LTE - DRIVING CLOUD MOBILITY TO NEW HEIGHTS. Neil Weldon Dialogic Corporation Ireland ABSTRACT

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1 LTE - DRIVING CLOUD MOBILITY TO NEW HEIGHTS Neil Weldon Dialogic Corporation Ireland ABSTRACT As LTE networks are deployed, broadband access from smart-phones will become ubiquitous, allowing the mobile user to better engage with a wide variety of new services. Many services will become cloud-based to enable fast cost effective and scalable deployment, to support improved business system access for the on-the-go user and to drive higher levels of entertainment access to the masses. This, in turn, will put pressure on the entire mobile video ecosystem, from content creation through delivery, due to the need for media delivery to diverse markets, technologies and devices. KEYWORDS LTE, Video, Cloud, Services, Mobility, QOS 1. LTE AND THE DATA EXPLOSION The need for LTE is driven by a number of factors such as round-trip latency, higher peak rate and spectral efficiency. By addressing each of these areas, LTE enables more connections and higher bandwidths to be used. Infonetics reported that in a survey of carriers, 42% expect to have a downlink speed of 50+Mpbs (Infonetics 4G Strategies: Service Provider Survey - Highlights 2010). This is phenomenal when compared to the data link speeds of just a few years ago. Infonetics expects global mobile subscribers to reach 6.5 billion by 2014, but only 3% or around 160 Million will be LTE subscribers by that time. (Infonetics, LTE Deployment Strategies and LTE Infrastructure Market - Highlights, 2010). The projected growth in LTE subscribers is shown in Figure 1. This mirrors the slow but steady growth in LTE deployments over the next number of years. However with over 100 operators having committed to LTE by October 2010, the number of potential LTE subscribers is expected to ramp up significantly with the rollout. Page 1 of 12

2 Figure 1 : LTE Worldwide Subscriber Forecast LTE will deliver on better bandwidth capabilities for the consumer and support the delivery of new and innovative services, coupled with a better quality of experience. Figure 2 shows Cisco s Mobile data traffic forecast (Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, , 2010), by data volumes and types, and reflects the prediction that traffic volumes will be heading into Exabyte territory by 2014 with 66% of this data expected to be video based. Video traffic covers a wide spectrum, such as video telephony, entertainment, advertising, as well as the push out to the end user of video from video enabled call centers and services. Figure 2 : Global Mobile Data Traffic by 2014 Page 2 of 12

3 Operators looking to deliver on these new video services need a platform to enable the flexibility for growth, while also limiting their capital expenditure, which will need to be focused on the rollout of the LTE network itself. Until LTE has been deployed, HSPA+, with its increasing bandwidth capabilities will support the driving of the new services and capabilities, and it is expected that even in mature markets there will be a combination of networks deployed side by side for some time. 2. ARCHITECTING THE DELIVERY OF THE SERVICES Traditional deployments of services required a CAPEX outlay for building the services and have evolved from being single main frame based, through client server and grid computing paradigms, to collaborative computing where the user is central to the linking of the various services and service parts to suit their requirements. Much of this deployment evolution has been enabled through the access of information from internet sources, with Web 2.0 as the interface, allowing for the linking or mashing of the many parts to deliver a service. Figure 3 shows the evolution of these services over time. Figure 3 : Evolution of service deployment architectures Within the current incarnation of collaborative computing, the deployment scenarios are numerous but have gravitated to what is called Cloud Computing. The terminology appears to come from the network diagrams which would represent the internet or various parts of it as clouds and moving the applications and services onto the cloud becomes cloud computing. In truth the model is not something that suddenly appeared overnight. Remote access to computing resources and application hearkens back to time sharing of computer systems. More contemporarily there are many different types of services and applications being delivered on the cloud, in many cases without the need for software to be running on the device being used to access the services. This is similar to the Page 3 of 12

