Fixed-mobile convergence on the hype cycle
Sylvain Fabre research director at Gartner presented the technology cycle, with an update on unified communications, devices and broadband. Gartner hype cycles illustrate maturity of technologies in 5 phases: Technology trigger : breakthrough, product launch including femtocells, 4G LTE standards
Peak of inflated expectations = over-enthusiasm and unrealistic expectations. For example fixed mobile convergence, LAN/WAN/ roaming, 802.16e WiMAX, PBX integration, IMS.
Trough of disillusionment = users abandon the technology : IPTV, Mobile TV streaming, location-based services,
Slope of enlightenment = users experiment to understand applications. For example unified communications moving fast, voice over WLAN and WiFi, FTTx, MPLS.
Plateau of productivity - benefits widely accepted, stable technology: WiFi 802.11a-b-g,
Unified communications disillusions
Enterprises are adopting unified communications but not anymore for cost reduction. FMC replaces fixed line voice calls, but augment cost from usage and devices. Users keep complementary fixed and mobile devices. Enterprises look for TCO, including benefits of collaboration not partial savings of an FMC implementation. The move threatens PBX manufacturers (Siemens, Avaya, Nortel), IT vendors (Microsoft, IBM and Cisco), and could drive new opportunities for Web 2.0 (Yahoo, MSN, Google, AOL).
High-end devices enlightenment
85% of handsets will be Web-capable by 2011 (90% in Europe). Handsets will support touch screens and HD video in 2008. The top 5 manufacturers have 80% market share. Note the Nokia focus on applications and services. Users will have 2 devices from notebooks, ultramobile PC (UMC) <1kg are emerging, tablets (no mass adoption), PDAs, smartphones (consumers devices creeping in enterprises, e.g. iPhone)
Mobile broadband trigger
Bandwith/latency evolution towards ubiquitous 10Mbit/10ms:
3G WCDMA 0.5 Mbps - 150 ms
HSDPA 1 Mbps /100 ms (European coverage is > 90% in 2008)
LTE and 802.16 100 Mbps /10 ms (Verizon and DoCoMo trial results)
Femtocells for SOHO from vendors such as Ubiquisys, Ip.access , Alcatel-Lucent BSR
Alternatives for corporate in-building : distributed antenna systems, Wi-Fi, Unlicensed mobile access (UMA) handsets (now named generic access network GAN),
Applications requirements are covered :
Download of 2.5GB : 4340 min on 1G, 744 min on 2G, 42 min on 3G, 8 min on 4G.
What is the 4G business case when 3G is challenged ?
Flat rate data is inevitable for service providers and backhaul investments are important. BBC iPlayer is a nightmare for UK ISPs .
[iPlayer, a TV archive of last 7 days, is 3% of internet traffic in UK and cost of upgrading networks is estimated at £831 million].
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FMC with softphones: video and SIM authentication
Mobitel showed their implementation of FMC with two softphone services presented by Rudolf Sušnik and Klemen Albreht of Mobitel
Videotelephony (m:komunikator)
using SIP phone-to-mobile, SIP phone-to- SIP phone evolution to video conferencing. Implementation challenges include : trans-coding of video.VoIP roaming (m:contact)
USB stick with SIM authentication, client and drivers, PIN code. The VoIP service features single identity, mobile phone and soft phone sequential ringing, messaging (SMS, MMS, IM planed), Voice call continuity. Users gets a unique SIM identity on mobile and PC softphones, a unique bill with worldwide roaming at domestic price. Mobile operators reach extends to the ineternet and brings better service development features at lower OPEX. Implementation challenges include : firewalls (resolves with session border controller), IN for paralell call alerting, number presentation, voicemail/SMS/MMS integration.
FMC with softphones : location enablement
We got a demo of location-enabled softphones with little brother, presented by Andrej Kos, from University of Ljubljana’s telecommunications laboratory This is a real-time location presence system. Location within 10-20m is acquired from USB Bluetooth dongles on laptops and low cost WiFi router Openwrt. Scan frequency is 10-60 second capturing signal strength, device name and MAC implemented
The presence is displayed on a web communicator/portal. Click to talk is implemented with SOAP request to Parlay X gateway interfacing a PBX. Microsoft Exchange integration is also used.
Presence information is published according to PIDF [RFC3863] and rich extensions [RFC4480]. This includes : personal (info), social (mood), location (coordinates, GeoPriv privacy preferences)
Presence protocols include : SIP-simple, XMPP Google Talk, Jabber, Parlay X Web API, XCAP rules and buddy lists
