Mobile World Congress, Service Provision…and F5

For service providers, the effort to balance the cost of providing differentiated service and maintaining average revenue per user (ARPU) against quality of experience (QoS) expectations is a perpetual strain.  A highly competitive industry doesn’t allow for a single failure.

But the opportunities for mishap are numerous, particularly in the mobile realm where the constant battles between bandwidth and performance are directly at odds with the technology required. But even in the wireline business there are multiple points within service delivery where operators want more control and capability to appropriately manage bandwidth in relation to the services being offered and the subscribers using them.

More immediately, the promise of cost savings for a converged IP network delivering voice, data, and video via a consolidated and integrated architecture is not being realized due to the complexity and demands of the various services. Because of this, similar functionality—such as NAT, IPv6, DNS, AAA, optimization, traffic steering, and load balancing—is often deployed separately for each service offering.

Another pressing challenge is the appropriate way to migrate users from the mixed circuit-switched/packet-switched networks to the next-generation IP core and access networks that promise greater capacity, reduced OpEx, and faster delivery of differentiated, value-added services. Migrating from IPv4 to IPv6 presents another complex issue of backwards compatibility versus the many benefits of the new protocol.

The solution, ideally, is an architectural approach that lays the foundation for a unified solution reducing complexity, CapEx, and OpEx while simultaneously enabling the quick and efficient implementation of new and differentiated services.

This solution relies on deep session intelligence to provide true insight into the traffic and services being delivered; integrated services management to blend seamlessly with complimentary services and back-office systems; programmability to enable fast, efficient, and reliable policy enforcement; and adaptability to fit any service offering.

Ultimately, it reduces the cost of maintaining services, increases reliability and can be leveraged to easily create new services that generate new revenue streams and higher ARPU.
 
Let’s discuss F5’s role in service provision at this year’s Mobile World Congress.  We will be located in Hall 1 at Stand 1H21.  Please contact r.stromberg@f5.com if you’d like to meet with us at the show.
Published Feb 13, 2012
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