In last month's
blog, I talked about traffic-shaping and mobile data offload, and I mentioned that we had commissioned some research that explores attitudes toward, and adoption of, both strategies being used by wireless operators to combat the effects of rising data traffic on wireless networks (the so-called mobile data capacity crunch).
Certainly, as a vendor and in practice we have seen a significant shift over the past few years in terms of how telcos deal with the problem of traffic management. From shaping, to offloading, to a more recent example of network acquisitions (see
'AT&T and T-Mobile create biggest US firm in $39bn deal'), a step by step approach is definitely emerging. However, not all service providers have pockets as deep as AT&T's, and we wanted to gain a better understanding of which methods other mobile operators are using, what factors are influencing their choice, and what kinds of advanced strategies they are considering.
The survey showed that while basic traffic shaping techniques are, to some extent, postponing the problem of network congestion
(Cisco predicts that by 2014 there will be more than five billion connected devices on mobile networks, and billions more machine-to-machine connections), there is a strong realization amongst operators that more considered tactics are required for a real, sustainable solution.
This strategy is being implemented across global networks today, but some telcos are only at the early majority phases: 47 percent of operators are currently employing traffic-shaping strategies and 50 percent say they intend to adopt them in the next three years. It's not unreasonable then to think that by 2015 every operator will use traffic shaping in some matter.
More interestingly, offloading techniques are getting smarter, and are beginning to expand beyond the typical use of WiFi and Femtocells. Our survey told us that 20 percent of operators are already using offloading strategies, and 53 percent intent to adopt an offloading strategy over the next two years. Increasingly, we are seeing this change include the consideration of new strategies such as RNC Edge Offload to improve the customer experience when the customer is away from home or in WiFi hotspots.
At Volubill, we believe that shaping and prioritization protects against mobile network congestion, while offloading protects the backhaul and core network elements. Both are key to lessening the burden of backhaul costs and optimizing the network experience. The closer to the subscriber these capabilites can be applied, the greater the benefit for the operator and the better the subscriber experience due to improved connection quality. When done efficiently and effectively these benefits can reach tens of million annually.
The survey backs our vision in helping the mobile customer experience and supports our launch this month of our new Volubill Edge Offload solution, a network optimization solution that enables traffic offload and traffic shaping capabilities at the edge of the radio access network (RAN). The solution is orchestrated by
CONTROL-IT policy manager to intelligently shape, route, offload and prioritize traffic closer to the customer. The subscriber-level shaping and prioritization helps relieve RAN congestion, and the central policy manager orchestration ensures that segmentation and monetization of data services can continue on traffic that does not travel via the core.
You can read more about our survey and this new solution at these links:
Volubill Edge Offload product information
Utilizing Offloading and Traffic Shaping to Optimize Capacity and Deliver Commercial Success