4 Application Service Providers (ASP) model of software availability to customers through thin clients or browsers which has been around since the 1990 s, and has evolved today to become Software as a Service (SaaS). Many well known companies are delivering services from the cloud. These include Google which has a private cloud that is used for delivering many different services ( access, document applications, text translations, maps, web analytics and more) to its users. Microsoft has its Sharepoint online service that allows for content and business intelligence tools to be moved into the cloud and has recently made its office applications available on a cloud. Salesforce.com s application set for its customers runs on a cloud, and it also has Force.com and Vmforce.com which provide developers platforms to build customized cloud services. 2.1 SERVICE AND DEPLOYMENT MODELS Cloud-based services have a number of service models to describe the way their capabilities are made available to the user(s) of the services. From Software as a Service (SaaS) which describes the access to software on a transaction or subscription basis, through Platform as a Service (PaaS) where access to systems is available for deployment of applications, to Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) which provides access to and control of the physical infrastructure enabling deployment of operating systems and applications. Figure 4 shows these different cloud service models. Figure 4 : Cloud Service Models There are a number of other terms that use the as a Service label but in those cases the terms generally refer to subsets of the three mentioned above and refer to specific types of service. An example of this is Communications as a Service (CaaS), which refers to the access to IP-based communications (e.g. VoIP, Contact Centre, IVR etc) from a cloud based deployment. In many deployments CaaS fits under the SaaS label. Page 4 of 12

5 When deploying services in clouds there are a number of deployment models that can be considered. The Public cloud where the service is accessible to all is the preferred deployment for operators who want the services available to their customers and to encourage others to use their capabilities. Private cloud deployments will work for enterprises which have their own capability and who, in some cases (e.g. for security reasons) do not want data stored outside of the enterprise. Hybrid models, which are a combination of public and private clouds, can in some cases deliver the best of both worlds by allowing for an enterprise to maintain a level of capability in-house but also to use capabilities and services from a provider. The public cloud potion of the hybrid model may only be required during times of peak service usage, or the enterprise may choose to marry the internal data and the external service together. Figure 5 : Cloud deployment models 2.2 BENEFITS Choosing to deliver the services through the use of cloud computing environments can provide many benefits: Cost Savings: Companies can reduce their capital expenditure (CAPEX) and use operational expenditure for increasing their computing capabilities, providing a lower barrier to entry and also requiring fewer in-house IT resources to provide system support Scalability/Flexibility: A company can scale from a small deployment to a large deployment rapidly and then scale back if necessary, allowing companies to use extra resources at peak times to satisfy demands. Page 5 of 12

6 Reliability: Companies can leverage multiple redundant sites to offer services which support business continuity and disaster recovery. Maintenance: All system maintenance is with the cloud service provider and access is through APIs which don t require application installations onto PC s, thereby further reducing maintenance requirements. Mobile accessible : Since the infrastructure is available anywhere, mobile workers can access systems from any location enabling increased productivity. 2.3 ACCESSING SERVICES FROM THE MOBILE DEVICE Delivery of these cloud based services also works well for both the smart phone and feature phone user. There are a number of operators working with the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) and other such organizations using widgets to deliver applications, and thus services, to users across all phone types. This enables an application to be written once and run across many device types. In November 2010, WAC held its first developer event, and plans are for it to formally launch in February 2011 at Mobile World Congress. In this case, the primary processing does not take place on the device but rather on the cloud. This has the added benefit that new features and capabilities can be rolled out on the cloud quickly and without requiring the application on the phone to change. The operators can expand and manage the services being delivered based on their needs, and this elasticity will be important to deliver the processing needed for those services that grow quickly. Using cloud based service deployment also allows operators to try new services and to easily disregard those that receive little or no traction, providing operators with more rapid service investigation, rollout and feedback loops. 3. CONSUMER AND BUSINESS USER NEEDS Depending on the consumer type that is using the mobile services, there are distinct differences in expected usage needs from the network. All users default to voice and data services but will differ on the type and quantity of data that will be consumed. The mobile broadband consumer expects to receive broadband access delivering rich communications feature sets. These application changes will increase the different phone applications for the consumer who wants to use his device: Voice Video : calling, streaming of programs Data : Internet browsing, , social network interaction, access to entertainment such as music Messaging : SMS, MMS, Instant Messaging, Video SMS Page 6 of 12

