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Business analysis for telecoms professionals
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A t times it feels as though the telecoms industry is little more
than a collection of technical terms and acronyms that are endlessly discussed but rarely seen in real deployment.
Copper extension technologies are a case in point: we have been discuss-ing vectoring for a number of years, but telecoms operators have been slow to activate the technology on their networks. However,
2014 will see the technology brought to market, with Belgacom and doubtless a number of others readying commercial launches, as the third of the six pieces in our ‘All About the Network’ section shows.
Vectoring is far from being the only buzz word in the industry at present though. It is virtually impossible to attend a telecom event without someone talking about NFV
(our second ‘networks’ piece) and this month in particular LTE-A (number six) has captured the headlines, with EE and Zain announcing launches in the UK and Kuwait respectively.
In an issue focused squarely on the network it made sense that our execu-tive interview would be a high flyer from one of the world’s biggest telecoms operators. BT Global Services CEO Luis Alvarez spoke to us about his first year in the role, the current trends in enterprise commu-nications and his belief in the future of voice.
Mary Lennighan, editor [email protected] @TelecomEditor
This issue looks at the hot topics from a network point of view, from NFV to LTE-A
BUZZ WORDSOpiniOn
NOVEMBER 2013
timeline technology business geogrAphy events
Dates for your diary and details of the must-attend events in the telecoms industry over the coming months
Tokyo Games:With the 2020 Olympics on the horizon, Japan is pushing ahead with new services
Global Goals: BT Global Services CEO Luis Alvarez goes on the record to discuss his first year in the role
All About the Network:Covering key trends, including wholesale, NFV, vectoring, LTE-A, M2M and home networking
A round-up of some of the major stories reported in our daily news service www.totaltele.com
featURe all aBOUt
the netWORkThe communica-tions industry relies on a complex structure of networks and technologies, all of which face their own challenges
featurinG
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insiGHt maGaZine
Excel in OperationsTransformation
Centralized Operation (GNOC)Converged Operation (IT & CT, FMC)Service Operation (SOC)Support Revenue Growth (VAS Transformation)Best-in-Class tool (OSS)TM Forum Certified Process (MSUP)
More than 330 contracts, serving over 120 operators in more than 70 countries and managing over 360 million subscribers.
Huawei Managed Services
Huawei Managed Services
Enhancing Total Value of OwnershipEnhancing Total Value of Ownership
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A round-up of the major stories in telecoms in the past month, as reported in our daily news service www.totaltele.com
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Data lOVeRSMobile operators worldwide are celebrating the progress they have made in rolling out LTE, with three major players making customer milestone announcements in October.
Australia’s Telstra marked the second anniversary of its LTE network launch by revealing that its 4G subscriber base has reached 3.2 million, up by 400,000 since the end of June. The telco also switched on its 2,500th LTE base station and, with engineers building out 4G sites at a rate of 100 per week, predicts it will switch on another 1,000 base stations by Christmas, taking LTE coverage to 85% of the population.
Europe’s operators are still some way behind, but are making progress. Telenor launched LTE in Norway a year ago and has signed up 400,000 customers to the service. The Norwegian incumbent surveyed those customers and discovered, unsurprisingly, that they use more data than 3G subscribers. “A 4G customer downloads three to five times more megabytes...on a monthly basis than a 3G user,” said Berit Svendsen, CEO of Telenor Norway.
Meanwhile, the UK has reached its first LTE anniversary; first mover EE has 1.18 million 4G customers. Rival operator Vodafone UK, which launched LTE services in late August, reached the 100,000 subscribers milestone in October.
kpn takeOVeR Off America Movil withdrew its bid to take control of KPN after a shareholder founda-tion blocked the deal. The Mexican telco says it will keep its options open.
aRGentina OffeR Telecom Italia said it has received a binding offer for its direct and indirect stake in Telecom Argentina and its board has backed the sale. The deal is reportedly worth up to $1 billion.
kaBel D Deal DOneVodafone completed its €7.7 billion acquisition of Kabel Deutschland, securing 76.57% of the German cableco’s share capital.
alU WielDS the axe Alcatel-Lucent will shed 10,000 jobs worldwide as part of a plan to become cash flow positive by 2015. It also hopes to raise €2.7 billion to cut its debt and fund its turnaround.
a 4G CUStOMeR DOWnlOaDS 3-5x MORe MeGaBYteS than a 3G USeR
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MOVeRS anD ShakeRS
2018 the YeaR GlOBal MOBile SeRViCe ReVenUeS Will fall fOR the
fiRSt tiMe (Ovum)
BeRnaBe OUtTelecom Italia named chief operat-ing officer Marco Patuano as in-terim CEO following the resignation of Franco Bernabe. Telenor CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas replaces Bernabe as chairman of the GSMA.
BentleY DRiVeS C&W Phil Bentley will take over as chief executive of Cable & Wireless Com-munications in January, replacing Tony Rice.
halfORD leaVeS VODa Vodafone’s veteran CFO will leave the company in March after nine years in the role. He will be replaced by Nick Read, currently head of Vodafone’s Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific business.
WheeleR in at fCCThe US Senate confirmed Tom Wheeler as the new chairman of the FCC after a block on his nomination was lifted.
Six SpenD €3Bn in taiWanTaiwan raised NT$118.65 billion (€2.93 billion) from the sale of spectrum for 4G services in the 700-MHz, 900-MHz and 1800-MHz bands to six companies.
finlanD’S 4G Sale enDSFinland’s three main mobile operators won 800-MHz spectrum in an auction that raised €108 million and took nine months to complete.
nZ aWaRDS 700-MhZTelecom Corp and Vodafone paid NZ$66 million for spectrum in the 700-MHz band in New Zealand, while 2degrees paid NZ$44 million, excluding taxes.
lte lanDS in Malta Vodafone has become the first operator to launch LTE services in Malta.
OfCOM SpeCtRUM fee hike UK regulator Ofcom has proposed a 4x-5x increase in the fees it charges operators to use 900-MHz and 1800-MHz spectrum. It expects new tariffs to be introduced next year.
ZiGGY plaYS nBn CZaROctober saw a return to the Australian telecoms stage for former Telstra CEO Ziggy Switkowski when the country’s new communications minister Malcolm Turnbull appointed him as head of NBN Co, the company responsible for rolling out the national broadband network (NBN). The project is in limbo at present while the Coalition government, elected in September, carries out a strategic review of NBN Co; the review will take in the Coalition’s scaled-back version of the NBN–a mixture of fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) and fibre-to-the-node (FTTN), as well as the previous govern-ment’s plan to roll out FTTP to 93% of premises.
Switkowski is unlikely to face the same level of opposition as his predecessor Siobhan McKenna or former NBN Co CEO Mike Quigley, but the role he has accepted will not be an easy one, as Australia finalises its plans for the national network. “While the review is underway, construction of the network continues,” he said last month.
A highly-experienced telecoms exec, Switkowski was CEO of Telstra from March 1999 to July 2005. He joined Telstra in 1997, having previously served as CEO of rival player Optus.
While the ReVieW iS UnDeRWaY, COnStRUCtiOn Of the netWORk COntinUeS
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OpiniOna ROaD Oft tRaVelleDWeb Real Time Communications (WebRTC) will come to represent another front in the war between telcos and OTT service providers.
WebRTC enables high-quality voice and video communications to be embedded into Web-based apps. It “lowers the barrier to anyone wanting to do communications” says Sue White, senior director of IP platforms market-ing at Alcatel-Lucent, because it puts voice and video calling into the hands of countless Web developers. In theory, anyone well versed in HTML and Java could be ‘the next big thing’ in real-time communications. Use cases include interacting with customer services agents at online retailers, talking to your bank manager while using an ATM, and initiating a conference call at work by clicking a Website link. And because WebRTC relies on browser support rather than support from OEMs or OS makers, the addressable market is huge. Disruptive Analysis puts the number of WebRTC-compatible devices at 3.5 billion by end-2016, with nearly 1 billion individual users.
Familiar battle lines are being drawn. OTTs have the agility advantage over telcos when it comes to getting new services to market and capturing end user imagination. Meanwhile telcos can leverage their networks to guar-antee quality of service, provided they have the required IMS infrastructure in place, and become a trusted partner for enterprises.
thiS 15-YeaR exClUSiOn DOeS nOt Make SenSe
CZeCh MateS15 years is a long time in telecoms, but that is the length of time the Czech Telecommunications Office (CTU) wants to prohibit a new mobile market entrant from merging with any existing telcos. The watchdog has attached such a condition to the 800-MHz spectrum it has reserved for new players in this month’s auction.
“This 15-year exclusion does not make sense from the industry’s point of view [or] from a business point of view,” said financial group PPF, which withdrew from the auction in September. PPF was seen as the most likely to bid for the 800-MHz spectrum. Instead, it has agreed to buy Telefonica’s Czech unit for €2.47 billion. The Spanish incumbent, which was strongly opposed to the CTU’s plan to reserve spectrum for new entrants, sees the sale as an opportunity to cut debt and focus on its core markets. Incidentally, Telefonica entered the Czech market eight years ago, just over half the amount of time the CTU wants a new entrant to stick it out for.
at&t fORCeS ShaReD Data AT&T revealed it will phase out older postpaid tariffs and will limit new customers to its shared data plans.
Bt’S neW paRtneRBT named EE as its new MVNO partner. It will use EE’s network to offer mobile services to enterprise and public sector customers.
peRU inVeStMent Telefonica committed to investing around $400 million in Peru over the next 10 years in order to secure a 4G licence there.
