Ooredoo Qatar Launches CAT 9 w/Speeds of up to 375 Mbps

    

Ooredoo Qatar and Nokia Networks announced the ".. launch of LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) three-band carrier aggregation technology on the Ooredoo Supernet. Nokia technology enables the operator to provide higher data speeds of up to 375 Mbps to its customers.

The higher speeds are already available in several high-traffic areas of Doha .. With this new technology, people using Category 9 (CAT 9)-capable handsets can benefit from data intensive services, including ultra high-definition video download, and upcoming trends, including virtual reality.

See "Ooredoo Qatar and Nokia Networks boost network up to 375 Mbps with LTE-A three-band carrier aggregation on the Ooredoo Supernet" - here.

SwissCom Deploys Allot to Optimize its Cloud Services; Integrated by Nokia

Allot Communications announced together with Nokia Networks, that "Swisscom is deploying Allot Cloud Access Optimization. The solution is designed to assure application Quality of Service (QoS) and improve user productivity by overcoming the performance degradation challenges associated with cloud data centers and application delivery.

Swisscom worked with Nokia Networks to integrate the Allot Cloud Access Optimization platform into their new data center architecture to support higher performance service delivery to customers. 

Using Allot, Swisscom can help enterprises overcome degradation challenges such as real-time video transaction loads, unified communications, file transfers, and endpoint upgrades, as well as Denial of Service and other malicious attacks by offering high quality dynamic data center services based on documented service level agreements (SLAs).

Allot enables Swisscom to offer enhanced high quality, differentiated, and flexible data center services to their enterprise customers based on comprehensive reporting and self-provisioning capabilities"

See "Nokia Networks and Allot Communications to Deliver Swisscom a Cloud Access Optimization Solution" - here.

Nokia: EE Demonstrated MEC w/Edge Video Orchestration

A post to Nokia's Blog by Dirk Lindemeier [pictured], head of Liquid Applications, describes the latest development in the Mobile Edge Computing (MEC - see "Mobile Edge Computing Group Formed" - here):

"At the recent Connected Stadium Summit, held at Wembley Stadium, UK operator EE demonstrated the power of Mobile Edge Computing. 

An application called Edge Video Orchestration (EVO) shared live video of both a football match and a simulated security scenario to multiple screens with less than 1 second latency. The demonstration was the first of its kind in the UK and was shown to IT and technology directors of some of the world’s largest venues, including the All England Club which hosts Wimbledon.

EE demonstrated the capability of a high-performance and scalable solution suitable for deployment at the edge of the mobile network, with data processed and stored in a distributed manner". 

Related link - an interview with Mansoor Hanif, Director of Radio Access Networks, EE - "Iconic Wembley stadium is the “Mothership” of EE’s network" - here.
 
See "EE and Mobile Edge Computing ready to rock Wembley stadium" - here.

Nokia's Recipe for Lower Latency

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

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

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

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

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

Nokia Adds Security Solutions

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

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

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

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

Ooredoo Qatar Deploys Nokia's Small Cells

Nokia Networks announced it has ".. won a deal with Ooredoo Qatar to deploy its small cells in hotspots across the country. .. Nokia Flexi Zone small cells were then discreetly installed in strategic locations such as café and restaurant rooftops to ensure additional capacity, coverage and better network availability, as well as reduce latency.

Ooredoo Qatar’s vision and work have led Qatar into this decade as one of the best-connected countries in the world. The operator is currently focused on providing the most innovative services, including ultrafast 4G+ services, to its customers. It recently announced the launch of Ooredoo SuperNet, one of the most significant network evolutions in Qatar’s history". 

At the end of H1 2015, Ooredoo Qatar has approximately 3.4M subscribers. 

See "Nokia Networks, Ooredoo Qatar sign deal to deploy small cells for more capacity, coverage in hotspots" - here and "Ooredoo Deploys Small Cells to Boost Supernet across Qatar" - here.

MNO Survey: 5G is Still an Unknown; LTE Materializing

A new survey by Stéphane Téral, research director for mobile infrastructure and carrier economics, IHS in which "operators were interviewed about their LTE network deployment plans, challenges and service offerings" finds that many do not know what 5G networks are:

"The 5G debate has started with great fanfare, hype and confusion, but little substance about what it is exactly and what it is not. For now, the mindset is still locked into mobile broadband as we know it with LTE, so it’s good that the ITU has just stepped in to define 5G in its brand new IMT-2020"

"Half of respondents participating in the study say they have already deployed LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) in their LTE networks [see "GSA: 497M LTE Subscriptions Worldwide" - here and "GSA: 360 LTE Networks Launched; 96 in 2014" - here] .. We are slowly but surely moving to true 4G, and that’s good news. However, most users already believe they are on 4G, and that’s the bad news because the experience is far from consistent and is falling short of expectations. How many times does your smartphone display LTE or 4G and you still see the infamous spinning wheel?”

"Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia (in alphabetical order) are perceived by survey respondents as the top LTE equipment manufacturers". 

Source: 5G Concept, by IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group - here.

Source: 5G Concept, by IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group - here.

See "5G Hype Aside, True 4G Is Finally Materializing, Says IHS" - here.

[Analysys Mason]: No Change in the $5.8B SDP Market Leaders

A new report by Glen Ragoonanan [pictured], Principal Analyst, and Gorkem Yigit,Research Analyst, Analysys Mason finds that "The service delivery platform market generated USD5.8 billion in revenue worldwide in 2014, up 11% from USD5.2 billion in 2013. LTE's impact on the overall service delivery platform (SDP) market increased, first in subscriber data management (SDM), then policy management (PM), followed by mobile content management and delivery (CMD), and finally, telecoms application servers (TAS) for mobile data and VoLTE services. Virtualised SDPs were being introduced in 2014.

