As the workforce becomes wireless so does the ... - Connect-World

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Broadband Mobile wireless payment Mobile technologies systemsaccessLTE leads to a connected worldby Chris Pearson, President, 4G AmericasThe connected world today spans just about every digital device imaginable. The 3GPPfamily of wireless technologies is at the heart of this connected world, transformingcommunications for people, businesses and societies throughout the Americas.Chris Pearson, President of 4G Americas, is responsible for the strategic planning of the organization. Mr Pearson has more than 23years of experience in the telecommunications industry. Prior to its name change to 4G Americas, Mr Pearson served as the Presidentof 3G Americas, LLC.Chris Pearson earned a Master of Business Administration degree from The Albers School of Business and Economics at SeattleUniversity and a Bachelor of Arts degree with emphasis in Marketing and Finance from the University of Washington.What do a tablet PC, security camera,bandage, digital photo frame and videoadvertising display have in common? Twothings: they’re all examples of how ourworld is increasingly connected, and they’reall existing or potential users of broadbandwireless technologies.This connected world spans just aboutevery digital device imaginable, includingsmartphones, Internet-ready TVs, residentialthermostats and appliances, infotainmentsystems in automobiles and traffic sensors, toname just a few existing examples. Far moreare in development. All of this adds up towhat some analysts refer to as a ‘third wave’of Internet connectivity.It’s more like a tsunami: By 2020, the numberof connected devices will top 22 billionworldwide, according to IMS Research.That’s an average of roughly three connecteddevices for every person.A half-billion connectionsThe 3rd Generation Partnership Project(3GPP) family of wireless technologies is atthe heart of today’s and tomorrow’s connectedworld. This family includes the UniversalMobile Telecommunications System (UMTS),High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA/HSPA+)technology, which already supports more thana half-billion connected devices worldwide.This mobile broadband technology isespecially popular in the Americas.“The Americas was the world’s fastestgrowingregion for UMTS-HSPAsubscriptions in the year ending June 2010and helped the technology break through thehalf-billion milestone to reach 535 millionsubscriptions worldwide during the secondquarter,” said Mike Roberts, principal analystat Informa Telecoms & Media.This success will continue with the debut ofLong Term Evolution (LTE), which morethan 250 operators worldwide are expectedto launch over the coming years. A handfulof Asian and European LTE networks arealready in commercial service, while AT&Tand Verizon Wireless are among the carriersthat plan to launch service in the Americas bythe end of 2011.The HSPA/HSPA+ and LTE launches andcommitments are good news for end-users,application developers, content providersand others that can benefit from peaktheoretical upload and download speedsof more than 80 Mbps and 300Mbps,respectively. Today, a typical user can expectdownload speeds of 1.9Mbps to 8.8Mbpson a HSPA+ network that uses 2x5MHz ofspectrum and 5.9 to 21.5Mbps on an LTEnetwork that uses spectrum in a 2x10 MHzspectrum deployment.LTE also is fast in terms of latency: about tenmilliseconds. That’s ideal for delay-sensitiveapplications such as video telephony andvideo surveillance. Just as important, thosebenefits don’t come at the expense of batterylife. Long battery life is key for achieving thevision of a connected world because usersdon’t have to worry about running out ofpower prematurely.To understand LTE’s benefits, it helps to lookat how the technology works. For example,LTE uses Multiple Input, Multiple Output(MIMO) antenna technology and OrthogonalFrequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM).North America 2010 • 3

Optical Mobile wireless payment Mobile broadband systemsaccessHigh capacityToday’s business networks demand fastEthernet speeds. The T1/E1 connections ofyesterday’s voice-based networks are notcapable of providing the bandwidth that today’senterprises need to be successful. Finding thesolution that provides the lowest cost-per-bit isparamount.Cost efficiencyIt’s never hard to make a case for the valueof employing cost-effective solutions, butthe current projected increase in bandwidthdemand is just the beginning. Forward-lookingenterprises need to choose solutions that arenot only cost effective now, but that can scaleup rapidly and economically as capacity needscontinue to grow.Rapidly deployableSpeed of deployment is critical. In manyenterprises, broadband capacity is directlytied to time-to-revenue, for others broadbandcapability means at minimum ensuring that thebusiness can operate effectively. Either way,the difference between having a connectivitysolution in place in a matter of days, versusweeks or months, can translate directly to thecompany’s bottom line.Data securityAs global businesses continue to move towardsan all-wireless, all-digital model, the securityof data is absolutely crucial. Data securitywill always be an inherent challenge for RFwireless solutions; by its very nature the contentis broadcast in multiple directions, making itaccessible to anyone with the right snoopingequipment. RF is also plagued by interferenceand data-bleed, which can irreparablycompromise data, leading to information theftas well as network attack.Broadband options for enterpriseFiber is an option when a fixed line solutionis acceptable, but it is extremely costly andsecuring right-of-way and trenching meansa long deployment timeline. In the wirelessarena, traditional options include microwaveand WiMAX. Both require frequency licences,or taking your chances in an unlicensed band,and also incur a significant amount of leadtime.While all of these technologies have theirplace, a lesser-known technology is startingto come into its own as the need for lowcosthigh-capacity bandwidth rises rapidly.Currently there are less than a dozen companiesdeveloping OWB (Optical Wireless Broadband)technology, but a handful of these have startedto gain significant traction over the last fewyears, both in enterprise broadband and themobility backhaul space.Optical wireless broadband: an attractivealternative broadband technologyOptical wireless broadband technology,formerly known as free space optics, usesinfrared light to transmit a broadband datastream between two points, using air as thetransmission medium. It is a line-of-sighttechnology, deployed in a point-to-point link,where multiple links can be meshed together tocover campuses or cities. The unique qualitiesof this technology allow it to address the fourcritical communications needs of enterprisesdiscussed earlier in very powerful ways: cost,capacity, speed of deployment, and security.Capacity: The average bandwidth of an OWBlink ranges from 10Mbps to 2.5Gbps, with eachlink typically spanning one to two miles. Someexperimental short-range ten Gbps units existtoday, and OWB developers expect to havecommercially viable 10Gbps units within thenext 18 months.Cost: OWB offers an exceptionally low costper-gigabit,unmatched by any other wirelesstechnology. Industry analyst Chetan Sharmaindicated: “The CAPEX and OPEX of OWBnetworks is quite attractive compared toother technologies. The cost per site can besignificantly lower than that of others, especiallywith the new generation of OWB with smallerform factors and increased reliability.” Thisdifference can be seen in the figure.The table shows the differences in operationaland performance parameters between three keybroadband technologies - fiber, microwave,and OWB.Rapid deploymentThe optical wireless broadband technology hasa significant advantage over traditional solutionswhen it comes to speed of deployment. OWBis not slowed down by the need for frequencylicensing, RF studies, or the building permitsthat are needed when installing microwave orWiMAX, or the construction time and right-ofwayneeded for terrestrial fiber. When the leadtimeof deploying microwave (2-4 months) orfiber (6-12 months) means a two to 12 monthdelay until the business’s revenue stream canbe fully realized, critical revenue-generationtime that cannot be recovered. Deployingan alternative technology like OWB avoidsthat delay, and some OWB vendors havedeployment methodologies that allow them todeploy a link in a matter of hours.SecurityUnlike RF, optical wireless broadband is apoint-to-point technology, where the data istransmitted on an invisible beam of light. TheOWB beam is virtually impossible to intercept,ensuring the security of an enterprise’s data.Also, multiple OWB beams can be used in thesame space with no concern of interferenceor data-bleed. Optical wireless broadband isby far the most secure wireless transmissiontechnology available today, and it has beendeployed by some of the most securityconsciousenterprises and government agenciesin the world, including surveillance systemoperators, financial and banking businesses, andthe US Department of Defense.The need for wireless low-cost high-capacityenterprise data solutionsOptical wireless broadband is a valuable optionfor enterprises that need high capacity at verylow cost. Today the capacity of the wirelessbroadband needed even for small businessesis fuelling a migration to alternative solutionsthat can provide economical high-capacitybroadband. Enterprises that look to innovativesolutions like OWB will gain an edge on theircompetitors by saving both time and moneywhen implementing wireless communicationssolutions. •Fiber Microwave OWBCapacity GB MB GBOPEX High Low LowCAPEX High Moderate LowAverage 3 $90K $57K $16Kyear cost/connectionTDM support Yes Yes YesTime tomarket issuesPowerConsumptionTime todeploymentPermit andright-of-wayLicence, permits andinterference studies12W 50W 15WNo licence or rightof way required9-12 months 3-6 months 1-30 daysNorth America 2010 • 9

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Spectrum Mobile and payment capacity Mobile systemsaccess issuesAddressing the spectrum and capacity crunchby Bruce Brda, Senior VP and GM, Motorola SolutionsAs data use explodes, operators, regulators and technology vendors need to re-think migrationapproaches to new technology. Smart thinking about how to build, deploy and maintainnetworks can help mobile operators address the demand for data.Bruce Brda is senior vice president and general manager of Motorola’s networks business. Prior to this role, Mr Brda gained extensiveinternational sales and marketing experience in Motorola’s mobile devices business and was previously vice president of sales andoperations for Motorola’s infrastructure business.Bruce Brda holds a bachelor’s of science degree from Southern Illinois University and a master’s of science degree from Illinois Instituteof Technology.Mobile operators are facing a capacity crisis.The fact is we stand at an inflection point as anindustry. The way we have managed transitionsin the past and how we must manage them inthe future are two quite different processes. Asan industry, we need to revise our thinking andmanage transitions holistically. The first step is foroperators, regulators and technology vendors to rethinkmigration approaches and the way we worktogether. Here, we address this multi-dimensionalapproach with various scenarios highlighting theinteractions of these variables.Data use explodesThe extent of the data explosion is revealed bytwo major mobile operators. Orange disclosedin 2009 that USB dongle data consumption inthe UK had increased by 4,125 per cent in theprevious 12 months, while AT&T has managed asurge in data use of 5000 per cent over the lastthree years. And with applications includingsocial networking, video and interactive chatgaining in popularity, burgeoning data demandsaren’t slowing soon.By 2011, Motorola estimates that mobile operatorswill provide per month, on average, 11.1GBof data for students (up from 4.5GB), 5GB fortravelling business people (up from 2.4GB) and6GB for professionals (up from 4GB). Suchfigures indicate that degradation in performanceexperienced by some mobile operators will affectmore networks in the future. A fundamentalshift in consumer usage models is underwayand accelerating. These soaring data streams areenabling users to interact with the world in newways. Consumer usage is one of many variables inthe rapidly evolving telecommunications market.Migration strategies going forward must maintainflexibility to keep pace with this evolution.Consumer usage is just one of the variables in play.Changing appsThe popularity of apps and social networkingis one major factor behind the capacity strain.The average smartphone - even if the user is notactively using these apps - checks for messagesor status updates eight times a minute. Each ofthese checks ties up valuable spectrum resources.This repetitive behaviour is contributing toservice degradation just like the amount of datasent across 3G networks.The spectrum battleThe industry is pressing for greater accessto existing radio spectrum. For example, byreclaiming spectrum bands from the cessationof terrestrial TV service - the ‘digital dividend’.Regulators are using auctions to ensure fairallocation of spectrum. However, in some markets,the process takes time. Legal action is threateningto delay the UK’s auction, which was expected tohappen at the end of 2010.Ultimately, the promise offered by commercialservices to make broadband more available andaffordable is likely to see additional spectrumbecome available. However, given the demandsfor data, it’s critical to fully optimize spectrumuse now as well as additional spectrum that mightbecome available in the future.Off-load optionsMigration strategies in these circumstancesneed to encompass some near-term creativity. Atactic available immediately is to off-load data. Asimple way to achieve this is by using unlicencedtechnologies with mobile operators partneringwith existing Wi-Fi mobile operators, or deployingtheir own Wi-Fi networks to provide customerswith seamless connectivity to hot-spots withoutthe need to manually log-in. This convenientaccess can help remove a significant amountof nomadic data traffic from the main mobilenetworks in places where network congestionis most problematic. However, the risk of usingunlicenced spectrum could cause the operator tolose some control of the user experience whereWi-Fi congestion occurs.Another viable option in the drive to optimizecapacity is network sharing - a way for operatorsNorth America 2010 • 11

