Posts Tagged ‘mobile internet’

The End of the Internet as we know it: Streaming Live – the Super Bowl!

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 by Cam Cullen

Yesterday, the NFL announced that it would be streaming the Super Bowl live to iPads, Verizon mobile phones and the NBC/NFL websites. In my mind, this marks a significant moment in the annals of streaming video as the potential turning point in the transition from traditional delayed broadcast video to live streaming. Sure, there have been plenty of live streams across the Internet (and not just pirated streams of sports events!). In fact, the NFL streams games every week and the past two Olympics have been streamed online. The NFL claims that 20,000-30,000 viewers watch their regular Sunday night streams, compared to 21,000,000 viewers of the broadcast version. However, the Super Bowl was watched by 111,000,000 viewers last year. NBC has upped the ante by promising excusive content and analysis for the streaming version, which is likely to result in people having both the streaming and broadcast versions active in their household at the same time – the big consumer most likely will be the iPad version.

 Why is this significant for the Internet? 

1)   The NFL and NBC have confidence in their ability to stream content to millions of simultaneous consumers around the world. Although the NFL is not a worldwide sport like soccer (football to the rest of the world!), people watch the Super Bowl worldwide. If this goes well, expect the World Cup final to get the same treatment in 2014.

2)   Broadband networks are expected to be able to handle the streaming load (To Be Determined!) across millions of subscribers. I expect broadband operators to be scrambling to ensure that their peering links with the CDN for this event is up to the task.

3)   The CDN delivering the live streaming is confident that it is up to the task for a live event. This is not a case where you can pre-position content to meet the expected demand.

4)   Latency issues between the live telecast and the streaming event are expected to be minimal. This one is interesting to me as I have seen many cases where a score is reported via Twitter before it happens on my TV screen – for many sports.

If this event succeeds and the NFL is able to claim that they are the first to stream such a significant event live, it will start a rush towards content owners for live events to monetize their properties. It will also potentially signal an aggravation of the problem for broadband operators, as it will give new meaning to “peak” hours.  Peak will now be whenever the event occurs – and not during the standard peak hour times. Some broadband networks will struggle with network congestion in this scenario, so it will be interesting to see which operators can deliver high-quality streams during this event.

Here at Procera, we have been seeing stress building on the Intelligent Policy Enforcement infrastructure; live video streaming will add a new dimension to it. In addition to the bandwidth stress, I would expect to see services pop up in this area – like zero-rated streaming, priority streaming (for a fee) – all of which will not only stress the infrastructure, but also the management and OSS layer for policy management and charging. With live events, this will be an even more acute problem for PCRF/PCEF/OCS/OFCS systems, as the sessions will start within a very short time, creating almost a “network outage”-type flood on the network.

We will be watching this event very closely. Stay tuned for our report after the event.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Industry, Technology | No Comments »

Cloudy with a Chance of Internet Showers

Monday, March 14th, 2011 by Cam Cullen

The Cloud” has been a hot topic in the technology space for some time now, with the term becoming so mainline that many companies are using it as a tagline in mainstream advertising (ala Microsoft with their “To the cloud!” campaign). With “The Cloud”, the thinking goes; I can just have my data readily available for access, regardless of my device, location, or access technology. I can always access my pictures (everyone certainly wants to see my pictures of my family vacation!), my documents or spreadsheets, check my balance in my checking account, and my contact database.

Great idea! But what if the cloud is not accessible? Or your access to the cloud is so bad that it might as well be offline?

The concept of the cloud is a great security blanket. It’s like never having to worry about leaving your keys locked in your car or forgetting your wallet when you need it the most. Information is always available, and you can call it up on a moment’s notice. I had a personal experience with the beauty of the cloud this weekend, when I was in New York City that kind of drove home how expectations have changed with respect to access to the Internet. I took the train to NYC, using the on-board Wi-Fi to do work during the ride. I was, you see, trying to access the cloud so that I could have access to salesforce.com, as welI as participate in an online chat conference with some colleagues. I decided on the train as my mode of transport due to the availability of Internet Access and planned to get work done on the train ride. However, the connection was so bad and overloaded, that getting any online work done became impossible. However, the cloud did not fail me completely, as I also have an Android phone, and I can use that phone as a mobile hotspot, which since it supports an HSPA connection, is highly effective in emergency cases, and I was able to complete what I needed to get done (although just barely in a few cases, as occasionally I would drop into 3G or even EDGE areas where access slowed to a crawl.

