NI Deployments [359]: SoftBank [Japan] Uses Procera for Subscriber Experience Visibility

Just before replacing its CEO (here) Procera Networks announces a high profile customer for its DPI and analytics solutions (Perspectives).

"SoftBank has deployed Procera’s PacketLogic solutions to enhance its LTE service offerings in Japan. Procera was selected to replace the existing traditional analytics and assurance vendors [see other solution they use below] due to the enhanced Subscriber Experience visibility that Procera was able to provide for the operators on top of traditional mobile analytics. 

Softbank is committed to providing a superior subscriber experience as broadband usage increases with the popularization of smart phones and tablets .. This deployment was delivered to SoftBank in partnership with ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation". 

Procera reported in Q1 (here) that "For the three months ended March 31, 2015, revenue from Itochu Techno-Solutions Corp. represented 14% of net revenue" - bringing the revenues from Itochu to $2.9M in Q1 2015 (which may include other customers and represents just a portion of the revenues from the SoftBank deal),

Related posts:

• Softbank Selected JDSU’s ariesoGEO - here
• SoftBank Uses Ericsson's Mobility-based Policy to Relief Congestion  - here
• Softbank Uses ALU for Better QoE  - here 

See "Procera Networks Deployed on SoftBank’s LTE Network" - here.

NI Deployments [346]: Softbank Selected JDSU’s ariesoGEO

JDSU [see "JDSU Acquires Arieso for $85M to Increase Visibility to the RAN" - here] announced that "SoftBank Mobile (SBM) has chosen to implement JDSU’s ariesoGEO™ platform and GEOperformance application across its 3G and LTE networks in downtown Tokyo. 

SoftBank will use ariesoGEO to help improve customer satisfaction by using location intelligence data from its network. JDSU’s ariesoGEO platform was selected after a competitive trial due to the scalability and maturity of the solution, and its ability to support multiple vendors and technologies.

See "SoftBank Mobile Chooses JDSU’s ariesoGEO Platform to Improve Customer Experience" - here.

SoftBank Vision for the US: Wireless as Broadband Alternative

Several slides from Softbank's "The Promise of Mobile Internet in Driving American Innovation, the Economy and Education" (here):

SoftBank: Japan LTE Speed Survey; How does Double LTE Improve Data Connection Rate?

Some interesting slide from Softbank (MNO, Japan) 2013 Q1 Earning presentation (here):

NI Deployments [197]: Softbank [Japan] Uses ALU for Better QoE

Alcatel-Lucent announced it is "..providing SOFTBANK-led Japanese mobile service provider Wireless City Planning (WCP) with a dramatically greater understanding of the impact of data service usage on its network performance, helping WCP deliver an exceptional mobile broadband experience to its customers .. With Alcatel-Lucent’s 9900 Wireless Network Guardian (WNG), WCP will be able to monitor service quality continually over its Advanced XGP (AXGP) mobile broadband network, ‘SOFTBANK 4G’".

"The WNG provides real-time insights on how every element of the network is performing under the growing data volume generated by the different mobile devices used by customers and by the applications and services they are accessing".

See also - "DPI Deployment (16): SoftBank Mobile (Japan) Uses Ericsson to Optimize Utilization" - here. 

See "Japanese mobile operator Wireless City Planning enhances mobile broadband quality for subscribers thanks to Alcatel-Lucent" - here.

New Standard Suggests "Local Caching" to Reduce Mobile Network Congestion

   

A new IEEE standard, HQME (High Quality Mobile Experience) is proposed by a "newly formed group of mobile and content industry leaders that includes SanDisk Corporation, SoftBank Mobile, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Orange" takes a new approach for caching - pre-download content when you can (and when it is cheap) - not when you need. As long as you know what to download, I guess.

The standard "leverages local storage and intelligent content caching to relieve network congestion and accelerate data delivery to the mobile device .. Under the proposed IEEE P2200 standard, memory on the mobile device is viewed as the ‘last node on the network.’ This calls for compliant applications to download content when the mobile device is connected to AC power and Wi-Fi instead of during peak hours the next day. Preemptively downloading content to the device’s local storage allows consumers to access the content they want while circumventing the bottlenecks associated with mobile network congestion during peak hours"

See "New IEEE P2200 Draft Standard Aims to Deliver High Quality Mobile Experience (HQME) to Consumers Worldwide" - here and more technical details - here and  here.

DPI Deployment (16): SoftBank Mobile (Japan) Uses Ericsson to Optimize Utilization

 

Ericsson announced today that SoftBank Mobile selected "Ericsson's Service Aware Support Node (SASN) solution .. to provide expanded capabilities to its increasing number of smartphone subscribers .. SASN [see - "[Update11 - Ericsson SAPC] PCRF - DPI Compatibility Matrix" - here] provides efficient usage of telecom infrastructure through sophisticated traffic inspection functionality, and ensures that SoftBank Mobile's subscribers enjoy consistent quality of service"

See "Japan's SOFTBANK MOBILE chooses Ericsson mobile broadband solution" - here. On June 2010, Softbank had 22.5M subscribers, with more than 17.6M with Internet access. It offers Apple's iPhone since June 2008.

Ericsson says that "The solution also enables truly flexible charging options and paves the way for the operator to develop differentiated service offerings based on individual subscriber needs and the service or application used."

  

We see more and more operators publically announcing their intention to go to usage-based billing, subscriber-based and application aware charging as well as differentiated (or tiered) services. It seems that the concerns operators had from the public reaction for DPI and traffic management as well as Net Neutrality regulation is fading out in many countries - mainly for mobile broadband.

Junichi Miyakawa, Executive Vice President & CTO of SoftBank Mobile, says: "We always aim to give our customers our full attention and stay one step ahead by continuously improving our network. Our customers are advanced users of mobile broadband and it is important that we deploy the latest technology to support them."

SoftBank joins TelKomSel, a ecent Ericsson DPI/QoS implementation, see - "DPI/QoS Deployments (14): Telkomsel (Indonesia) Uses Ericsson for Service Differentiation and Traffic Control" - here.