COlOMBia MeRGeRMillicom International Cellular has finalised a deal that will see it merge its Colombian mobile business with cable TV and fixed-line operator Empresas Publicas de Medellin (EPM).
RelianCe JiO GetS liCenCe India’s DoT awarded a new unified licence to Reliance Jio Infocomm that will enable it to offer nationwide services on the TD-LTE network it is building.
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BiG neWS
BiG DealSCaSh fOR tOWeRSAT&T brokered a $4.85 billion deal with Crown Castle that will see the latter lease the rights to 9,100 mobile towers and acquire outright a further 600.
inDia DealSBharti Airtel took sole control of Qualcomm’s mobile broadband venture in India, while Vodafone has applied for approval to take full ownership of its Indian operation.
SpenDthRift SOftBankSoftbank followed up its $1.5 billion acquistition of a majority stake in Finnish games maker Supercell with a $1.26 billion deal for 57% of mobile distributor Brightstar.
tellaBS SOlDPrivate equity firm Marlin Equity Partners agreed to buy Tellabs for $891 million. A tender offer com-menced on 1 November and the deal is expected to close in Q4.
COnSOliDatiOn in CanaDaCanada’s Telus will acquire smaller rival Public Mobile, provided it gets the go-ahead from the country’s Competition Bureau. Crucially, the government has already approved the transfer of spectrum from Public Mobile to Telus, an issue that derailed Telus’ bid to buy another rival, Mobilicity, earlier this year. Like Mobilicity, Public Mobile acquired spectrum reserved for new market entrants in 2008. However, its G-block spectrum did not come with the same restrictions as Mobilicity’s AWS airwaves and its transfer, according to Industry Canada, does not impact on competition.
a Yen fOR expanSiOnJapan’s NTT Communications is on the acquisition trail again, announcing two US buys on the same day. The telco agreed to pay $525 million in cash for cloud services specialist Virtela; the pair expect to be able to serve enterprise customers as a single entity from next year. Meanwhile, NTT Com said it will take an 80% equity stake in RagingWire Data Centers for $350 million.
the pORtUGUeSe COnneCtiOnPortugal Telecom and Oi–the former owns 25.6% of the latter and latter 10% of the former–announced plans to merge to create a single Brazil-based entity under the leadership of current Oi CEO Zeinal Bava. The pair together have 100 million subscribers and €12.4 billion in pro forma revenues in 2012, and expect to realise synergies of €1.8 billion. However, the merged company will also have a €13.7 billion debt pile. The telcos expect the deal to close in the first half of 2014.
DReaM ROUteRussia’s MegaFon opened a fibre-optic cable between Frankfurt and the China-Kazakhstan border. The Diverse Route for European and Asian Markets (DREAM) was built with Interoute and Kazakhtelecom.
BOtSWana WhOleSale Op Botswana Telecom’s newly spun-out network arm BoFiNet has officially launched as a wholesale access provider.
hUaWei’S DaniSh Deal Danish incumbent TDC awarded Huawei a $700 million contract to upgrade its mobile network, replacing equipment from former supplier Ericsson.
SOftBank piCkS VOlte kit Japan’s Softbank selected Ericsson to provide it with end-to-end voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) solutions.
nOkia laUnCheS a taBletNokia unveiled a range of new devices, including two phablet devices, three sub-$100 Asha phones, and its first Windows RT Tablet.
hUaWei nOt SpYinG In another bid to persuade western markets that its equipment does not pose a security risk, Huawei published a white paper calling for greater collabora-tion on cyber-security.
Sponsored by
BEST BRAND CAMPAIGNBangalink
BTIdea Cellular
OoredooOrange
Tata CommunicationsTelstra
BEST MOBILE OPERATOROoredooOrange SolaveiStarHub
Telkomsel
BEST SMALL BUSINESS SERVICEIndosat (Usaha Wanita)
Orange Business Services (Le cloud pro)Telekom Austria (Vip blagajna)
TTNet (TTNet Webim)BEST CONTENT SERVICEPortugal Telecom (Meo) Telkomsel (LangitMusik)
TTNet (TTNet Music)
BEST CLOUD SERVICECITIC Telecom (SmartCloud)Interoute (Virtual Data Centre)
Jibe Mobile (Jibe Global Communications Cloud)NTT Communications (Enterprise Cloud)
Orange Business Services (Flexible Contact Center)
BEST NETWORK OPERATION INITIATIVEAT&T (small cells)
Ericsson (MBNL with 3UK and T-Mobile)Huawei (managed services for TVO with XL)
Telekom Malaysia (network operations transformation project)
BEST WHOLESALE CARRIERLiquid Telecom
NTT CommunicationsPCCW Global
Tata CommunicationsTeliaSonera International Carrier
PROJECT OF THE YEARBT (London Olympic Games)
Tata Communications (Formula 1)
GREEN AWARDWinner to be announced on the night
BEST CUSTOMER CARESmart Communications (Customer Ambassador Program)
Turkcell (Wellcome Wizard)Ufone (Priority Ambassador Program)
Virtela (Customer Care Program) Vodafone Turkey (Vodafone Forum)
BEST ENTERPRISE SERVICEAirwatch (Mobile Application Management)
Allstream (SIP trunking over Internet with CoS routing)LoopUp (LoopUp)
Orange Business Services (Intelligent Apps Enabler)
BEST CONSUMER SERVICEOrange (Libon)
Portugal Telecom (Meo Go)Smart Communications (SmartNet)
Turkcell (Turbo Button)Turkcell (Turkcell Wallet)
BEST OPERATOR IN A DEVELOPING MARKETAsiacell (Iraq)
Digicel (Papua New Guinea)Hutchison Global Communications (Greater Mekong Subregion)
Orange Business Services (Middle East and Africa)Smart Communications (Philippines)
THE INNOVATION AWARDAT&T (Application Resource Optimizer)
BT (SDIN technology)Ciena (GeoMesh)
Genesis Technical Systems (DSL Rings)NTT Communications (WideAngle Managed Security)
Qualcomm (Qualcomm Vuforia)Telekom Malaysia (Advanced Internet Lighting Application)
THE SOCIAL CONTRIBUTION AWARDBangalink (Driving Awareness of M-Agri)
Digicel (Haiti Education Improvement Initiative)Smart Communications (Project Zero)
Telstra (Supported Workforce Program)Tunisiana (Najjahni)
Turkcell (Women Empowerment in Economy)
BEST CUSTOMER EXPERIENCEGlobe Telecom
TalkTalk BusinessTelstra
Vodafone Turkey
BEST GLOBAL OPERATORAT&TBT
NTT CommunicationsOrange Business Services
Tata CommunicationsTelstra
2013
World Communications Awards 2013
SHORTLIST
WCA Shortlist 2013 AD 148-210.indd 1 10/29/13 9:53 AM
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the next generation of over-the-top (OTT) providers are potentially
valuable customers for international carriers, but unless they get their business models right they could well find themselves competing with the Internet players, rather than selling to them.
Today’s big Internet companies are increasingly building out their own networking and storage capabilities. Last year, for example, Facebook an-nounced plans for its own fibre network in Europe and a data centre in Sweden.
“We’ve encouraged them [to build]. It’s been a fail,” said Interoute CEO Gareth Williams at Carriers World in London last month. “The next generation of these [OTTs]...somehow we have to convince them there’s no need to do that.”
Convincing the Googles, Facebooks, and the as-yet unheard of Internet giants of tomorrow that telecoms carriers are up to the job of providing the infrastructure they need will not necessar-ily be easy. Price is not the answer: “those companies have so much cash on hand,” says Judy Reed Smith, CEO of consultancy Atlantic ACM. International carriers
need to truly understand their purpose and “convince the rich guys to work with us instead of building,” she says.
Telenor Global Services CEO Bjorn Iversen agrees. Understand the customer, discuss with them, and build trust he advises. “[It’s] as easy and as difficult as that.”
It is far from being all doom and gloom for the carriers though, although some are more optimistic than others. Cisco sees IP traffic increasing at a CAGR of 23% between 2012 and 2017, a figure most industries would be proud of. “This is the golden age of our networks,” insists Reed Smith.
But the carriers must tread carefully. If OTTs
persist in building their own infrastructure, they will have no need for the carriers. And that raises the question of whether the Googles of the world will one day set themselves up in competition with the carriers.
“I just don’t think they’ll bother,” predicts Williams. Then again, “who would have thought a bookseller would become the biggest cloud computing platform in the world?”
Amazon built its cloud presence to meet its own needs. The same could turn out to be true of Google or an OTT that has yet to become a household name.
Mary [email protected]@TelecomEditor
International carriers need to find a way to serve the needs of Internet players or risk taking a back seat as they build out their own infrastructure
DO it YOURSelfWhOleSale
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network functions virtualisation (NFV) is gathering momentum
with telcos evangelising about its potential to lower costs and make them more agile. The reality though is that NFV represents a dramatic shake-up of the infrastructure market and it is not yet clear how the supply chain will evolve.
“Migrating to NFV is a no-brainer. It is a much more sensible way of doing a lot of network functions,” says Hugh Bradlow, CTO of Telstra, who thinks as many 60 network elements could be virtualised.
The firewall, deep packet inspection, the serving GPRS
support node (SGSN), and policy enforcement, among others, could all one day be deployed on commodity servers. SNS Research predicts that NFV together with software-defined networking (SDN) could save telcos $32 billion in annual capex globally by 2020.
