Service Providers are proactively implementing initiatives to improve their ability to compete, generating new services in a cost effective manner.

Partnering for Change

By H. Derrey, R. Daghigh, A. Henrotte, H. Kurscheidt
How to control risk, ensure performance and benet from the best practice of other operators, when performing a Network Transformation.
Alcatel-Lucents regional IP Transformation Centers take the uncertainty out of network transformation, allowing service providers to live-test new systems and services before deployment.
Letter from our CMO, John Giere. 85

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transformation technologies

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introduction
Staying Ahead of the Competition Requires Acuity

By M. Lapierre

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Enriching Communications. We hope you nd our new quarterly publication reective of the new Alcatel-Lucent with a focus on innovation and strategies for the industrys Competitive Transformation in the 21st Century. Telecom service providers must transform themselves to deliver new, network based, personalized and blended services that are highly valued by enterprises and consumers in order to survive in todays hyper-competitive marketplace. This is true in both mature and fast growing economies where leading providers recognize the need to change their business model from subscription to service-based, and business focus from technology to end-user. They understand the need to fully leverage their key assets, and especially their network to maximize their competitive advantage. Competitive Transformation is a customized path to protable growth through fundamental changes to network, services and business models in order to deliver more valuable user-centric services. The Alcatel-Lucent Acuity Transformation Framework, the industrys rst global transformation framework, has been developed to help our customers effectively achieve Competitive Transformation. The Acuity Transformation Framework bridges the gap between todays networks and an enhanced communication experience, providing the personalized services blending, Quality of Experience, and agility expected by end users: a exibility that todays network and service delivery silos are challenged to deliver. Driving the Adoption Curve examines market trends identied through our primary market research and explains what kind of consumer and enterprise blended services will propel the transformation. Jane Zweig, CEO of the Shosteck Group shares her view of this market dynamic in her column Whos Transforming Whom? The Acuity Transformation Framework is divided into three fundamental parts, as further explored in Service Providers Competitive Response: Network, Services and Business Transformation. In addition, it provides competitive new solutions that address business diversication in Content, Advertisement sponsoring and more.

Barbara Krasner is Director, Customer Advocacy Marketing, Alcatel-Lucent CMO, Whippany, NJ, USA. Email: bkhait@alcatel-lucent.com Constanza Torres, responsible for the referenced primary market research, is Senior Manager, Strategic Marketing, Alcatel-Lucent CMO, Murray Hill, NJ, USA. Email: connietorres@alcatel-lucent.com
k competitive transformation

Telstras New World Order

Telstra has embarked on a three-to-ve year transformation that will turn the companys 1-click, 1-touch, 1-button, 1-screen, 1-step vision into a reality.

Introduction

Sol Trujillo, CEO of Telstra, recently said if you put a sign up in front of Telstra today, youd see a sign that says under construction, because a new Telstra is emerging.1 This paper offers a unique perspective on the network transformation that is unfolding behind the Under Construction sign. It also considers the motivations that underpin the transformation strategy, and presents some of the key elements on which that transformation depends. Above all, it provides a glimpse of the new Telstra that is emerging and an insight into the tangible benets that will accrue once the transformation is complete.
A visionary transformation
uptake, is predicted to increase from 6% in 2005 to 33% in 2010.4 This picture of the future was dened by much more broadband; much more mobility; and a much leaner and more exible network infrastructure, capable of supporting new broadband applications and services. Summarizing these developments, Dan Burns, Telstras Executive Managing Director for Network & Technology, commented: These upgrades are important for future-proong our network over the next ve to ten years. We will be in a solid position to provide customers with access to offerings such as high-speed Internet, telecommuting, videoconferencing and video delivery of services in general all key components of Telstras transformation. Once complete, Telstras new wireline IP core network will support 77 times greater capacity than the legacy network it replaces. It will provide users with more reliable and stable media and telephony services, and expand dramatically the number and range of services any individual customer can use.5 In approaching this complex, nextgeneration network transformation program, Telstra chose to work with only a select number of key partners of which Alcatel-Lucent was one. Sol Trujillo, CEO of Telstra, explained the rationale behind the strategy. We are building partnerships with vendors. We have decided on a strategy where were going to focus on strategic partners not 1,000 partners but just a few, because were about speed, were about efciency and were about cost. 6 Such a partnering strategy is increasing in popularity among carriers transforming their networks, because of a recognition that the traditional method of tendering for every network element and managing a wide variety of vendors is counterproductive, and only serves to increase complexity and expense when considering such a massive change to the network infrastructure. Similar to AT&T and Telefnica, Telstra is using a concerted strategy to achieve economies of scale and purchasing power. Summarizing this

