Feature Articles

Here Comes the Son: Despite 'Depressing Reality,' Softbank Remains Bullish on Mobile Internet
Mobile data traffic has gone through the roof and is headed into the stratosphere. Between 2002 and 2011 the average user's mobile bandwidth usage has multiplied 1,200 times. Wireless data between 2010 and 2015 is forecast to grow my thirty times, said Son, and over the next ten years it is expected to increase a thousand times more.

Let's Get Small: Picocells Help Address Coverage Gaps, Bandwidth Demands in Cellular Networks
Cellular networks are growing bigger in terms of coverage and bandwidth capacity. But the infrastructure that makes up those networks is, in some cases, getting smaller.

Vendors Offer Mobile Operators Tools for Network Optimization, Monetization
It's no secret that there's been a mobile data explosion. That would seem to be a great opportunity for anyone in the wireless space. Yet because per bit pricing is not tracking with traffic growth, wireless networks are in a tough situation. They continue to invest in networks that they may not be sure yet how to monetize. But billing based on bandwidth and quality of service is clearly the goal, as is network optimization. To enable all that, mobile network operators need to get a better view into their networks so they can more effectively allocate resources based on the bottom line.

Cellular Carriers Are Onboard with Wi-Fi Offload
Mobile network operators that sell services have been trying to figure out for a while now just how Wi-Fi fits into their strategies. Was it a competitive threat to their cellular networks? Was it a way to generate new revenues by offering connectivity within bookstores and coffee houses? Or was there some business model for Wi-Fi that had yet to be discovered?

That's Totally WAC: Wireless Operators, Vendors Continue Work to Expand App Ecosystem
The Wholesale Applications Community - which launched at last year's Mobile World Congress - last month at the same event in Barcelona revealed that it now has 68 member companies, eight service providers that have on-boarded WAC, five device markers supporting the spec in their products, and 12,000 applications in place.

Mobile Players Put New Emphasis on Emerging Countries
In a keynote at last month's Mobile World Congress, Nokia Corp.'s President and CEO Stephen Elop said that 80 percent of the world's population is within cellular range, but only 20 percent are connected to the Internet.

Driving and Managing the Ethernet Operations Revolution
The basic operational function of service turn up is consuming field resources beyond current staffing levels and extending service turn-up schedules. The explosion of mobile backhaul is a perfect example of this trend, with wireless operators turning up thousands of new Ethernet-connected tower sites each year. Each new installation will require multiple dispatches and, if a third-party backhaul carrier is used, additional time is required to coordinate multiple service provider resources. Deployment schedules and manpower are quickly over run by relying on traditional dispatch models and the ongoing requirement of troubleshooting service calls.

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CSP Roles in the Application Revenue Stream
Service delivery platforms: We all vaguely understand that we need one (or know we do). Yet whenever I ask five people for their definition of an SDP, or whenever I ask a similar sized group to describe the business drivers behind SDPs, I get five different answers. I think this reflects very different perspectives on communication service providers' places in the industry. I think it can help us all make better business, technology and investment decisions if we really think through where CSPs fit in the emerging value chain.

Sorting It All Out: The Cloud, the Network, and the Smart Home
Distributed resources can efficiently perform processing tasks that otherwise would require provisioning each endpoint for peak utilization. The network has to find where resources (washing machines) are available, decide how best to distribute the content requiring remote processing (find available washing machine), and if necessary, figure out how to bring the processed content back to where it's needed (ensure that clothes return to their owners). These functions essentially define cloud networking.

Mobile Payments - Coming to a Phone Near You'
There has been considerable media coverage of the mobile payments market recently from U.S. media outlets. Smartphones are said to be poised to replace your wallet, and all the cards in it, by performing financial transactions of all types even at point of sale using new short-range wireless technologies such as near-field communication. Here is another case of the North American market lagging the rest of the world, with the news coverage positioning mobile payments in general as a new technology.

4G - An Independent Assessment
Originally, the ITU defined 4G as a network delivering 100mbps to mobile users and 1 gbps to fixed users. This means significant new technology compared with 3G. As these 4G technologies were developed, anything using 4G technology came to be called 4G, regardless of its current performance; thus, today's WiMAX and LTE are called 4G. Recently, AT&T's marketing department went even further, calling its advanced 3G technology a 4G service. It's not clear that one will stick.

NGN Forum 2011 Initiatives for 4G, IMS, Smart Grid and Plugfest
NGN Forum's planned initiatives for 2011 activities will focus on the following areas: applications delivery guideline and architecture implementation; ROI business modeling; and operator challenges, including best practice documents development.

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