“Operators are truly challenged. We need to invest in networks but the current climate is not
investment friendly,” says Deutsche Telekom vice president Axel Clauberg. To fund new networks and cope with increasing data demand, telcos must show the same ambition that NASA showed with the 1969 moon landing, he claims. According to Clauberg, telcos need to virtualise network functions, migrate to SDN and use fewer IP protocols to become what he terms software-de-fined operators.
“What gets us to the moon is putting these three things together,” he says. But none of the three is more important than the others. “All of them have the same priority,” he says.
However, there is some way to go before NFV becomes a reality. The NFV Industry Specification Group (ISG), part of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), only published its first five specification documents in October. These flesh out the fundamentals of NFV: use cases; design philosophy; terminology; the require-ments that NFV must meet
before operators can deploy it; and how the industry should publicly demonstrate NFV’s key features.
“It will take a good five-to-10 years to realise this vision,” predicts Manish Singh, CTO of mobile network specialist–and NFV ISG member–Radisys. In addition, “if you are a vendor providing network functions as boxes today, NFV redefines your business model,” he says. “You will change from a complete systems provider to an ISV (independent software vendor). Why would you want to do that?”
Furthermore, Singh warns that NFV has implications for the network supply chain. As operators migrate to NFV the whole industry could come to rely on software developed for commoditised servers based on Intel x86. “Does that mean all roads lead to Intel? That has never happened before,” he says.
Nevertheless, the consensus is that NFV is coming. “It’s like the tide coming in,” says Bradlow “Anyone who thinks they can stop it will end up Cnut-like.”
Nick [email protected]@Telecolumnist
Telcos are buzzing about the potential of virtualising their infrastructure, but plenty of work needs to be done before the benefits can be realised.
ViRtUal RealitY CheCknfV
anYOne WhO thinkS theY Can StOp nfV Will enD Up CnUt-like
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Standaert, VP service delivery engine and whole-sale at Belgacom announced at the telco’s third-quarter results presentation late last month. “This should help us to further boost the speed on our VDSL lines to...50 Mbps-70 Mbps,” he said.
And Belgacom’s vendor partner Alcatel-Lucent believes there are a number of telcos ready to bring the technology to market.
“We shipped 2.4 million vectored lines,” and 2.6 million system level vector (SLV) processors in the third quarter of this year, Paul Spruyt, xDSL strategist at Alcatel-Lucent, told Broadband World Forum attendees in October. The fact equipment is “being sold in volumes...means operators are about to activate the
vectoring,” he added.The vendor could well be
right. It has undertaken over 55 customer trials worldwide, 34 of which were in Europe.
One of Alcatel-Lucent’s European trial customers Telekom Austria this summer revealed it had used vectoring with G.fast technology to reach 1 Gbps speeds over short copper lines. Meanwhile, BT is trialling vectoring in the UK; Deutsche Telekom has secured wholesale deals for its yet-to-be-launched vectored VDSL network; and in September Swisscom said it will start rolling out vectoring next year.
But once they activate vectoring, there is still work to be done. Implementing the technology has been likened to “draining a swamp”, because once crosstalk has been eliminat-ed from the line, other ‘noises’ become noticeable.
“Many of them are in the customer’s premises,” says John Cioffi, CEO of DSL specialist Assia. “When you remove the crosstalk, this becomes a major issue...You need to manage that,” he warns operators.
Mary [email protected]@TelecomEditor
Europe’s mobile operators are on the brink of activating vectoring technology on their copper networks, but it will not remove all the noise
DRaininG the SWaMpVeCtORinG
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— 650 Mbps at 50m with G.fast (vectoring)— 250 Mbps at 50m with G.fast (no vectoring)
Full crosstalk
good things come to those who wait. The industry has been
debating the merits of technologies designed to extend the lifespan and the capabilities of copper networks for a number of years but there has been a lack of firm rollout plans from operators. Now though, at least one is ready to take the plunge; Belgacom plans to deploy vectoring on its network at the start of 2014.
But some warn that the launch of vectoring is just the beginning and that operators rolling out the technology face additional challenges post-launch.
“All the testing has been very successful so far and [as] of 1 January next year we will start deploying the vectoring into our network,” Geert
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home network technol-ogy cannot keep up with users’ require-
ments. Increasing last-mile connection speeds are bringing a growing demand for faster connectivity within the home and, further ahead, for increasingly complex connected home and life services. At present, many home users are grappling with connecting up their various screens and applica-tions themselves, but there is an opportunity for commu-nications service providers to stitch together these apps and the technologies that underpin them.
“Today’s limit is inside the home,” says Antonio Rodriguez del Corral, business development director at Spanish cableco Mundo-R. The firm has just started offering access speeds of up to 200 Mbps, but cannot meet demand for reliable connections inside the home. Customers are asking for a product that can guarantee them 80 Mbps in every room, but “the answer today is no, I do not have the product,” he says. “That’s what we want to change.”
Balan Nair, CTO of US-based Liberty Global, does not expect the problem to be resolved any time soon.
“WiFi is king,” for in-home coverage, but current WiFi standards limit speeds to 60 Mbps-70 Mbps at best, he says. “[There is] still a long way before 802.11ac prolifer-ates.” The next generation of WiFi is capable of delivering up to 500 Mbps on a single stream, but Nair predicts it could be 2016-2018 before there are significant numbers
of 802.11ac devices out there, by which time the cableco expects to offer 1-Gbps broadband into the home. As a result, “the bottleneck becomes the home,” he says.
Meanwhile, users are becoming more demanding.
“It’s a very complex story,” for a consumer even to add a second TV decoder with PVR, says Benoit Joly, SVP of connected home marketing at Technicolor. But custom-ers also want home automa-tion, security, child and elderly care applications, and they want it without any of the complexity. At present, “you need to be a technology guru” just to handle all the different protocols, he says.
In addition, there is still a question mark over which
delivery methods will prevail. WiFi, power line communication, and MoCA will all play a part in distributing media around the home, according to ABI Research, which like Nair, puts WiFi at the top of the pile. However, when it comes to home automation services, the analyst firm sees a strong case for devices like thermo-
stats, lights, and locks to become part of the Bluetooth ecosystem.
“Bluetooth-enabled consumer electronics, including smartphones, tablets and laptops are a major factor in Bluetooth’s growth in home automa-tion,” says ABI practice director Dan Shey. The firm expects 133 million Bluetooth-equipped home automation products will be shipped worldwide by 2018.
So, where do telcos fit in? “We think they can assemble some of the pieces,” but not all of them, says Joly. “They can become definitely the trusted brand...that makes all these things work together.”
Mary Lennighan, Nick [email protected]
Consumers seek to connect up screens and applications in their homes, but the technologies available are not quite up to the job
SeMi-DetaCheDhOMe netWORkinG
the anSWeR tODaY iS ‘nO, i DO nOt haVe the pRODUCt’
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Indian companies contend with shortages of spectrum, power and mobile numbers in order to deliver machine-to-machine services
eVeRY SeCOnD COUntSM2M
operators worldwide are keen to tap into the potential of the
machine-to-machine (M2M) market, but they need to be aware of the impact the growing number of connect-ed devices will have on their networks. And nowhere is that more important than in India, where spectrum is particularly scarce, mobile numbers are running out, and basic utilities like power supply cannot always be relied upon.
“Each application is different from the network perspective,” said Manu Khera, VP of mobile broadband at Reliance Communications, at last month’s Broadband World Forum. Energy meters and surveillance cameras trigger a low signalling load, unlike street management applica-tions, for example. And point of sale systems, a key market for Reliance, require a certain quality of service to ensure there is no delay, Khera said.
It is important for operators to work closely with the application provid-ers to schedule when the myriad connected devices on their network transmit data, Khera advised. Otherwise the operator has to plan its
network for the peak load and then “it becomes very unviable to service an M2M customer.”
Networks see “significant peaks...every half an hour to one hour,” due to scheduled transmissions from connect-ed devices, Khera said. But there is a simple solution: “Don’t program all of them to transmit at 4pm,” but rather set 100 devices for that time, another 100 for 4pm plus two seconds, and so on.
Spectrum allocation is also important. M2M data volumes are so small that the operator might only get 30 cents per month out of a customer, despite consuming a lot of spectrum, Khera explained. He advises telcos to bill based on time rather than on bytes. The availabil-ity of mobile numbers is also
an issue. With 700 million mobile voice customers in India, there is a “challenge of not having enough mobile numbers,” Khera said. He believes the market needs to make the move to 11-digit mobile numbers, currently a hot topic in India, or operators need to use IPv6 addresses instead for M2M.
Finally, power outages are common, particularly in rural India. When the power comes back on, you can have half a million devices trying to connect to the network at the same time, Khera said. “Managing that...becomes a real challenge.” One solution is to “limit the number of repeat attempts to access the network,” he said.
Mary [email protected]@TelecomEditor
GlOBal M2M COnneCteD DeViCeS
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
201816141210
86420
Source: Machina Research
conn
ecte
d de
vice
s (b
illio
ns)
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Operators are beefing up their networks with LTE-A, but smartphone availability and the threat of device fragmentation remain a challenge
SpeeD tRaplte-aDVanCeD
A handful of mobile operators in EMEA are making headlines
about the rollout of LTE-Advanced and the additional speed and capacity it will bring. But for most end users LTE-A services are still some way off. Early deployments are highly limited and smartphones that support the technology are not ready.
“In Europe we may be lagging behind, but at least as of today we have the fastest network in the world here in the UK,” declared EE chief executive Olaf Swantee, when he announced his company’s LTE-A deploy-ment at Huawei’s Mobile Broadband Forum in London this month. Swantee touted
theoretical throughput of 300 Mbps, achieved by using carrier aggregation to combine 20 MHz of 1800-MHz spectrum with 20 MHz of 2.6-GHz spectrum.
