TMCnet Next Generation Communications Week in Review

To say that the next generation communications community activity was extremely busy this past week would be an understatement. From wireless to submarine cables to the packet core and some interesting insights from industry analysts, there is an abundance of news. Plus, the features section covers a variety of interesting topics including a look at what ng Connect showed at the recently concluded Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

News

Starting the news are two interesting items concerning community host Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) (ALU). In the first, and in a portent of things to come, one of the largest service providers in India, Reliance Communications announced a unique outsourcing deal for $1B with ALU of its infrastructure. In the second, it appears that there are lots of potential candidates to purchase ALU’s submarine cable operations as the company continues its aggressive restructuring.

In other industry news:

• 4G LTE (News - Alert) chipmaker Sequans Communications S.A. new Sequans AIR product was released and is a terminal-based interference mitigation solution for LTE.
• Telguard’s TG-7FS cellular communicator for 3G/4G networks is now compliant with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 2013 edition for sole path communications.

On the research from there was interesting news on two fronts. ABI Research (News - Alert) has a new report out noting that there continues to be promising news about the projected growth of the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) sector. However, Ovum (News - Alert) is out with a study warning that European carriers must broaden non-voice services to offset declining revenue from fixed voice.

Features

After a well-deserved week off, TMC’s (News - Alert) feature writers turned their focus to service provider and enterprise topics of interest.

Service Provider

• TMCnet Contributor Mae Kowalke had an insightful piece on how the explosion of smartphones and tablets is causing mobile broadband demand to exceed supply, creating need for a High Leverage Network.
• That other and often over-looked “data storm,” the one in signaling networks that those tablets and smartphones are creating, which pose the real danger of creating compromised customer experiences is being addressed with enhanced Diameter signaling. 

Enterprise

• If you are involved in smart grid deployments, the feature on how Dynamic Communications is helping electric utilities optimize the value of smart grids and set the stage for adding new valuable communications services as well.
• In case you were not able to attend CES you will enjoy reading about what the Alcatel-Lucent ng Connect Program demonstrated at CES with 12 new cloud technologies on display.

Weekend reading

As is customary in this space, here are some recommendations for your weekend reading pleasure starting with two Alcatel-Lucent TechZine articles:

• Market Insight Drives Small Cells Strategies
• New Currency for the Identity Economy

If you were unable to participate, by all means the recent webinar, “SDN: Let’s Cut The Hype, What is the Reality?Alcatel-Lucent WebRTC dynamic video composition on a web page, and Alcatel-Lucent iCocoon: Immersive Video Conferencing System. ” is something to spend some time listening to. In addition, the community Resource Center has updated whitepapers, videos and case studies. In fact, two videos I recommend are:

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