Alcatel-Lucent 9900 manual Enabling the Wireless IP Transformation

Enabling the Wireless IP Transformation

End users around the world are quickly adopting the blended lifestyle made possible by accessible and afford- able communications that allow them to blur the lines between work, home life and entertainment. To support that lifestyle, end users are subscribing to services they can easily adapt and personalize to their needs on whatever communications device they choose.

Wireless broadband data services are an important part of the blended lifestyle equation. They allow end users to not only place calls and access the Internet with their wireless devices, but also connect with their office networks over secure links, download music and videos, and take advantage of a host of location-based services that give them access to home, work and entertainment from anywhere and at any time.

Fueling this evolution in communication are new IP-enabled cell phones and laptop air cards that, when combined with new data pricing plans, have made using wireless broadband data services more affordable. As a result, wireless service providers worldwide are beginning to experience measurable subscriber uptake for these services. The wireless IP transformation is here and now.

But while all this is good news from a business perspec- tive, the increase in data traffic is creating concerns about how IP packet data affects wireless networks. Since IP applications were not designed for transmission over a wireless infrastructure, it is no surprise that some of these applications consume significant amounts of resources in the wireless network. In addition to bandwidth, these

applications consume signaling, radio frequency (RF) channels, airtime, and backhaul resources. The perform- ance of wireless IP networks is intimately coupled to the types of applications the network transports, and in a complex way.

To accommodate the IP load, and enable resilient and robust delivery of emerging applications, wireless service providers need complete visibility of how every behavior and flow — resolved to individual devices and servers — places load on the network. This is a paradigm shift in how IP networks are currently built. This new visibility means the service provider can effectively optimize their wireless networks to deliver the continuously evolving list of applications.

Identify Resource Usage

and Manage the Network

The Alcatel-Lucent 9900 Wireless Network Guardian (WNG) offers powerful capabilities for monitoring 2.5G, 3G and 4G wireless data networks. It identifies wireless network resource usage and allows you to better manage network performance. And it allows you to pro- tect your networks from degraded performance and outages that can arise from transmitting wireless-unfriendly IP traffic.

This advanced wireless network monitoring product provides detailed information about how every subscriber, application, server, and flow creates actual load on your wireless data network, and delivers alerts about any behaviors that have an anomalous impact on network performance and capacity.

“There is no shortage of tools on the market that provide traffic analysis for wireless operators. Much less common, however, are tools that go beyond simply identifying traffic types or usage and provide visibility into the impact of that traffic on network performance. Most people believe that going forward — as 3G takes hold and 4G gets launched — nobody can predict which applications will drive mobile broadband uptake. If so, tools such as Alcatel-Lucent’s9900 WNG will be critical for ensuring that operators can not only head off network threats but also incent applications that make the most efficient use of network resources."

PETER JARICH, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, CURRENT ANALYSIS

2 Optimize Wireless Networks for Data