At this stage though, EE’s LTE-A project is effectively a pilot. Starting in December the network will be available to selected businesses in London’s Tech City area, who will access it via Huawei
mobile WiFi routers. “We will have central London covered...throughout 2014,” Swantee says.
Kuwait’s Zain is also rolling out LTE-A, aggregat-ing 800-MHz and 1800-MHz spectrum, concentrating on the country’s more populous areas. Like EE, it expects to offer access to the network by the end of this year or early in 2014. “We have to be ready for the future,” says Zain Kuwait CEO Omar Saud Al-Omar. LTE-A will enable consumers to access richer content, while enabling Zain to break into the business market. “It’s not connectivity only. We want to be an enterprise service provider,” Al-Omar says.
But looking beyond the hyperbole and theoretical maximum speeds, there are still a number of challenges on the road to LTE-A.
Both EE and Zain acknowledge that they will have to wait before they can offer the LTE-A experience to smartphone users. They expect LTE-A-capable smartphones to be available from the second half of next
year. “The chipset is almost ready,” says Al-Omar.
“The challenge for the smartphone makers is the heat,” says Swantee, explain-ing that the power require-ments of bringing 300 Mbps speeds means the devices get very warm.
Telcos also need to consider which carriers they want to aggregate, says Joachim Horn, chief technology and information officer at Tele2, which last year carried out an LTE-A trial in Sweden but has yet to share any rollout plans. Horn notes that there are more than 60 possible combina-tions of spectrum bands in Europe alone.
“[There is] the risk for further fragmentation on the device side,” he says, warning of a world in which a handset designed to work on certain aggregated bands in the UK would not work in Germany, for example.
“Don’t let this happen,” he appeals to device makers. “It’s very important that operators ask for it,” that is, for support for multiple frequency bands, he says. “I think if we challenge the industry, we will get it.”
Mary [email protected]@TelecomEditor
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GlOBal GOalSBT Global Services’ CEO Luis Alvarez discusses global enterprise service trends and his belief that customers will pay more for high-quality voice
On the ReCORD
luis Alvarez celebrat-ed his first year as CEO of BT Global
Services on 1 October, just as the UK-based operator welcomed its new group CEO Gavin Patterson. Alvarez spoke to Total Telecom editor Mary Lennighan about the past 12 months, the current business climate and his plans for the future.
How was the first year for you?We have a business now that is better than one year ago. We have been able to consolidate the relationship with our customers and to win the confidence of new customers. And we have a much better financial profile than we had a year ago.
We want to have service as a strong differentiator, so we need to continue to improve that. What we provide to our customers has become more critical for their business, so there is a rise in expectations in terms of what they are using and what we do for them.
What has particularly contrib-uted to that improvement in performance? A degree of focus on what we are doing and a continuation of the cost transformation to
become more efficient. In some cases we had processes that were not optimised, so we have been improving the processes, which reduces your cost and elevates the quality of the services to customers. The transforma-tion of our cost base will continue over time. To me, two things are creating a differentiator: continuous improvement in mindset in our teams and being close to our customers.
Is the business climate improving? The European situation is less bad in the corporate environment than it was. We have started to see some companies really start to invest or to look to how they can improve their platforms. Fiat is growing in Brazil and Renault in Mexico, for example. We haven’t seen any improvement in govern-ment budgets; the amount of money they spend continues to be extremely low.
There are also emerging multinationals, not from traditional US or European= headquarters, that are becoming big players on a global basis. Two are Zuellig Pharma in Asia-Pacific, and Brazil’s Embraer, which has become the number three aerospace company after Boeing and EADS.
What are the current global trends in terms of what big businesses are looking for?People and companies want to be more connected. People would like to have one global network in which they can integrate their small branches, big branches, manufacturing centres, warehouses. People want to be protected. Security, from basic methods to more sophisticated cyber-security, is another big trend.
Once you have applica-tions and centres connected, people want to collaborate more. We have seen in-creased demand for audio
We haVe CUStOMeRS that aRe ReaDY tO paY MORe fOR a MUCh BetteR SeRViCe
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and video conferencing services and platforms on which people can share information and work better together. We recently announced BT MeetMe with Dolby voice to improve the customer experience on our audio conferencing platform.
Finally, people want ‘equivalent to cloud’, pay-per-use kind of services. They say ‘rather than me invest in a very expensive platform, I would like you to help me with virtualised computing services’.
How important will HD voice be? Will people pay more for high-quality voice services?
We have been talking a lot about high-definition TV and even 3D TV, but we have hardly invested in improving the quality of voice since 1876! We worked with Dolby and created a product that we think is a revolution in voice. Voice remains for me the main way of communi-cating to my team, to everybody around the globe and I think we will all still use voice as the way to communicate and to interact. The productivity you can get with high-quality, high-defi-nition voice is huge. We consider that a business opportunity.
You will recognise the value of it because you are
more productive. But also, the total cost of ownership for our customers will be lower because we have designed the solution so they can integrate it in their LANs and WANs so they will reduce the incremental fees they have been paying. We have customers that are ready to pay more for a much better service, especially in the business sector.
How do you see the mobility requirement of your customers, globally and in the UK? Mobility is part of our portfolio in that we integrate the way our customers are using mobile as an access or
using mobile data as part of their propositions. In the UK we also have an incremental advantage thanks to the MVNO agreement with EE and the 4G licence that will allow us to have end-to-end control of the service.
In the business space the opportunity is not only pure mobile communications, but the applications used by logistics companies for the supply chain, mobile workers in the health environment, or utility company engi-neers. We don’t have any ambition to be another mobile player competing on price-per-minute or price-per-megabyte. Our added value in the corporate and
government sector will be around the bundle of solutions where mobility will be one of the components.
What are your goals for the next couple of years?The first ambition is to keep the leadership position we have, which requires hard work from our teams to keep up to date in the infrastruc-ture, in the services we provide, and in the quality of those services. The second is to increase the share of wallet from our existing customers and to continue to extend our customer base. If you take into account that our top 20 contracts account for 30% of our revenue, and that we have 1,000 customers that generate around 90% of our revenue, you have an idea of the opportunity that we still have to grow. The third thing is to attract talent to BT Global Services.
Finally, how are you finding the change of leadership at BT? Gavin knows our business extremely well, not only Retail, but also Global Services, because he has been on the board for the last five years. I have travelled with him to Italy, Germany, the US; we are going to Asia soon and to Latin America. He is good at listening to customers and also with our people. The priorities he is setting for us totally align with the strategy we had before. He is driving a lot of hope and positive spirit about the next steps of BT.
We haVe a MUCh BetteR finanCial pROfile than We haD a YeaR aGO
The round tables are filling up
I want to sponsor a round table and be a round table leader
Contact Charles Georgiou on 44 (0)207 608 7071
Or email [email protected]
What is a round table?A round table is a peer learning experience. At least 15 attendees explore their round table topic together, discussing challenges and solutions under the guidance of a round table leader.
You can sponsor a round table on your area of expertise and lead it. The attendees are valuable sales prospects as they choose which round table to attend based on their needs. This is a great opportunity for solution providers to meet their sales prospects in a focused, intimate environment.
Network Management: Defining its
constitutional parts
Telco Big Data
Network Programming &
Automation
Outsourcing: Outlining the options,
ROI and QoS
Enterprise Big Data: Network challenges
and solutions
Software Defined Networking and
Virtualisation
2014
1-2 July 2014
ETC Venues, St Pauls, London, UK
Profiting through the network
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GeOGRaphY: Japan
tOkYOGaMeSWith the Olympics on the horizon, Japan is pushing ahead with new services
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94m SMaRtphOne
USeRS in Japan BY 2018
(MIC)
¥28bn ValUe Of Japan’S ClOUD SeRViCeS MaRket BY 2016
(MIC)
tOkYO
OSaka
MeDalinG With 5GNTT DoCoMo aims to roll out 5G in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olym-pics, even though 5G standards are still in development. However it emerges, DoCoMo says 5G should offer a 1,000x capac-ity increase on today’s mobile networks.
Japan’S telCOS aRe all pROfitaBle anD theY aRe all VeRY aDVanCeD in the tYpeS Of SeRViCeS theY OffeRmats olsson, head of Asia-Pacific ericsson
Source: Telecommunications Carriers Association
Japan MOBile MaRket ShaReS
Q3 2012127.4 million
Q3 2013134.9 million
160
80
0
47.7%
28.4%
23.9%
45.8%
28.9%
25.3%
Subs
crib
ers
(mill
ions
) n ntt DoCOMo n kDDi n Softbank
UnfaShiOnaBlY lateSoftbank and KDDI have been steadily eroding DoCoMo’s market share for years, but Japan’s biggest telco hopes to hit back by finally being able to offer the iPhone. But insufficient inventory means it has not had the instant impact on net additions that many expected. ‘Our [September] performance was unfavourable,’ admitted DoCoMo CEO Kaoru Kato recently.