Spectrum and capacity issuesto reduce capital and operational expendituresby sharing, for example, base stations and cellsites with other operators. This move has beentaken by, among others, Vodafone and Telefonicain Spain, Germany, Ireland and UK; Orange,SFR and Bouygues Telecom in France andClear, Sprint, Comcast, and Time Warner in theUSA. The strategy offers key advantages. Thenumbers of base stations can be cut, and groupingbetween peers to share cell-loads ensures servicequality remains consistently high at times ofpeak demand. Alongside diverting traffic fromthe network, deploying new 4G technologies isfundamental to optimizing spectrum.Advances to licenced technologiesDue to the level of data demands, the days ofinvesting in one network type are over. Mobileoperators will need to acquire all the spectrumthey can and deploy the best technology for thatspectrum. The cornerstone of mobile networksin the future will be provided by 4G technologies- principally Long Term Evolution (LTE) - butwith a wide range of complementary technologiesworking alongside it to boost capacity.LTEOne of the attractions of LTE, which willdominate mobile network investment, is that itcan be employed in a wide range of frequenciesand in many sizes of channel bandwidths - from1.4MHz to 20MHz. The flexibility of LTE,coupled with its superior performance, is drivingmany mobile operators to reserve 2G spectrum- such as 900MHz - for LTE roll-outs rather thanusing this spectrum for 3G solutions such as highspeedpacket access (HSPA). This is a move thatbecomes more attractive considering the LTEstandards roadmap enables a feature called carrieraggregation, allowing multiple parts of nonadjacentchannels to be used as a single channel.This eases the cost of enhancing capacity andservice performance while lowering cost per bit.Network profiles are also likely to change withLTE. Many small picocells can be added toboost network capacity in high-use areas. This isparticularly attractive with LTE as the technologyis capable of self-organizing and optimizingthe cells. This ensures the capacity benefits areachieved with much lower deployment, operationsand maintenance costs.The case for TD-LTEThe rise of TD-LTE as a viable mobile networktechnology has been boosted by the backingof several global operators including ChinaMobile which is accelerating TD developments.TD-LTE is an integral part of the 3GPP LTEstandard. These standards bodies are ensuringcompatibility between FDD LTE and TD-LTEincluding support for roaming.While the majority of networks have FDD LTEas their primary service platform, there’s a strongcase for using TD in combination with FDDsolutions. The spectrum will cost less, and TD-LTE is well suited for downlink heavy applicationslike mobile video broadcasting. In addition, TD-LTE can be used to off-load services away fromFDD LTE or to boost indoor coverage qualityand double capacity in hot spots. Moreover, thedevelopment path of the standard supports in-bandrelay, meaning that TD-LTE could also be used inthe future for providing backhaul. It’s likely thatmany markets will comprise a mix of TD-LTE,FDD LTE and WIMAX.WiMAXWhile TD-LTE and FDD LTE provide greatpotential for addressing the growth of datademands, WiMAX provides a solution that isavailable now for addressing the burgeoningwireless broadband market. WiMAX is being usedfor service delivery to mature markets that needbroadband as well as to unserved and underservedmarkets. Tried and tested in hundreds of networksworldwide, WiMAX provides reliable, highspeedbroadband. With its capacity and efficiencyperformance similar to LTE, WiMAX willcomplement LTE in major urban and rural areas toprovide the best data experience to customers.WiMAX supports frequency allocationsthat cover the world and support channelbandwidths from 5MHz to 10MHz. Futureplans for WiMAX include expanding thedeployment of innovative features to doublepeak data rates and increase the average andcell-edge end-user performance by 50 percent without affecting the existing ecosystemof devices. Additionally, with 802.16m, theWiMAX Forum announced in April 2010 thatit’s looking to expand the channel bandwidth to20MHz to support data rates up to 300Mbps.The WiMAX ecosystem hosts a broad set ofdevices to support the end-user needs for datausage. While the majority of WiMAX marketshave initially focused on customer premisesequipment and USB devices to provide fixed andnomadic broadband services, handsets and smartdevices are already arriving on these networks.Supporting dual-mode capabilities, these end-userdevices allow operators to off-load the data usagefrom their existing networks to a more efficientbroadband technology.Designed from scratch by mobile operators andvendors for a future dominated by data, LTE andWiMAX will lead strategies to optimize spectrum.As WiMAX and LTE are both OFDM-basedtechnologies, WiMAX can provide the initialbase that allows operators a future migration pathto 16m or LTE. This said, once systems are inplace, it’s advisable to monitor their use to ensureoptimum efficiency.A spectrum of possibilitiesResponses to spectrum and capacity issuescould result in two sea changes taking placeover the next few years. First, mobile operatorsare likely to partner with competitors toensure customers have a great data experiencewherever they go. Second, the topology ofnetworks will become much more complex.The complexity of the system is not going away. Itis our migration approaches that must evolve. Forend-users, nothing will change - apart from a moreimpressive service - as their devices will furnishthem with the best data experiences as they moveacross systems. But behind the scenes, networkswill be much more complex, leading to changes inthe way that networks are run.Many operators believe it’s simply not possibleto invest and retain all the skills they need inhouse.For instance, building an LTE network andoptimizing architecture and topology according tonew and existing frequency plans is a huge taskthat’s critical to the future of the business. Whilethis is ongoing, existing services and customersneed to be managed as other technologies - such asWiMAX and LTE - are brought into play.To meet these demands, many companies areoffering complete expertise in helping mobileoperators build, optimize and maintain any part oftheir network. The business case for using theseskills is based on the premise that accessing readilyavailable, highly skilled people can be significantlymore cost efficient than investing in equivalentexpertise in-house.Vendors partnering with flexible mobile operatorswho commit to pre-agreed service levels andset costs for projects will increasingly becomepart of the overall strategy to address spectrumand capacity issues. There’s no doubt that withsmart thinking about how to build, deploy andmaintain networks, mobile operators can continueto deliver a positive customer experience whilereducing exposure to risk, operating as efficientlyas possible and optimizing revenue opportunities.Overall, on a broader, multi-dimensional level,the industry will continue the relentless pace ofinnovation that has enabled mobile data services tobecome essential to daily life. •12 • North America 2010

Mobile Strong payment Mobile authentication systemsaccessStrong authentication eliminates risks intrinsic to theuse of wireless technologyby T. Kendall Hunt, CEO, VASCO Data SecurityThe increasing use of wireless technology enhances the risk of identity theft and needs to beeffectively secured before it can be turned into a strategic advantage. The answer to thesesecurity challenges is strong authentication. Strong authentication allows identifying theperson trying to access a corporate network or application, allowing only authorized usersand keeping all the others out.T. Kendall Hunt is Founder, Chairman of the Board and CEO of VASCO Data Security International.Mr Hunt holds an MBA from Pepperdine University, Malibu, California, and a BBA from the University of Miami, Florida.In today’s world, fast technologicalprogress and ICT-driven organizations havebecome the standard. We are accustomedto new technological developments beingimmediately converted into practicalapplications and implemented in the everydayfunctioning of an enterprise. This is notsurprising, as new trends in ICT often offernew and exciting strategic opportunities. Inthe last few years, wireless technology hasbecome one of those trends. Employees areincreasingly using laptops, smartphones andother mobile devices, enabling them to workfrom home or while on the road.The increasing availability of wirelesstechnology offers enterprises manyadvantages too. The use of mobile devicessuch as netbooks and smartphones allowsemployees to connect to company systems,check their email and search the Internetanywhere and anytime. This means thatalmost any location can be turned into aproductive environment: a remote office,a worker’s home or simply a hotspot inan airport or a hotel - even Starbucksoffers free wireless access. This givesemployees the opportunity to utilize theirtime effectively and to establish a work/lifebalance, resulting in more motivated staff andincreased productivity. Being able to sendand receive information on-the-go createsa fluid information loop, ensuring that staffare constantly up-to-date with importantdevelopments within the company. In otherwords, wireless technology enables veryeffective communication.But increased mobility and flexibilitycome at a certain price. Despite all thebenefits, the use of wireless technologyinvolves many risks. Security has alwaysbeen a very important issue for companiesand organizations, but the increasing useof mobile devices such as laptops andsmartphones has new challenges. One of themain problems is authentication. How canyou make sure that the individual using thecompany laptop to log in to the corporatenetwork is really the person that they claimto be? How do you know if it is one of youremployees working from home or on theroad and not a hacker trying to access yoursystem? How do you ensure that user namesand passwords are not intercepted by Internetfraudsters? How do you know that a worker’snetbook or BlackBerry have not been stolenand are now being abused to log on to thecorporate network?The authentication problem is inherent tothe use of wireless technology. The physicalabsence of the person using the mobile devicealways implies the risk of identity theft. Asan enterprise, you have to make sure thatyour staff dispose of the right infrastructureand the right solutions to eliminate that risk.Only then can your organization turn theuse of wireless technology into a strategicadvantage. If secured, remote access tothe corporate network and the use of webbasedcorporate applications offer obviousadvantages. If not, the consequences couldbe disastrous often having dire financial andbrand impact. Imagine that unauthorizedusers are able to gain access to sensitiveinformation such as financial data or clientinformation. It is unnecessary to explainNorth America 2010 • 13

Strong authenticationthat it is absolutely essential that this kind ofinformation remains well protected.The answer to security challenges createdby the increased use of wireless technologyis strong authentication. The use of strongauthentication or two-factor authenticationsolutions allows identifying the person tryingto access a corporate network or application,allowing only authorized users and keepingall the other ones out. The principle of strongauthentication is quite simple. Classic logonmethods usually require only a usernameand a password to gain access to a networkor application. Strong authentication alwaysrequires more than one factor to log on,which is why it is also called two-factorauthentication. Usually, it is a combinationof something you know, like a password ora PIN-code, and something you have, forinstance a smart card or an authenticationdevice. Most people are actually alreadyfamiliar with the principle of two-factorauthentication, without being aware of it.For instance, when you need to withdrawcash from an ATM, you use your bankcard(something you have) and your PIN-code(something you know). Suppose your bankcard gets stolen, the thief would still needyour code to gain access to your bankaccount. And if anyone was able to guessor to intercept your PIN, they would stillneed your bank card. It is obvious that thecombination of the two factors ensures amuch higher level of security than the use ofonly one factor.The same principle can be applied inenterprise security. Today’s enterprises oftendeal with similar authentication challenges,such as securing remote access. Remoteaccess to company networks and applicationsgoes hand in hand with the increased use oflaptops and other mobile devices, and offersmany advantages. Today’s employees workfrom home, or on the road. Enterprises thatare operating worldwide hire employees allover the world, allowing them to work fromremote home offices while still being ableto access all the necessary applications. Butthey need to ensure that only authorized usersare able to gain access to important data andcorporate information; remote access needsto be effectively secured. If remote access isonly secured with a weak static password, itbecomes easy for fraudsters to intercept orsimply to guess the password.Most people tend to use easy to rememberpasswords, such as their pet’s name or theirchildren’s birthday. This kind of informationcan be easily obtained, for instance fromsocial network websites such as Facebook.Imposing a strict password policy rarelyhelps, as complex passwords and regularpassword changes tend to be confusing formany employees. This often results in thewriting down of passwords, which is ofcourse all but helpful in improving security.Strong authentication drastically increasesthe security level of remote access solutions.Authentication devices are able to generateso called dynamic or one-time passwords(OTPs), which replace the use of staticpasswords. Dynamic passwords are valid fora limited amount of time and can be usedonly once. This means that even if a fraudsterwas able to intercept a password, they wouldnot be able to use it again. The employee isonly able to log on using something theyknow, for instance a username or a PINcode,and something they own, meaning theauthenticator used to generate the dynamicpassword. This solution is not only veryeffective, protecting the corporate resourcesfrom unauthorized access, but also veryuser friendly, as it becomes unnecessary toremember complex passwords or changethem on a regular basis.Strong authentication can be used not onlyto secure remote access, but also all othercorporate applications. One of today’s ICTtrends is Software as a Service (SaaS), theuse of web-based company applicationshosted on external platforms. This trendalso goes hand in hand with the flourishingof wireless technology, as you only needan Internet connection to be able to accessyour company’s web-based applications.Having a laptop or a netbook, employeescan work with these applications anywhereand anytime. The principle of strong twofactorauthentication can be applied here aswell. Employees will use an authenticatorto generate a one-time password and log insafely, ensuring that only authorized usersgain access to the application.One of the big advantages of strongauthentication devices is that they can takethe form of hardware as well as softwareauthenticators. Hardware authenticators areusually little devices, which can be carriedaround easily in a pocket, a purse or even ona key ring. Software authenticators also comein different forms and can be installed on theuser’s computers, laptops and even mobilephones. In the context of the increasing use ofwireless technology, this is a very importantfeature. Employees already equipped withlaptops, smartphones or even regular mobilephones, can use these mobile devices toimplement an authentication solution. Thisway, the same tools used to benefit fromthe advantages of wireless technology alsobecome the carriers of the authenticationsolutions used to secure access to corporatenetworks and applications.In today’s enterprise context, wirelesssolutions offer many advantages. Bothemployees and companies benefit from theincreased mobility and flexibility. Employeesare able to work anywhere at anytime,allowing better time management and a betterbalance between work and private life. Thecompany can manage the communication andinformation flow more effectively, keepingeveryone constantly up to date. But wirelesstechnology also brings along an increasedrisk of possible identity theft and abuse, andneeds to be effectively secured before it canbe turned into a strategic advantage. Strongauthentication drastically decreases the riskof password abuse and allows employeesand companies to fully benefit from theopportunities offered by the increasing use ofwireless technology. •14 • North America 2010

The three Mobile states payment Mobile of broadband systemsaccessBroadband is like water for thirsty enterprisesby Danny Bowman, President, Integrated Solutions Group, Sprint NextelThe introduction of high-speed broadband over wireless connections enables true ‘everythingwireless’ubiquity. For enterprises this turns emerging wireless technology into a powerfulagent for change, enabling capabilities that can have a transformative effect on operations,cost structure and market-making strategy.Danny Bowman is President of Sprint Nextel’s Integrated Solutions Group (ISG). Mr Bowman served as President - iDEN from June2008 to August 2009 and has served in various executive positions including Product Development and Management, Sales, Marketing,and General Management since 1997.Danny Bowman is a graduate of Evangel College in Springfield, Missouri, and holds a degree in Business Management. He also holds aLeadership Certificate from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.Seasoned executives know all too well thatmarket forces never cease driving companiesto become more competitive. However thepast couple of years have brought an unusuallysevere test - with a drought in both demand andcapital that has challenged enterprises in everyindustry sector. Whether economic recoverycomes slowly or quickly, companies are in needof relief, and many will find significant supportfrom what could be an unexpected source.That source has been described in many ways,but perhaps most succinctly by Connect-World’s term, the ‘everything-wireless world’.While an ‘everything-wireless’ environmentcertainly won’t solve the global problems ofdemand creation and investment, it wouldbe a mistake to underestimate its impact onindividual companies as they manage throughthose challenges. Enterprises are in factdiscovering what a powerful change agentwireless can be. The primary driver is foundin the one characteristic of emerging wirelesstechnology which enables true ‘everythingwireless’ubiquity - the advent of high-speedbroadband over wireless connections.As we have seen with Sprint’s introductionof 4G in the United States, high-bandwidthconnectivity that was once available only in afixed wireline form is beginning to ripple outwirelessly to embrace mobile workforces andmany more assets. Corporate managers arelearning to think of broadband as more thanmere efficiency-expanding speed. In fact, it hasfar-reaching implications, enabling capabilitiesthat can have a transformative effect onoperations, cost structure and market-makingstrategy itself.Put simply, broadband is like water for thirstyenterprises. At one level, enterprises thirst forways to streamline operations and increaseproductivity. Beyond this, companies need tocreate more product value from scarce capital,while generating a faster return on investment.Whatever the need, the thirst-slaking ‘water’of broadband is nothing less than a vital lifesustainingelement for enterprise today.Yet as indispensable as broadband now is,the process of applying broadband’s variedmanifestations in the commercial environmentremains in its infancy. To understand why this isthe case, it is helpful to consider how broadbandis taking on different forms as it drives theevolution to everything-wireless.The three states of broadbandLike water itself, we can think of broadband asexisting in three potential forms:- where water can be solid ice, broadbandconnections can be fixed in particularlocations;- where water can be fluid, broadband canbe mobile, flowing seamlessly from oneplace to another;- where water can be diffused into thevery atmosphere itself, broadband canthoroughly permeate our work andlifestyles through a vast network ofdispersed electronic devices, both fixedand mobile.Each of these broadband states progressivelycontains, and releases, a higher level ofpurposeful human energy. Considered thisway, we can see that broadband is evolvingfrom a nuts-and-bolts necessity for businessoperations into a highly dynamic, shape-shiftingphenomenon that can significantly influencestrategic approaches across multiple industries.As we will see, it is already doing just that.Broadband’s impact on businesses is abundantat every stage of its development, beginningwith its fixed wireline form.Enterprises have long designed their ITinfrastructures around fixed broadband. Sincethe number of Internet hosts worldwide firstsurpassed 10,000 in 1987, the use of carrier-North America 2010 • 15

