi over Home/SMB Routers

Aptilo Networks announced that "Brazilian telecommunications provider Oi  has deployed the Aptilo Service Management Platform™ (SMP) .. Homes and small-to-medium businesses share Oi’s vast copper xDSL network and have Wi-Fi-capable routers. Oi is using the excess capacity in those residential and business locations by adding an additional SSID for their public Wi-Fi service. In this way Oi creates a huge Wi-Fi footprint and can automatically – through the SIM authentication in the Aptilo Service Management Platform – offload mobile data traffic to their xDSL pipeline from anywhere in the country. 

Aptilo’s wireless service management platform was easily integrated into Oi’s mobile and fixed broadband core, with SIM authentication and policy lookups conducted using SOAP/XML. Options for EAP/SIM authentication, MAC address and WISPr authentication all for the same user are enabled; the network intelligently selects the best authentication method available".

At the end of March 2013, Oi had (see charts below) 18.5M residential customers of which (5.25M broadband customers) and 604K broadband business customers.


See "Brazil’s Largest Telecom Operator, Oi, Taps Aptilo for Service Provider Wi-Fi" - here.

Wi-Fi Deployments [247]: Swisscom Selects Aptilo for Service Management

 

Aptilo Networks announced that ".. Swisscom has selected Aptilo Networks, the leading provider of carrier-class Wi-Fi service management and offloading solutions, to provide service management to support future development of their Wi-Fi offerings. The Aptilo Service Management Platform™ will be seamlessly integrated with Swisscom’s existing systems, giving Swisscom the flexibility to leverage new technologies and deploy new services easily. With Aptilo’s service provider Wi-Fi solution, Swisscom will have built-in flexibility to adapt to future requirements".

See "Swisscom Selects Aptilo for Next Step in Wi-Fi Service Offering" - here.

Aptilo 2012 Revenues - $17.7M ; High Wi-Fi Offload Demand

    

Following a number of reported deployments by TIM Brazil, Taiwan (3 operators), eircom, 3 Scandinavia  it looks like Aptilo Networks had a good 2012.

The Swedish vendor reported ".. record revenue for 2012 of 17.7 million USD with EBITDA of 3.0 million USD ..  Demand among mobile operators for Wi-Fi, as a complement to their 3G/4G mobile networks, has brought huge success to Aptilo. In 2012 Aptilo’s revenue grew 40% in the mobile operator segment, maintaining profits even while the company increased staff by 40%. As a result, the Swedish company is well positioned with a leading solution in the center of this rapidly growing market".

"With Aptilo’s service provider Wi-Fi solution [chart below], and the award-winning Wi-Fi offloading solution with SIM Authentication, the user is securely and automatically connected to the Wi-Fi network through the credentials residing on the mobile phone’s SIM card. This is a technology used for 3G/4G mobile networks and is now being fully deployed with Wi-Fi. Aptilo’s solutions have become very popular among mobile operators since traffic is secured with strong encryption and users are automatically logged-in to the Wi-Fi network when they are in range"

See "Aptilo Rides the Wave of Mobile Operator Wi-Fi Initiatives, Grew Mobile Operator Business by 40% in 2012" - here.

News [Part-2]: Aptilo, Stoke, Ixia, Ulticom, BTI Systems, Broadcom

MWC news report continues..

• Aptilo Networks and Stoke have "partnered to deliver an end-to-end solution allowing cellular operators to provide a carrier-class Wi-Fi interworking service for subscribers .. The Aptilo Service Management Platform (SMP), through Web portal or automatic SIM- based authentication, can identify a subscriber and assign traffic policies according to highly specific customer or network attributes. The Aptilo SMP can also mediate charging functions for these subscribers so that the user experience and billing are similar to that of the cellular network .. The Stoke Wi-Fi eXchange can link tens of thousands of Wi-Fi access points from different manufacturers to the operator core network, and can identify traffic at a high level of granularity to allow selective routing of user session traffic. This level of control enables operators to deliver different service classes, provide mobile network services to Wi-Fi users, and balance core network element and Internet backhaul resources".
  
  See "Aptilo and Stoke Collaborate in Seamless Wi-Fi Access for Mobile Broadband Carriers" - here. 