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eDitORial4th Floor, Welken House, 10-11 Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6EH UK +44 (0)20 7608 7030 [email protected]
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Q4 2013 Advance smart networks
FUZHOU POWER TAPSTELLABS FOR CRITICALCOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK
FUZHOU POWER TAPSTELLABS FOR CRITICALCOMMUNICATIONSNETWORK
Tellabs Optical Solution withASON will improve reliability of 41 different services
Tellabs Optical Solution withASON will improve reliability of 41 different services
A strong partnership —Mr. Zhang Zheng, head of network construction, Fuzhou Power; Mr. Lin Shengyong, head of engineering,Fuzhou Power; Mr. Leon Sun, senior systems engineer, Tellabs China; Mr. Abhijit Chitambar, Tellabs seniorproduct manager
One Tellabs Center1415 West Diehl RoadNaperville, IL 60563 USAPhone: +1.630.798.8800Fax: +1.630.798.2525www.tellabs.com
President and CEODaniel P. Kelly
Editorial BoardGeorge StenitzerJoan Engebretson
EditorJoan Engebretson
Editorial ContributorsJoan EngebretsonM.J. Richter
DesignHerring Design
Statements herein may contain projec-tions or other forward-looking statementsregarding future events, products, features, technology and resulting commercial or technological benefits and advantages. These statements arefor discussion purposes only, are subject to change and are not to be construed as instructions, product specifications,guarantees or warranties. Actual resultsmay differ materially. The followingtrademarks and service marks are ownedby Tellabs Operations, Inc., or its affili-ates in the United States and/or othercountries: Tellabs®, Tellabs and T sym-bol®, and T symbol®. Any other companyor product names may be trademarks of their respective companies.
Copyright ©2013 Tellabs. All rights reserved. 74.2231E
LEADING EDGEMarlin Equity Partners is acquiring Tellabs with plans to take the company private. We're helping customers advance networks with fiberoptics, packet optical equipment and services.
UPLOADA smartphone can save as much as $12,000 a year, says ClickSoftware/Harris Interactive research. Telecom executives are optimistic about thefuture, according to a KPMG survey. And Heavy Reading says 2015could be a big year for software defined networking.
OPTICAL SERVICES MARKET SEES STRONG GROWTHJeff Ogle, Principal Optical Analyst for ACG Research, answered questions about what’s driving global optical services growth.By M.J. Richter
FUZHOU POWER TAPS TELLABS FOR COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKChinese company Fuzhou Power needed to increase bandwidth and enhance the reliability of its internal communications network. Its solution used optical networking equipment from Tellabs with automated switched optical network (ASON).By Joan Engebretson
CARRIERS TRIAL SDN USE CASESSoftware defined networking has taken center stage in the telecom business. Carrier trials of SDN use cases show the benefits of SDN arereal. A multi-layer approach to SDN can minimize deployment costs. By M.J. Richter
TIM BRASIL FORGES INNOVATIVE MOBILE BACKHAUL SOLUTIONWireless carrier Telecom Italia Brasil minimized its dependence onleased lines by building its own backhaul network. Tellabs smart routershelp tie it all together.By Joan Engebretson
OPTICAL NETWORK IS KEY TO PTT’S FUTUREThai power company PTT chose an optical transport system from Tellabs to support a mix of traffic on its internal communications network. The new network should yield capacity and reliability gains.
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Get Insight on your tablet
Free “Tellabs” apps in the iTunes App Store and athttps://play.google.com/store/search?q=tellabs&c=apps
For iPad
For Android
Marlin acquires Tellabs, sharpening our focus on future products and customer experienceIn late October, we announced that Tellabs and entities affiliated with Marlin Equity Partners (“Marlin”), a global investment firm with more than $2.6 billion of capital under management, entered into a definitive merger agreement (see:http://www.tellabs.com/news/2013/index.cfm/nr/238.cfm).The agreement provides that Marlin entities will acquire Tellabs through a tender
offer and a second-step merger and take the company private. We expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter of 2013, subject to certain
conditions, including the tender of at least a majority of the outstanding shares ofTellabs’ common stock by our shareholders and regulatory approvals.What does this mean for Tellabs and for you?This move begins an exciting new chapter for Tellabs, our customers, partners and
employees. We believe the transaction will enable us to invest in key technologiesfor future products, and become even more competitive as we help our customerssucceed.Marlin said that it views Tellabs’ business as an ideal opportunity to capitalize on
the growth in the telecom network equipment sector. Marlin indicated that it plansto extend Tellabs’ market leadership by continuing to make significant investmentsin research and development, and providing a superior customer experience.
Delivering a good customer experience requires networks that grow with traffic demand. Our customer Telecom Italia Mobile Brasil (p. 14) uses fiber optic backhaulto increase the speed of its mobile backhaul network. TIM Brasil is aggressively deploying fiber backhaul, even acquiring other network operators in order to gain fiberassets.Fiber is also finding its way into the networks of electric utilities around the world.
China’s Fuzhou Power (p. 8) and PTT of Thailand (p. 18) are 2 power companies thathave made the move to fiber and DWDM. Both companies chose Tellabs® 7100 Optical Transport System because it supports multiple traffic types and increases capacity and bandwidth.Meeting burgeoning bandwidth demand will be critical for network operators going
forward. We are here to help you succeed as you advance your network to keep pacewith growing demand.
Sincerely,
Dan KellyPresident and CEO
Subscribe to Insight: www.tellabs.com/insight Insight Q4 2013 3
LEADING EDGE
Dan KellyPresident and CEO
UPLOAD Smartphones valued at $12,000 annuallyAmerican smartphone owners paid an average of $174 for their devices, according to
research conducted by Harris Interactive for software developer ClickSoftware. For manypeople that’s a big expense.But according to the ClickSoftware/Harris research, smartphones are worth the
investment. Researchers estimated the average smartphone value at nearly $12,000 ayear. Research was based on an on-line survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults, including
970 smartphone owners. Respondents were asked to estimate the time they save eachday by using the 3 apps that they use the most. That number averaged 88 minutes perday, or 535 hours per year.To estimate the dollar value of the time saved, researchers multiplied 535 by an
average annual U.S. wage of $22 an hour.The most popular of 16 apps listed in the survey is email. Half of respondents said
4 Insight Q4 2013
4G Fourth GenerationIT Information TechnologyLTE Long-Term EvolutionLTE-A Long-Term Evolution-AdvancedNFV Network Functions Virtualization
______________________________________Email 35 minutes______________________________________Text 63 minutes______________________________________Social Network 25 minutes______________________________________Games 18 minutes______________________________________Web Browsing 33 minutes______________________________________Weather 17 minutes______________________________________Maps or GPS 24 minutes______________________________________Calendar 23 minutes
Average time saved per day by using smartphone apps
Among 16 smartphoneapps listed in an on-line survey, the most popularwas email.
— ClickSoftware/Harris Interactive
Visit Tellabs at these upcoming events:
MiLCISNovember 12-14Stand ACTNational ConventionCentreCanberra, Australia
Vietnam Telecom 2013November 20-23Booth # Y109Saigon Exhibition &Convention CentreVietnam
Carrier Ethernet WorldAPACDecember 3-5Stand F1 Suntec CitySingapore
it is one of their top 3 most-used apps. Respondents, on average, said their email appsaves 35 minutes a day.The next most popular apps are text, cited by 42% of respondents, and social net-
working, cited by 39%. Respondents said text apps save them an average of 53 minutesa day. Social networking apps save an average of 25 minutes daily, they said.
LTE sees big gainsThe shift to LTE is on. Two hundred networks
in 76 countries already use the 4G technology,according to the Global Mobile Suppliers Asso-ciation. ABI Research believes that 123 new LTE net-
works will go commercial within the next 2years. Researchers forecast 178 million LTEsubscribers globally by year-end 2013. LTEservice revenues will be $74 billion for 2013,ABI says.In some parts of the world, network operators
are already getting serious about the next gen-eration of LTE. That’s LTE-Advanced, also knownas LTE-A.LTE-A will increase the speeds that LTE can
support to as high as 1 Gbps and will supportadvanced video streaming services.At least one network operator — South
Korea’s SK Telecom — has launched LTE-Aservice. According to ABI, SK Telecom gained150,000 subscribers for its LTE-A service withinthe first 2 weeks of its launch. At least 4 U.S. operators will have LTE-A net-
works operational by year-end, ABI said. By 2017, ABI believes more than half of NorthAmerican LTE subscribers will use LTE-A.The number of base stations supporting
LTE-A is more than doubling each year, ABInoted. Network operators want to deploy LTE-A as a means of increasing capacity withoutacquiring new spectrum, they said.
Subscribe to Insight: www.tellabs.com/insight Insight Q4 2013 5
“Look at the picture I took of the thing we’re looking at.”
UPLOAD Telecom executives optimistic about the futureTelecom and media executives are optimistic about revenue prospects this year,
according to consulting firm KPMG. More than two-thirds (70%) of telecom and media executives surveyed said their
companies’ revenues have increased from last year. And 75% of respondents expectrevenues to increase over the next year, including 43% who expect revenues to increaseby 6% or more.Media executives are more optimistic than telecom executives. More than four-fifths
(83%) of media executives expect a revenue increase, compared with 68% of telecomexecutives, KPMG said.Respondents believe they will have to spend money to make money. The majority
(59%) say their companies will increase capital spending this year. That’s an increasefrom 49% last year. One area where companies expect to increase spending is on new products and serv-
ices. Spending on geographic expansion and information technology are also expectedto increase, KPMG found.
2015 could be SDN’s big yearSoftware defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) could
transform carrier networks. But it may not happen right away, said Heavy Reading. Senior carrier executives told researchers that 2015 would be the year for a significantrevenue shift to SDN-based services.SDN aims to improve network economics by separating the control and data planes.
NFV also aims to improve network economics — in this case by re-inventing networkdevices as commodities.Three different operational units within service providers are interested in SDN and
NFV, Heavy Reading said. One of these is the internal IT department. The others arepeople involved with the service provider’s network and cloud services.Those involved with the cloud have the greatest interest in SDN, which is mainly
focused on NFV today, according to Heavy Reading.Services that SDN will impact include Ethernet, IP and wavelength services,
researchers said.
