Insure for the Best

Phone and Internet subscriber base is burgeoning day by day, thanks to the
cut-throat competition among cell phone service providers and Internet service
providers. India has become the second country after China to cross the 500 mn
subscribers mark. With the addition of 15.23 mn new wireless and wireline
subscribers in September 2009, India touched 509 mn subscribers (mobile
subscription 471.7 mn, wireline 37.3 mn). By December, the industry achieved yet
another milestone of 500 mn subscribers in the mobile phone services alone, as
the growth was driven by drastic tariff reduction by service providers. The
ongoing year will be a challenging year for SPs and ISPs as they will be forced
to focus on providing more services and improving QoS to increase ARPU. So they
have no other choice but to upgrade or expand network infrastructure, and to
increase their spend on T&M solutions to improve the network quality and ensure
QoS to customers.

Technology Trends

The increased impact of air interface with new technologies like mobile,
WiMax, LTE, etc, may move the focus from 'wireline interfaces' to 'wireless'. We
start to see cases of hybrid solutions based on the concurrent presence of both
monitoring systems and protocol analyzers together. Also we witness an increased
velocity of definition and deployment of new UMTS releases, apart from HSPA and
LTE deployments. The deployment and development of 3G and LTE has triggered the
application of IMA, carrier Ethernet technology, and the emerging IEEE-1588 and
synchronous Ethernet technology in mobile backhaul. Large scale deployments of
communication technologies now require large scale emulation. More sophisticated
service provider networks require advanced, economical monitoring solutions.

IPTV deployments are becoming feature-rich to compete with each other. T&M
tools are needed to emulate these features. There has been a huge shift to IP
based traffic in the telecom industry. Unlike voice, IP based traffic is more
easily measurable in terms of QoS, and the focus of operators is turning more
towards effective delivery of data applications that support business-critical
enterprise applications. Voice too is becoming more IP enabled. All these trends
are causing the telecom industry to focus more on end user experience, and
therefore on T&M technologies that help instrument the network from the end user
experience management perspective. Sophisticated application delivery
controllers require more QoS/QoE sensitive traffic.

The evolution in data center Ethernet (DCE) creates more new test
requirements like lossless Ethernet testing, high-density 10 Gigabit testing,
SAN/LAN integrated infrastructure testing, virtualization testing, green or
energy efficiency testing, etc. There are high demands for realism and higher
performance in application and security testing. The industry is also witnessing
a focus on the differentiation of UMTS and CDMA mobile terminal testing, and
provide end to end solution.

The growth of bandwidth intensive applications such as video on demand, iSCSI,
FCoE, high-performance computing, business continuity, and virtualization
continue to push the limits of the current infrastructure. Thus, the need for
'life after 40' solution will increase demanding 40G/100G test solutions.

For those developing the next generation of Ethernet networks, performance,
reliability and time-to-market are critical to success. A test platform that
supports both new and legacy technology is essential to contain costs while
accelerating development.

LTE promises higher data rates, better service quality, lower operational
costs and more. The success of the early major LTE deployments is critical. The
move from the existing technologies to LTE represents the wireless world's most
significant evolutionary step, since the introduction of cellular services. New,
complex modulation schemes (OFDMA, SC-FDMA), multi-antenna techniques (MIMO) and
a new, all IP flat network architecture are all being rolled out simultaneously.
The resulting increase in complexity presents major challenges when configuring
and validating the performance of LTE implementations. Moreover, many operators
plan to deploy LTE in newly available spectrum bands, such as 700 MHz in the US.
While these bands are desirable in many ways, they also bring their own
significant challenges and pitfalls.

Almost all Indian network operators are transitioning from circuit switched
core to flexible, scalable and resilient core based on IP protocols. SPs are
creating the LAB environment for POC testing of devices to enable this core and
to deploy rigorously tested high availability solutions. So most of the carriers
are planning to migrate to IMS access technology in the near future.

