What strategic decisions do carriers need to consider when it comes to creating better broadband networks? And what's driving that network transformation? vision2mobile sat down to discuss these architectural issues and more with Michael Howard, co-founder of Infonetics Research.
vision2mobile: What are the main drivers today for next-generation architecture decisions?
Michael Howard: Users, be they corporate or consumer, are the same person--just in different roles. It doesn't matter if that person is using a desktop computer, a smartphone, tablet, netbook--they expect to access applications and content in the same way, with same performance, whether they’re on fixed or mobile. So when you look at the decisions facing carriers, it’s the customer behavior that is driving the broadband transformation decision. Under that, there are three main drivers that are forcing carriers to look at next-gen architecture, and they are things that have been in the minds of planners and CEOs for some time: in the last few years video, mobility and cloud have truly arrived.
V2M: Aren't all of those things interrelated phenomena?
MH: What's happening is epitomized by mobile broadband user behavior. It started wrecking a number of parts of carrier networks when the iPhone and smartphones in general came along, offering access to the Web, calendaring, messaging, pics, video. Especially video. Being able to watch video on the go is something that various cultures around the world are embracing on their mobile devices, both in emerged and emerging economies. People who never used to watch video are now watching YouTube and video on news sites, and in fact are actually used to doing that now. And we haven’t even seen the effects of the tablet wave, and we've only seen the first wave of smartphones.
Bottom line: The biggest, most important change for all of us is that consumers and businesspeople alike expect the same experience and the same access to their data whether they’re on the move or not.
V2M: How far along is the carrier community in terms of building out new architecture for the future? It seems like a pretty nascent evolution.
MH: Carriers are in different stages. Some are already taking steps toward addressing these changes in the market, others are still considering how to approach the issue.
For many years now, operators have been making the basic move from TDM to packet within various networks. That evolution has variously been called many things, usually IP NGN. And they're still in that process of moving off of T1s and E1s and SONET SDH over to packet, even though that big evolution started at the turn of the century.