6 Insight Q4 2013
Three different operational units within service providersare interested in SDN and NFV.
— Heavy Reading
70%said revenues have increased from last year
75%expect revenues to increase over next year
59%said capital spending will increase this year
Subscribe to Insight: www.tellabs.com/insight Insight Q4 2013 7
OPTICAL SERVICESMARKET SEESSTRONG GROWTH
OPTICAL SERVICESMARKET SEESSTRONG GROWTH
Richter: You found that the optical services marketgrew 10.2% between second quarter 2012 and thesame quarter in 2013. What’s driving that?
Ogle: Three factors. One is the use of optical for wirelessbackhaul. Second, your standard metro offerings are be-coming very popular, particularly for businesses. The thirdone is the data center environment. Players are opticallyinterconnecting their data centers to create the virtual datacenter.
Richter: When you look at the metro and data center segments, do you focus on data center operators as well asfixed-line and mobile operators?Ogle: I’m talking about both. The software defined networking (SDN) concept that’s
come out of the data center has helped standardize thingsin that environment. The idea is that a server is a server,and everything’s x86-based. Now, in a similar fashion in networking, the transition to
IP/Ethernet has simplified the access environment. Know-ing what your access technology is going to be makes iteasier to design the access network, as well as your core.This has caused kind of a shift. While there's still a large
business for the multi-service provisioning platform, orMSPP, they’re suddenly beginning to taper off a little bit.And the metro WDM products are kind of taking their place,
as well as your packet optical transport system (POTS)products. Most people are not continuing to deploy ATM or TDM-
based systems if they have a choice. If they need to supportthem as they go to a new network environment, typicallythey’re turning to their vendors for SONET gateways ontheir platforms. Most of your carriers have capped theirCapEx expenditures on all SONET gear. Basically, they'reonly spending OpEx for maintenance.Now that’s pretty much true in North America. That’s not
necessarily true around the world. The optical cross-connect segment grew 30% quarter over quarter and 13%year over year. Most of that growth occurred in Asia Pacificand Latin America.
Richter: You noted the POTS segment posted the highestgrowth, on a percentage basis, in Q2. By how much did itgrow and why?Ogle: That grew about 31.3% year over year. I think it’s
driven by the IP/Ethernet access standardization that’s goingon, as well as by tighter integration with optical platforms.
Richter: You see that the SDN concept is gaining tractionin the optical market. Is optical networking driving SDN oris SDN driving optical networking?Ogle: I think they’re going to move along in parallel be-
cause SDN came out of the data center side and now isbeing applied to the optical side. The ability to control willbe improved, and it will be a better solution, but there's noway someone can get away with not having an optical in-frastructure these days. It’s going to be the founding tech-nology for all networks because of the speeds it can supportand because of the price points. Plus, it’s inherently a lotmore secure. I think next year is going to be a big year in optical net-
working. It seems to be hitting the 7-8-year build-out cycle.The technology and market seem to follow that timing. �
ATM Asynchronous Transfer ModeIP Internet ProtocolMSPP Multi-Service Provisioning Platform
POTS Packet Optical Transport SystemSDN Software Defined NetworkingSONET Synchronous Optical Network
TDM Time Division MultiplexWDM Wavelength Division Multiplex
Jeff Ogle, PrincipalOptical Analyst for ACG Research,discussed with M.J. Richter what’sdriving global optical servicesgrowth.
8 Insight Q4 2013
FUZHOU POWER TAPSTELLABS FOR CRITICALCOMMUNICATIONSNETWORK
FUZHOU POWER TAPSTELLABS FOR CRITICALCOMMUNICATIONSNETWORK
“With an ASON network youcan have more flexibility.”
— Zhang Zheng, head of network construction, Fuzhou Power
Subscribe to Insight: www.tellabs.com/insight Insight Q4 2013 9
Chinese power company Fuzhou Power recently upgraded its internal communications network to increase bandwidth and enhance network reliability.
The company was able to achieve those goals by installingoptical transport equipment from Tellabs. In so doing, thecompany also made its network more future-proof.
The internal communications networkFuzhou Power provides electrical power to the city of
Fuzhou in Fujian province in southeastern China. Thecity of Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian Province and isknown for its clean air, hot springs and hot weather insummer.Fuzhou Power is part of the State Grid Corporation of
China (SGCC). SGCC is the third largest company inChina with over 1 billion customers across the country.In its network upgrade, Fuzhou Power wanted to help
ensure that communications would not be interrupted inthe event of a cut to its fiber network. “Power provides a very fundamental service,” said Mr.
Zhang Zheng, head of the network construction depart-ment for Fuzhou Power. “It’s very important for the lifeof Fuzhou.”At the time of its network upgrade, Fuzhou Power had
nearly a dozen fiber spans. Each span was about 80 kilo-meters long and used SDH technology. The maximumdata rate of the SDH links in the network ranged from155 Mbps to 2.5 Gbps. Those connections now feed into a new metro core
10G SDH network with automatic switched optical network (ASON) capability that is based on equipmentfrom Tellabs. The ASON protocol enables dynamic policy-driven control of an optical or SDH network andcan improve network reliability and enable easier andmore efficient resource management.ASON technology provides fast and efficient re-routing
for the network. It also supports different levels of net-work protection and restoration and simplified serviceprovisioning.The core network operates at 10 Gbps and began
carrying traffic in July 2013. Increasing network band-width was important for Fuzhou Power because data
communications is becoming increasingly important aspower networks become more sophisticated.In addition, Zheng said, “More and more Ethernet over
SDH is emerging. Some services are pure Ethernet-based.” The core SDH network has 7 nodes installed in a mesh
configuration. Four nodes use the compact Tellabs®
7100 Nano Optical Transport System. Tellabs 7100Nano is a full-featured platform in a compact packagethat can provide both TDM and packet transport. It alsosupports ROADM and OTN capability.Three nodes of the Fuzhou Power network had
functional requirements that dictated the use of thelarger Tellabs 7100 USS Optical Transport System. Thisproduct also supports TDM and packet transport alongwith ROADM and OTN capability. It uses a chassis designthat can provide more total capacity than the Tellabs7100 Nano.“The full mesh design increases the survivability of
Fuzhou Power’s entire network,” said Zhang.All of the Tellabs equipment is managed by a Tellabs
8000 Intelligent Network Manager.
41 different servicesFuzhou Power’s network supports more than a dozen
circuits in its initial phase. Different circuits representdifferent traffic types and require different levels of pri-ority and protection. Examples of the types of traffic thatthe Fuzhou Power network supports include dispatching,video monitoring, office automation and operations andadministration, as well as some internal data communi-cation applications.In planning the new network Zhang’s staff determined
an appropriate ASON service level for each of the cir-cuits. Planners wanted to use 4 types of ASON servicesfrom the Tellabs 7100 platform, including full time pro-tection, 1+1 protection, dynamic reroute and unprotect.“With an ASON network you can have more flexibility,”
commented Zhang.Services that support critical operations such as
dispatching received the highest ASON priority. Servicesthat are less critical such as office automation receivedlower priority.Eventually Fuzhou Power plans to support 41 different
circuits on its network.
Left: Mr. Zhang Zheng, head of network construction, Fuzhou Power with Mr. Lin Shengyong, head of engineering, Fuzhou Power
Tellabs Optical Solution withASON will improve reliabilityof 41 different servicesBy Joan Engebretson
ASON Automatic Switched Optical NetworkOTN Optical Transport NetworkingROADM Remotely-configurable Optical Add/Drop MultiplexerSDH Synchronous Digital HierarchySNMP Simple Network Management ProtocolTDM Time Division Multiplexing
The umbrella systemFuzhou Power is one branch of a larger power company
that operates throughout Fujian province. The provincialnetwork is part of the larger nationwide company SGCC.Fuzhou Power is one of the first networks within SGCCto use ASON technology.A key requirement for Fuzhou Power’s new optical
transport system was to work with an existing umbrellamanagement system. That system enables the parentcompany to monitor and control the Fuzhou Power network. The Fuzhou Power network uses various typesof equipment from several different manufacturers.“The provincial power company wanted real-time fault
management capability for its entire network,” saidZhang. “They also wanted the ability to change the configurations of the subsidiary network.”To meet this requirement, Fuzhou Power’s optical
transport system would need a northbound interface supporting open network management. Initially theTellabs account team considered using its professionalservices team to handle the task of opening up the inter-face on the Tellabs 7100 system. But as a more econom-ical alternative, the team found a northbound interfaceusing standard SNMP protocol. This enabled the networkto support the key fault management functionality thatFuzhou Power required and made the northbound inter-face easier to deploy.
The decisionFuzhou Power considered several different manufac-
turers to supply its optical transport system but chose
Tellabs because of its demonstrated ASON capability. “We like the ASON management system because it is
as convenient as traditional SDH management,” saidZhang. To provision a circuit, he explained, “You canclick on a connection end-to-end. It is automatically andsmoothly carried out, as with traditional SDH.”In making the sale to Fuzhou Power, Tellabs worked
closely with sales representatives from Tellabs local partner firm STEC. “We work very well with Tellabs partner STEC,”
said Zhang. “They give the network a lot of support andservice.”“STEC and Tellabs have strong communications at all
levels,” added Ms. Sheng Wanting, senior account manager for STEC.