I have seen and heard of many cases of consumers behaving in a business role (think travelers or telecommuters) that have suffered due to their connectivity and as a result, their companies and businesses have suffered. I know that many companies would be willing (even eager) if they could pay HIGHER amounts for broadband access for some of their employees to ensure that the latest sales forecasts, material orders, or even POs could be placed. Or in the case that I described above, to use more data in emergency cases and pay a bundled daily usage charge (or a reduced rate data package). If I am tethering my phone to my PC, some of the mobile data packages available today are woefully inadequate for even a single day’s work and email (It feels as if I get 1G of data in just email alone some days, much less add web browsing where some pages are 1MB alone – I am looking at you Yahoo with your front page), and a 250MB per month allowance is not sufficient.

Even in the US, where a lot of attention is being paid to tiered services and usage-based pricing models, allowances are made for “managed” services. More options should exist for data plans targeted towards mobile business professionals, as since the bills for these services are subsidized by corporations, the user is not acting as a consumer when they purchase the plan. I have always believed that even flat rate access can be tiered, and I know that if my company could pay to make sure that I had better access for my business traffic as part of my service plan they would be willing to. For example:

  • Prioritize my VPN traffic (even if it requires IP address destination-based rules)
  • Prioritize traffic to SF.com
  • Prioritize IM (which is critical for me to communicate quickly, succinctly, and cheaply with colleagues around the world)
  • Prioritize email access to my corporate server
  • Prioritize access to my file drop-box service (which I sometimes need to use to transfer large presentations, documents, or software versions).
  • And maybe most importantly – GIVE ME A BETTER RATE FOR ROAMING DATA!

Although I would use more bandwidth in the above case, this is offset by a willingness to pay more for this access on an ongoing basis (or as the last point makes, on a per usage basis for roaming). Roaming access to the cloud is completely unacceptable (especially overseas), as often just opening up email exceeds the $50 limit that is set in most countries for user notification.

As broadband providers are consistently looking for ways to generate more revenue, I suggest looking to the business user and offering us plans that would enhance our Quality of Experience – not just with quality access to the internet, but also quality of billing experience. Many users are very willing to pay more for access, and the opportunity is there for you to take advantage of that by offering plans that deliver.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

A World In Motion

Monday, February 14th, 2011 by Jon Linden

Did you notice the change? I know it’s subtle. But yes, you’re right, the Procera tagline changed to “Policy Enforcement In Motion”. Why? Well, there are a lot of good reasons. Let me try and explain.

Change is good. Everyone in this industry must embrace change, or get out. I’ve been with Procera for ten years now (wow, that made me sound like a dinosaur), but it feels like I’ve been at several different companies in many different industries. That’s how much things have changed over these ten years. Still, I would argue that we’ve stuck to our path, which has rendered us the technology leadership position in our segment.

So, what is our segment? That’s the key question, and we must continuously ensure that our messaging and technology is contemporary and up to date. The first question I got at a panel discussion in London this Fall was “what is the biggest change in DPI over the last five years?” My answer was that “DPI has evolved from being an autonomous product resolving a particular issue, mainly rampaging P2P traffic volumes, to becoming fully integrated into policy management.”

This integration is not just in network diagrams. It’s also integration into a complete ecosystem – the Policy and Charging Control (PCC) ecosystem. We’ve been evangelizing tiered services for years now, but it wasn’t until mobile operators started seeing large traffic volumes and serious revenue contribution from data services that this took off. And with these new demands came new requirements, and suddenly we had policy control, policy enforcement, online charging and more.