7 The operator needs to be working on placing itself into a position to be the primary provider of all of these services to the consumer and to compete with newer over the top (OTT) providers who are using the operator data pipes to deliver services. The operator also needs to be in a position to support a broad range of media types, the transcoding between them, and to be able to quickly adapt new media types as they appear. The mobile broadband business user requirements should be considered as a superset of those of the consumer as invariably they will use their devices to access the video, entertainment, and messaging. Their devices will more likely be smart phones and this extra capability will be leveraged by business applications. Where they also differ is that their focus is aimed at the following: Richer access and communications capabilities linked to business applications and processes. Access to ERP and CRM applications and adding capabilities such as click to call for customers. Cloud based services accessible from smart-phones and the desktop. Business mobile access into Enterprise private cloud space. In this regard, the service provider needs to support the communication enabling of business applications, and they can do this by providing cloud based access which can be easily integrated or mashed with other services to deliver communications or to use Communications as a Service (CaaS) types of capabilities. 4. WHO DEPLOYS THE CLOUD SERVICES? Deployment of the cloud services for mobile users can be done by Over the Top providers or by the Operators themselves. 4.1 OVER THE TOP PROVIDERS The over the top (OTT) providers, namely those who deliver services but do not own or manage the network, have specific motivations for how they deliver services and use cloud based architectures. They don t own the network, so they need to build their services to create a new market or to gain service delivery market share away from the Operator. They want their services to be standalone, while providing the capabilities for the services to be mashable and to be taken up by other applications developers and service providers in order to be incorporated into further services and offerings. This helps them increase not only their penetration into the market but also their revenues and ultimately the worth of their company. Strategically they may consider being acquired as their long term goal, however, since it is not difficult for competition to be established, they need to remain nimble, quick and opportunistic in exploiting new services and adjuncts to services they already provide. This flexibility is one of the main assets these companies have against the incumbent Operators. To aid OTT providers in delivering on their new services, they need a model that does not Page 7 of 12

8 make it cost-prohibitive to get a service established and that also enables both quick expansion of successful services and deemphasizing and elimination of unpopular services. The cloud delivers all of this in that OTT providers do not need to own the equipment, or alternatively they can use their own data center and then overflow to a cloud PaaS or IaaS provider as needed. 4.2 OPERATORS Operators have motivations to use the cloud that differ from those of OTT providers, and that are driven at least in some part by the fact that they own the network. They need to increase ARPU and to gain more areas where they can leverage their networks. However unlike the OTT provider, they can be slower to adapt and to leverage the assets that they have in order to give a better return. They are in a battle with the OTT providers who run services over their networks, resulting in the Operator being seen as a bit pipe provider. There are also a number of opportunities open to the operators which, if properly taken could deliver new areas and revenue stream. Aggregate cloud based services and deliver as packages. By embracing the delivery of services and understanding that they cannot deliver all services, the operator should become the provider of choice by aggregating services to the end user as shown in Figure 6, enabling single billing to the customer. This helps the operator to maintain provider of choice positioning and allows the operator to leverage the delivery of new services by OTT providers by negotiating and adding the new services to the overall packages they make available. Aggregate Machine to Machine (M2M). Machine to Machine is poised to have a significant upsurge, and most of the communications capabilities used will be mobile, or, more specifically, SMS-based to start. Operators are in a position to support M2M capabilities by providing the necessary routing within the network and aggregating the messages, making it unnecessary for the overall M2M capability provider who can then concentrate on their core business. M2M delivers new revenue streams by increasing connections to, and traffic on the network. Communications as a Service (CaaS), namely the delivery to enterprises of IPbased unified communications on a cloud, is an area that is a good starting point for operators. This is because they understand the communications capabilities and can incorporate CaaS into their current offerings and encourage their current customer base to move to the new network architecture by demonstrating the benefits of cloud-based deployments. Leverage of context and location awareness for services and revenue enablement through advertising. Since access to location services is opt-in, but the information is available within the network for mobile devices, it becomes much easier for the operators to leverage into these services by providing their customers with benefits and services that they can monetize through advertising. If the services are free but require the location aware opt in then the advertising can be more focussed. Page 8 of 12