Future-proofFuzhou Power opted to use SDH in its core network
because it already had considerable SDH infrastructure.The company needed the ability to do traditional electri-cal switching. In the future the company’s requirements could
change. At some point, Fuzhou Power might decide tomove to a network based on optical transport networking(OTN) and ROADMs. Whenever that day may come, the Tellabs equipment
supporting Fuzhou Power’s core SDH network can be easily converted to support that choice. “I think OTN and ROADMs are feasible technologies,”
said Zhang. “There is a chance we would use that in thefuture. It’s the trend.” �
10 Insight Q4 2013
The network upgradedrew upon the talentsof Fuzhou Power,Tellabs and STEC.
Left to right: Mr. Abhijit Chitambar,Tellabs senior product manager;Mr. Zhang Zheng, head of net-work construction, Fuzhou Power;Mr. Lin Shengyong, head of engineering, Fuzhou Power; Mr. Leon Sun, senior systems engineer, Tellabs China; Ms. Sheng Wanting, senior account manager, STEC (Tellabspartner on this project)
Software defined networking (SDN) hastaken center stage in the telecom industry.The technology promises to make networks
more flexible and scalable to handle skyrocketing trafficgrowth. And that has great appeal for service providers.Now SDN is demonstrating with real-world use cases
that it can make good on its promise. At the same timeit can significantly reduce operators’ capital expendi-tures. SDN is proving that it is the architecture ofchoice for next-generation virtualized networks.
CARRIERS TRIALSDN USE CASESCARRIERS TRIALSDN USE CASES
Subscribe to Insight: www.tellabs.com/insight Insight Q4 2013 11
Unique Layer 0-3 approach aims to boost SDN cost savings and efficiencies. By M.J. Richter
The first evidence to support thebusiness case for SDN emerged inAugust. Strategy Analytics revealedthat SDN could reduce by almosthalf the $9.2-billion backhaul gapthat service providers face by 2017. That gap is the difference between
today’s levels of backhaul CapEx andthe level required to maintain customers’ quality of experience (QoE) as traffic escalates.
Three use cases offer more proof of SDN’s valueMore recently, Tellabs conducted successful proof-of-
concept (PoC) trials with fixed-line carriers in multipleregions. The trials involve SDN functionality on Tellabs®
8000 Intelligent Network Manager, Tellabs® 8600 Man-aged Edge System and Tellabs® 7100 Optical TransportSystem.Stuart Benington, Tellabs director of global portfolio
marketing, said the PoC trials focus on 3 major usecases:
Network defragmentation. Operators’ need for net-work defragmentation stems from the large number ofdevices, protocols and technologies deployed over time.This can lead to inefficient usage, stranded capacityand unnecessary costs, Benington said.“The PoC trials demonstrate that SDN is an efficient
way to defragment traffic and free up capacity,” he said.“It minimizes the need to invest in new equipment.That's one of SDN's obvious, direct financial benefits.”
Network slicing is where the operator essentially setsaside slices of the network across multiple products andlayers to satisfy individual end users’ requirements. Essentially network elements are virtualized withoutusing the hypervisors that traditionally would be neededin every network element to support that capability,Benington said.
Application-based forwarding sets up the desired flowfor an application according to that application’s specific requirements. Doing this eliminates the needto provision a connection step by step across multiplenetwork layers.
Benington cited the example of a customer with an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. “The customer wants to upload
the data into a data center forbackup,” he said. “Customers wantto do that securely and reliably. Andthe lowest-cost path through the
network may not be the best one for that application.”Benington contrasted that application with a mobile
user downloading a video application. There the userwants ample throughput and low cost, he said. But lowlatency may not be important."You combine all the factors determining what an
application needs,” he said. “And you come up with themost appropriate flow through the network.”Overall Benington said there are “a couple dozen
promising SDN use cases.” Different operators will beinterested in different use cases, depending on theirnetwork type and what customers need to do. One of the additional use cases is dynamic resiliency
based on network congestion. An example of this is theCongestion Control Application Tellabs demonstratedearlier this year. That application uses SDN to preventbottlenecks in the backhaul network before users noticean impact on service. With this application, serviceproviders can maintain customers’ QoE while also minimizing opex.
A multi-layer approach to SDN offers benefits that keep growingSome vendors’ SDN initiatives focus on only one or
two network layers. But Tellabs’ PoC trials encompassLayers 0 through 3. That includes everything from theoptical layer to the network layer.SDN’s functional and financial benefits accumulate
as operators apply the architecture to more and morelayers of the network, Benington said. Consequently,Tellabs’ holistic approach to SDN offers 3 distinct advantages.First, he said the multi-layer approach “opens the
door for a lot of use cases that require integration
12 Insight Q4 2013
ERP Enterprise Resource PlanningINM Intelligent Network ManagerPoC Proof of Concept
QoE Quality of ExperienceROADM Remotely-configurable Optical Add/Drop MultiplexerSDN Software Defined Networking
“The PoC trials demonstratethat SDN is an efficient wayto defragment traffic and free up capacity.”
— Stuart Benington, director of global portfoliomarketing, Tellabs
Subscribe to Insight: www.tellabs.com/insight Insight Q4 2013 13
across network layers.” It lets service providers implement SDNmore quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively than with single-layer deployments, he added. Secondly, Tellabs’ approach
enables customers to do softwareupgrades to Tellabs equipment al-ready installed in their networks.That means customers can moveinto SDN without having to do a network overbuild.For example, Tellabs 8000 INM customers can add
Tellabs SDN Controller software to leverage existing investments. Customers can take the first steps to SDN-enabling their networks seamlessly, reliably and cost-effectively.“Tellabs always has focused its expertise on helping
customers evolve seamlessly to new technologies whileleveraging what they’ve already deployed,” Beningtonsaid. “We’re doing the same thing with SDN as customers manage different generations of mobile
traffic and move to ROADM andpacket-optical technology.”Finally, the multi-layer approach
to SDN reflects Tellabs’ active engagement with companies thatprovide complementary solutions.“Storage, computing and network
resources all have to work togetheras the world moves to this next-generation network,” Benington
explained. “Tellabs equipment connects — and willcontinue to connect — a lot of data center facilitiestogether. Correspondingly, it connects — and willcontinue to connect — those facilities to user devices, both fixed and mobile."By partnering with ecosystem vendors, Tellabs will
produce “an even more robust, holistic SDN solution,”Benington said. “It’s the kind of solution that will helpour customers compete even more effectively. And it will help them save even more money in this new environment.” �
Software-defined networking (SDN) is a new type of networkarchitecture that moves network control out of hardware
and into software. Traditionally, the network control plane and data plane have
resided together in routers and switches. SDN places the con-trol plane function in an external, centralized controller. Itleaves the forwarding or data plane in the network elements.Using this approach, the underlying infrastructure is
abstracted from the applications. The external controller decideswhich path through the network packets should take.
The controller uses a standardized interface such as the OpenFlow protocol to communicate with the forwarding plane. It instructs the routers and
switches how to forward packets.By transforming the network from a hardware-oriented entity to an application-oriented en-
tity, SDN simplifies and automates networking. Its inherent flexibility and adaptability enablesoperators to create new applications and launch new services much faster than before. With SDN, operators can avoid testing, planning and upgrades for individual network elements.
They can respond faster to changing market conditions, thereby accelerating revenue flow.
SDN BASICS
“Tellabs always has focusedits expertise on helping customers evolve seamlesslyto new technologies whileleveraging what they’ve already deployed.”
— Stuart Benington, director of global portfoliomarketing, Tellabs
14 Insight Q4 2013
TIM BRASIL FORGESINNOVATIVE MOBILEBACKHAUL SOLUTION
TIM BRASIL FORGESINNOVATIVE MOBILEBACKHAUL SOLUTION
Two towers, taller than the Eiffel Tower, carryhigh-speed fiber across the Amazon River andthrough the rain forest for TIM Brasil’s network.
Subscribe to Insight: www.tellabs.com/insight Insight Q4 2013 15
Backhaul network capacity is a major concern formobile operators as increased smartphone usedrives huge traffic increases. But few operators
have addressed this issue as innovatively as TelecomItalia Mobile (TIM) in Brazil.The company has been aggressively deploying its own
backhaul network. It also has gained infrastructure bypurchasing two competitive carriers with fiber networks. Having its own infrastructure has benefited TIM in
many ways, said Cicero Olivieri, fixed and transport net-works director for TIM Brasil. “The quality of the network is under your control,” he said. “When youneed bandwidth you can deploy it more quickly.”As the TIM Brasil backhaul network has evolved, the
company increasingly has relied on equipment and pro-fessional services from Tellabs.
The transition beginsTIM’s relationship with Tellabs began in 2008 when
the carrier began deploying its 3G network.“At that time we had very little backhaul infrastructure
of our own,” recalled Olivieri. “We relied heavily on leasedlines and some scattered TDM microwave radio links.”
The 3G backhaul network had to support many traffictypes, recalled Olivieri. The company chose to useTellabs® 8630 and 8660 Smart Routers because theyinclude TDM, Ethernet and other interfaces. Tellabsprofessional services worked closely with TIM on the deployment. And now every radio network controller inTIM’s network has a Tellabs smart router.Since then, TIM has been aggressively deploying its
own connections to its cellsites using IP microwave.TIM wasn’t content only to have its own access infra-structure, however. “To support national operations, it’s important to have
strong backbone infrastructure,” said Olivieri. Ratherthan build that infrastructure completely from scratch,Olivieri said “The decision was to acquire a companywith a backbone.”In 2009 TIM acquired Intelig, a competitive carrier
with a 15,000-kilometer fiber backbone. Intelig usedthat network to provide Ethernet services to enterprisecustomers. And TIM has continued that business. Butwhat TIM was primarily interested in was using Intelig’sfiber backbone for transporting its own long-distancemobile traffic.Since then TIM has made several other important
moves. The company added 28,000 more kilometers toits backbone by deploying its own fiber. It also pur-chased another competitive carrier — AES/Eletropaulo. AES/Eletropaulo offered Ethernet services to enter-
prise customers in Brazil’s two largest cities, São Pauloand Rio de Janeiro. TIM has continued that business,enlisting Tellabs professional services to install the Tellabs 6300 Managed Transport System and
Cicero Olivieri, fixed and transport networks director, TIM Brasil
Moving away from leased lines, TIM Brasil saves moneyand boosts backhaul quality.