In this context, Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) is not a fair and complete description of what we do. We’re certainly not shying away from the fact that DPI is the core technology that gives us, and our fellow competitors, our competitive edge by associating type of traffic with subscriber, service plan, location and device. But ‘everyone’ claims to have DPI today, which is why policy enforcement is a much better description of what we actually do. And to make us justice in comparison with dumber equipment that enforces policies – like GGSNs – it’s fair to say Intelligent Policy Enforcement. Voilá, there you go, another three-letter acronym: IPE!

The applications enabled by the solution IPE are the same as before. The value proposition is around business intelligence, network optimization, network protection and tiered services. But as a component in the PCC ecosystem we can do more, and we can do it better. We can make our visions become reality and have a serious impact on bottom-line for service providers who are evolving, who innovate, and who are wiling to try new things to provide a better and sexier service to their customers. A necessity in today’s highly competitive hyper-connected society where everyone must check emails and Facebook at least every two minutes to ensure that they have not missed something important.

We, just like our customers, evolve – or move ahead. But in motion is also a word game to point out that the mobile operators drive these new requirements. We are the incumbent IPE vendor to some of the most prevailing mobile operators in the world. We’ve learnt, through real-life experience, how these operators function and what they need.

So, now you know why we do intelligent policy enforcement (IPE) based on advanced deep packet inspection (DPI) technology, to mobile operators that constantly evolve to accommodate customers in motion in a hyper-connected world that keeps spinning. Or in other words, why we do Policy Enforcement In Motion. I’m off. Back to the MWC show floor again – a place where there’s certainly a lot of motion!

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Industry | No Comments »

The Internet is a Big Place!

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 by Cam Cullen

I have been around the world (in some cases, in a single trip!) to meet with existing Procera customers and interested prospects on our solution. During a recent trip, a coworker made an offhand comment after we met a customer that stuck with me. “The Internet is a big place.”

The moment he said that, it really brought home something to me that had been creeping into my thinking during the trip. During the trip, I met with customers, prospects, resellers, and analysts in several different countries, and there was one consistent theme that I took away from those meetings: Every customer is a little bit different. Different parts of the world have different needs, and although the network diagrams may be similar, just as in a city, different neighborhoods have different needs.

In the context of what I do for Procera (Product Management), what that means is that every network, every customer, every service offering, is a little bit different. Normally, in Product Management, your hope is that every customer needs exactly the same thing (which makes your life much easier when defining a product). Unfortunately, our Intelligent Policy Enforcement technology has so many different uses that we see variations of even some of the basic use cases. It also means that product specifications and network demands may mean that a product that appears to line up in basic specification is actually not the right solution for a customer.

For example, let’s look at an often ignored (or minimized) specification on application aware systems – session capacity and setup rate. All around the world, we are seeing a sharp increase in session usage as the era of “always-on” social networking takes effect. Mobile network session usage, which used to be minimal, has skyrocketed with the rise of iPhones and Android phones that are multitasking and constantly connected to the network. Applications and sites like foursquare, Facebook, Mixi (Japan), Renren (China), Twitter, and IM/VOIP clients are increasing the consumer’s urges to stay connected at all times to the Internet. In Asia, networks have very high session setup rates per user, mainly due to the proliferation of file sharing clients and their behavior. In Canada, the session usage per user is almost three times the normal usage in the United States due to more file sharing activity. I have seen a number of deployments fail due to session loads that overwhelm stateful aware systems, and not just during DOS attacks, but in basic system operation.

Another key metric is the number of subscribers supported on a single system. Across fixed and mobile networks in Europe and in fixed networks in the America, the number of subscribers per system that needs to be supported is lower due to the number of operators competing in a single geography. In mobile networks in Asia and the Americas, that number can skyrocket (think of the mobile subscriber counts for Verizon, ATT, NTT, and China Mobile) to millions per system. Understanding how systems can grow or scale subscribers and policy management deployments are critical, since as the subscriber count grows, so too does the signaling load from Radius and PCRFs. A system that supports 10M subscribers, but only 1000 transactions per second will fail in a deployment since it cannot maintain the provisioning rates required for subscriber management.