Highly scalable networks to support large number of phone subscribers have
many challenges in meeting the QoS and QoE requirements. It is challenging to
have the network that meets the QoS and QoE under all the loading conditions and
any volume of network traffic. Under these conditions, self-healing optical
network with extremely high grade of services are required.

Data from the network can now be turned more easily into reliable, actionable
information, allowing faster resolution of performances issues and a better use
of network and workforce resources. Real-time, signaling-based geo-localization
of network issues is one example of what can be delivered by advanced T&M
solutions.

The intelligence of the network with 3G is moving to the edge and this trend
will be even more significant with LTE, requiring a critical approach to T&M
strategies as opposed to former 2G network troubleshooting and optimization
techniques. Experienced T&M partners will be able to guide operators and
equipment vendors in making the right investments and decisions in order to
maximize returns on T&M investments, both in terms of increased performance and
reduced costs of operation.

Realism and QoE testing is one of the latest trends in the T&M space. Realism
means real user behavior which include wide range of stateful user behavior,
both benign and malicious. It also encompasses real converged traffic including
line-rate, fully-emulated, stateful traffic across hundreds of ports. Apart from
the above two, it also represents real network conditions.

With the evolution to intelligent content aware networks, service providers
and network equipment manufacturers need to furnish tools and functions to plan,
measure, monitor, and assure evolving traffic patterns, new services, and
optimized application performance. This is not an easy task; it means that
increasing port density or adding new protocols is necessary but clearly not
sufficient for test engineers. What's required is a realistic network
environment representing end-to-end complex conditions of next gen IP networks
including aspects such as scalability and performance.

Traditionally, test solutions focused on a single dimension of either port
density or layer 2-3 network emulation or layer 4-7 application performance. As
a result, customer's initial investment was limited only to a specific test in
the development cycle. As network elements and services become more
sophisticated, they require testing beyond layer 2-3 considerations of
throughput, latency and loss to include QoE measurements (layer 4-7).

There are solutions available with an innovative multi-core architecture that
addresses port density as well as the critical aspect of realism required to
ensure quality of experience (QoE) for new services helping to maximize RoI and
TCO throughout the test lifecycle.

In the wireless technology arena, new demands are related to the availability
of solutions that are able to cope with the increased importance and complexity
of the UTRAN (3G access). Particularly, the ability to monitor and troubleshoot
the IuB interface is demanded in a T&M solutions. Reliability of solutions for
network optimization to reduce costs of operation and improve QoS have become
the baseline of any solution.

Enterprises demand the availability of geo-localization applications that are
able to map network issues and performances on the most common mapping tools for
faster and more accurate resolution of network problems, and the possibility to
access a pre-define library of KPIs as well as the ability to easily create
customer-specific KPIs.

In the fixed technology arena, the main demand is that of running legacy and
NGN test scenario with a single powerful platform, allowing to increase
productivity of development teams and cut the time to market of the new core
network products.

Choose Your Quality

Considering some important criteria by SPs, equipment vendors, and others to
choose the right and reliable T&M solutions is essential to maintain the network
quality. T&M solution by enterprises should have the ability to do true
subscriber modeling. It is to match the expected usage patterns of users for
voice, video, and data. The solution should be able to track and measure QoS
adherence and QoE (for example, meet latency demands of voice and video
traffic). Scaling beyond the capacity of the devices and network being tested is
yet another important criteria to be considered. It will facilitate test
admission control and QoS handling at line rate.

End users are ready to switch to a different service provider once the level
of satisfaction in terms of quality, price, or both is below a certain
threshold. With the increased competition and the new level of services that can
be offered by new technologies, this threshold can be at a level which is
dramatically lower than what was in the past. Therefore, while choosing T&M
solutions, enterprises should look for those partners and those solutions which
allow you to achieve the best performances and the best QoS and QoE without
having to increase the cost of operations, so that both the levers (quality and
price) can be under control. The right T&M partner can also grant a more
comprehensive relationship, offering not only tools, but also a true pass of
expertise to the workforce, reducing technology and business risks related to
the roll out of new architecture or new services.