By Joan Engebretson
16 Insight Q4 2013
Subscribe to Insight: www.tellabs.com/insight Insight Q4 2013 17
Tellabs 7100 Optical Transport System to support it.But here, too, what TIM was primarily interested in
was to use AES/Eletropaulo’s infrastructure to supportits own mobile network. AES/Eletropaulo’s dense fiberfootprint in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro was well-suited for connecting TIM cellsites. “It’s important to have our own fiber infrastructure to
support the growth of data,” Olivieri said. “It would beimpossible to handle it with leased lines.”TIM also has deployed its own fiber to cellsites in
12 other markets in Brazil. The company’s moves havedramatically reduced its dependence on leased lines. A few years ago 90% of the company’s cellsites were
connected via leased lines. Today only 20% are con-nected with leased lines, while 80% are connectedusing TIM’s own infrastructure — including 20% thatare connected via fiber.Through this transition, Olivieri estimated that TIM
has reduced the operational costs of its backhaul net-work by a factor of 4 or 5.The company plans to bring fiber to more cellsites
moving forward. Strong backhaul will be an importantdifferentiator for TIM, Olivieri said. “It impacts customers’ perception about network
capacity and speed,” he said. Tellabs is “on the shortlist of suppliers” to support future cellsite fiber expan-sion, he added.But TIM’s efforts to upgrade its infrastructure don’t
stop there. The company has 2 other network construc-tion projects underway.
4G and fiber to the rain forestOne project is to deploy 4G LTE service. TIM is just
getting started with that project. But Olivieri expectsthe company to gear up its 4G deployment in prepara-tion for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 OlympicGames. Both events will take place in Brazil.“TIM has this under control,” Olivieri said. “We will
make sure to be ready.”
TIM also has undertaken an ambitious project thatwill bring greater capacity to Brazil’s isolated Amazonrain forest region. With the help of Tellabs professionalservices, TIM is installing a $200 million, 1,700-kmoptical network in the rain forest. The optical networking equipment TIM chose is from
Xtera Communications. TIM chose Xtera equipment because it can transport signals over long distanceswithout regeneration. That’s an important considerationin the rain forest, where it can take several days of travelby boat and by land to reach installation sites.TIM chose Tellabs to handle the deployment because
of the long-time partnership between the 2 companies,Olivieri said. “Tellabs was the obvious choice to handle the complex logistics and meet our deployment schedule,” he commented.The project is targeted for completion by the end of
2013. When completed, it will support TIM’s traffic. Inaddition other carriers will be able to lease fibers on thenetwork.“It will improve services in cities like Manaus and
support a new cycle of growth in that region,” saidOlivieri. TIM undertook the project because “we have a long-
term commitment with Brazil,” Olivieri said.
An ongoing collaborationFrom cellsites to business Ethernet to a challenging
construction project in the Amazon rain forest, TIM andTellabs have worked closely together. And that relation-ship is poised to continue into the future.Talented individuals from Tellabs professional
services work side-by-side with TIM personnel on an ongoing basis. Their responsibilities include networkdesign, service provisioning, network engineering andnetwork planning.“Tellabs participates in the whole value chain, from
planning to execution,” said Olivieri. �
4G Fourth-GenerationIP Internet ProtocolLTE Long-Term Evolution
TDM Time Division MultiplexingTIM Telecom Italia Mobile
Tellabs Professional Services is helping TIM install a $200-million, 1,700-km opticalnetwork in the Amazon rain forest. Sometimesit takes several days of difficult travel by boat and land to reach installation sites.
18 Insight Q4 2013
Earlier this year Thailand-based power company PTTwas in a situation that is becoming familiar to energycompanies worldwide. PTT was concerned that its
bandwidth needs were outpacing what its internal SDH-based communications network could support.The solution was to upgrade the network to Tellabs®
7100 Nano Optical Transport System. The compact system supports high-bandwidth, resiliency and multipleservice types.The PTT network, installed in the first half of 2013,
now can carry a mixture of Ethernet and Fiber Channeltraffic. And by the end of 2013, the company will moveremaining SDH traffic onto the new network.“We have interconnected 11 sites,” said Khun Wat-
tanai Kerdsombut, strategic information technology an-alyst for PTT. “The equipment has been very reliable andI like its compact size. That means a lot in an enterpriseenvironment.”
Three traffic typesPTT, formerly known as the Petroleum AuThority
of Thailand, is the only company from Thailand on theFortune 500 list of the world’s largest corporations, rank-ing 95 in 2012. In addition to operating extensive sub-marine gas pipelines in the Gulf of Thailand and anetwork of LPG terminals throughout the Kingdom, it isinvolved in electricity generation, petrochemical products,oil and gas exploration and production, and gasoline retailing businesses.In mid-2012 PTT made the decision to upgrade its
communications network, which at the time connectedseveral sites. The company planned a 630-kilometer optical fiber network that would connect additional locations.PTT was able to use fiber that had already been
installed. But DWDM was critical because the companywas limited in the number of fibers it could use.The equipment chosen also had to support high band-
width and multiple service types. And it had to be able op-erate without service interruption in the event of a fiber cut.
OPTICAL NETWORK ISKEY TO PTT’S FUTUREOPTICAL NETWORK ISKEY TO PTT’S FUTURE
Thai power utility chose Tellabs Optical Transport Systemto gain capacity, reliability,easy expandability
By Joan Engebretson
DWDM Dense Wavelength Division MultiplexingROADM Remotely-configurable Optical Add/Drop MultiplexerSCADA Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
SDH Synchronous Digital HierarchySTM-1 Synchronous Transport Module level
One of the traffic types the network had to support wasEthernet. PTT’s corporate network was Ethernet-basedand needed to support high-bandwidth applications suchas videoconferencing.Another traffic type was Fiber Channel. The company
wanted to operate a storage area network between its datacenter and a recovery site. And it wanted data to bebacked up in real time.“In the past we replicated traffic over the same STM-1
circuit that our Ethernet traffic used,” explained Wattanai. “The Nano helped expand the capabilities ofour storage area network. We now have real-time synchro-nization. PTT has many critical data applications and it’svery important to back them up in real time.”The third type of traffic the network needed to support
was SDH. PTT planned to continue to use SDH for SCADAtraffic controlling the operations of its gas pipeline network.PTT chose the Tellabs 7100 because it could meet all
of these requirements. PTT also was impressed thatTellabs had several strong reference customers for theproduct. These included Verizon, CenturyLink and TIME-dotCom.Additionally PTT was attracted by the small size of the
Tellabs 7100 Nano and the ability to “pay as you grow,”Wattanai said. Wattanai liked the ability to easily expandthe system as needed in the future.If desired, PTT can add fiber terminations, or degrees,
to the ROADM built into the Tellabs 7100 system whilethe network remains in service. Wavelengths also can beadded while the network is in service.
Ready for the futurePTT is pleased with its optical network and the support
it has received from Tellabs. “We like the fact that theyhave a local office,” said Wattanai. “They can focusclosely on the customer.”Helping Tellabs support PTT is local partner IRCP. “We
have a good relationship with them,” Wattanai said. “Theproject had a tight timeline. Yet it was completed on timeand on budget.”As currently configured PTT’s optical network has
2 degrees, enabling it to restore itself without interruptingservice if there is a fiber cut. In the future, PTT may addanother degree so that the network is protected even ifthere are 2 simultaneous fiber cuts.“We would like to add another degree within the next
year,” Wattanai said.PTT’s future plans also include adding other subsidiary
companies in PTT Group. “Each company will be able tocreate its own private network on this backbone,” explained Wattanai. “We will do that within the next 1 to2 years.”PTT’s previous system had a total capacity of only
622 Mbps (STM-4). The new one has a total capacity of880 Gbps.The capacity is “huge” and easily expandable, Wattanai
said. As a result, he believes the new optical network willsupport PTT’s needs for at least 10 years.“PTT will continue to use the system for a long time,”
said Wattanai. �
“The equipment has been very reliable and I like its compact size. That means a lot in an enterprise environment.”
— Wattanai Kerdsombut,strategic information technology analyst, PTT
Left to right: Mongkhol Srisettanil, Tellabs CS Manager; K. EakarajPakdeechard, PTT Telecom & Network Officer; and K. Wattanai Kerdsombut,PTT Strategic Information Technology Analyst
Subscribe to Insight: www.tellabs.com/insight Insight Q4 2013 19
400G transmissions pose new challenges for today’s transport networks
Metro/regional networks will face a unique set of challenges in supporting 400G transmission.
Learn the technology innovations that will make 400G deployments in metro/regional networks a reality.
Ask for our white paper: Examining the Cost/Performance Trade-Offs in Engineering 400G Transport Systems for Metro/Regional Networks.
http://info.tellabs.com/400G
Is Your Metro/Regional Network Ready For 400G?