And then there is a key metric for deployments: reporting and visibility. As the number of subscribers and the amount of sessions increase, the amount of statistics collection and storage required by the system shoots up as well. The amount of traffic does not matter as much in this scenario as you might think, since a single subscriber with one application is really just one statistic item, but one subscriber with 1000 applications, even at very low rates, is 1000 statistics operations that need to be collected, written to disk, and then analyzed. In North America, network operators are very interested in the impact that Netflix and other over the top video has on their network, and they want that information collected not just as “video”, but are interested in what devices are used, what providers are popular, trend information over time, and many other variables so that they can better plan their peering strategies. Mobile operators want to understand the trend and applications for the use of social networks, as they want to offer service plans that are attractive to avid Facebook users. In South America and Asia, file sharing and YouTube are huge consumers of bandwidth, and operators want to make sure that their capital expenses for peering are not spent entirely to support this traffic types, and want to send that type of traffic over lower cost transit links.

Not to mention the biggest product question of all – what features are going to be activated? In many products, the more you do, the less performance and capacity the product has. This is especially true in the policy enforcement arena, and some products literally slow to a crawl when you activate certain functions. Although this is an expected result sometimes, it is important that when you are publishing your product specifications and testing products, make sure that you test it in the same way (and if possible at the same scale) that you intend to deploy it, as you may be surprised in some cases what happens when you move from the lab into production – sometimes unpleasantly so. It is very normal to have a system running in tap mode just as if it was going to be run on the production network to determine the real capabilities and performance of the system under load.

So where I am going with all this?

The Internet is a big place, and even though it is one Internet, it has neighborhoods that behave very differently, and make sure you buy the right product for your application. Every network is different, even if they look like the same network diagram. I certainly think that in most cases, Procera’s product can get the job done better than others, but at the end of the day, a network operator has a business to run, and their job is to make that network run as efficiently as possible, for their configuration. So before you buy, make sure you are getting what you want, don’t just buy because of numbers on spec sheets. Customer’s should behave as the old Burger King slogan used to go “Have it your way” – because your needs ARE different than other customers.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Industry, Technology | No Comments »

Device Awareness: The Key to Service Planning

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 by Cam Cullen

Recently there has been a lot of talk among DPI vendors about location awareness. Location awareness is critical to understanding where the bottlenecks on your network occur, and giving you the ability to actively manage traffic in those locations. Although this is a key capability of what Procera offers (and in much more depth than many other vendors), I want to focus on another key “awareness” component that is not often talked about that can vastly improve the capability of an operator to plan their capacity upgrades and pricing plans.

What is device awareness? Simply put, device awareness is the ability of the DPI system to understand what device is sending/requesting traffic on the network. With so many “internet-connected” devices on networks today, the variety of places and formats to access data has exploded. You can watch Netflix on many TVs, DVD or Blu-Ray players, dedicated boxes (like Roku), consoles (PS3, Wii, and Xbox), smartphones, tablets, or your PC, and Hulu on many of the same.

Why is device awareness important? Understanding what devices your users have connected to the network helps an operator to understand the potential impact of several different scenarios:

1)     If I have x users with a certain device on my networks with a certain location bias and usage profile, what happens if that number becomes 2x?

2)     If a new application comes out (say for example Netflix for PS3, or Hulu Plus for PS3), and I have x users with that device, what is my exposure if 20% of my users start using the new application?

3)     If I want to launch a service with a new device (new iPhone or Android device) and other operators have announced that the normal usage profile for that device is 200GB/month, what might happen to my network with an aggressive take rate?

For Product and Marketing planners, being able to answer these types of questions ensures that the network can handle any changes in user behavior – either application or device related. For users, it ensures that the network can adapt to their usage and not experience dissatisfaction with network performance as usage patterns morph over time. All operators are very aware of the user dissatisfaction issues floating around the world as Smartphone and mobile broadband laptop connections become mission critical for corporations. Proactive management and planning are possible with the right kind of awareness and reporting engines.