• Ixia promotes the "IxLoad solution, to provide greater insight and visibility into the performance of rapidly growing LTE networks .. The growth of smartphone use and the support of differentiated services, such as high-quality video, also mean a growth of difficult-to-predict signaling traffic. Signaling traffic involves the underlying communications that enable user authentication, mobility, monetization, billing, policy management and Quality of Service mechanisms .. Going beyond product data sheets to understand the true capabilities of any mobile infrastructure device including Home Subscriber Systems, Policy Servers, Billing Systems, Diameter Routing Agents, and Mobility Management Entities.".
   
See "Ixia Enables Mobile Application and Service Monetization Growth" - here.


• Ulticom announced "Release 3.3 of the Ulticom DSC – a software product that optimizes Diameter Signaling in 4G and IMS networks .. Release 3.3 extends the DSC product with additional advanced routing capabilities. It provides enhanced network routing resilience and even greater flexibility for multi-AVP-based routing. Release 3.3 also provides advanced White Labeling support. This feature empowers OEM customers to rebrand the DSC product and supporting documentation, tailoring it to their own product portfolio".
  
  See "Ulticom DSC Release 3.3 – Diameter Signaling. Solved." - here.
    
• BTI Systems announced an ".. industry-first cloud networking solution designed to significantly improve inter-data center connectivity. Intelligent Cloud Connect is an open software-rich platform that combines network intelligence and application awareness with significantly expanded capacity and scale. By doing so, it increases cloud connectivity performance - quadrupling capacity and scale, reducing latency by half, and increasing network applications performance by as much as 10 times - while significantly improving operational efficiencies, network control and service innovation compared to legacy solutions".
  
  See "BTI Systems Announces Intelligent Cloud Connect to Unblock the Performance Bottleneck of Inter-Data Center Connectivity" - here.
   
• Broadcom announced a "scalable small cell development platform for multiple radio access technology (RAT). The platform integrates all the hardware and software components required to accelerate the development and deployment time of small cell base stations .. The platform is the first to combine the state-of-the-art XLP-208 multicore processor, which was engineered by NetLogic, acquired by Broadcom in February 2012 .. The advanced software included in the platform enables important new features such as content caching, interference monitoring, self-organizing networks (SON), DPI-based services and security to be quickly deployed while maintaining line speed performance as operators and content service providers add new network services. Other solutions available on the development platform include Broadcom's complete portfolio of backhaul devices for optimized traffic management, including x-DSL, x-PON and wireless.
     
  See "Broadcom Announces Advanced Development Platform for Small Cell Base Stations" - here.

Offload Deployments [225]: Aptilo Secures 3rd Operator in Taiwan

   
Aptilo Networks announced that the ".. company has secured a third mobile operator customer in Taiwan for its Wi-Fi offload solution. This time the mobile operator has deployed Aptilo Networks’ Aptilo SIM Authentication Server ..  With the Aptilo SIM Authentication Server, users enjoy an “invisible” and uninterrupted handoff when moving from the 3G network to Wi-Fi. It maximizes security by authenticating users via the SIM card in their mobile device. In this manner the Wi-Fi network becomes as secure as the mobile network".

".. Aptilo is also providing carrier-class Wi-Fi offloading solutions to two of the country’s leading Tier-1 mobile operators (here). This third contract further expands Aptilo’s Wi-Fi offloading business in the Taiwanese market".

Taiwan has 5 MNOs.
  
See "Aptilo Networks Wins Third Wi-Fi Offload Contract in Taiwan" - here.

Winners of the Broadband Traffic Management Congress Awards

The Broadband Traffic Management Congress, now on its 4th year, announced the winners awards (see the short list - here - link below lead to relevant posts):

1. Best Signaling Solution for Traffic Management: Tekelec 
2. Best Use of Traffic Management for Improving Customer Experience: Huawei
3. Best Content Optimization Tool for Managing Video Traffic on Mobile Networks: Flash Networks
4. Best Mobile Offload Solution for Enhancing Customer Experience: Aptilo 
5. Most Innovative Tool for Driving Real-Time Intelligence: Avvasi
6. Best Real Time Charging Platforms for Customers: Comverse 
7. Most Effective Solution for Integrating RAN-Awareness into Policy Management: Commprove
8. Best Integration of Traffic Management into OSS/BSS Architectures: Comverse 
9. Most Innovative New Service Launch Enabled By Traffic Management: Procera Networks

Offload Deployments [187]: TIM [Brazil] Prepares to the 2016 Olympics with Aptilo

      

Aptilo Networks announced that TIM Brazil  ".. has begun a major Wi-Fi initiative to deploy wireless broadband throughout Brazil. Through systems integrator Retis, Aptilo Networks .. is providing TIM Brasil with a complete Wi-Fi and mobile data offloading solution .. The Aptilo solution offloads mobile data from TIM Brasil’s HSPA and HSPA+ networks through Aptilo’s Wi-Fi platform. Utilizing the fiber network of TIM Intelig and TIM Fiber as a backbone, TIM Brasil will leverage Aptilo’s mobile data offloading and Wi-Fi solutions on a national basis".

