From AT&T’s alleged network performance problems caused by the surge of new mobile data users to the concern over prioritization on the Internet, the growth of data traffic has driven network performance back to the top of the business metrics for both wireless and wireline service providers.
It will likely stay there for a long time. The growth of mobile data, for instance, has only just begun. Almost half (47 percent) of all smart phone Web traffic comes form an Apple device. iPhone users drive 3 percent of global mobile data traffic despite accounting for only 1.3 percent of the mobile devices in use, according to Tektronix Communications.
In response, or in anticipation, Richardson, Texas-based Tektronix this week introduced a suite of network intelligence products for performance monitoring that collect, correlate and analyze media and signaling data from next-generation IP telecommunication networks and turn in into actionable information that drives better operational and business results.
The Iris suite of products consists of the GeoProbe G10, a new high-speed 10GE probe, three new analyzer applications, and a common platform that provides an integrated framework for current and future applications.
Mark Driedger, vice president and general manager of Network Management at Tektronix, said the rapid growth in data traffic has caught many operators by surprise and is forcing them to rethink their network, OSS and BSS management strategies. “Carriers want more than just a test platform, they want something they can build on for the future,” he said.
There is a mismatch however between the growth data traffic and grow in related revenue, according to recent data by the UMTS Forum and several industry analysts. Driedger said it will take concerted effort to extract revenue from data usage by tying it to a quality customer experience using tools that not only create the actionable information mentioned above, but deliver it to various departments, including network operations, network engineering, customer care and product planning.