9 Figure 6 : Service Provider aggregating cloud services There is a need for the operator to leverage its knowledge, capabilities and customer relationships to deliver new services in order to be the provider of choice. The deployment paradigm that stands to provide operators with the best ROI and flexibility is one that is cloud-based, allowing the operator to keep up with service delivery while maintaining a high quality of experience for an increasingly demanding customer base. 5. FUNDING THE LTE ROLLOUT Where the delivery of services using cloud based deployments can support a reduced CAPEX spend, the operator has the added issue of being pushed to deliver on the networks that cater for the extra bandwidth requirements. The difficulties are that the continued network rollout needs to be funded and the operator needs a business case that delivers a solid ROI. It is broadly acknowledged that flat rate tariffs alone will not be able to fund a network upgrade, requiring new billing models. The flat rate tariffs may continue as an entry level option and can be used for volume based connections such as M2M deployments. However, beyond that, operators are already looking at new models to reduce the bandwidth needs or that can be used with variable pricing. Areas for consideration include: Quality of service A customer gets a guaranteed quality of service based on the subscription that is paid. One example might be a business user who is willing to pay more than a standard consumer in order to ensure that they can gain timely access to the business systems and applications that they need. Those without a quality of service level would simply receive a best effort level of service. Bandwidth guarantees/ Traffic prioritization Different types of traffic have different priority requirements. An delivery is not time critical in the way that the Page 9 of 12

10 delivery of video or voice traffic might be. Customers will pay to ensure they have the necessary bandwidth or priority for their data, especially when it s time critical. Advertising- This is especially important when associated with video where pre/post roll and overlay advertisements are extremely important to the service provider to generate the revenue for the content delivery. However adapting the content in this way may require the relationships with the content providers and adapting the content cannot be done by adapting streams from an over the top provider. Service Level Agreements (SLA) can be associated with applications that the operator makes available. Different SLA levels are charged at different rates. Pay as you go or transaction-based billing models which are particularly useful when looked at in terms of cloud services or mobile application usage. In this scenario, there may be a charge for each time an application is used and the charge for the application itself may be removed. There are also data management techniques that can help the service provider in the reduction of bandwidth requirements. 5.1 MANAGING THE VIDEO DATASTREAM As mentioned, video is poised to become the predominant data type flowing through the networks. This will not just include video that is tied to entertainment but will also involve the addition of video to many non-entertainment services that we use today. Figure 7 shows the evolution of many services to include video. Figure 7 : Evolution of services to include video Page 10 of 12

11 Transcoding, transrating, and transsizing of video streams is required to deliver on these various services and these adaptions are generally focused on the end user device type. The operator needs to be in a position to make these adaptions on the fly, enabling a better Quality of Experience (QoE) for the user based on the device, screen size and resolution capability. However, these capabilities can also be used to support a QoE in congested networks. Adaption of the video stream based on the knowledge of the device and the network congestion provides that a QoE can still be maintained for the end user. This is particularly useful when advertising revenue is taken into consideration, as an advertiser does not wish to be associated with a bad QoE for the end user. Thus such management can support the operator to maintain its advertising revenues as well as reducing churn. Further uses of such video adaption technologies may be related to the billing type being used. It may be that a consumer who is not paying extra for high definition video streaming capabilities will have all video streams scaled back to a lower definition, all based on the payment plans. This type of technology will be important for the operator as it deals with the explosion of video data in its networks and adapt its payment plans to better cater to its needs and the needs of its consumers. 6. SUMMARY LTE will deliver the bandwidth to enable increasingly improved experiences to end users whether business or consumer and cloud computing enables the rollout and efficient delivery of the new and innovative services consuming this bandwidth to users of feature or smart-phones. Who delivers these services whether operators, Over The Top providers, or a combination of both is still an open question, however both stand to be able to deploy their services more efficiently in clouds, which even enable interaction and mashing of their respective services. The OTT provider may be more nimble and thus quicker to adapt and grab mindshare (and in turn market share), but the operator already has the customer relationships and the network, which thus allows the operator to be the provider of choice in aggregating a combination of its own services and services of others. The operator has the extra requirement of delivering on the network and ensuring that it has the revenue streams to do so. For that to occur it must move away from the flat rate billing and adopt billing combinations based on SLAs, QoS being delivered, and the management of the data to the underlying conditions in order to deliver a better QoE to the consumer. Since much of the data is expected to be video-based in the future, for telephony, entertainment, as well as other video enabled services, the management and adaption of Page 11 of 12

12 the video streams to network conditions, device types and based on agreed SLAs ensure prudent bandwidth management coupled with the consumer getting their expected levels of QoE. REFERENCES BaML. (2010). Cloud Wars, Part III. (2010). Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, Cisco. Infonetics. (2010). 4G Strategies Service Provider Survey - Highlights. Infonetics. Infonetics. (2010). LTE Deployment Strategies and LTE Infrastructure Market - Highlights. Infonetics. Page 12 of 12