Deliver Your News to the World

Mobile Service Providers Benefit from Cisco IP NGN Innovations


WEBWIRE

Wataniya Telecom of Kuwait simplifies and cost-effectively provisions network bandwidth while improving architectural flexibility

SAN JOSE, Calif., February 8, 2007 - Cisco® today announced two significant innovations to its Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) architecture: a Mobile Transport over Pseudowires (MToP) solution and an enhanced Cisco Content Services Gateway.

These Cisco IP NGN innovations will enable mobile service providers to dramatically improve traffic backhaul, ease second-generation (2G), third-generation (3G) and fourth-generation (4G) service convergence, and manage content access and billing more efficiently - while offering greater mobile user personalization capabilities. Both innovations are designed for providers using Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) or Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technologies.

Mobile Transport over Pseudowires (MToP)

The new Cisco Mobile Transport over Pseudowires (MToP) solution extends Cisco IP network intelligence from a mobile service provider’s core to edge aggregation sites via circuit-emulation-over-packet shared port adapters (SPAs) for the Cisco 7600 Series Routers. Two models of circuit-emulation SPAs are available: the one-port channel OC-3/STM-1 and the 24-port T1/E1/J1. This solution ensures scalable support for 2G, 3G and 4G services and applications.

Mobile service providers face the dual challenge of reducing operational and equipment expenses while adding capacity to radio access networks (RANs) to support advanced data and video services. Users now demand access to voice, data and video and applications at anytime, from anywhere, to any mobile device.

The most common implementation for RAN backhaul relies on a network of dedicated time-division multiplexing (TDM) and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) circuits. Although this works well for basic voice and data services, mobile service users’ demands for video downloading and other media-rich applications are forcing mobile services providers to invest in additional capacity.

Mobile service providers such as Wataniya Telecom of Kuwait are facing increasing cost pressures as they scale these TDM circuits. By moving to circuit emulation to carry TDM traffic directly over converged IP Multiprotocol Label Switching (IP/MPLS) and Ethernet networks, they can achieve the cost savings and flexibility of Ethernet while preserving the critical clocking signal required for seamless handoffs as users move between aggregation sites.

By using its IP-based network - consisting of Cisco 7600 and 12000 Series Routers - Wataniya Telecom has several business objectives. These include making it easier and less costly to provide bandwidth in the network while improving network architectural flexibility. Aggregation sites can be connected to radio network controllers or mobile switching centers based on available capacity using standards-based MPLS pseudowires, not on geographic location.

“Our network continues to grow quickly, driven by the demand among customers to stay connected via reliable, fast and secured means while at work, at home or on the go,” said Harri Koponen, general manager and CEO of Wataniya Telecom. “By using our converged Internet Protocol network, enabled by the Cisco IP NGN architecture, to transport radio access traffic ultimately means that we can provide innovative services without frequent upgrades.”

“Wataniya Telecom is at the forefront of advanced service delivery for the ’Connected Life on the Move.’ It provides mobile users with consistent experiences, no matter what device they are using,” said Larry Lang, vice president and general manager, Cisco Mobile Wireless Group. “By incorporating Cisco Mobile Transport over Pseudowires and content billing technologies directly into its most advanced and highest-capacity routers, Cisco has provided the flexibility, scalability, ease of installation and management necessary to maximize the return on network investments.”

Isocore, an Internet and wireless networking technology validation organization, also supports the notion of extending MPLS core capabilities into a mobile service providers’ RAN.

“Circuit emulation over Internet Protocol is a cost-effective technology to propel the network convergence and, in particular, address the increasing data traffic in wireless carriers’ networks,” said Dr. Bijan Jabbari, president of Isocore. “We believe that the traditional time-division multiplexed circuits that require synchronization can be transported over a packet-based network, thus allowing service providers to handle the convergence of voice, video, data and mobility services.”

Enhanced Cisco Content Services Gateway

As providers build and optimize their infrastructure to meet the exploding demand for mobile data services, they are looking to drive profitability with value-added content and services. As part of the Cisco Service Exchange Framework (SEF), the Cisco Content Services Gateway 2nd Generation (CSG2) provides intelligent service control and enablement at the edge of the mobile internet.

The Cisco CSG2 platform delivers an industry-leading solution for mobile content billing, content filtering, service control, traffic analysis, and data mining in a highly scalable, fault-tolerant package. Used by mobile service providers around the world, the Cisco CSG2 system provides two major new functions that providers need to manage and monetize mobile content services:

* Dynamic mobile content examination and access control - which enables mobile service providers to meet the needs of customers for parental control, satisfy corporate usage policies, and comply with social and regulatory requirements; and

* Flexible, application-aware billing - which enables providers to offer differentiated charges for services by volume, duration, byte, event and other parameters.

The Cisco CSG2 platform is deployed on a next-generation Cisco 7600 line card provides enhanced processing power and memory capacity. A single Cisco CSG2 system can simultaneously manage several hundreds of thousands of active mobile users, process more than a million concurrent sessions per second, and manage several gigabits per second of bandwidth.

The Cisco CSG2 platform is the ideal content billing solution for providers seeking to apply advanced processing of IP flows through dynamic application-layer content examination, subscriber service access control, subscriber account balance enforcement, and content filtering. An important component of the SEF service control layer of the Cisco IP NGN architecture, the Cisco CSG2 system is an open platform that readily interfaces with the control elements in a mobile network, including multiple RANs, back-end billing systems, and content filtering and compression solutions.

“Mobility growth continues at a strong pace and Cisco’s new offers promise important benefits for operators,” said Ken Rehbehn, telecom infrastructure research director at Current Analysis. “Economics matter, and Cisco’s MToP delivers important efficiencies made possible by new Circuit over Packet technologies while the company’s enhanced CSG platform helps operators leverage new billing models to wrest more revenue from new data services.”

Product Pricing and Availability

The Cisco MToP circuit emulation SPAs are available starting in March 2007 at $20,000 USD. The Cisco CSG2 platform is also available starting in March 2007 at a list price ranging from $55,000 to $245,000 USD depending on the level of functionality needed.

For more information on Cisco MToP and CSG2 systems, visit Cisco booth B46 in Hall 8 at the 3GSM World Congress (Feb. 12-15, 2007) in Barcelona, Spain, or click the following URL: www.cisco.com/go/mobile.
About Cisco Systems
Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

# # #

Cisco, the Cisco logo, Cisco Systems, and the Cisco Systems logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. This document is Cisco Public Information.



WebWireID27232





This news content was configured by WebWire editorial staff. Linking is permitted.

News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.