.. the top-five SDP vendors were unchanged. Amdocs returned to the top six, thanks to a severe decline in Cisco's fixed CMD (FCMD): 

• Ericsson retained its leadership with 9% year-on-year revenue growth – primarily in the content management and delivery (CMD) sub-segment thanks to its acquisitions of Azuki Systems, Fabrix Systems, as well as Microsoft Mediaroom, which forms part of its Media Delivery Network (MDN) solution portfolio. Its other SDP revenue grew, though slower than the overall SDP market
    
• Huawei Technologies achieved the highest organic growth – 30% year-on-year – thanks to strong growth in the number of LTE subscribers in China because all three major communication service providers (CSPs) are rolling out LTE. It continued to win SDP business from other vendors in EMEA
   
• Nokia Networks’ revenue only grew by 5% year-on-year, compared with 11% for the overall SDP market. It remained the SDM leader, enjoying wins worldwide. Its acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent could make it the SDP market leader
    
• Alcatel-Lucent’s revenue growth declined by -7% year-on-year as it restructured and refocused on network virtualisation and VoLTE, which were not significant drivers of SDP spend in 2014
    
• Oracle had low 4% year-on-year organic growth, compared with 35% inorganic growth in 2013, when it acquired Acme Packet and Tekelec
   
• Amdocs’ SDP revenue growth was flat in 2014, which reduced its market share, compared with 2013. It re-entered the top-six thanks to Cisco’s decline in fixed CMD (FCMD).

See "Service delivery platforms: worldwide market shares 2014" - here.

Nokia Integrates its Former and Acquired SON Solutions

Nokia Networks announced "Nokia Eden-NET combines the best Self Organizing Networks (SON) functionality from the now-completed Eden Rock acquisition and Nokia Networks iSON Manager in one solution .. The new solution is based on both Eden Rock’s Eden-NET and Nokia Networks iSON Manager.

According to Infonetics, SON and optimization software market forecast October 2014 report [here], The size of the optimization and SON market is expected to exceed 5 bn Euros globally by 2018".

"Key highlights:

• Promotes industry-wide SON innovation by allowing operators to innovate on top of the open framework
   
• Multivendor approach is further enhanced with OSS interoperability agreements with other network equipment vendors
   
• Nokia Eden-NET solution is available today; current Nokia Networks and Eden Rock SON customers are fully supported

Eden-Net Screen

See "Nokia Networks unveils new Nokia Eden-NET product for self-organizing mobile networks" - here.

[ABI] Encryption Drives Mobile Optimization to a $40B Over 5 Year Market

While many think that the legacy DPI, optimization and traffic management functions lose their role in network management due to customers' demand for QoE, OTT services and growing video traffic, ABI research thinks differently - and the reason is the use of encrypted traffic.

A new report by Joe Hoffman [pictured], Practice Director, Mobile Networks, ABI Research sees the "worldwide market for mobile network monitoring and optimization exceeding US$40 billion over the next 5 years... LTE uptake in China leads worldwide traffic growth, including video, and pulls along the monitoring and optimization markets. 

Widespread adoption of SSL-encryption changes the game from compression, transcoding and transrating to throttling, pacing and manipulating the Adaptive Bitrate Stream from the content provider to achieve operator goals. State-of-the-art traffic management technology delivers a better customer experience and virtual capacity gains that operators will appreciate.

Mobile optimization is more important than ever and the advent of all IP services, including VoLTE, VoWi-Fi, LTE-U / LAA requires close attention from the operator to assure QoE. With an eye to monetization, DPI, Optimization and Policy remain the largest segments and come together as part of a total revenue enhancement solution. 

All leading network infrastructure vendors, including Ericsson, Nokia Networks and Alcatel-Lucent, offer their own or partnered solutions.Likewise, the independents, such as Citrix ByteMobile and Openwave Mobility, provide differentiated, targeted and ready-to-use solutions for every mobile broadband operator"

See "LTE Adoption to Drive Network Monitoring and Optimization Spend Past US$40 Billion" - here.

Nokia's Traffic Steering Solution Increases Capacity by 10%

Nokia Networks announced it has "solved the complexities of coordinating the dozens of load balancing and traffic steering features available in multi-technology, multi-layered and multi-vendor mobile broadband networks. The purpose of these features is to avoid network congestion by distributing the traffic across different radio network layers. 

The Nokia Traffic Steering Manager is the first all-inclusive solution to automatically direct traffic to the most effective radio network layer. This ensures more efficient use of existing infrastructure, that is, an operator can effectively increase the capacity in the network by 10%. The Traffic Steering Manager provides an easy, automated way of managing the multitude of load balancing features available in the networks today reducing related operational effort significantly, up to 70 %.

Nokia’s Traffic Steering Manager is a network-wide system that combines all radio technologies (2G, 3G, LTE and Wi-Fi; macro and small cells) as well as the core network to dynamically orchestrate the network capacity utilization. If the capacity limits are reached, value-based traffic steering, enabled by the Traffic Steering Manager, is vital to ensure the network is used according to business priorities .. On a typical mid-sized network with 32,000 3G and LTE cells, an operator can improve network efficiency, worth two million euros per annum

• Centralized solution coordinates a multitude of load balancing and traffic steering functionality in radio networks to use all the capacity available in multi-technology, multi-layer and multi-vendor heterogeneous networks (HetNets)
   
• Traffic is steered according to network conditions. Also other criteria like device capabilities and customer service level agreements (SLA) can be taken into account when planning efficient service delivery and network utilization

See "Nokia Traffic Steering Manager effectively increases network capacity by 10%" - here.