The three states of broadbandgrade broadband connections has propelledforward at a staggering rate. As a result,application of productivity-enhancing solutionsto virtually every business function imaginableis now so commonplace as to hardly meritmention. It’s worth reminding ourselves,however, of the sheer scale and pervasivenessthat accounting, HR, CRM and other missioncriticalapplications have attained in enterprisesthanks in large measure to fixed broadband.This compels serious consideration of whatchanges are in store as ‘everything-wireless’broadband assumes the fluidity of its mobilestate and the even more profound ubiquity ofits dispersed state, especially in the emergingMachine-to-Machine (M2M) world.The mobile effect of fluid broadbandThe strategic and tactical advantages of mobilityrepresent a second major step in broadbanddeployment that is well underway, with soaringadoption rates for broadband-based mobileapplications. By arming sales forces andothers in the field with smart devices, we haveextended the central database and corporateapplications beyond the office to virtually anycustomer touchpoint. By coupling broadbandwith GPS, we have seen a mini-revolution inthe way companies track assets and people.There are two pivotal points worthy ofemphasizing about this rapidly advancing stageof the everything-wireless broadband evolution.First, mobile fluidity has spawned a growingvariety of specialized solutions to support mobilecomputing, nomadic workforces and fleetmanagement. By introducing an unprecedentedlevel of speed and flexibility in how assetsand people can be deployed and re-deployedgeographically, mobile broadband enablesenterprises to innovate as never before - not merelyallowing field associates to carry office functionswith them, but discovering and implementingcapabilities that were once unfeasible.To site a well-proven example, no industryhas explored advanced mobile applicationsmore thoroughly than the transportation sector.Trucking companies and others operating largefleets are using mobile to remotely monitor thelocation, speed, performance and maintenancestatus of vehicles. At the same time, mobiletechnology can enable continuous tracking ofindividual cargo items, with all that impliesin the way of efficiency, on-time delivery andcustomer satisfaction. Such levels of real-timemanagement were simply not possible beforemobile broadband.Secondly, the benefits of mobile fluidity flowstraight to the bottom line.Whatever the particular industry application,mobile broadband is becoming a key factor ineliminating many costs by speeding the flowof information, cutting travel time, reducingfuel consumption and enabling the automationof processes that formerly involved paperintensiveworkflow.Advantages like these will only become morepronounced as devices become faster, moreversatile and more numerous. And it is thisvery expansion of the universe of broadbanddevices and applications that is now taking usinto a much wider space where the everythingwirelessworld can be fully actualized.The transformative effect of dispersedbroadbandIn fact, we are already experiencing a rapidsurge into the next stage of broadband - what Icall fully integrated, dispersed broadband.Although dispersed broadband involves manyfactors, its leading edge is arguably machine-tomachinecommunication. M2M is inherentlycomplex, but it’s based on a straightforwardpremise: a variety of ingenious - sometimestransformative - uses can be created by usingbroadband to connect a vast array of devices asdiverse as smart meters, signboards, high-definitioncameras, remote sensors, laptops and appliances.Such a flexible and dispersed M2M-drivenenvironment offers enterprises scalable,automated systems composed of widelydisseminated devices that communicatedirectly with each other. Business managerscan use these systems as a strategic tool fortaking performance to another level. Andthe more thoroughly broadband applicationsdiffuse into the business environment, the moreimpressive the return can be in terms of savings,operational efficiency, positive customerinteractions and, most significantly, innovativeproducts and services.The evidence for this phenomenon is growingquickly in several sectors now taking the lead inM2M and related applications:• Utilities are generating greateroperational control and efficiencies bydeploying SmartGrid solutions wherethousands of smart metres are wirelesslyconnected into real-time automatedmetre-reading infrastructures.• Insurance companies are helpingcustomers get more competitivepremiums through connected in-vehicledevices. Insurers can wirelessly receivesecure information on a person’s drivinghabits, then reward safe drivers whilereturning benefits to the companythrough better underwriting and claimsreductions.• Public safety agencies are protectingcitizens by more closely monitoringhazardous conditions and potentiallydangerous offenders. For instance, policecan use 4G speed to receive images fromhigh-resolution cameras in high-crimeareas, and better identify offenders whilelowering response times.• Retailers are showing customers theirmost up-to-the-minute offerings withdigital signage. Store managers cancultivate customer relationships withoutdoor or indoor electronic signsfeaturing continuous updates on productsor special offers.• Medical providers are engagingbroadband to change the healthcareparadigm. Applications includesmartphone-equipped mobile healthprofessionals with instant, secure accessto medical images and vital signs.Looking ahead, 4G speeds could enablereal-time virtual collaboration acrossstates or streaming live video from anambulance to the hospital.• Manufacturers are exploring a widespectrum of CRM, SCM and PLMsolutions opened by dispersed broadband.These include sophisticated applicationsacross the gamut of handheld computing,building automation, remote diagnostics,asset management and cloud computing.This is only a sampling of dispersedbroadband’s role in satisfying the enterprisethirst for productivity, innovation and anaccelerated return on investment. The keyquestion, of course, is how to implementeffective and affordable solutions. A fewbroadband carriers have mobilized resourcesand expertise to meet that need. In the case ofSprint, this encompasses every critical aspect ofan effective collaborative partnership: an openand expanding ecosystem of M2M partners,network agnostic capabilities that include 4G,a long-standing open approach to applicationsand devices, and Internet Protocol (IP)-basedconvergence infrastructure to support mobileintegration and unified communications.Enterprises can look forward to the continuedexpansion of broadband in all its forms for theforeseeable future, secure in the knowledge thatthe opportunity and support is there to fully reapits benefits in the everything-wireless world. •16 • North America 2010

Mobile The payment Mobile 4G LTE systemsaccess futureMoving towards a wireless future with 4G LTEby Kenneth Wirth, President, 4G/LTE Wireless Networks, Alcatel-LucentMobile user behaviour has changed dramatically in the past few years and with the adoptionof 4G LTE, mobile communications is set to provide users with an enriched wirelessexperience, bringing it closer to the wired broadband experience. 4G LTE unlocks newbusiness models for service providers and enterprise/business users. Thanks to innovationsin technology, in networks, in applications and in the device ecosystem, a revolutionarytransformation to our lifestyle is about to happen.Ken Wirth is President, 4G/LTE Wireless Networks at Alcatel-Lucent and is responsible for end-to-end LTE solutions. Prior to thisappointment, he was the Customer Unit leader for a major US Carrier. Previously, Mr Wirth was President of Lucent’s MultimediaNetwork Solutions organization and held various management, marketing and sales assignments at AT&T and Lucent.Ken Wirth is a graduate of Seton Hall University, New Jersey.The convergence of economic andtechnological factors is driving theproliferation of a wide range of wirelessdevices from sophisticated smartphonesto broadband-enabled laptops, which iswhetting people’s appetites for broadbandservices outside of the typical home oroffice environment. Increasingly, peoplewant to be connected wherever they are, atany given time. Additionally, with recent,dramatic reductions in the cost of devicesfor basic connectivity - see the successof USB dongles - the world is poised formassive adoption of mobile broadband.Just think about the 6.5 billion applicationsthat have been downloaded on just oneoperating system from Apple’s app storeand consider that the Android operatingsystem (launched recently by Google) iswitnessing similar growth.At the same time, wireless networks havecome a long way since their introduction toconsumers two decades ago. Two key factorsessentially contributed to this evolution.First, the move from analogue to digital inmajor parts of a radio network (such as radioaccess and core network) that has dramaticallyimproved cellular network performanceand capabilities, and second, the continuousoptimization of the usage of precious radioresources, enabling more and more data to betransmitted over the air.Consumers are excited by faster speeds and theability to remain broadband connected whenon-the-go. Findings from recent Europeanresearch indicate Live Messaging, NextGeneration Music and Enhanced Mobile Videoare the top three applications consumers wouldlove to get permanent access to. Businessesalso see the value of wireless multimedia forincreased efficiency in business processes.Both market segments have different driversfor wireless broadband adoption. However,they both expect to increase their use of mobileonline data activities as they see the benefit ofnew, high-value applications such as MobileCollaboration or in-car connected services.An extensive study conducted in severaldeveloped countries was reviewed by the BellLabs Business Modeling team. It confirmedthat consumers and businesses are ready for 4GLTE applications and the interest in new LTEoptimizedapplications could be translated intoa significant market opportunity for serviceproviders. Participants ranged in age from 14to 65 and used both mobile and broadbandservices. Enterprise respondents includeddecision makers in small, medium, and largecompanies responsible for the purchase,implementation, and deployment of employeeNorth America 2010 • 17

The 4G LTE futuremobile devices and services. In fact, consumersand enterprises report a notable willingness toswitch operators in order to obtain such newservices. In the European countries surveyed,51 per cent of consumers and almost 80 percent of medium to large enterprises said theywould sign up for 4G LTE service to enjoy thebenefits of this technology innovation.Wireless network goes IPOne technological change inherited fromthe wireline/Ethernet world is at the heartof current cellular networks evolution:Internet Protocol (IP). Today’s 2G and 3Gnetworks - to a large extent - are primed totransition and implement IP technology.But LTE (Long Term Evolution), as the4th Generation of the evolution of cellularnetworks, is natively built on IP architectureand extends network transformation andcapabilities substantially further than theprevious generation of networks.4G LTE is sure to bring dramaticimprovements to the subscribers’ mobilebroadband experience thanks to higher dataspeeds and lower latency. 4G LTE is threetimes more spectrally efficient than 3G. 4GLTE boasts technological innovations such asOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing(OFDM) and Multiple Input, Multiple Output(MIMO). When coupled with an all-IP endto-endconnection between devices and thenetwork application servers (or between thedevices), with each and every equipmentusing IP, these innovations significantly boostnetwork efficiency.Besides providing the user with increasedspeeds more than 10 times faster than 3G,one of the key attributes redefining the LTEuser experience is the lower latency. Withthree to five times better responsivenesswhen compared to 3G, bringing the wirelessexperience closer to the wired broadbanddesktop experience enables real-timeapplications like voice, video, and gaming tobe delivered to the mass market over a purewireless IP network.As a result, LTE promises to support thesame kind of rich, broadband multimediaservices (such as high-definition video, music,multiplayer video gaming) that people havecome to expect at home, delivered whereverthey are, any time of the day. In addition, LTE’smassive bandwidth and real-time capabilitiesoffer the prospect of delivering a wide arrayof new services that haven’t yet been defined.Think about, for example, the introduction offixed broadband and how it spurred the growthof the web and the myriad services that havebecome available over the past decade.New business model opportunities for serviceprovidersChanges in users’ behaviour and technologyinnovations open tremendous opportunitiesand perspectives for service providers.Opportunities to better serve their customersand increase their competitiveness, while at thesame time exploring new business models andgetting new revenue streams from untappeduser demand.Examples of new business models enabledby 4G LTE broadband wireless are multiple.Early LTE adopters will be younger, moreaffluent and more open to advertising-subsidymodels. This is a new and immediate source ofrevenue for operators, at almost no cost. Lowersubscription prices would attract more usersand in turn generate more data traffic, whileadvertising companies would find a new mediafor their targeted campaigns.Another example illustrating the huge potentialof 4G is the ngConnect Programme’s ‘LTEConnected Car’, a solution concept that drivesan innovative ecosystem of devices, applicationsand content. The concept has a strong appealamong the under-35 age group, with Internetconnectivity perceived as highly desirable.Along with always-on connection to the Internet,it offers an array of entertainment, traffic,navigation, car maintenance and safety features.Machine-to-Machine (M2M) is another keysegment that is growing rapidly. Althoughit does not require a lot of bandwidth, it canstrain the network because of the scale ofthe connections which run into millions in asmall coverage area. LTE will support thisdemand more efficiently. Recent researchfrom Technology Business Research Inc.showed that the volume of M2M connectionswill grow to more than 55 billion devices inthis decade.Seizing such business opportunities also meansaddressing challenges for operators. To playthe game, service providers require severalassets. First, they need a high bandwidth,scalable and cost-effective intelligentnetwork with a high quality of experience(QoE). LTE’s advanced capabilities are set todeliver on that even if implementations differfrom one vendor to another. Second, theyneed ‘application enablers’ to monetize thebroadband data explosion. Only by combiningthe trusted capabilities of their networks withthe speed and innovation of the web, willoperators give end-users and enterprises whatthey demand: a richer and more trusted webexperience. In this area, relying on an industrypartner with experience in both wireless andIP multi-media solutions is vital. Finally, andthis is a recurrent concern for operators, theyneed to mitigate risk of business and networktransformations. Few mobile service providersare familiar with wireline networks and the IPtransformation they experienced in the pastdecade. They need the help of a trusted partner.Business transformation for enterprisesFor many businesses over much of the worldincluding verticals, broadband services arebecoming a necessity - an indispensablefeature of our daily lives that extends wellbeyond the simple connectivity that today’snetworks have provided. In light of this everincreasingdemand for data, the need for amobile solution to bridge the connectivitygap between home and office has become animportant market driver.A recent study by Alcatel-Lucent in NorthAmerica shows that messaging comes asthe first wireless activity that will increasedramatically (87 per cent of respondents),followed by download/view of documents(67 per cent) and access to Internet/Intranet(60 per cent) and video activities (59 percent). Among eight typical applicationsspanning Group Video Calling, LocationbasedProject Updates, Mobile BroadbandFile Sharing, Video Calling, NavigationHelper, Presence Contact List, MobileCollaboration Tools and Priority of CriticalApplications, respondents said they woulduse them daily with mobile broadband filesharing coming first on the list. Enterpriseswith over US$1 million in revenue andmore than ten full time employees are themost likely to endorse such 4G applications.As a proof-point of 4G attractiveness,the majority of enterprises (74 per cent)responded they would definitely or probablysign up for 4G service.4G LTE: a huge potential and a revolution toour lifestyleIn a fast-changing world with ever-increasingcompetitiveness, 4G LTE is set to unlocknew business opportunities for both serviceproviders and enterprises alike. It’s up to themto get ready to leverage the huge potentialthis technology offers in terms of businessefficiency and revenue streams. 4G LTEpromises to redefine the user experience andthe way we communicate. It will revolutionizeour lifestyle. •18 • North America 2010

