Asia-Pacific III 2011 (17)

Theme: Mobile phones vs PCs - we are all winning

While smart phones deliver PC functions, PCs are used as communication tools, wired or wireless. The latest advent of slim-line tablets blurs further the traditional roles of devices. This gives rise to a new range of ‘Mobility Services’. Such services range from shop-floor information flow that speeds up manufacturing, machine-to-machine (M2M) automation, mobile money and mobile eCommerce, which are slated to bring future growth.

These new services may be predicated on the devices’ current and future capabilities, such as NFC (Near Field Communication) or image recognition, but their versatility comes from the constant connectivity to the Internet and to the Cloud. Content streaming in both upstream and downstream directions is essential to these new breed of applications, where ‘Mobility meets Content’. The fusion of Content, in particular dynamic content, with mobility and immediacy is a mesmerising combination that is yet to spawn numerous innovative ‘apps’.

With multitude of devices per person, we need the same service environment delivered on several devices. Service ubiquity means more than just access wherever we are, but also availability on whatever smart device we prefer to use at the moment. As ‘consumerisation’ becomes widespread, work-life merges with personal life, and the same clever device becomes the ‘remote control for life’. This is facilitated by the Service Layer moving to the Cloud, both ‘fixed’ and ‘mobile’ clouds. This has many advantages, not least the ease of introducing innovative services. Storing sensitive data in the protected custody of the cloud, instead of leaving it on vulnerable mobile device that can get lost or stolen, helps to make crucial information available anywhere safely.
With the population of connected devices grows rapidly, the evolving supporting systems begin to groan. M2M services, both tethered and mobile, require a huge number of devices to be provisioned and dormant services activated as and when required. This not only increases the pressure due to volumes, but also demands integration of support systems for converged services.
The OSS sends an SOS message when another silo is needed to manage a new type of service. It signals that an entirely new thinking is required to unify management of the multi-device multi-technology network, and to address new concerns about security and quality. An example of new requirement is the emerging need for service assurance for Internet Video streaming, instead of the current unreliable ‘best effort’ approach. Another rising requirement is WAN (Wide Area Network) optimisation, extending the Enterprise network to remote sites and enabling it to deal with the growing packet volumes from both PCs and smartphone data services.
In fact, the merging of PC capabilities into mobile devices has already brought high pressure on the access and backhaul networks and caused carriers to revise their strategies. Carrying large data service volumes on ‘flat fee’ necessitates increased capacity at minimal costs. Therefore, carriers are revamping their 3G fast service, WiFi capabilities, optimising enterprises global WANs and focusing on metro-Ethernet and Microwave Ethernet which are growing in popularity. The old ‘Silk Road’ is morphing into the ‘Fibre Road’, and both WiFi and Ethernet are back in vogue.