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ABI Research: 3G/4G Diameter Routing to Reach $500M by 2016Feb 20, 2013 (Close-Up Media via COMTEX) -- 4G network crashes are painful and costly events for any mobile network operator, reports ABI Research. According to a release, much of the problem is attributed to a "signaling storm" and Diameter Routing is pitched as a cure-all for almost any 4G network instability. "A network outage at a top tier operator could put $300M of revenue at risk," says Joe Hoffman, principal analyst at ABI Research. "Most of the problems to date are growing pains of 4G, and Diameter Routing mitigates a lot of risk." ABI said its research report, "Control Plane Signaling, Scalability, and Diameter Challenges," finds "Signaling Storms" are caused by one-off events, where an element node is presented with an unexpected condition and may lurch into a chaotic state of retry and resend. Diameter is the language of the 3GPP 4G control plane, and even an ordinary perturbation can get out of control and cascade into a network crash because of Diameter signals flooding the network. "Diameter Signal Routers serve as the traffic cop of the 4G control plane," continues Hoffman, "and disorderly conduct is quickly squelched." But there are other network engineering practices to consider in addition to Diameter Routing. Since Diameter Signaling is critical for the entire network, operators will do well to make it bulletproof as each incrementally evolve its networks to 4G. Eight vendors are profiled and no doubt some are more suitable than others for a given operator's position. Finally, recommendations for both vendors and operators are shared. These findings are part of ABI Research's IMS, RCS & VoIP (http://abiresearch.com/research/service/ims-rcs-voip/) Research Service. ABI Research provides analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other technologies. More information: abiresearch.com ((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected])) |