Mobile payment Mobile Mobile offloading systemsaccessNew ways of thinking in wirelessby Jeff Thompson, CEO, TowerstreamCreative solutions are required to handle the staggering amount of mobile data trafficexpected over cellular networks. Mobile offloading, in which best-effort Internet traffic isseparated from high-value, delay-sensitive traffic, is one answer. This requires differentnetworks to work together seamlessly as one network with the goal of providing users withthe best connection and service experience possible.Jeff Thompson co-founded Towerstream in December 1999 and serves as President and CEO. Prior to Towerstream, Mr Thompson cofoundedand was Vice President of operations of EdgeNet Inc.Jeff Thompson holds a B.S. from the University of Massachusetts.With the surge in popularity of smartphones,tablet devices, and the mobile web, one ofthe hottest topics among Internet providersand cellular carriers today is how to copewith the corresponding increase in datatransferred over cellular networks. It isfrightening to think that existing carrierinfrastructure is not equipped to handle thismassive amount of data transfer, which willonly continue to increase as smartphonesand tablets grow in popularity.According to data from NPD, smartphonesmade up 42 per cent of all US handset salesin the second quarter of 2010, up from28 per cent in 2009. ABI estimates thatnearly 90 per cent of total mobile networkdata traffic in the US will result fromsmartphones by 2014, and Morgan Stanleyestimates that within five years, half of allAmericans’ web browsing will be done onmobile devices. Smartphones use 50 timesthe bandwidth of traditional cell phones, andthe rollout of Long Term Evolution (LTE)networks is projected to only improve thebandwidth from 3G by approximately fourtimes.These vast increases in mobile data trafficare forcing operators of wireless networksto consider more creative ways to handlesuch a staggering amount of traffic. Withouteffectively taking advantage of alternativetechnologies, handling this data on currentnetworks is like fighting a tsunami with anumbrella. As we move toward a future wheresmartphones will outnumber traditional cellphones by 2014, it is imperative to find amore legitimate solution to deal with thisdata tsunami.Increasingly there has been a view amongtelecom professionals that operators shouldnot bear the full cost of transporting lowrevenue-per-bittraffic on expensive,optimized, mobile networks. More and moreleaders in the space have been paying closeattention to the concept of mobile offloading(or Internet offloading). The premise behindmobile offloading is to separate best-effortInternet from high-value, delay-sensitivetraffic and manage each type of dataaccordingly.Currently most cellular sites have insufficientbandwidth behind them to handle 3G and 4Gdata. Moreover, these networks are alreadyNorth America 2010 • 19

Mobile offloading“Some believe that WiFi will step in to solve the problem. According to a recent study bylocation-based mobile media company JiWire, for the first time in the US, the number offree wireless hotspots outnumbers paid WiFi locations - with 55.1 per cent of public WiFilocations available at no charge to users.”running hot due to the increased usage of themobile web on smartphones. In order for analternative network to be successful, it needsa carrier class backhauling capacity.In this article, I will examine potentialsolutions that wireless networks shouldbe considering to cope with the realityof increasing data transfer so that thesenetworks can continue to provide excellent,uninterrupted service to their customers.The commoditization of voiceAccording to the CTIA, the number of textmessages sent per cellular user increasedby nearly 50 per cent last year. Also inthe last year, the amount of data in text,email messages, streaming video, musicand other services on mobile devicessurpassed the amount of voice data incellphone calls. With changes like these andothers increasingly leading to voice beingcommoditized, cellular companies have beenforced to redefine themselves through newbusiness models like prepaid or pay-per-usedata plans in addition to selling applicationsthrough branded app stores.Since voice plans are becoming more andmore competitive, and consumers can makephone calls at increasingly low prices throughVoIP, cellular companies are trying to holdonto the old business model - where the bulkof their money was made through voice plans- for as long as they can. They are attemptingto squeeze every last bit of toothpaste out ofthe tube before consumers turn away fromhigh priced voice plans. As such, data plansare increasingly becoming the chief source ofrevenue for the cellular companies, and if itwasn’t for the rise in data ARPUs, they wouldall be nearing a financial meltdown.Revolution in hardware equals evolution indata transferThere is no doubt that smartphones like theiPhone and those using the Android OS, aswell as tablet devices like the iPad, haverevolutionized the way consumers of all agesaccess and interface with the web. Thanksto devices like the iPhone 4 and Sprint Evo4G, for example, consumers now have theability to interact with one another throughvideo-conferencing. Important for businessand families alike, video chat is sure to gainin popularity as more and more devices offerthis capability.With this advancement, however, comesa dilemma. Video chat necessarily drainsbandwidth to work properly, and continuedreliance on obsolete 2G, 3G, and fledgling4G networks is not an adequate solution forusers who want to take full advantage ofvideo-conferencing. This is one of the reasonsthat Facetime is currently only allowed overWiFi. Not to mention the majority of youngerInternet users who increasingly demandaccess to the web wherever they may be -whether watching streaming video whilein the waiting room at the doctor’s office,checking NFL scores on ESPN.com while ina cab, or updating their Facebook status whileonline at the grocery store.Some believe that WiFi will step in to solvethe problem. According to a recent studyby location-based mobile media companyJiWire, for the first time in the US, thenumber of free wireless hotspots outnumberspaid WiFi locations - with 55.1 per cent ofpublic WiFi locations available at no chargeto users. This represents a 12.6 per centincrease from Q1 to Q2 2010; WiFi use ingeneral increased 17.3 per cent in the sametime period.However, based on the current ad hoc systemof free and paid WiFi hotspots around majorcities in the US, networks and carriers muststrive for a better solution. A robust WiFinetwork is needed to provide consumers andbusinesses with strong, reliable access to themobile web.Let’s take this opportunity to dispel somecommon misconceptions about WiFi. First,newer WiFi units on the market have Qualityof Service (QoS) built in for voice and video,and high-performance WiFi units can easilytravel 1,500 feet in an outdoor environment.Second, newer WiFi units possess excellentwall penetration characteristics in anindoor environment. Furthermore, antennatechnology has also come a long way. MIMOand other smart antenna technologies not onlyprovide increased ranges and penetration ofWiFi signals, but also mitigation of the highnoise floor concerns of unlicenced spectrum.WiFi is now capable of carrying up to200Mbps (the older WiFi started at 11MB, 1MB less than Verizon’s new LTE network).When built properly, a WiFi network can beas reliable as the best cellular networks.Let me be clear, I do not think that WiFi is areplacement for the cellular networks, but it’scertainly a must-have method of assistance.The major carriers can no longer ignore theseextremely fast, inexpensive WiFi networksand chip sets. However, WiFi networkscapable of cellular quality must be built withQoS, reliability, and sufficient backhaul.WiFi networks must allow consumers touse their phones as phones - by supportingSMS messages in addition to calls - and notjust as a hub to access data. It requires onlya little more capital to support a carrier classnetwork that experiences very low latencyand can handle QoS.These networks must also improve in orderto allow seamless connectivity and hand-offcapabilities. For example, I hate it when myiPad constantly prompts me to join a WiFinetwork. This is far from user-friendly.Another common misconception is that if wewere able to magically upgrade to 4G servicetomorrow, all connection issues networksare experiencing would disappear. Underthe current system, this is not likely. Instead,offloading data traffic to WiFi networks isa key item to get people off 4G networksand save some of that spectrum. We believethat WiFi is the quickest and most efficientsolution to offloading this traffic and, asWiFi technology continues to mature, it willundoubtedly be able to handle the significantincrease in bandwidth that is needed for aneffective offload.The amount of data that next generationnetworks will need to handle is somethingthat will only continue to build in the comingyears as consumer adoption of smartphonesand tablets increases, and there is no magicbullet solution. At Towerstream, we believethat 4G is not one standard, like WiMAXor LTE. We think 4G represents an entirenetwork consisting of LTE, WiMAX,WiFi, and femtocells all working togetherseamlessly as one network with the goal ofproviding users with the best connection andservice experience possible. This is a goalthat all networks should aspire to meet. •20 • North America 2010

THE WORLD’S LARGEST BROADBAND EVENTCELEBRATINGITS 10TH YEARFREE EXHIBITIONplease register atwww.broadbandworldforum.comService Provider Partners:DELIVERING QUALITY BROADBAND WHILSTMANAGING HIGH GROWTH SERVICES26 – 28 October 2010, CNIT, La Defense, Paris, FranceJoin us in 2010 for the largestBroadband World Forum yet! 6000+ Attendees 280+ Exhibitors 200+ Visionary Speakers 125+ Global Carrier CaseStudies & Presentations 50+ Industry Press & AnalystsAcross 3 days, 4 tracks, 2 seminarsand extended exhibition hours!GLOBAL EXECUTIVE KEYNOTESOlivier Baujard,Chief TechnologyOfficer,DeutscheTelekomDr. Choi Doo Whan,President, CorporateTechnology Group,KT (Korea Telecom)Virginia P.Ruesterholz,President, ServicesOperations,Verizon, USAThierry Bonhomme,Executive Vice President,Networks & Carriers andResearch & Development,Orange FranceTelecom GroupDr Shyue-Ching Lu,Chairman & CEO,Chunghwa Telecom,TaiwanGeorge Nazi,President, 21CN &Global Networks &ComputingInfrastructure,BTMike Quigley,CEO,National BroadbandNetwork, AustraliaLord Stephen Carter,Chief Marketing,Strategy &Communication Officer,Alcatel-LucentAshish Chowdhary,Executive BoardMember, Head ofGlobal Services,Nokia SiemensNetworksJohan Bergendahl,Chief Marketing Officer,EricssonMatt Bross,Chief Technology Officer,Huawei, Vice Chairman,Huawei USAMs Chen Jie,Senior Vice President,ZTE CorporationAdolfo Hernandez,Executive VicePresident andPresident EMEA,Alcatel-LucentStefan Dyckerhoff,Executive Vice Presidentand General Manager ofthe InfrastructureProducts Group,Juniper NetworksCarrier Hosts:Corporate Registration Sponsors: Partner Level: Diamond Sponsors:Platinum Sponsors:Stream Sponsors:Endorsed by:Produced by:www.broadbandworldforum.com

Wireless enterprise threatsThe latest threat to the wireless enterpriseby Chia-Chee Kuan, CTO and Co-Founder, AirMagnetThe wireless world today presents a unique set of challenges for businesses looking tomaintain a secure network. Attackers are turning their attention to client devices. Wirelessenabledclient devices, such as laptops, tablets and smartphones, rather than enterprise accesspoints, are now the focus of new threats. The only way to approach security issues efficientlyin an enterprise environment is to deploy wireless intrusion prevention technology.Chia-Chee Kuan is Co-Founder, CTO and Senior VP of Engineering at AirMagnet. Prior to co-founding AirMagnet in 2001 (now part ofFluke Networks), Mr Kuan served as advanced technical staff at Packet Design LLC since the company’s inception, where innovationswere incubated and focused on Internet routing and wireless security. Previously, he was the founding engineer at Precept Software,developing IP multicast and IP video streaming technologies. When Cisco acquired Precept, Mr Kuan led Cisco’s Video Internet ServiceUnit development team. His career has been devoted to computer networking, especially in TCP/IP in the infancy of the Internet whenARPANET was formed.Mr Kuan holds a B.S. in Information Engineering from National Taiwan University and a Master in Computer Science from StanfordUniversity, as well as 10 US patents in wireless security and performance management.Research continues to show mass growth andadoption of wireless and wireless local areanetwork (WLAN) technology. In fact, todayit’s more likely your employees connect toa wireless network, instead of plugging anEthernet cable into their computers for access.Because of this growth, most organizationsnow understand the advantages wirelessoffers business (connectivity, productivity,critical apps, and so on), but as the connectedenterprises continue to grow, so do thechallenges associated with managing andsecuring them.The wireless world today is much morecomplicated than the wireless world ofyesterday. There was a time when ITmanagers could be assured their wirelessnetwork consisted primarily of approvedaccess points (APs) and routers tied into theserver infrastructure. However, with theproliferation of personal and mobile devices,these same technicians have gone fromnetwork planner and manager to networkpolice officer, tracking and hunting downunapproved technologies.Today’s wireless networks (and the teamsresponsible for managing them) are engagedin a constant power struggle. Wireless hasexpanded beyond the laptop and has becomeembedded in a growing number of mobile andlifestyle devices or clients. Now everyone thatwalks into your central business location (orremote sites) can attempt to connect to yourwireless network. Will they succeed? That’sthe scary question. And, if they do, will youknow about it? That’s even scarier!This new wireless world presents a uniqueset of challenges for businesses looking tomaintain a secure network. In this article,we’re going to focus primarily on the newthreats associated with wireless-enabled clientdevices, like laptops, tablets and smartphones.If your team is not actively looking to secureagainst these new threats and devices, it’s onlya matter of time before someone else exploitsthem (either intentionally or unintentionally).So what exactly are we talking about when wesay the wireless network is at risk due to theproliferation of mobile and lifestyle devices?Basically, we’re referring to any device thatcan serve as a wireless client. Since these typesof devices are exploding into every aspect ofour lives, the impact on enterprise wirelessnetworks is huge. The ultimate goal is to stop22 • North America 2010