How is device awareness implemented?  There are many ways that this can be gathered on the network. In mobile networks, it is common for operators to include this information in the Business or Operational Support Systems for each user account, and often make it part of the user authentication and accounting exchange where it can be snooped by a DPI system. It can also be determined by the applications used by the subscriber (i.e. if the traffic matches Rock Band for the PS3, the user is most likely using a PS3). Another method is by information gleaned from the user agent or application specific information that can be gathered by the DPI engine during Layer 7 analysis. Although each of these methods is not a fail-safe method to gather device information, the combination of these methods can provide a very close approximation for network operators. For example, a query on how many unique subscribers matched a PS3 signature during the month could provide the basis for determining how many subscribers would have access to the new Hulu Plus video streaming application when it was released for the PS3, and another query to see how many of those subscribers had used Hulu (or any streaming video service) before would provide additional planning input to determine the impact of that new service on their network.

Device awareness is a key aspect of the “Awareness” capability of the Procera solution, and without awareness, analysis and control are not possible. I will have more to say on location awareness in a future blog, as this is another key awareness factor, not only for mobile networks, but also for fixed and wi-fi deployments as well. As devices proliferate, being able to ensure that the content is served appropriately for those devices and ensure the correct amount of bandwidth is available will be critical.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Technology | No Comments »

Mobile Data Overtakes Voice In Revenue

Thursday, June 10th, 2010 by Jon Linden

Only 18 months ago I was sitting with a mobile operator who told me that their main objective was to ensure that data services didn’t cannibalize their voice revenue. The reason was simple – data service generated about 5% of the revenue.

Fast forward to June 2010. The sun is shining and the World Cup in soccer is just about to kick off, but more importantly Softbank Mobile Japan announces that data services for the first time overtook voice services in revenue in Q1! Japan has always paved the way for mobile data services, and NTT DoCoMo are expected to follow suit during the second half of this year.

But Japan is no different (at least not in this specific sense) than any other country in the western world. I see mobile operators here in Sweden spend the majority of their TV advertising on promoting mobile data services. It has become a differentiator and a big enough piece of the pie. We will shadow Japan and probably break the 50% marker in 2011 in many cases. Mobile data is a $50bn+ business this year in the US according to Chetan Sharma Consulting; a significant business where minor changes and adjustments in packaging, pricing, production cost and ARPU has a substantial impact on bottom-line.

Chetan Sharma also said that the US mobile subscription penetration was approximately 94% at the end of Q1 2010, and past 100% if we take out the demographics of 5 yrs and younger. Growth won’t come from winning new voice users, but from making the ones you have more profitable and to steal customers from the competition – e.g. with compelling data offerings. And you’ll have to control production cost since they’ll constantly expect more at the same price.

The conclusion is that mobile operators must take a seriously look at the packaging of their data services. “All you can eat” is not the best for (almost all) your customers, and it’s certainly not the best for your business case – especially as access speeds go up. That’s why we see more and more mobile operators moving away from flat rate data packages, as Cam referred to in his recent blog post. Tiered services are happening – thank God!

Eventually we will have options for people with different needs. But let’s stop for a second and consider what you’re trying to accomplish. Tiered services can either be a customer incentive or a cost insurance – or both. Don’t get too introvert in controlling potential exceptions with caps and limitations. This will add complexity, customer concern (even if they’re not even close to any limit/cap), and you’re up against some serious competition out there. But still, as said, small changes can have a big impact. Offloading peak hours to better utilize your network, attract new customers, or offer added value services that can boost ARPU can boost your profitability and ability to invest even more in your services and customer support.

I hate to say it, but we know from experience that devices (e.g. iPhone launches or subsidiesed phones) actually sell more subscriptions than any packages we produce. But service packages will support the devices and add to the differentiation. Make sure you know who your customer is, where he is, what applications he’s running, and what device he’s using – in order to accommodate his then current and general needs. Make sure your information is reliable since accurate intelligence enables proper business decisions.

So what are my recommendations? I’ve said it before (Do’s and Don’ts in Bandwidth Control) – keep it simple! Your biggest challenge will be to communicate it, implement it, and justify it (“is YouTube video or web?”). Know your customer. Define your target group and offer applicable services. Serving young savvy nerds with the same offering as unsophisticated 65+ Internet users won’t work. Don’t become too technology-driven and introvert in your business model. And avoid too many options since they will cause confusion.

