Tablets and Smartphones Push the Need for a High Leverage Network

Tablet computing and smartphones are changing how mobile broadband is consumed.

A perfect storm of intuitive mobile devices, compelling applications and content, and pervasive mobile broadband access networks has flipped the old network potential equation on its head. Instead of supply pushing demand, demand now dramatically drives supply.

While mobile broadband supply is expected to grow between 10 and 30 times growth by 2016, as highlighted in a recent Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) white paper, “The High Leverage Network: Increasing Capacity and Efficiency with an All-IP Network Infrastructure,” a Bell Lab’s network capacity model  predicts a scary 45 to 80 times demand growth rate.

Tablets and smartphones largely account for the growth in demand as the pace of content delivery is sped up by devices built to consume data and video while not storing it on the device itself. With the average consumer using several devices, from work smartphone to tablet to home smartphone, the strained core network will only become more strained in the coming years.

What’s needed is next-generation access, an all-IP network that runs more efficiently and can handle the mobile broadband load while delivering a superior customer experience.

Alcatel-Lucent, a leader in core network infrastructure, is actively advocating the all-IP network and what it calls a High Leverage Network (HLN). Based on a converged, scalable, intelligent and efficient all-IP network infrastructure, the Alcatel-Lucent HLN) is designed from the ground up to deliver bandwidth at the lowest CAPEX per bit and helps service providers to efficiently and cost-effectively scale network bandwidth and increase network capacity from access to the core.

At the heart of the HLN are horizontal architecture layers that provide an enabling platform for the creation of personalized applications and services that enhance the customer experience and move bandwidth efficiently. These layers consist of:

• The all-IP infrastructure
• A control layer on top of that
• An optimization layer
• Decision analytics layer
• An experience creation and enablement layer

“The optimization and decision analytics layers are key elements of the HLN architecture that enable service providers to personalize applications and deliver new services that generate new revenues,” according to the paper by Alcatel-Lucent.

The optimization layer includes cloud orchestration, which controls virtual network and cloud resources to deliver applications with the best customer experience, and yield management, which maximizes the value of the network by means of real-time payment and charging.

The decision analytics layer is a Service Level Agreement (SLA)-centric layer that analyzes real-time network and offline data, providing analysis and decision making to optimize the SLA for the user and the application. It has two key elements, allocation to ensure a high customer experience, and offers and advertising to intelligently orchestrate the creation and delivery of personalized service offers and targeted advertising based on user preferences.

On top of this is the experience creation and enablement layer that provides a secure application programming interface (API) exposure layer coupled with the application developer toolsets necessary to rapidly design and deliver personalized applications and services.

It all comes together to meet the tidal wave of mobile broadband demand that will engulf operators that don’t sufficiently account for the changing computing landscape. For more information about HLN, check out the Alcatel-Lucent HLN Knowledge Center.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO Miami 2013, Jan 29- Feb. 1 in Miami, Florida. Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO (News - Alert). Follow us on Twitter.