Wireless Mobile enterprise payment Mobile systemsaccess threatsunauthorized connections, but, if they doconnect, you also need to be able to recognizeand mitigate that connection immediately.Many of today’s organizations feel they havea strong grip on wireless security because theydetect and root out rogue APs. This has beena focal point for most organizations over thepast several years - and perhaps, unfortunately,is still the focal point around discussions ofwireless security today.It is true that tremendous effort has beenexpended to watch for, and root out, rogue APsin the enterprise, whether they are maliciousor inadvertently hooked into the wire networkby a well-intentioned employee. And, this isstill an important security activity. However,malicious attackers are always finding newways to circumvent even the strongestdefences associated with rogue AP detection.While companies focus their security effortson locking down and monitoring corporateAPs, attackers are now directly targeting theenterprise’s ubiquitous and most vulnerableassets - new client devices.Using new wireless client attack tools andtechniques, outsiders have the ability togather login and password data, or send trafficdirectly to an end-user, without ever touchingthe approved enterprise wired network.As a matter of fact, new trends in wirelessfunctionality actually open up tunnels into thenetwork, and these tunnels (and the traffic theybear) will appear completely authentic.Unfortunately, wired security systems do littleto protect against this over-the-air malicioustraffic. Airborne traffic requires the same levelof continuous monitoring and analysis aswire-bound traffic, so IT managers can detectcriminal activities that may threaten to exposecorporate data or users.It’s no wonder attackers are turning theirattention to client devices, exploiting themfrom corporate parking lots, and in airports andother hotspots. They’re compromising bothmanaged corporate devices and unmanagedsmartphones, as well as unmanaged businessassociate devices. And yes, they can attackMac OS, as well as Windows devices.The fact is that rogue AP detection is trivialcompared to managing client-side wirelessexposures, and the client threat has becomefar more dangerous. Rogue APs are easy tofind because there are few of them and theyare relatively static. On the other hand, clientvulnerabilities and exploits are much harder todetect, and far more threatening because theyrequire stateful monitoring and analysis ofnetwork traffic in the air.Malicious hackers now have a vast number ofdevices to target (with exploits like KARMA,MDK3 and SkyJack), such as Wi-Fi-enabledlaptops in the office, at home and on theroad; Wi-Fi-enabled smartphones, typicallyprivately owned and unmanaged, increasinglyused as important work tools; partner, vendor,contractor and service provider laptops -also Wi-Fi enabled. All of these devices arecoming onto the corporate network by theminute, but are not underneath the corporatesecurity umbrella.Attackers’ ability to gain access to wirelessclients is largely a product of the way thesewireless connections work. Wireless technologyis designed to facilitate fast, easy connectivity ina variety of settings, to a broad range of trustedand untrusted APs - making it easy to spoof.Even worse, virtualization allows a device tosimultaneously operate as both a legitimateclient and an open access point, creating anunmanaged bridge (or tunnel) to the outsideworld. Moreover, this transparent connectivityand seamless virtualization are active trendswithin the industry; they’re capabilities thatvendors throughout the industry are workingto expand and enhance every day. Thisfunctionality is considered a feature rather thana vulnerability - unfortunately this feature canbe exploited so an attacker can gain access tothe corporate network.There are two important points to take from allof this: 1) the majority of Wi-Fi threats occur,and are only detectable, in the air, and 2) themajority of evolving hacks and vulnerabilitiesrevolve around end-user client devices, notenterprise APs.As wireless usage becomes pervasive andan integral part of the extended corporatenetwork, it’s time to adopt security policies,procedures and technologies that can meet thechallenges of this dynamic environment.Rogue AP detection is simply not enoughanymore, as it assumes that you can ‘see’the unauthorized device. Unfortunately,the vast majority of new Wi-Fi threatsoccur in the air and focus on spoofing orhijacking or tunneling through authorizedclient devices. And these client devices areliterally everywhere in the enterprise; withthe proliferation of new devices, the volumeis growing every day. Add in the trend towardvirtualization, where potential holes are beingbaked right into chips, adapters and operatingsystems, and client-side security quicklybecomes a losing game - it requires you toknow about and control every single device.Miss one device and the game could be over.The only way to effectively avoid this trapis to adopt the same approach that is used inthe wired world: look at the network trafficitself. And just as in the wired world, detectinganomalous and illicit wireless traffic - includingattempts against client devices, devices holdingmultiple states, or compromised or spoofeddevices - requires stateful, continuous trafficmonitoring and analysis.But keep in mind that existing wired trafficmonitoring won’t cut it; by the time the hackerhas access to the network, the connection lookslegitimate. Rogue AP detection alone won’t cutit. These hacks avoid the legitimate APs andtarget client devices instead. The only way todo this wireless traffic monitoring efficiently inan enterprise environment is to deploy wirelessintrusion prevention (WIPS) technology,which is unique among wireless security toolsbecause of its ability to look at all traffic in theair statefully.Wireless client devices are not going away. Itwill always be a challenge to keep them off ofthe network - whether you establish corporatepolicies or not. If you’re looking to keep yourcorporate network secure, make sure youmonitor your air space so you can maintaina healthy, secure and connected enterprisenetwork. •North America 2010 • 23

Automation and integrationStreamlining the delivery of complex, customsolutionsby Milan Belohoubek, Director Pre-sales Engineering, Bell Canada and Ittai Bareket, CEO, NetformxThe ability to efficiently design, redesign, sell and implement custom solutions is at the heartof success in today’s communications environment. By applying automation and integrationto the task of solution management, service providers can significantly increase productivity,reducing the time required to design complex solutions from days and weeks to just a fewhours.Milan Belohoubek is Director, Pre-Sales Engineering at Bell Canada. Mr Belohoubek has spent the last 28 years in the high technologyindustry. He spent 19 years as a member of the Nortel Networks technology team prior to joining Bell Canada in September 2001.Mr Belohoubek holds a Bachelor of Engineering Science degree from the University of Western Ontario and obtained his ProjectManagement Professional certification from the Project Management Institute in 1998.Ittai Bareket joined Netformx in 2000 before being appointed CEO in the summer of 2005. Prior to Netformx, Mr Bareket held variouspositions at Mercury Interactive Corporation (now HP) including President of Mercury Interactive Japan K.K. and General Managerfor Japan and Korea.Operational excellence enables serviceproviders to quickly meet the business demandsof customers. Rapidly evolving customerrequirements combined with the increasingcomplexity of advanced telecommunicationssolutions presents opportunities as well aschallenges for service providers. Providersthat utilize automation to rapidly respond tochanges enjoy distinct competitive advantages.But providers mired in manual, non-integratedprocesses typically endure losses in productivitythat translates into missed opportunities andunhappy customers.Bell Canada has demonstrated how theability to efficiently design, redesign, selland implement custom solutions is at theheart of success in today’s communicationsenvironment. By applying automation to thetask of solution management, the serviceprovider has been able to reduce the timerequired to design complex solutions fromdays and weeks to just a few hours.In one particularly impressive implementation,the company conducted a case study todocument the results achieved for a largeenterprise customer. The solution involveddeploying an extremely complex MPLS(Multiprotocol Label Switching) networkacross more than 1,200 locations with a multiphasedrollout plan. The service provider’ssystem engineers were able to take advantageof automated solutions management to quicklyand easily design a proof-of-concept to buildout and test a sample network.Using design templates that employ standard,reusable components for various profiledefinitions or recommended solutions, theprovider was able to quickly respond to customerchange requests. The ease and efficiency with24 • North America 2010

Automation Mobile payment and Mobile integration systemsaccesswhich the engineering and sales teams were ableto respond to the customer’s needs helped securethe sale.Previous approach to solution managementprevented rapid response timesComplex solution offerings must be amenableto dynamic change, enabling them to be rapidlyreconfigured to meet the unique needs of a widerange of customers. However, most providersare faced with lengthy design and sales cycles.Many business processes were previously rootedin inefficient procedures. As a result, inaccuratespecifications were able to make their way intodesigns and proposals - not only because ofthe large number of ‘moving pieces’ but alsobecause different internal organizations could noteffectively collaborate with each other.Today, service providers are increasinglyusing automation to overcome the manychallenges that prevent system engineers andother personnel from effectively and efficientlycollaborating on large projects. Customers oftenmake several iterative changes to designs toadjust price points, redundancy requirementsand other factors, so design validation hasgrown into a multi-step, time-consuming effortfraught with miscalculations.Design, configure and validateAmong the many hurdles that personnel typicallyhave to overcome are the numerous tasksrequired to gather information that is dispersedand often maintained in different formats.Labour-intensive processes not only increaseopportunities for errors, but sales engineerssometimes lack the expertise to correctlycollect and report the complete solution-designinformation that is required.Assembling all of the required information,which is typically maintained in disconnected‘silos’, requires an inordinate amount oftime and further increases the challenges ofproducing superior solutions. Overlapping,uncontrolled processes introduce inefficiencies,inconsistencies and contradictions, which makesit difficult to synchronize and manage changes.Further complicating matters is the fact thatcustomers often request proposals that includenon-standard equipment, non-standard serviceofferings, or a combination of both.Simplified and integrated processes ensureconsistency, accuracy and successful proposalsBy automating and integrating the end-toendprocesses involved in design, sales andprovisioning, Bell Canada has been able todramatically streamline workflows andsimplify work procedures for staff. All ofthe provider’s designers use the automatedsolution that includes a centralized repositoryof accurate data on more than 200,000networking components. The repositoryalso employs an expert decision-supportsoftware engine that uses over two millionrules to automate the process of analyzing anddesigning network solutions.A separate but integrated repository containsall of the design blueprints for the solutionsproduced on behalf of customers. All ofthe information about hardware, software,dependencies, slot allocations, port allocationsand network topology are clearly documentedand within easy reach. Utilizing this approachto developing designs and proposals enablespersonnel to easily employ best practices as aroutine part of their daily jobs.By integrating, automating and simplifyingprocesses for the sales support and sales teams,the provider is now able to more quicklyrespond to customer changes and customerrequests for customized, non-standard solutions.Additionally, deployed solutions are preciselyaligned with customer requirements. Serviceproviders and their customers benefit from thisautomated approach to lifecycle managementbecause future updates and expansion plans canbe implemented efficiently.With an automated approach to solutionmanagement, service providers are eliminatingmanual processes and significantly acceleratingtheir lead-to-order response times. Disparatetools that were previously used to support thesales and implementation cycles are beingdiscarded. Additionally, the integration of variousconfiguration tools and applications has openedup productive collaboration across organizationalentities and personnel.By using such an automated, structured andrules-based approach for capturing designinformation, Bell Canada now has the ability toperform a ‘one-click’ analysis that highlightserrors for missing information or conflictingdefinitions. Flags for non-standard componentsand inaccuracies in the design are immediatelyhighlighted, and numerous options for addressingthe situation at hand are now immediatelyavailable to designers instead of scattered acrosstools and organizations.Other benefits of an automated and fullyintegrated solution include:• All design diagrams are automaticallygenerated and provide a precise,diagrammatic description of the solutionand network topology.• An automatically generated bill ofmaterials report provides a list of CPE(customer-premises equipment) standardand non-standard elements included in thesolution, addressing both new and existingequipment.• A design summary report describes thehighlights of the solution for a quickoverview.• A detailed design document provides theinternal technical documentation for theservice provider’s staff.• A customer design document providesan attractive, customer-facingpresentation that illustrates the final listof services to be sold along with a readilyunderstandable diagram of the proposedsolution.One click document generation: Bill of Materialsand Equipment Configuration hierarchyUsing automation and integration has not onlyaccelerated the sales cycle but has also enabledthe provider’s sales team to spend more time onreal design issues and less time on tedious copy/paste and clerical functions. The time requiredto respond to customer requests has beensignificantly shortened by standardizing pre-salesprocesses via the use of baseline templates andrelated design tools. Additionally, the processof handing-off design information betweenteams has been greatly improved by enforcingconsistency in the processes of gathering therequirements and producing the design.Quick re-designs are possible because staffcan begin the process from a known anddocumented ‘as built’ state. A shorter salescycle now allows faster deployment of larger,more complex, and next-generation solutions.Designed solutions are also better positioned forthe successful provisioning of add-on services.Additionally, using this approach to solutionmanagement has lowered costs for personnelbecause staff with less technical expertise canbe utilized to achieve greater results.Automating the requirements-gathering andproposal-generation processes significantlyincreases productivity for service providers.Design and proposal teams can use an integratedtool to perform work that previously requiredmultiple tools and applications. Collaborationamong engineers and sales staff is easier, andcomplex, customized solutions no longer presentobstacles to fast turnaround times. •North America 2010 • 25

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LTE-enabled Mobile payment M2M Mobile solutions systemsaccessM2M and the promise of LTE/4Gby Steve Pazol, President, nPhaseMachine-to-machine (M2M) technology has become an integral part of many business-tobusinessoperations including telematics, marketing, power monitoring and the smart grid,manufacturing, fast food, security and healthcare. But now technology developers are poisedto take full advantage of the potential and performance of LTE networks. Existing machineto-machineapplications will be enhanced and new applications will be developed with theadvent of LTE.Steve Pazol is the President of nPhase, a Verizon Wireless/Qualcomm joint venture. Previously Mr Pazol was Vice President and GeneralManager for the Global Smart Services group, for Qualcomm Enterprise Services.Steve Pazol has a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan.Machine-to-machine (M2M) technology speaksto the promise of everything becoming connected.By leveraging the leap in performance of 4Gwith Long Term Evolution (LTE) over priortechnologies, this promise is becoming a reality.LTE provides new opportunities for M2Mdeployments by delivering bandwidth and speedthat aren’t fulfilled by preceding generations.However, on the early side of the rollout of LTE,the reality is that today most M2M deploymentsare running just fine on 2G and 3G networks. Thepotential of 4G for M2M can’t be fully understoodwithout looking at it where 4G makes sense andwhere 2G and 3G networks will suffice. In thisarticle we’ll look at barriers, opportunities and howthe M2M-enabled LTE world could look withinthe historical context of 2G and 3G.Despite the fact that the term M2M has yet toenter the common lexicon, its influence can befelt just about everywhere. Twenty years ago theconcept of remotely monitoring and/or controllingdistributed assets and devices was mostly reservedfor large and expensive investments like powerplants and dams. Today’s new connected productsexemplified by eBooks and cars (think OnStar)are coming to market with increased frequency.And that’s just the world that the averageconsumer sees. On the business-to-business side,M2M has become an integral part of telematics,marketing, power monitoring and the smart grid,manufacturing, fast food, security and healthcare.One interesting aspect of M2M’s evolution hasbeen the moves by technology developers to takefull advantage of the networks available to them.It makes sense if you look at it through the lens ofthe IT world: any programmer’s wish list includesmore processing power, more memory and morebandwidth. As the cost of these resources goesdown, developers and programmers find newways to use plentiful resources.One early leap in the development anddeployment of M2M technologies involved 2Gnetworks and the move from analogue to digital.Beecham Research (2009) cited: “Over 90 percent of existing wireless M2M modules, excludingeReaders and similar consumer devices, operateon 2G networks.” There are several reasons forthis level of market penetration: 2G is ‘cheap’; itdelivers enough bandwidth for many tasks; 2Gnetworks are the most widely deployed worldwideand support a large variety of embedded, reliable,low-cost components. 2G is sufficient for manyapplications that have low bandwidth requirementsand are very cost sensitive. Automatic metrereaders for the smart grid, many home securitysystems and basic telematics service are examplesof perfectly acceptable 2G applications.One challenge for the operators (which fewoutside the industry know) is that it‘s moreexpensive to move a bit of information over 2Gthan 3G and 4G. So as operators are looking tomake more efficient use of their spectrum, 2G isless than ideal.After 2G is, of course, 3G. 3G has actuallygiven us a glimpse of what 4G is going to looklike, because we know where 3G leaves endusersdesiring more. 3G opened new doors inM2M, with its ability to provide more data atfaster rates, support for video and its capacityto send large packets and files. On the consumerside 3G technology is standard in mostproducts, including eReaders, tablets, PC cardsand dongles. On the business-to-business sidewe’ve seen larger amounts of data transmittedas more complex applications continue tocome online across industries. Examples ofapplications include remote patient monitoring,remote industrial equipment management andmonitoring of sensor networks.Because 3G offers a vast increase in speed over2G, developers are able to produce interestingand richer applications that require more data. Forthese applications, the incremental cost of movingfrom 2G to 3G is easily justified. 3G can simplydo things that 2G can’t. Entering the world ofNorth America 2010 • 27