So, do I need to say that we know this space and offer the solution you’re looking for? Well, we are, and we’re darn good at it! I look forward to you reaching out to me to discuss this further, but in the meantime I’ll kick back and enjoy some seriously good World Cup soccer. Sweden didn’t qualify this year, which gives Swedish mobile operators another four years to work out a business model that supports the network being flooded with real-time streaming video. Good luck (no irony intended).

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Industry, Technology | No Comments »

iPad – Telecom Armageddon or Savior?

Monday, April 19th, 2010 by Cam Cullen

I was having a discussion with a service provider (wireline broadband, interestingly enough) and he asked me if I thought that the iPad would have a significant impact on his network. My initial reaction was no, but as we talked through the issue, my opinion shifted.

When asked that question, my first thought was that the iPad would not affect a wireline broadband network that much, right? It is only a small number of devices (relatively speaking), and it is not like it can be used for file sharing. Sure, it can stream video, but how often are you going to sit and watch video on an iPad?

Then I started thinking about the real impact of the iPhone. Although the iPhone is a great device, and has certainly caused ATT issues in the US, and other operators abroad, as users take advantage of the media capabilities of the phone, it had a much broader effect on the industry as a whole (that incidently led directly to the iPad). Before the iPhone, phone-based data usage was mainly email (ala RIM and Blackberry devices) and light web browsing. The long lasting effect of the Blackberry was that people became used to being connected, and with the scarcity of Wi-Fi hotspots, people began to want always on mobile broadband, and business users began to purchase the data plans from mobile operators. Once the iPhone was released, it kick started the smartphone market like never before, and brought more users to the mobile broadband buffet. Every vendor wanted an “iPhone-killer”, and Android, Palm, Microsoft, and other operating systems began to proliferate on handsets at reasonable prices. These devices gave users a taste of what high quality media and browsing experiences could be had with mobile platforms, and even a taste of some really useful applications (phone-based GPS and mapping applications) that took advantage of the mobile data connections – including some streaming media and VOIP applications. The advent of flat rate mobile data plans (at least in name) for reasonable prices has spurred the demand for mobile broadband, and with so many devices able to connect to the mobile broadband network, has driven operators to invest heavily in the infrastructure to meet the increasing demand.

So the impact (I think) of the iPad will be similar. The “iPad-killer” race is on, with HP, Dell, Google, and many others racing to release devices based on Android or Windows that will compete with the iPad. There have already been application releases for Kindle and Netflix on the iPad, and more streaming applications will follow on these alternative platforms. I am not sure I want to watch all my TV on an iPad-like device, but it is easier than watching on a laptop or an iPhone. Add a camera and a USB port (hint, hint) to a device like this with a 10 hour battery life, and the potential for a truly portable media device is not a future – it is the present.

This is the future I see coming out of the iPad – one that has the potential to dramatically increase the usage (especially streaming media) on both wireline and wireless broadband networks. People will use their wireless at home and mobile broadband while traveling. If you are a heavy media consumer, traveling with an iPad and a laptop makes sense – I can read or watch movies on the plane with the iPad, do email on the laptop, and even multitask in hotel rooms – watching media on the iPad while working on the laptop.

So if you are a provider that is ready for this – and can deliver a high Quality of Experience to your users (and monitor it to make sure that you are delivering a high QoE) – you have a bright future ahead of you.

Me – I can finally have a data pad like I always saw on Star Trek.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Industry, Technology | No Comments »

Mobile World Congress…It is all about the Apps!

Thursday, February 18th, 2010 by Cam Cullen

I have spent the week in Barcelona attending the Mobile World Congress event. Anyone that thinks that there is no vibrancy in the networking world should have been here to see the show. The halls were packed, the booths were busy, and the meeting rooms fully booked. There is a lot of excitement about where the mobile industry is going, and the opportunity that exists for mobile providers going forward.

One thing that jumped out at me during the show was the growing focus on the applications that are driving mobile usage. Yes, there was plenty of LTE hype, and lots of platform and operating system buzz (you should have seen the line for the Android developers lab as well as the push Microsoft made for Windows 7 Mobile), but focus seems to be shifting towards the applications that are driving mobile usage. The operators are keen on pushing new applications, because they will drive up data usage and increase the urge for users to upgrade their devices and service packages.

