Enhance the End User Web Experience

There’s no question that the Internet has become an integral part of everyday life. Billions of consumers use the Web – whether at home, work, or on the go – to share information and content. But most people aren’t interested in the technology behind it. For end-users, it’s all about the experience.

 

As users delve deeper into the Web, end-user expectations and their demand for bandwidth are growing. Yet challenges arise when network providers and application providers are reluctant to pay for the network expansion needed to support bandwidth-intensive applications efficiently and reliably.

 

To deliver the experience users crave while meeting those bandwidth requirements, network and application and content providers must become more interoperable and broaden the value they provide to each other. Service providers can invest in smart infrastructures to help boost revenue in today’s digital era, as well as adopt new business models to better meet subscribers’ needs.

 

But there are other options. Enter application enablement, a solution from Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) that combines the capabilities of the network and the innovation of the Web to help players evolve to a more stable model for new sources of revenue. Application enablement lets end users enjoy a richer experience they can access anytime, anywhere, and on any device.

 

The key element with application enablement is that both network providers and content and application providers each offer a piece of the puzzle to solve their respective “pain points.” For example, millions of Web sites provide content end users want, yet hundreds of thousands of developers need to boost the development of new end-user services and experiences. Meanwhile, network providers can expose selected capabilities in a managed and controlled way.

 

By linking network providers with applications, the end result is a low-cost, high-performance network infrastructure that supports fixed and mobile services, providing the backbone for application enablement.

 

With application enablement, network providers have access to two new sources of revenue to offset investment costs - advertising and compensation for access to and use of their capabilities. Moving to a single, high-leverage network centered around multi-service broadband access,

service routing and IP-oriented optical routing will give providers a better return on investment.

 

Alcatel-Lucent described the following network benefits:

 

·        Multi-service to reduce costs and help fixed and mobile services that are transparent to the network;

·        Available when needed, at home, at work and on the go, across all devices;

·        Application- and service-aware, delivering the appropriate service level based on connectivity, device and preference;

·        Elastic, to scale users and bandwidth, both up and down, so that providing a high quality of experience for any particular user happens at zero marginal cost;

·        Open, to developers and to deliver any service.

 

In addition, network providers can also strengthen their position in the value chain and boost their relevance with customers, Alcatel-Lucent said.

 

“By investing in a high leverage network and exposing key capabilities in a controlled way, network providers will be able to evolve their business models in line with end-user expectations,” according to an Alcatel-Lucent white paper.

 

As a result, content and application providers receive more end-to-end bandwidth to deliver a higher quality experience to customers and can benefit from the new business model. They also gain subscriber and context information that helps create targeted advertising and services.

 

But application enablement only makes sense if there are specific opportunities to monetize the services it creates to generate revenue. According to research conducted by Alcatel-Lucent, companies, for instance, will pay more to ensure their brand is presented in a quality way to target audiences. Content owners will also pay more to ensure their digital content and customer information is safe, secure, and managed, the research found.

 

The research also shows that end users are willing to pay for specific enhancements and services. For example, study participants said they consider sharp video and instant access to content the top quality of service enhancements for online video. And a large percentage said they would pay for instant access to content. What’s more, they would also pay for security, privacy, continuity of service across devices and personalized services.

 

And there is a market. Alcatel-Lucent estimates the cumulative value of the application enablement opportunity is $100 billion.

 

Companies like Alcatel-Lucent are providing foundational elements for application enablement.

It uses its experience as a network integrator to help companies find the best path to application enablement.

 

Already, the firm is working with big-name companies, including AT&T (News - Alert), bharti Airtel, Orange Uganda, Sky Telecom, Sprint, Telefonica Moviles, Telstra, Virgin Mobile and Verizon to build an application enablement strategy.

 

For more on how to deliver a trusted Web experience to increase revenue, read Alcatel-Lucent’s white paper here.