LTE-enabled M2M solutions4G and LTE is a different matter, because, in thisinstance, some existing 3G applications may justbe ‘made better’. And better is sometimes notworth the additional cost to the consumer.Where does 4G promise to excel? What aresome of the barriers to transition? These arecommon questions for curious observers. Inthe final analysis we will probably see a future(three years out) that has a place for 2G, 3G and4G. There are a couple of significant drivers thatwill come to play as the operators go throughtheir capital replacement cycles. One of the mostimportant considerations involves more efficientuse of spectrum. Spectrum is a limited resourceand costs billions of dollars. If you look at theimpact of products like the iPhone that can literallyovertax a network, you can see that being able toget more data through the same resource will bea significant driver for operators to upgrade to thelatest technologies.For companies deploying M2M solutions, manytechnology decisions begin at the device side withan assessment of the form factors of equipmentinvolved in a deployment. 4G involves morecomplicated devices. There’s more engineeringembedded in them, and in short, they take up morespace. There may be devices that simply can’t beengineered around the space that a 4G solutionrequires because of their form factor - as long as2G networks are around, that is.Another issue is how long will the 2G networksremain active? This is not a simple question, butrelies on a number of factors: whether the 2Gnetwork is fully depreciated; the cost to operate thenetwork; assurance of supply agreements (thinkof utilities and their metre deployments); and, asstated before, the requirement to make efficient useof the limited spectrum.4G deployments have already begun in Europeand are now beginning in the US. Verizon is in theprocess of deploying a nationwide LTE system,which will provide close to ubiquitous coveragewith speeds of up to 100Mb/second.With the historical context of 2G and 3Gestablished, what does this world look like andwho is going to play in it? Well, that depends onwhere you’re standing. Let’s start in the home.An LTE-enabled connected household maysport some features we’d all like to see. Imaginetransmitting video from your 4G-enabledcamera to the cloud and having it appear on yourgrandmother’s TV. Home health care and elderlymanagement with video and patient data willbe important as the population continues to age.LTE technology will provide the bandwidth toprovide smooth video-to-video communication,and this same bandwidth will enable robust socialnetworking and wireless gaming. LTE will extendinto mobile entertainment on demand, and couldhave a profound effect on how Hollywood and thetelevision networks decide to deliver their content.Let’s leave the house and look at the car, or anymoving vehicle, because LTE will have a sizableimpact on the telematics space. LTE offers thepromise of transforming vehicles into real mobilecommunications centres, offering heightenedsecurity, infotainment and a host of outbounddata flow. Here’s a short list of what the M2Mconnected car of the future might like:• Safety and security: Tracking and stolenvehicle recovery, wrong way driver alerts,emergency assistance, crash notification,approaching emergency vehicle warning,maintenance alerts, remote door unlock.• Connected experiences and infotainment:Interactive gaming, car as a mobile hotspot, full Internet experience with real timenews, movies, etc.; personal consumerequipment device integration.• Cost savings: Location-based coupons, ecoapplications, low gas prices.• Convenience: Weather, conciergeservices, Bluetooth and voice features,vehicle diagnostics, electronic vehiclecharging station.Security is an obvious area and utilizes some ofthe same features found in the connected car or inthe entertainment sector. Real-time video access tomonitoring systems anywhere is an easy extensionof what’s already happening with surveillancetoday. But what are the enhanced applications?Homeland security has many potentialapplications for M2M LTE solutions, fromborder monitoring to remote facial recognition,TSA screening and facilities monitoring andmanagement. The military is actively involved inpushing this technology to its limits with its droneprogrammes, remote surveillance technologiesand control over field distributed personnel andequipment. The military has historically beena driver of technology, and this current burst ofactivity will begin trickling into the mainstreamwithin the next few years.M2M connected healthcare is another area whereLTE will enhance current applications and providean opportunity for the development of new andneeded solutions. This market is still nascentand complicated, with ecosystem issues suchas liability, payer, and regulatory issues, but thepromise of LTE-enabled M2M solutions is tooimportant to ignore. Some research suggests themarket for telemedicine devices and services willgenerate US$3.6 billion in annual revenue withinfive years (Health Data Management, Oct. 2009).There are a myriad of applications currentlybeing planned or slated for enhancement. Theseinclude electronic medical record population andprocessing, treatment advice and education, homehealth management and medical asset tracking.At home chronic care and at home diagnostics aretwo of the strongest and most interesting aspectsof this category, offering a host of monitoringservices that could supplement or in some casesreplace the need for personnel in home visits fromhealth providers.Utilities are another important area where existingM2M applications will be enhanced and newapplications will be developed with the adventof LTE. The M2M utilities vertical is expectedto grow at 42 per cent CAGR (ABI, 2009) overthe next five years with a high propensity forautomating operations. There is an ongoingdialogue concerning the smart grid, which seemsto focus primarily on metre reading. As we’vediscussed, much of this is served by 2G solutions.The backbone of this grid will lie in managementand control, which will serve to create greaterefficiencies and ‘greener’ energies. LTE willaffect Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition(SCADA) - systems used to monitor and controltransmission and distribution equipment, fieldengineering, the automated meter infrastructure,and inventory management. One of the keyadvantages of LTE-enabled M2M solutions willlie in reducing the high costs of data collectionand on-site services and remotely managing andtweaking power generation and transmission anddistribution facilities for maximum efficiencybased on increased access to more robust data.As happens when any new technology enters themarket, there are opportunities for incumbentsas well as new entrants. The move to 4G is nodifferent. Factors that will be debated, and maypropel or hold back adoption or development orsolutions include:• availability and cost of modems;• device form factor requirements;• useful life of legacy devices versusreplacement costs;• availability of other technologies;• ubiquity of network coverage;• new service pricing models;• speed of market adoption for newtechnologies; and• legislation.It is very likely that as LTE becomes the newstandard and reaches a point of ubiquity, the oldertechnologies will eventually be phased out andreplaced. The ultimate promise of M2M and LTEwill be a world in which connectivity is expectedand demanded. That day is coming soon. •28 • North America 2010

Wireless Mobile application payment Mobile performance systemsaccessEnterprise wireless application performance:Load time is money!by Paul Czarnik, CTO, Compuware CorporationAlthough most CEOs recognize the importance of their web and mobile investments, manyhave a blind-spot concerning the performance of their mobile websites. Poor performance isendemic in many enterprise sectors, reflecting the lack of deployment of basic best practiceswhile building applications. Proper implementation of performance best practices cantransform the user experience.Paul Czarnik is CTO at Compuware Corporation and has held engineering and management positions in Compuware Products, Servicesand IT organizations. During his career in the software industry, Mr Czarnik has also specialized in medical software development.Paul Czarnik attended Wayne State University in Detroit and serves on the Board of Trustees for the Motown Museum in Detroit.While attending the National RetailerFederation Expo in New York last February,I sat in several CEO panel discussionswhere the economy, obviously, was themajor topic. What impressed me duringthese discussions was the knowledge thatthese CEOs had about everything thathappens on their retail floor.They understand customer traffic patterns,what products are selling, item churn,what we pick up, put down, and even howmuch discretionary income we have to buythose impulse items. Demand forecasting,promotion performance, price optimization,vendor performance, location analysis,store loss prevention, cross-purchaseprofiling, demographic analysis, defectionreports; all these figures about their storeswere seemingly instantly available to theseCEOs. It was obvious that the performanceof their physical stores was very importantto them.As I sat in the back of the hall with mysmartphone, I decided to take a look atthe performance of their mobile websites.Wow! The results I got from my adhocmonitoring showed 16 seconds, 12seconds, even 20 seconds just to bring upthe front page. Now, I could imagine if Ihad a 20-second delay getting into one ofthese CEO’s ‘bricks & mortar’ there’d beheck to pay.But here I was, presumably ready to buy,and lots of impediments getting in myway. I wish now that I had confrontedthose very CEOs with the fact that, eventhough they state the importance of weband mobile investments, they had a hugeblind-spot when it came to the performanceof their sites. Later, when I did more indepthmonitoring of their sites, I found thatpoor performance was consistent acrossplatforms, browsers and geographies.I wondered if they realized how muchpotential business they were losing justbecause of bad performance.You can only push customer loyalty sofar. If you don’t treat their wireless deviceexperience in the same way as you treattheir web-browser experience or the wayyou treat them face-to-face, they will goaway. They expect their wireless experienceto be as good as their wired performanceNorth America 2010 • 29

Wireless application performancewhich should, somehow, be relevant to ‘inperson’ performance. There are companiesthat have successfully done this. If youproperly implement performance bestpractices, you can achieve this.It’s not a simple matter of mimickingyour website on a mobile device. Youhave to rethink the experience from thevery beginning, understanding how yourcustomer wants to approach your site andmaking sure it performs at every level ofthe end-user experience.Decisions about writing your applicationfor generic web vs. native applications arevery important to performance. Androidvs. iPhone vs. iPad; users on these devicesnot only require different visual workflowapproaches, but also different performanceapproaches. How quickly a screen rendersand provides useful information arecritical decisions because every secondthat a user waits increases the likelihoodof application-abandonment, which thenincreases the possibility of customer churn.You need to design, code and test yourapplication in a way that considersperformance across device, browser,location and backend datacenter. End-toendperformance visibility when developingand deploying applications is critical.Let me give another example: A couple ofmonths ago I had the pleasure of meetingwith a CIO of an enterprise with a mobilepresence and store. The evening beforemy visit, I sat with my Android attemptingto purchase an item on his slow website.I finally gave up and decided to try acompetitive website.Finding this to be a much fasterexperience, I ultimately bought from thecompetitor. The next day at the meetingI confessed this transgression. The CIOfirst gave me a dirty look and then lookedacross the table at his technical staffand demanded an explanation on theperformance of their web-store.Their answer was: “We know. It’s onthe list.” As the meeting progressed, itbecame obvious that all issues relatedto performance were ‘on the list’. Bythe end of the meeting these issuessuddenly had ‘business priority’ and wereto be addressed very quickly. Being aprogrammer I felt bad for the technicalstaff but I did feel better that now theyhad upper management’s attention toaddress performance issues that had beenconsidered low-priority.I’ve talked to quite a few CIOs, andquite frankly, I have been amazed howuninformed many of them are about theperformance of their web-presence overwireless. In instances where they wereaware of performance issues and strugglingfor solutions, I found that most of theirproblems were due to lack of applyingbasic performance best practices whilebuilding their applications.Sometimes it was due to lower-skilleddevelopers or lack of proper performancetesting before deployment. Sometimesit’s just a lack of realization that manyapplications are put together from services‘in the cloud’ and congregated within theend device. These composite applicationsare quickly becoming the norm and notthe exception and understanding how somany piece-parts affect performance is veryimportant.When building enterprise applicationsfor wireless deployment, consider thefollowing:Location performance: Are your userslikely to be in motion while using yourapplication, crossing provider boundariesand moving away from the location of yourcontent? Monitor from different regionsand make sure you can compensate forslower areas by optimizing your applicationor utilizing content delivery networks.Cloud content: Understanding whereall your content is coming from is veryimportant. Third-party providers oftenrely on the cloud to provide contentwhich may not always provide predictableperformance. Your user will only knowthat your app is slow, not some otherprovider, so make sure you test andmonitor these providers and insist onservice level agreements.Wireless device performance differences:With so many devices, operating systemsand browsers available, understandingwhat your customers are using is the firstconsideration. Optimize for the mostpopular devices but also make sure that youare not losing customers who may be onniche devices.The application itself: Implement bestpracticesbefore you begin the codingeffort. Make sure that testing is done ateach iteration in the development of theapp. Build the application modularly sothat piece-parts can be disseminated anddeployed in a way for optimal performance.The back-end services such as databases,web-servers, and load-balancers all needtesting and monitoring. Techniques thatimprove performance often seem morelike art than science, but with continuouseducation on the topic you’ll come to findthat it’s just another engineering exercise.There are many books and websitesdevoted to performance. You need tounderstand all the technical techniques andoptions available to design your wirelessweb presence to perform and scale. It takestime and discipline but in the end it’s goingto pay off with happy customers.Finally, YOU! Have a ‘passion forperformance’. It’s not easy; there are manymoving parts to an enterprise wirelessapplication, but the attention you payto the details will pay off. It’s true that“Time is Money” both in application andhuman performance. Make sure yourbosses understand the business value ofperformance tuning and monitoring.Imagine it’s a Friday afternoon and I’mready to buy that new guitar I’ve beensaving for.I can either:Get in my car, fight my way throughconstruction to the mall, park a quartermileaway, confront a navigation nightmaremaking my way to the store, wait foreverfor someone to help me while theycomplain about my choice of songs topractice on (What, you don’t like “Thick asa Brick?”).or:Turn on my smart device, find a welldesigned,fast-performing mobile store,virtually play the instrument, research andblog about my preferences, select what Iwant and have it delivered the next day.If you build that app, let me know. I’ll befirst in the queue at your store. That is, ifit’s a finely-tuned, performing website! •30 • North America 2010