There is a clear recognition that mobile success may be won or lost on the application front. In the US, Apple has done a good job with marketing the iPhone by focusing on the everyday things that it can do to make your life easier with mobility (finding restaurants, checking on movie showtimes, etc). Google did a great ad during the SuperBowl (American Football for those outside the US) that showed Google search used to progress a storyline for a person’s life (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU) which is not specifically targeted at Android, but can be applied to Android and mobility. Microsoft was showing the same type of applications and integration at MWC as part of their booth show. Ericsson announced an applications store (eStore) with more than 30,000 applications that carriers can offer those apps to their own customers.  A new alliance was formed between 24 operators (including ATT, China Mobile, Orange, etc) called the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) designed to simplify how application vendors get their applications to the end user.

Why is this important to a DPI vendor? Mobile operators who want to understand what applications are clicking with their users need to look no further than to a “robust” DPI system to understand what applications, clients, and software their users are running – even down to the device level. Application vendors obviously want the operators to know that their application is popular, since it will open up more opportunities to sell that application, whether it is through the operators own application store or the mobile OS store (iTunes, Android market, etc). The DPI “lite” solutions provided by some vendors will never keep pace with the ability of a dedicated DPI solution. At Procera, application recognition has always been a core element of our solution, we release updates every two weeks to keep pace with the new applications our customers encounter in the wild, and this includes mobile applications.

The applications that really jumped out at me are the “useful” applications that can simplify or make life easier for people. Simple navigation capabilities can be helpful even if you are walking through a large city – looking for a specific location for a meeting, searching for a restaurant, looking for a store. VOIP applications (which are finally being approved for mobile use by some operators) can be cheaper than international calls in some instances (or using the VOIP over wi-fi is even better). Even bar-code scanners that allow instant internet price comparisons are really useful if you are shopping and want to make sure you are getting a better deal.

As mobile operators look to understand what they need to do to generate revenue, I am certain that going forward, applications will be a big part of that plan – whether it is enabling some of the applications in real-time (even if it is not sold by the operator – like GPS), or form a retail perspective in their application stores. DPI can help them understand where their greatest opportunities are – and will allow them to service their customers better by meeting their expectations.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Industry, Technology | No Comments »

Mobile Internet – Just A Bit Pipe?

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 by Jon Linden

I’ve argued that mobile Internet is “just another Internet access”. This used to be a controversial and provocative statement when talking to mobile operators who defended their premium network investments they made,  in order to deliver pretty fast Internet connectivity.

Imagine my surprise when I recently attended a traffic management conference in London where all mobile operators in chorus surrendered to being just a bit-pipe competing with wireline broadband… What happened?

I assume they’re realizing that they don’t have the recipe for the all-resolving secret sauce, which is why it currently feels a bit hopeless. Walled gardens didn’t work, a price war has driven prices down, customers don’t pay for added-value services, and another network upgrade, this time to the fourth generation, is just around the corner.

The good thing is that this puts the spotlight on the fundamentals – production cost. You consider how you can limit OPEX by minimizing helpdesk calls, you look at how you can maximize the utilization of your network, you want to automate up-sales, and you implement cost thresholds like volume quotas and international roaming control. Oh by the way, these are all things you can do using DPI.

Once we’re past this realization we must get ourselves out of this sorrow and start looking forward. Mobile Internet certainly has added value over wireline. The growth in mobile Internet is probably the best validation of this. But speed, i.e. bandwidth, is not one of them. Maybe it’s time to take the lead on selling non-bandwidth-centric services? How can you leverage mobility? For what customers is mobile Internet the only, or the best, option? How will built-in 3G modems in laptops impact the market and the ability to sell pre-paid services?

This is putting a lot of demand on the business developement and product management people at mobile operators. It’s time to get your moneys worth guys! Every case is certainly unique. Do you provide mobile and fixed line, do you go after specific customer segments, or are you the low price option? This will impact your strategy more than ever.

So I guess I must convert to the other side and argue “Mobile Internet is more than just a bit-pipe”. It doesn’t feel as controversial, but a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Industry | 1 Comment »