Preparing the Back Office for 4G

Sanjay Mewada, vice president of strategy at NetCracker Technology, agrees that 4G networks will require a quantum jump in the amount of bandwidth being pumped on the mobile network all the way to the handset. However, he is more emphatic about the need for a complete network overhaul. "The entire network has to be rebuilt. It doesn't need a face lift, nor Botox, but a complete upgrade from the radio access backhaul (which has to be converged to all IP) and possibly to the core network, based on how much fiber an operator has in place," he said.

High-speed video and integrated service offerings also will require the building of high capacity data centers to store and stream content. They also will require partner gateways and integrated portals to source content as well as smart devices that can handle bandwidth and applications. Thus the OSS challenges become obvious.

First, support systems must manage both network and IT domains, where currently they essentially manage and model networks at Layer 3 and below, Mewada said. "They typically do not have the capacity to model and manage server farms, data centers, storage and hosted environments which are typically at Layer 4 and above."

Managing at Layer 3, which Mewada said NetCracker has been doing for service providers and the government for years, enables service providers to provision services from a single platform and supports service optimization as well as both service and network assurance.

Service optimization demands an OSS that can manage two simiultaneous challenges: capacity planning/optimization and the all-IP, non-deterministic nature of 4G — and it needs to do it in real time on an end-to-end basis.

When it comes to service and network assurance, Mewada said, "The applications that will be riding on 4G will be very sensitive to degradation. Assuring the quality of the network and the service experience will be key. This is a big gap currently due to lack of meaningful solutions on the market. Of all the areas, service assurance for 4G is probably lagging the most."