At the end of Q2, 2012, TIM Brasil was the 2nd largest MNO in Brazil, with around 69 million lines (about 1.7 million added in the Quarter).

".. TIM Brasil’s aggressive expansion plans are expected to offload mobile data traffic, using over 10,000 hotspots to be deployed throughout Brazil .. TIM Brasil also innovated being the first operator in South America to utilize EAP-SIM Authentication. Aptilo’s SIM Authentication Server™ is highly scalable and optimized to deliver an automatic, secure and seamless mobile data offload experience. It authenticates users via the SIM card (utilizing EAP-SIM/AKA) in their mobile device as they move from TIM Brasil’s 3G network to Wi-Fi, ensuring an “invisible” handoff as users move from 3G to the Wi-Fi network"
 
See "TIM Brasil Rolls Out Wi-Fi Offload with Aptilo and Retis In Advance of Major Sport Events in Brazil" - here.

Aptilo Wins 2 Tier1 Accounts in Taiwan for Wi-Fi Offload

Aptilo Networks announced that ".. two of Taiwan’s top three Tier-1 mobile operators have deployed Aptilo’s carrier-class Wi-Fi service management to offload their 3G networks. Both operators are deploying Wi-Fi in public areas where data consumption through their 3G networks is in strong demand. The Wi-Fi will complement their existing 3G services so users can enjoy a complete wireless experience, including the fast data speeds and convenience of Wi-Fi".

Torbjorn Ward (pictured), CEO said: “Aptilo noted a record growth of 70% in our latest annual report. We have signed on tier-1 mobile operators in Taiwan, Brazil and the U.S., among other markets". 

"They are utilizing the Aptilo Service Management Platform™ [see chart below], which enables carrier-class and secure Wi-Fi services that are easy to manage. The Aptilo system allows mobile operators to deploy reliable wireless services quickly and with minimal impact on existing systems".

See "Aptilo Wins Wi-Fi Offload Contracts with Two Tier-1 Mobile Operators in Taiwan" - here.

Wi-Fi Offload Deployments [129]: eircom [Ireland] Uses Aptilo for Service Management

  

Aptilo announced that "eircom Group, the largest telecommunications operator in Ireland, has bundled Wi-Fi services with all of their data plans using the Aptilo solutions for carrier-class Wi-Fi service management and mobile data offloading .. eircom broadband, eMobile and Meteor customers are now leveraging the network as an important customer acquisition and retention tool by providing seamless, secure offload of data from their 3G networks to Wi-Fi".

  

John Bermingham, Senior Product Manager - Data Products, eircom Group said: “From being just one of the many services that we provide, our Wi-Fi offering has rapidly become a strategic tool for optimising the use of our network assets. The ability to offer customers a first-class user experience gives us a competitive edge .. The key to a successful mobile data offloading strategy is making that move from the 3G network to the Wi-Fi network truly invisible to the user. We are already exploring more options in Aptilo’s innovative mobile data offloading solution to make this move seamless for all our customers”.

  

Among other features, Aptilo's offloading solution includes a Diameter Conversion functionality, with which "operators can transparently control and charge for services via standard Diameter (Gx, Gy and Gz) interfaces in the Wi-Fi network with the same mechanisms that they are using in the 3G network. These can still be differentiated for Wi-Fi usage" (here).

In its latest report, for 2010, the eircom group had 1M mobile subscribers. 

See "Ireland’s eircom Group Deploys Aptilo’s Mobile Data Offloading Solution" - here.

[Update 51: Procera Integrates with Aptilo and Tibco; Joint Customer Tests with BroadHop ] PCRF - DPI Compatibility Matrix

Procera Networks announced "the availability of its 3GPP Interoperability Laboratory in Malmo, Sweden. The lab provides an environment for Procera’s Professional Services Team to aid its customers to rapidly test new personalized services using the 3GPP PCC Ecosystem, focusing on interaction between PCEF, PCRF and OCS systems".