T&M focus should be on end user experience of services. While other aspects
of service offerings can easily be imitated and responded by competition, it
takes solid processes and tools to support such processes that deliver
consistent and good end user experience of the services. To support such
processes, operators should adopt concurrent proactive monitoring and reactive
troubleshooting tools that enhance the processes ability to deliver consistent
QoS.

C-level executives need to appreciate the opex savings that can result from
an early testing. Problems found in the lab can cost 1/1000th of the cost of
fixing them in the field. Early and frequent testing can bring reliable products
and services to market, preventing customer churn. When choosing a T&M solution,
they should consider the set of technologies that they offer today and will
offer in the future, and choose a vendor with a proven track record for
development and scale.

QoS is becoming just a first step towards a more comprehensive QoE approach.
Equipment vendors and operators should now look for solutions not only to
measure indicators of network performances and QoS from a network perspective,
but also to create and measure a set of indicators that represent the true
experience from an end user perspective and eventually correlate these with the
network KPIs. Also, in a multi-vendor network environment, which is more and
more frequent among all TLC operators around the world, a third party solution,
not based on data coming from proprietary OSS feeds are the only viable and
reliable solution.

Moreover, QoS and QoE can be improved with the new T&M solutions without
having to increase the costs of operation. In particular, the right decision on
the tools used to control and improve QoS will be able to help operators to
optimize the use of their resources, delivering better performances, avoiding
areas of waste and in many cases reduce the overall burden on practices and
tools that are no longer accurate and useful in the new 3G environment. For
example, the extensive use of drive test based tools will not be useful at all
in 3G networks as the 'dynamic' behavior of the radio access in 3G cannot be
addressed with the inadequate sampling model provided by DT campaigns.

One of the challenges that ISPs or SPs have in choosing T&M vendors is the
choice of variety of test support in the products and the intensity of
technology support in them. Considering this, operators need to take mixed
approach in there measurement solutions build-up. There are groups to do the
basic installation and testing and other groups to do the detail troubleshooting
in the network and the testers are procured accordingly. Anticipating the need
for the number of testers, training engineers to use these testers and using
them to their fullest capability are some of the challenges that operators face
nowadays.

There is a drive to improve the cost of operations at the top, and
standardizing on a reliable vendor partner is one way where both the parties
stand to gain. This is true even for test and measurement. While choosing a T&M
solution or partner, enterprises need to consider the T&M vendor's focus and
competency regarding commitment towards offering innovative and cost-effective
solutions, and vendor's local capability regarding sales, support, repair, and
calibration. Apart from these considerations, vendor's product offerings,
roadmap, and warranty need to be considered. Product's interoperability and
scalability are essential to be taken into account. Vendors also need to work
closely with the standard bodies like WiMAX Forum, LTE and 3GPP to help
enterprises at the forefront of new technologies. Scalability has become an
important consideration in this area. This scalability can be at many levels and
one of the scalability is on the bandwidth front. For example, the ability to
test from 10 Mbps Ethernet all the way up to 10 Gbps forms an important aspect
to be considered. Another level of scalability can be in terms of the number of
services or the granularity per interface. Third level of scalability that needs
to be kept in mind is the ability to simulate a large network.

Insure for Quality

In order to maintain the QoS and QoE, SPS, ISPs, and other telecom equipment
users in India need to invest sufficiently. There is no doubt that the industry
spends a huge amount of money for improving services. However, most of the time
the industry ends up spending for managing uptime issues and not on improving
the overall end user experience. Companies probably need to spend more than the
present rate for improving the quality of services compared to a developed
telecom market. In a developed telecom market, quality is the #1 focus and
priority. Whereas in a growing market like India, it is the infrastructure that
gets the #1 focus and priority.