Mobile payment Mobile backhaul systemsaccessThe backhaul overhaulby M. Vijay Raman, VP of Product Line Management and Marketing, Hatteras NetworksAs smartphones and other broadband-hungry mobile devices proliferate, operators areincreasingly being forced to seek out more efficient and cost-effective means of meeting thevolatile demand for greater bandwidth. Carrier Ethernet is emerging as a viable alternativeto resolve the immense bandwidth demand in mobile backhaul applications.Mr Raman serves as Vice President of Product Line Management and Marketing for Hatteras Networks. Prior to Hatteras, Mr Ramanworked at Aruba Wireless Networks where he was Senior Director of Technical Marketing and Customer/Partner Training.Mr Raman holds a BS-Honors degree in Electrical Engineering from NC State University and has completed post-graduate studies atthe Harvard Business School.In a recent industry interview, Larry O’Neill,Ethernet Product Development Managerand Ethernet Marketing Manager of VerizonCommunications, acknowledged thatcommunications carriers are facing dauntingchallenges in the race to meet soaring mobilebandwidth usage: “None of us is meeting therequirements today. We would like to thinkwe are, but in terms of delivering bandwidthto cell sites, we are scrambling.”O’Neill also noted there is a shift occurringin the way companies like Verizon andAT&T are thinking about and managingessential backbone network infrastructures- with smartphones and other broadbandhungrymobile devices proliferating rapidly,operators are increasingly being forced toseek out more efficient and cost-effectivemeans of meeting the volatile demand forgreater bandwidth.Rising numbers of mobile enterprise usersand enterprise-oriented cloud computingapplications add to the strain on operatornetworks. Further adding to that strain isthe recent news that chip manufacturers areset to introduce mobile-optimized dual-coreprocessors that would allow mobile devicesto run more demanding applications and full1080p high-definition video.O’Neill’s revelation about carriers’ ongoingstruggle to meet mounting bandwidthdemands is borne out by hard numbers -analyst firm Analysys Mason released anApril 2010 report projecting smartphonepenetration worldwide will grow at anannual rate of 32 per cent throughout thenext four years to a high of 1.7 billiondevices by 2014. A recent ABI Researchreport estimates that by that same year, therewill be 998 million mobile cloud computingsubscribers. In March 2010, JuniperResearch pegged 2014 enterprise cloudbasedapplication customers at 130 million.The move towards “Ethernet everywhere”in mobile is unstoppable and poses thisquandary to carriers: How do you addressexplosive demand for mobile broadbandwithout crippling current networkinfrastructures? And how do you meet thisneed effectively without breaking the bank?For savvy carriers and network operators,the answer lies in the deepening intersectionof mobile backhaul applications and CarrierNorth America 2010 • 31

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Smoothing mobile broadband peaksAdaptive content optimization in the RANby Scott Hilton, VP and GM, Broadband Optimization Solutions, Sycamore NetworksMobile operators across the globe are struggling with network congestion caused by theunprecedented uptake of mobile broadband. As well as baseline traffic, high demand trafficpeaks have increased significantly and can have a major impact on the radio access network.Adaptive content optimization is a compelling solution, providing an effective mechanismfor relieving traffic congestion and managing the growth of mobile broadband traffic.Scott Hilton is the Vice President and General Manager of the Broadband Optimization Solutions business unit at Sycamore Networks.Before joining Sycamore, Mr Hilton was Vice President of Product Marketing and Management at 3Com Corporation, and prior to3Com, Vice President of Product Management for the IP Services division of Lucent Technologies.Scott Hilton completed a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Duke University and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from George MasonUniversity.In the first half of 2010, the average US mobilesubscriber consumed an average of 230MBof data per month, a rise of 50 per cent overthe previous six months. The increased useof smartphones and mobile broadband hasclearly driven this growth, with 31 per centof the US subscriber base now classified assmartphone users. As improved multimediafunctionality and capabilities are added tosuccessive generations of mobile devices,the stress on existing 3G networks is only setto increase. According to a recent statementfrom Verizon Wireless, their recently launchedDroid X phones use approximately five timesthe data volume of any other device includingthe iPhone. Proof that when consumers havea device that works well for accessing theInternet, watching video and other onlineactivities such as social networking, they willuse it to full effect.Operators are at the forefront of this revolutionin mobile data and are struggling withcompeting forces that will determine the longtermsustainability of their business models.Mobile broadband is their main growth enginetoday, especially in mature markets. But assubscribers flock to mobile broadband servicesand impose increasing bandwidth demands onthe network, costs are escalating much fasterthan revenues. Operators are faced with a toughchoice: continue to add capacity to alleviatecongestion and meet customer experienceexpectations, or, pay dearly later to combat highcustomer churn and market share erosion.The impact of this increased data usage - morecongested networks - is already starting to showand will have an effect upon users everywhere.Caps on 3G data allowances have already beenintroduced by Sprint and more recently AT&T,Verizon has already hinted at data caps for theirLTE network, and other operators are expectedto roll out similar schemes. Unlimited 3G datadownload packages may soon be relegated tohistory. As capacity and performance pressuresbuild on the network, business and consumerusers who rely on mobile broadband arelikely to experience further restrictions on use,inconsistent Internet connections and slowdownloads or delayed interaction.The mobile broadband dilemma and RANcongestionNowhere is the mobile broadband dilemmamore challenging, or congestion more acute,than in the cost-sensitive Radio Access Network(RAN), which provides connectivity betweenthe radio base stations (Node Bs in HighSpeed Packet Access (HSPA) networks) andRadio Network Controller (RNC) hub sitesaggregating and processing mobile traffic.As Internet video drives exponential trafficgrowth and rapidly changing traffic patternscomplicate network dimensioning rules, mobileoperators face a number of critical networkissues in the RAN that impact both capital andoperational expenses. These include:• the need to rapidly upgrade backhaulconnection speeds to avoid trafficbottlenecks;• the timing of network equipmentupgrades and investment;• the fact that capacity planning isbecoming increasingly reactive;• the impact of poor network performanceon customer satisfaction and churn.The ideal solution for this high-cost portion ofthe network must address the service deliveryeconomics while adapting to location, networkloads, and the traffic mix.Backhaul capacity upgrades: is this enough?One clear choice for mobile operators tosolve the congestion crunch in this portion of34 • North America 2010

Smoothing Mobile mobile payment broadband Mobile systemsaccess peaksthe network is to invest in upgrading to faster(higher bandwidth) backhaul connections.The viable options tend to fall into threemajor categories:• Add capacity to the existing backhaulnetwork - this is often the quickest andeasiest to accomplish operationally.However, it can also be the mostexpensive as it does not fundamentallychange the economics. An example ofthis approach is to add additional T1/EIleased lines or TDM microwave capacityto a cell site.• Upgrade to packet-based backhaul - thisapproach requires significant planning,time, and capital investment. However,it can provide a significant leap incapacity while lowering the recurringoperational cost per Mbps of incrementalbandwidth. Examples of this approachinclude upgrading from T1/E1 coppercircuits to fiber fed, Carrier Ethernetservices or upgrading from TDM-basedmicrowave to Packet/Ethernet-basedmicrowave. Both of these approachesrequire major network, equipment, rightof-wayagreements, spectrum leasing,and operational upgrades that can incursignificant time and cost.• Offload and divert certain backhaultraffic - this approach offloads mobiledata traffic to lower cost transmissionalternatives. Examples of this approachinclude xDSL offload at the basestation and the use of femtocells andWi-Fi hotspots that can divert the dataoff the macro network onto cheaperfixed broadband connections. Theseapproaches can be effective but haveeconomic, operational, spectrumplanning, policy and SLA implications.While these options can be effective in anumber of cases, they are typically expensive,reactive, and do not fundamentally solve theunderlying challenges: exponential growthof mobile data services; the cost and time todeploy new transport; and the unpredictablenature of when and where congestion will occur.The operational impact of high demandmobile broadband peaksIn the course of conducting traffic studieswith a variety of network operators aroundthe world, Sycamore has accumulated a rangeof interesting data that sheds light on theevolving characteristics of mobile broadbandtraffic and the underlying impact of differentcontent types (mix) and usage patterns. Typicalcontent types include video, images, text, andother binary data that are transported through avariety of protocols between users and servers.The increase in smartphone usage has driven adramatic increase in the number of data sessionsin mobile networks, with greater than ten timesthe normal number of session attempts relativeto voice-only handsets.While these trends have clearly increasedbaseline traffic, what is often overlooked is thenetwork impact of high demand traffic peaks,which have increased significantly. Most ofthe congestion issues in the RAN, in fact, tendto be short-term or transitory, such as spikesin traffic demand during peak hour periods orunpredictable bandwidth surges caused by flashevents. High demand consumption peaks caneasily be four to five times the baseline traffic,and are most frequently driven by applicationssuch as Internet video and bandwidth-intensivedownloads of software updates.It becomes cost prohibitive, not to mentionproblematic, for a mobile operator to size theirnetwork (i.e., add capacity) to accommodatethis type of peak traffic since it is not easy topredict where or when those peaks will occur.And while operators will continue to utilizebandwidth expansion options to address pointsof congestion in their network, this alone won’tsolve the quality of service issues that highdemand consumption peaks cause. For thesereasons there is growing interest in technologiesthat enable operators to reduce the traffic loadstraversing the backhaul and adapt in real-time -like a shock absorber - to the dynamics of peaktraffic bursts.Targeting RAN congestion with adaptivecontent optimizationAdaptive content optimization representsa different approach to helping operatorsmanage the growth of mobile broadbandtraffic and its attendant operational expense inthe cost-sensitive RAN. Unlike mobile corebasedoptimization schemes and proxy webcaches, which primarily address upstream andinterconnection bandwidth to the Internet,adaptive content optimization can dramaticallylower capacity requirements specificallybetween the Node B and RNC. In this part ofthe network, even modest bandwidth (cost)savings can have a disproportionately positiveimpact on profitability.Adaptive content optimization reducesthe traffic volume traversing the RAN byexamining user content flows (including alltraffic types - video, images, text, P2P) andapplying advanced lossless data optimizationtechniques and adaptive learning algorithmsin real time. This approach aims to reducepeak bandwidth requirements in the backhaulnetwork and improve subscribers’ quality ofexperience, providing operators with a way tore-balance their service delivery economics inline with revenue growth - not traffic growth.Adaptive content optimization also providesoperators with three important ways tooptimize current network investments whileeasing the transition to the next generationof infrastructure. First, it addresses the maindrivers of mobile broadband: IP video andInternet content - including P2P. Second, it isarchitected for all-IP HSPA radio networks, so itis a natural fit with LTE. Third, the technologyis scalable to support LTE as a network overlay(the way most HSPA operators will deployLTE), so existing HSPA sites can be efficientlycombined with LTE radio deployments as theyare rolled out.ConclusionMobile operators across the globe areexperiencing unprecedented uptake formobile broadband services but strugglingwith the resulting network congestion andincreasing costs that come with this success.For US mobile operators in particular, giventhe large populations they must serve andbroad geographies their networks must cover,the challenge will be to continue upgradingtheir networks while delivering a good userexperience and managing service delivery costsper MB in line with revenue growth rather thantraffic growth. Adaptive content optimizationis a compelling way to help operators relievetraffic congestion and thereby improve the userexperience, delay infrastructure growth, andimprove their service delivery economics. •North America 2010 • 35

Policy-driven optimizationManaging the mobile data tsunami -Is 4G the answer?by Constantine Polychronopoulos, Founder and CTO, BytemobileThe explosive growth of data traffic generated by smartphones has created significantchallenges for network operators, imposing an immense strain on available network resourcesand a negative impact on the user experience. Policy-driven optimization is perhaps the onlytechnology that can alleviate the bandwidth crunch in existing 3G networks and also expandthe effective capacity of emerging 4G networks.Constantine Polychronopoulos, PhD. is the Founder and CTO of Bytemobile. Dr Polychronopoulos has been a professor of Electricaland Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 1986 and director of the Center for SupercomputingResearch and Development since 1995.Dr. Polychronopoulos holds a PhD. from the University of Illinois, an M.S. from Vanderbilt University and a B.S. from the NationalUniversity of Athens.The latest generation of smartphones,particularly the Apple iPhone and GoogleAndroid devices, has contributed toexponential growth of data traffic in 3Gnetworks. According to recent data from across-section of tier-one wireless networkoperators, those providing service fortouchscreen smartphones have seen adramatic increase in data volume - in somecases overwhelming their networks.Source: Bytemobile, 4Q 2009Projections from industry analysts, wirelessoperators and suppliers of mobile internetinfrastructure technology converge on thefact that the pace of data traffic growth willcontinue to accelerate rapidly through 2014and beyond.Source: Cisco Systems, 2010New realities of the mobile Internet eraExplosive traffic growth has created not onlytremendous opportunities for all players inthe wireless broadband ecosystem, but alsosignificant challenges - especially for networkoperators. Most of these challenges stem fromthe fact that today’s HSDPA (High SpeedDownlink Packet Access) and HSPA+ (HSPAEvolution) networks - as well as emergingLTE (Long Term Evolution) networks -were not provisioned to process the trafficloads that high-end smartphones have beengenerating over the last two years.The growth in traffic has imposed animmense strain on available networkresources. This in turn has had a negativeimpact on the user experience. The resultis often that subscribers churn to anothernetwork with more capacity and thereforea better experience. Another consequenceof the data traffic strain on networks is thatoperators are delaying the rollout of newdata applications, which slows revenuegrowth. It also provides a unique advantageto non-traditional service providers such asGoogle, RIM, Yahoo, and others to step inand offer smartphone applications for socialnetworking and location-based servicesthat create stickiness and loyalty amongsmartphone users.The figures below show a direct correlationbetween traffic volume, network bandwidthavailability and the user experience. Asexpected, decreased bandwidth directlyimpacts the quality of the experience.36 • North America 2010