The release presents two new PCC eco-system partners - Aptilo and Tibco (former Kabira product - here), as well as an existing one - BroadHop (here). My interoperability matrix (here) was updated to reflect the new relations.

Ian Campbell (pictured), CTO of BroadHop said: "BroadHop and Procera have successfully completed several joint customer IOTs of our flagship PacketLogic and Quantum Network Suite solutions"

See "Procera Networks Unveils Personalized Services Interoperability Lab for Network Operators" - here.

PCRF Deployments [116]: 3 Scandinavia Selects Aptilo for 3G and LTE Service Flexibility

Aptilo announced that its ".. Policy Manager solution has been selected by 3 Scandinavia as the core component for their 3G and LTE (4G) mobile broadband service delivery .. The system is designed to be flexible to allow 3 Scandinavia to add unique, dynamic service configurations that can be constantly modified according to the needs of their customers, with minimal cost and effort".

"The Aptilo Policy Manager is built on the new Aptilo Service Management Platform™ ALE architecture in which functionality is divided into three distinct layers: a management layer for configuration and monitoring, a control layer for protocol-level interactions with external systems and an execution layer for application logic processing". 

3 Scandinavia uses Procera's DPI (here). At August 2011, 3 had 2M subscribers in Denmark and Sweden.

See "3 Scandinavia Selects Aptilo Networks for 3G and LTE Service Delivery" - here.

The Winners of Broadband Traffic Management Awards are…

 
The Broadband Traffic Management Congress (held this week in London - not to be confused with this blog..) announced the winners of its new award program in several traffic management categories. 

"The Awards were established to celebrate and give recognition to some of the achievements made by those in the traffic management industry. These prestigious Awards give winners and shortlisted companies a mark of quality, innovation and leadership" (here).

The awards were" independently judged by"

• Aditya Kaul, Mobile Practice Director, ABI Research
• Terry Norman, Principal Analyst, Analysis Mason
• Graham Finnie, Chief Analyst, Heavy Reading
• Peter Dykes,Senior Analyst, Informa Telecoms & Media
• Susan McNeice (pictured), Vice President, Yankee Group
• Steven Hartley, Principal Analyst, Telco Strategy, Ovum

Below is the winners list, together with links to related posts in this blog.

Congratulations for all winners!

Category	Awarded to ..	Related posts
Best integration of traffic management into OSS/BSS architectures	Comptel	X
Best content optimization tool for managing Traffic on Mobile Networks	Vantrix	X X X
Most effective solution for integrating RAN-awareness into policy management	Alcatel-Lucent	X X
Best mobile offload solution for enhancing customer experience	Aptilo	X
Most innovative new service launch enabled by traffic management	Huawei  (Megafon project)	X
Best use of traffic management for improving customer experience	Orga Systems	X X
Best implementation of tiered data pricing	Sandvine	X X X X

Policy Market: Aptilo Buys Service Factory for $8.9M

   

Aptilo (covered here) announced that "the company has signed an agreement to acquire Service Factory, a division of Birdstep Technology listed on Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker BIRD".

See "Aptilo Networks to Acquire Service Factory ; Announces Investment by Norvestor" - here.

According to the news release from Birdstep, Service Factory was sold for $8.9M (see "Birdstep Sells Service Factory AB (Orbyte) and Equity Stake in Aptilo Networks AB for a Gross Value of NOK 52 million" - here). 

"With the acquisition of Service Factory, Aptilo Networks strengthens its leading position in the field of wireless service management and policy control with the addition of large service provider customers like TeliaSonera, 3 Scandinavia, DU, Eircom and TDC".

The long list of Policy Management s/w vendors (here) and the global market size ("Policy Servers Market to reach $471M in 2010" - here), and the market demand for holistic policy systems shows that consolidation of vendors is essential for small companies to survive in this market.

Servicce Factory  provides a number of policy management solutions, with some focus on Wi-Fi network management, including Wi-Fi offload (see chart) - a growing niche of policy management.

“Already a profitable company, Aptilo represents a solid platform for further expansion within the rapidly growing area of helping operators to manage their mobile data traffic,” said Jarle Gundersen, Partner in Norvestor and new Chairman of Aptilo."