Compared to developed markets, Indian manufacturers and service providers
spend less money on T&M. This is due to various factors, including outsourcing
of testing services. There has been no requirement to guarantee QoS, resulting
in straightforward service offerings that do not stress voice and video over
data. Over a period of time, companies would increase their spending for
improving the QoS to foster customer satisfaction and retain customers.

Challenges

SPS, ISPs, and other telecom equipment users find some major challenges in
adopting T&M solutions available in the market. Rapidly changing technology
means that quality assurance departments need to learn and test new
technologies. New technologies are often in flux with maturing specifications.
SPs require more test ports with new, large devices as the usage of a network
expands. Technologies like Carrier Ethernet and 3G/LTE are changing the dynamics
of the telecom industry. More and more Internet subscribers are adopting mobile
broadband and this throws up new challenges in delivering and managing these
services. The networks these days are deploying a lot of technologies in the
same network than a few years back. Testing these heterogeneous networks for the
integration aspect is one of the major challenges in the next generation
networks.

Lot of applications are sensitive to EMI/EMC issues and also many governments
around the world enforce strict electromagnetic emission norms in their
countries. Passing these government tests require thorough testing and
measurement of electromagnetic radiation.

ITU and IEEE release standards for a lot of technologies and interfaces.
While it is easier for a single vendor's products to work together, but
inter-interoperability between different vendors require strict compliance to
these standards. So every time a service provider inducts a new equipment into
his/her network, he/she needs to test it thoroughly for compliance to these
standards. Forums like MEF are standardizing the services offered by service
providers and supported by vendors. These require testing capabilities for these
standardized services like EPLine, EPLan and Etree.

T&M companies also need to educate customers about different offerings, and
how they can help customers improve quality and increase revenue which will fuel
the T&M market growth. In some cases, the migration from 2G to 3G may catch
service providers unready in terms of availability of the necessary skills
needed to run a completely new and different type of network and to provide a
completely new and different set of services to their end users. The example is
the explosion of data traffic due to the rapid success of iPhone and of the mass
adoption of flat—rate mobile broadband packages. The main challenge therefore is
to understand that what worked well in the past will be inadequate to solve the
T&M needs; and new tools and perhaps a whole new T&M strategy needs to be
deployed to win the game.

Growth Drivers

The growth of the T&M market will be driven by increased demand for protocol
analysis based network optimization solutions for service providers. This will
be dictated by the progressive inadequacy of drive test data because of the new
radio network environment including MIMO and beamforming that cannot be analyzed
by sampling campaigns, but need almost a continuous monitoring approach in order
to capture the rapid variance in the network. Increased complexity of the
wireless network scenario with co-existence of multiple technologies is driving
the need for interoperability and inter-working tests; and thus driving the need
for test and measurement solutions in the networking domain. Increased
complexity in the end user services and the significant ramp-up of data traffic
require innovative test solutions from vendors. Expanded wireless deployments,
expanded broadband usage, more IPTV usage, and more VoIP and VVoIP applications
will drive the testing solutions requirements in the Indian market.

Apart from 3G and WiMax adoption by service providers and users, rapid
evolution of wireless communication standards moving to 3.5G and 4G. 3G will
happen in a big way in 2010-2012 in most major markets around the world.
Existing as well as new service providers would launch their 3G services once 3G
spectrum auction is done for private operators. Already the state-run operator
BSNL and MTNL have launched 3G services in about 760 cities in various states
with a planned investment of Rs 2,700 crore for 3G services alone. 3G launches
by service provider involves upgrading the existing infrastructure and deploying
new technologies and new equipments. This can be for the radio networks, mobile
devices, microwave backhaul, and transport technologies. So, the demand for T&M
solutions catering to this market is expected to be very strong in the next
couple of years.

Kannan K

kannan@cybermedia.co.in