Policy-driven Mobile payment Mobile optimization systemsaccessSource: Bytemobile 2Q 2010As data traffic continues to increase, not onlywill the user experience deteriorate further,but also operators will have to implementand enforce new billing policies and serviceplans in order to remain profitable. Aswe have seen in the transition from 2G to3G, it will become critical for operators toserve more users and traffic within theirexisting infrastructure and offer a betteruser experience to reduce churn and remaincompetitive in the 4G environment.No panaceaThere are those who tout LTE as the ultimatesolution for limitless bandwidth. While thenew architecture will dramatically expandthe bandwidth currently provided by 3Gtechnology, different and complementarysolutions will be required to address thequantum leap in LTE-enabled traffic byextending the capacity of the network. LTEwill increase bandwidth to the device tenfoldover HSPA+, but at a cost of increasedspectrum allocation. Effective bandwidthto the device is limited by the maximumbandwidth supported by the slowest linkin an end-to-end connection. Given thatLTE addresses only radio access, operatorswill need to re-provision the rest of theirnetwork infrastructure in order to address thebandwidth crunch.Significant capital expenditure (CAPEX)allocations for new infrastructure may be badnews for an operator’s bottom line, but theworse news is that CAPEX alone cannot fixthe problem. However, there is good news foroperators. A combination of commerciallyavailable technologies can deliver a definitivesolution to backhaul network congestion byaddressing the problem at its root and doingso in a cost-effective manner.Options available to operatorsFemtocells, Wi-Fi offload, content caching,traffic management, and optimization willbe critical components of future wirelesscommunication systems, enabling operatorsto deliver a high-quality user experiencewith a limited set of resources in the form ofspectrum and radio technology.These options are by no means mutuallyexclusive. In fact, most operators willuse a combination of them and others asappropriate to meet their requirements.Optimization’s enduring valueWhile there is no single solution for theeffects of explosive data growth on networkcapacity, it is important to understandoptimization and how it enhances thepositive impact of all solutions across allnetwork elements.Optimization encompasses an array ofsynergistic technologies for upgrading thewireless network infrastructure from endto end. It is the single fastest and most costeffectiveway to boost network capacity anddeliver a higher-quality experience. Unlikeother approaches to capacity management, thebenefit of network optimization is enduringin the sense that it increases effectivebandwidth and decreases congestion andlatency, regardless of the radio or networktechnology used. Moreover, optimization canbe deployed easily and without the expensiveinfrastructure changes required by almost allother network upgrade technologies.The adaptive nature of optimization makesit an invaluable embedded performancebooster on an ongoing basis as operatorsupgrade segments of their networkstoward 4G. Optimization expands effectivebandwidth and network capacity throughthe dynamic application of differenttechnologies, including hierarchicalcontent caching, adaptive video streaming,policy-controlled content compression,adaptive transport resource scheduling, andcongestion management.Policy-driven optimizationPolicy-driven optimization - which combinesoptimization with policy enforcement in asingle gateway platform - results in moreefficient utilization of spectrum and hardware,more effective distribution and prioritizationof traffic, more flexibility of service plansacross user profiles, and ultimately, morebandwidth for the unprecedented surgeof data that LTE will inevitably produce.Unlike infrastructure-intense networkupgrades, policy-driven optimization can beimplemented quickly, with little or no changeto the rest of the network. It provides an endto-endbandwidth and network capacity boostof up to 50 per cent, depending on trafficprofiles. It is perhaps the only technology thatcan alleviate the bandwidth crunch in existing3G networks and also expand the effectivecapacity of emerging 4G networks.When it comes to wireless broadbandcapacity, operators will continue to invest inoptimization for as long as they continue toinvest in better radio technologies - and aslong as users demand higher levels of service.Policy-driven optimization comprises theonly set of technologies that provide enduringvalue regardless of radio access technologyand network architecture - and yet will beessential in the LTE environment. •Connect-World iscelebrating its 15 thanniversaryThrough the years, Connect-World’s authors told of the riseof mobile, of fibre, of wirelessand of broadband; they told ofthe dot.com meltdown, ofdigital inclusion and convergence,of standards and breakthroughs,the rise of IP andthe fall of switching and of theregulatory turnaround.In every issue of Connect-Worldheads of state, ministers andregulators, heads ofinternational institutions andleaders of industry speak ofwhat the ICT revolution, as ithappens, means to the peoplein their regions of the world.www.connect-world.comNorth America 2010 • 37

Mobile workforce managementAs the workforce becomes wireless so does theenterprise - or vice versa?by Jennifer Friedman, VP of Marketing, TOA TechnologiesThe widespread availability and constantly accelerating expansion of wireless networks andapplications, and the intensified development of network-centric hardware and software,offers great opportunities for the enterprise, but they will have to rethink their operationsand policies to obtain them. Increasing employee use of smartphones, netbooks and laptopsis just the beginning; but to make the best use of them enterprises need to look at mobilityas a strategic option and not just another tool.Jennifer Friedman is Vice President of Marketing at TOA Technologies. Prior to TOA, Ms Friedman served as the Vice President ofMarketing and Customer Acquisition for Clear, the fast pass for airport security. Previously Ms Friedman spent more than 11 years atAmerican Express culminating in her role as Vice President of Global Marketing in the Travel Division.Jennifer Friedman has a degree in history from Cornell University and a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University.The age-old question of the chicken andthe egg might very well be applied to theprofessional world: Has the employeebecome mobile because the enterprise wentwireless, or has the enterprise gone mobilebecause the employee did so? Whateverthe answer is - the modern Americanworkforce is increasingly more mobile,and so are companies. According to anIDC forecast (Worldwide Mobile WorkerPopulation 2009-2013 Forecast) 75.5 percent of the global workforce, or 119.7million workers, will be on the move whenaccessing enterprise systems by 2013. Withthis number, the US will remain the mosthighly mobile workforce in the world. Thechallenge for enterprises is how to embracemobility with the same intensity that theconsumer market has.As wireless technologies and userbehaviour evolve, enterprise technologiesand applications must change to meetthese new needs. Concepts such as cloudcomputingand on-demand applicationsand services give enterprises previouslyunknown flexibility. New applications andservices improve operations out in the field,as well as in the back-office, and enablecompanies to improve customer service byoffering their customers options that changewith their usage patterns.Mobile customers change the wayenterprises do businessThe past decade has seen a shift in the waywe use information technology. Wirelesstechnologies - and the availability of webenabledmobile devices like smartphones,netbooks and tablet PCs - have openedup a whole new universe and brought theInternet to the user anywhere, anytime.People communicate with their friends,family and colleagues through multiplechannels - phone, text, email, social networks- and they do it more frequently than everbefore. And consumers are not willing tochange this behaviour when dealing withcompanies they buy goods or services from.They expect high-quality service at any timeand communication through their preferredchannel. Plus, with information availableinstantly, they have far less patience than pastgenerations. For consumers, wait has becomea four-letter word.More than any other, companies withlarge field workforces, or non-officebasedmobile workers as IDC calls themin their report (versus office-based mobileworkers and home-based mobile workers),are struggling with these expectations.Increasing competition in industries likecable, telecommunications and utilitiesmeans customers are now in the driver’sseat, and customers who have a poorexperience regarding initial installationor delivery are more likely to switch toa competitor and are more likely to haveongoing lower customer satisfactionratings. What this means is that now,more than ever, the right customer servicetechnology can make or break a business.Bringing mobile workforce management upto speed with the everything-wireless worldIn an ‘everything-wireless’ world, mobileworkforce management (MWFM)is one of the essential - although38 • North America 2010

Mobile Mobile workforce payment Mobile management systemsaccessoftentimes overlooked - pillars ofsuccess for an enterprise with a largefield workforce. MWFM is undergoinga disruptive transformation, driven byheightened expectations of customers,new technologies and the speed of theInternet. In this context, cloud-based, ondemandSoftware-as-a-Service (SaaS)solutions are ideal for the missioncriticaltasks of managing technicians andcustomer communications. They do notrequire major up-front costs, are quickto deploy and automatically updated.Because Return-on-Investment (ROI) ismore quickly realized with SaaS thantraditionally installed software, Gartnerestimates initial project savings of 25to 40 per cent due to the shedding ofexpensive licensing fees, burdensomeinstallations and in-house tech support.The divide between companies thatembrace cloud-based solutions and thosethat remain offline grows wider withevery new web-enabled smartphone oron-demand feature made available. Onerecent example is the iPad. Within a fewmonths of its launch, it has dramaticallychanged the way consumers andcompanies use the Internet. An enterprisethat utilizes SaaS for mobile workforcescheduling, routing and communicationscan realize previously unobtainablesavings and efficiencies in a few monthsversus years with traditionally installedapplications. Web-based systems can alsobe updated immediately and can scale tomatch company growth without needingmajor capital investment, because theflexibility of cloud solutions allows themto be integrated with existing systems farmore easily than installed applications.To remain competitive, enterprises needto embrace these new devices and thepower of the cloud or else risk failing theircustomers and losing revenue.Connecting the technology with thebusiness and the customerWhen deploying a mobile workforcemanagement solution, companies havetwo overarching business objectives.One is to increase efficiency andreduce cost by optimizing the workflowbetween the field and dispatchers. Thesecond objective is to improve customersatisfaction by leveraging the appointmentas a relationship-building opportunity.For many MWFM solutions these areseparate initiatives, both in terms ofbusiness process and technology. However,companies should embrace more holistictechnologies that address these dualbusiness objectives within one modularplatform and unify the workflow andcustomer appointment processes.In order to achieve the two-fold objectives,companies are finding the followingbusiness requirements essential in a mobileworkforce management solution:• ability to address both contract andnon-contract mobile employees;• rapid implementation;• ease of use with minimal training andmaintenance;• flexible pricing that can be paid forwith the operating budget;• continuous software updatesdeployed instantly.Companies looking for a solution toaddress these requirements find a newapproach in mobile workforce management.Rather than simply delivering work ordersto field employees, MWFM optimizesthe mobile workforce with a focus on themost critical touch point - the customerappointment event. The approach utilizesmobile technology, predictive analytics,and automated interactive customercommunications to increase operationalefficiencies and improve the customerexperience at the same time.Figure: A holistic approach to mobile workforcemanagement puts the customer at the centre of theappointment management processIt’s all about predicting as accuratelyas possible how long an appointmentwill take - based on factors likethe skill set of mobile employees,location, traffic conditions and jobhistory - and proactively telling thecustomer about his/her appointmentstatus through regular communication.Mobile technologies and web-basedcloud technologies are the backbone ofany solution that aims to achieve this,allowing enterprises to collect, processand use real-time information to achievea high degree of accuracy. Customersgreatly value this accuracy when theywait just one hour for an appointmentinstead of wasting half a day or more oftheir valuable time not knowing whenthe visit will happen. Companies using amobile workforce management solutionhave oftentimes experienced a surge incustomer satisfaction ratings, becausecustomers appreciate service providerswho understand and respect their busy,mobile lifestyles.With cloud-based mobile workforcemanagement on the path to successConsidering the size of the Americanmobile workforce, the potential forimprovement is huge. Gartner estimates30 per cent of new customer service andsupport applications will be delivered viaSaaS by 2012. With 70 per cent still beingdelivered as installed applications, we willsee those enterprises using on-demandservices and web-based applicationsprofiting immensely, outperforming theircompetitors. In fact, some already do. CoxCommunications, the third largest cablecompany in the US with over 6.2 millionsubscribers, has deployed a cloud-basedsolution to manage its field workforceof 7000 technicians in 17 states. Thecable provider has achieved a 98 per centsatisfaction rate among its customers,rising from 84 per cent. In addition, Coxwas able to realize considerable costreductions amounting to US$60 millionin annual savings or US$18,000 pertechnician annually. Technicians alsoworked 13 per cent more productivelywhile at the same time driving 27 per centmiles less - not only saving money forfuel but also protecting the environment.Another company, Arhaus Furniture,has even more fully embraced mobiletechnologies as a part of their businessstrategy. They constantly look to improvetheir customer service and their operationswith the latest technologies and in doingso have been successful pioneers inthe furniture industry for many years.Their latest coup is to deploy Apple’siPad to its delivery drivers. They havealready implemented a holistic mobileworkforce management solution and witha customized iPad app they take it onestep further to implement a paperlessenvironment, saving tons of paper andabout US$100,000 annually in addition tothe cost-reductions already achieved.Embracing mobility as a business strategycan have an immensely positive impacton business performance - by achievingunparalleled cost-savings and drivingcustomer satisfaction to yet unknownheights. The everything-wireless world isfull of opportunities enterprises just haveto take. •North America 2010 • 39

YES! Send me the following Connect-World issuesAfrica & the Middle East issueLatin America issueNorth America issueEMEA issueICT Global Challenges issueAsia-Pacific issue I, II & III (3 issues)Europe issue I & II (2 issues)India issueA total of 11 issues for the publishing year of 2010, at a special discountedrate of £100. Online subscription also available.Subscription FormSubscribe to receive your copy now!!Title (Mr/Mrs/Miss): __________________________Company*: ________________________________Address*: _________________________________State/Province: _____________________________Country*: __________________________________Fax: ______________________________________(Fill all fields marked *)Name*: ____________________________Job Title*: __________________________City* : _____________________________Postcode/Zip*: ______________________Telephone*: _________________________Email*: ____________________________Check preferred subscription medium• Online - Digital Magazine £15 (11 issues, Online download PDF)• UK - Printed Magazine for UK subscribers £95 (11 issues hard copy by post)• Europe - Printed Magazine for Europe subscribers £100 (11 issues hard copy by post)• Foreign - Printed Magazine for Rest of the World subscribers £115 (11 issues hard copy by post)• Corporate - Printed Magazine for Corporate subscribers (11 issues hard copy by post)- sign my company up for a two-years subscription to Connect-World series of magazines with anadditional 15% discount. Please charge my credit card once a year until I notify you otherwise. I’llget the same low subscription rate I’ve chosen above for as long as I am a subscriber. Please note:all corporate subscriptions must be pre-paid. Please provide your credit card information whenplacing your order.Note: Please allow up to 4 weeks for mailing of first issue.Please charge my:• Visa • MasterCard • American ExpressCard Number: ______________________________ Expiry Date: _____/_______(MM/YYYY)Signature: _____________________________________________________________________Bill me later• Tick here if you want us to bill you later. Available only to domestic UK addresses.Please sign _____________________________and send back by:-Email: info@Connect-World.com orPost: InfoComms Media Ltd., 1 & 2 Riverside Offices, 17 Towcester Road, London E3 3ND, UK.40 • North America 2010connect-world.com