PCRF Deployments (39): DiscoveryTel [Ghana] Selected Aptilo to Optimize Core Network Utilization

  

Aptilo Networks announced that it "has been selected by DiscoveryTel Ghana (DTG), a licensed data services provider in Ghana, for the deployment of the first 4G network in the country .. utilizing the Aptilo Service Management Platform™, the first pre-integrated, ready-to-deploy wireless broadband policy and service control (AAA) solution for 4G networks .. Additionally, Aptilo’s Service Management Platform will serve as a foundation to enable a future Wi-Fi hotspot network through partners, providing a cost-effective means to connect Wi-Fi hotspots throughout Ghana with a 4G infrastructure as backhaul"

See "Aptilo Networks Enables Ghana’s First 4G Network" - here.

More on Aptilo's PCRF product - here.

“Aptilo’s time-of-day and day-of-week scheduling of allocation of bandwidth for different user groups allows us to maximize the utilization of our core network and Internet backhaul, while moving from a post-paid to pre-paid environment,” said Steve Toro, CTO, DiscoveryTel Ghana.

[Update 24 - Aptilo New PCRF for LTE] PCRF - DPI Compatibility Matrix

 

Yet another PCRF product!

Aptilo Networks announced that "the company is adding LTE ["early 2011"to its portfolio of service management and policy control solutions for operators".

See "Aptilo to Add LTE Policy and Charging Control to Portfolio of Solutions" - here.

"Aptilo’s new 4G service management platform with LTE support has a purpose-built PCRF (policy charging and rules function) that, unlike traditional solutions, is pre-integrated with optional Aptilo modules for the necessary subsystems that are usually purchased separately such as prepaid systems, subscriber database, WEB portals, statistics and reporting, voucher management and more."

Aptilo CEO Torbjorn Ward said:  “Aptilo’s holistic approach to service management with tight integration between policy and charging functions has been very successful with our WiMAX customers – from  greenfield deployments using our pre-integrated solution to large operators that require solutions that will seamlessly integrate with existing systems. We now see the same type of requirements also for LTE, and are very pleased to be able to offer this innovative and flexible solution regardless of access technology.”

The Aptilo Access Controller has a QoS function, although DPI (i.e. accurate identification of applications) is not mentioned:

"Together with the Service Profiles defined in the Aptilo Service Management Platform (SMP) the AC constitutes a powerful tool for handling differentiated service bundles with prioritization of traffic on the user level. The automatic bandwidth balancer feature of the Aptilo AC distributes available bandwidth between all active sessions according to the priorities set in the service profiles. A service can be automatically throttled down to a certain capacity if the pre-paid quota has been depleted to a specified level."

PCRF Vendor	PCRF Product	Allot	Arbor	Cisco	Procera	Sandvine
Alcatel-Lucent	5780 Dynamic Services Controller (DSC)
Alepo	3GPP Policy and Charging Rules Function
Aptilo Networks	4G service management platform
Aradial Technologies	Aradial Mobile/APC	●		●
BandWD	BwDRC - Dynamic Resource Control	●		●		●
Bridgewater Systems	Policy Controller/PCRF	●	●	●		●
Broadhop	Quantum Policy Server	●	●	●
Comability	ComAbility neXus			●
Comptel	Comptel Policy Control™			●	●
Cisco (Starent)	Policy and Charging Control
Digital Route	MediationZone Policy Control
EliteCore – NetVertex	Netvertex (PCRF)
Ericsson	Service-Aware Policy Controller (SAPC)
Flash Networks	POLICY MANAGER
FTS	Leap™ Policy Control	●		●		●
HP	HP Subscriber, Network and Application Policy	●
Huawei	Open Control & Charging Gateway	●
Kabira (Tibco software)	Policy Server			●
Mobixell (724)	X-treme Framework Platform (XF)	●		●
Nokia Siemens Networks	PCS 5000	●		●		●
Openet	FusionWorks™ Policy Manager			●		●
Orga Systems	Next Generation Control Point
Redknee	Policy Manager (PCRF)			●		●
Roox	Smart Traffic Management
Tekelec (Camiant)	Multimedia Policy Engine	●	●	●	●	●
Telcordia	Telcordia Bandwidth Manager
Volubill	CONTROL-IT Policy Manager
ZTE	ZXUN RCP	●