ISSUE 05 2014
SOFTWARE-DEFINED NETWORKING
43
become more reliant on their connected devices to support their digital lifestyles. Mobile customers have a seemingly insatiable demand for new content, applications, and services from their providers, and expect CSPs to provide stable and reliable access to these services anytime, anywhere and on any device.
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For CSPs to secure their success in the digital era, they need to rethink the way they manage their business and their networks and adapt to the subscriber-driven advances that are redefining the mobile market.
Central to the success of this transition will be the evolution of existing network architectures from their current form to more flexible, software-defined ‘thinking’ networks that can manage dynamic applications, facilitate the development of innovative services, and respond in real time to rapidly shifting network conditions and customer demands.
The establishment of these will be an evolutionary process – a transition marked by four overlapping stages.
The first phase of the process, the move to new Diameter networks, is already underway and will serve as the foundation for next-generation thinking networks. On the back of this will come widespread network virtualisation and its kindred activity – intelligent orchestration – which will allow CSPs to
oday more than ever, the future of the mobile space is in subscribers’ hands. Universal broadband access and the widespread adoption of smart mobile technologies have encouraged people to
operate under more flexible conditions, followed by the real- time integration of mobile and social user data to develop more customer focused digital services. Finally, networks will become more automated, more driven by software residing on industry-standard hardware and include better, more logical separation between the functional control environment and the user and application data environment.
It starts with Diameter In response to evolving customer demand and the accelerating pace at which subscribers generate mobile data, operators have begun making the shift to all-IP LTE networks. This trend has initiated a move from traditional signalling interfaces to the rapidly expanding Diameter protocol. EMEA is the fastest growing market for this, with Diameter signalling traffic growing by well over 200 per cent over the last year in the region, according to a recent Oracle study.
The ongoing adoption of Diameter marks the first phase in the development of software-defined thinking networks. This expansion is creating an independent, intelligent control layer that will orchestrate Diameter-based communications between network gateways, policy servers, charging systems, subscriber profile databases, session initiation protocol (SIP) application servers, and mobility and session management functions.
Once this groundwork has been laid, CSPs will be able to scale their networks to accommodate growth and find new ways to monetise the fast-growing volume of mobile data generated by subscribers, without fear of unpredicted congestion or outages.
A virtual world
For CSPs to secure their success in the digital era, they need to rethink the way they manage their business and their networks and adapt to the subscriber-driven advances that are redefining the mobile market
The next stage in the evolution of thinking networks will see multiple network functions move toward a virtualised and intelligently orchestrated state. Known as Network Function Virtualisation (NFV), this migration will allow CSPs to create flexible, policy-driven network streams for different network activities as user demand dictates. In addition, virtualised network functions will allow operators to develop more agile network architectures that offer a greater variety of deployment options, which can in turn help them reduce operating costs associated with running some of their current network resources. For example, because they will be able to temporarily reallocate virtual resources to specific network functions in line with shifting traffic conditions, CSPs will no longer need to build excess core network capacity to address peak usage.
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