New kid on the operator block
21 Jun, 2007
Mobility for its own sake is no longer a key consideration for enterprises, meaning operators have to shift their focus from location-centric to increasingly user-centric service offerings. This requires a new perspective for many network operators who have traditionally taken technology as the solution rather than an enabler to delivering services to subscribers.
Alongside a boom in flexible working practices among businesses has appeared an increasing reliance on a wide range of different devices as tools for communication. Armed with the ability to access data and any communication services from anywhere, at any time, using any device on either a fixed or mobile network, users will quickly demand even more from converged communication.
Hunger pangs
For the operator this hunger for fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) raises new challenges, from dealing with multiple devices and concurrent service use by a single user at any time, to managing and maintaining networks that are no longer silo-based but interconnected and interdependent.
Operators are looking for systems that balance the cost of technology required to deliver converged services with returns on the investment already made in the network infrastructure.
The good news is that, rather than approaching converged services from an expensive hardware standpoint, operators now have the option to look at software-based solutions for converging services. This means that new, fully integrated and synchronised services can be easily integrated and quickly rolled-out to users, followed by upgrades and modifications as often as the operator chooses.
Licensing costs of software-based fixed-mobile convergence deployment are significantly lower than an outlay in new hardware, which can be considerable in markets where hardware is subsidised.
Moreover, a subscription model makes fixed-mobile convergence accessible to many different audiences across the subscriber base. Operators are able to keep the cost of offering new converged services to small and mid-market companies down by incrementally increasing the number of licences they subscribe to from the service provider. This makes it a more viable and attractive proposition to a wider range of business users.
Path to adoption
The path to adoption of mobile convergence stems from accommodating and building on existing user habits and needs when creating a common, open and secure architecture for all communications. Equally important is it to align software integration with existing business processes, which can't be achieved with today's network-centric solutions, where an open standards-based client server architecture is required.
However, operators striving to offer this level of convergence by extending their existing architecture to meet and integrate fixed, mobile and IP-based services face more fundamental infrastructure challenges.
Open standards and interfaces are central to convergence, creating a simple and cost effective basis for bringing voice, video, messaging, other multimedia and business applications seamlessly together. As the benefits of open standards in telecoms are realised, the move towards communications becoming an open, affordable multimedia application is fast gaining momentum.
In reality, most existing communication infrastructures are not ready for this evolution. Many service providers will not be able to manage accurate reporting and billing of these services or offer the ‘single number reach' across a range of end points for every individual user.
This can be for a number of reasons, whether because some requirements such as single identity simply cannot be achieved on existing technology, or the platform is built on proprietary standards, or development costs are prohibitively high for operators. Alternatively, they may find management and configuration is too complex across a patchwork of hardware infrastructures.
A software-based approach can bring these networks together in an easy to manage, maintain and control approach.
Reinventing the existing systems infrastructure with new software-based technologies and business models, rather than replacing entire network architectures, provides a viable solution for operators to deliver true fixed-mobile convergence to subscribers and business customers.
When integrating fixed-mobile convergence it is important to bear in mind how the service is delivered. It enables organisations to gain control of the communications services that they deliver, measure costs and truly empower their subscribers with access to centralised voice, data and multimedia services at any time, through any device, wherever they are.
Lars-Michaël Paqvalén, CEO and co-founder of Telepo
For general enquiries: info@telepo.com