report - Light Reading

USING FIXED MOBILE CONVERGENCE TO COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
threats, such as improving their competitive position against an
entrenched competitor, and opportunities, such as introducing presence,
which will have a positive impact on their business in the
short term. These service providers are following the roadmaps
shown in Figures 5 and 6 more incrementally. Alcatel’s solution
enables a step-by-step approach to FMC supporting this strategy.
Examples of FMC services
Converging access network: Multi-Access Mobility example
The single phone solution for Multi-Access Mobility, shown
in Figure 7, offers providers a converged service that allows
the user to roam freely between the fixed network and the
mobile network using one phone with one phone number. The
solution uses a single handset to make and receive fixed and
mobile calls, eliminating multiple contact numbers, multiple
voice mail and address books. It offers a converged service
which automatically roams between a connection to the fixed
network via Bluetooth or WiFi and the mobile network, hence
saving the user time and money.
Figure 7: Single phone for multi-access mobility over GSM,
CDMA, or UMTS, and Bluetooth or WiFi
GSM/CDMA/UMTS
Dual-mode
terminal
Access
BTS
Mobile
Network
Softswitch
Fixed
Network
MSC
Application
Server
Alcatel’s single phone solution contains all the necessary feature
sets to ensure that the end user is always optimally connected:
• reduced cost through use of the optimum (the cheapest) network
for incoming and outgoing calls;
• enhanced voice quality by providing fixed voice quality over
a mobile phone, important where GSM coverage is spotty
(inside buildings, in rural settings);
• a single contact number – no need to manage fixed, mobile
and office numbers;
• a single address book, voicemail and bill;
• seamless interworking with other residential applications like
PRBT (Personalized Ring-Back Tone).
Alcatel’s single phone solution offers two complementary
architectures:
• Intelligent Mobile Redirect (IMR) that uses Session Initiation
Protocol (SIP) call control;
• Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) that uses UMA technology.
The choice of the optimal architecture depends on the service
provider’s context (e.g. fixed vs. mobile) and the targeted
end-user segment (e.g. residential vs. enterprise). Alcatel provides
proven, quantitative business consulting support to
service providers to assist them in making this optimal choice
on their way towards convergence.
Converging back-office:
Unified Messaging and Payment examples
Unified Messaging combines voice messaging, video messaging,
and email into one single service, for fixed or for mobile
access. Video is a key opportunity for enriching the user experience,
with its messaging environment accessible from fixed
broadband as well as mobile broadband (3G / EV-DO) networks.
Unified messaging provides the end user with a single mailbox,
where any type of message (data, voice, or video) can be stored
and retrieved, whatever the access network or terminal (PC,
fixed or mobile phone, PDA, etc.).
Alcatel’s Unified Messaging relies on a modular architecture
allowing the secure storage and flexible management of mediabased
messages (voice, fax, video, MMS, etc.), as well as a powerful
voice/video mailbox including user self-management capacity.
It combines multi-access capacity (fixed, mobile) with
openness, allowing for full interfacing with other environments
of the service provider (IMS, IMAP, vXML, etc.)
Convergence between fixed and mobile, pre-paid and
post-paid, as well as data and voice, brings relief through a single
rating engine, compared to the legacy decorrelated rating
approaches. Flexibility and simplicity in charging schemes offer
the possibility to adapt the operator’s service offer to the most stringent
market conditions.
Alcatel’s payment applications are based on its successful call
control, rating and charging platform. Based on a carrier-grade
platform, it is able to deliver state-of-the-art flexibility and functional
richness, while respecting the tremendous real-time /
high-reliability constraints. In particular, Alcatel’s payment application,
based on the 8690 OSP, offers a true convergence capability,
letting service providers charge voice, data and content
usage for any bearer (NGN, IMS, WiFi, GSM, EDGE, UMTS,
PSTN, etc) and for any subscribers (pre- or post-paid). This
enables, in particular, community charging for hybrid accounts
(e.g. partly pre-paid/partly post-paid, or partly corporate/personal)
and complex family/corporate charging rules.
Converging service delivery environment:
IP Multimedia Subsystem
In order to grow according to market conditions, service
providers of all types need to deploy future-safe architectures.
A central requirement is to have an overall architecture which
enables the definition, implementation and deployment of new
services more quickly than ever before. This architecture is IMS,
which is defined by the standards organizations 3GPP and ETSI-
TISPAN. Figure 8 shows a simplified IMS architecture. At the
same time, end users want to consume simplified services. The
IMS architecture with its SIP-centric service delivery satisfies
this requirement.
The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is a framework for providing
IP telecommunications Services. It is the foundation for
a world where services and transport are IP-based, from the
devices to the network. The access network might differ, but
every service can be common to the wireline (DSL, cable, FTTU,
PSTN, etc.) and wireless (2G, 3G, WiFi, WiMAX, etc.) worlds.
It is thus a true foundation for Fixed / Mobile Convergence.
284 - Alcatel Telecommunications Review - 4 th Quarter 2005 www.alcatel.com/atr