1-click, 1-touch, 1-button, 1-screen, 1-step is the expression Telstra developed to articulate a vision of the future towards which it is rapidly moving. Within this simple phrase, Telstra encapsulated a comprehensive strategy that would ensure the companys future growth and meet the demands of customers who expect a new service experience. What it implied was a wholesale overhaul of the companys network, from a complex set of discrete elements to a more unitary IP-based infrastructure that could support new services and be more efciently managed. Given the extent of this network transformation, it might at rst seem that the company could have more accurately completed the expression of its vision by adding the words one network. The fact that it didnt, however, speaks to a fundamental shift in the companys strategic direction, from a focus on its network to a more customer-centric focus that favors those using its services.

New market realities

The story of aging networks out of synch with new customer demands and market realities is well known, and Telstras chapter in that story in many ways reads no differently than those of other incumbent operators around the world AT&T, Telefnica, etc. Common to all these service providers is the challenge they face that stems directly from changes to the macroeconomic environment in which they operate, which was characterized by new competition from both new carriers and also from non-traditional sources. The only way forward was for the company to set aggressive targets such as reducing the number of different network platforms from about 330 (as at November 2005) by 60% within three years, and the number of business and operational support systems from about 1,200 (as at November 2005) by 75% in three years.2 These targets can be mapped to the broader trends occurring in the Australian telecommunications market: xed broadband subscribers in Australia increased by 34% in the six months from June to December 2005,3 and the penetration of home networks in Australia, a key indicator of broadband applications
1 The New Telstra: A Transformation Story: Sol Trujillo, Chief Executive Ofcer, Telstra Corporation Limited, Address to the National Press Club in Canberra, 29 June 2006. 2 Source: Telstras strategy for growth media release, dated 15 November 2005. 3 Telstra also reported a full-year number on 10 August 2006 total broadband (retail + wholesale) was up 66.5% for the 05/06 period.
4 IDC Australia, May 2006. 5 The New Telstra, On the Move: A Progress Report on Telstras Network Transformation, Telstra document, 10 July 2006. 6 The New Telstra: A Transformation Story: Sol Trujillo, Chief Executive Ofcer, Telstra Corporation Limited, Address to the National Press Club, Canberra, 29 June 2006.

Table 1 illustrates the transformation program announcements and timelines of several Tier 1 service providers. Most transformation programs are multi-year endeavors, extending over anything from ve to nine years. Alcatel-Lucent is the service providers strategic partner of choice in several large transformation programs, including AT&T, Telstra, TNZ and KPN. In this role, Alcatel-Lucent offers worldwide program experience, business consulting and an end-to-end network integration expertise perspective, and is accountable to deliver the promised goals within the time-to-market constraints.
Building blocks of transformation
The four key areas of investment in transformation are related to: access architecture; core networking; applications; and professional services. Half of the Telcos cumulative transformation CAPEX is allocated to civil works and customer premises equipment such as set-top boxes (STB), residential gateways (RGW), and next-generation handsets. The following sections describe the major building blocks of a transformation initiative.
Access and Core architecture
Broadband deployment is the common thread across all xed network operators. Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) and ADSL represent a strong component of network transformation,
Table 2: Operators new service plans driving transformation
In xed and mobile access and core modernization, serviceaware aggregation routers and data-aware optical networks have become the preferred aggregation technologies. The serviceaware capability of Alcatel-Lucents service routers has triggered the sharp increase in Alcatel-Lucents share in this market. Mobile operators, who started their network and service transformation later than their xed colleagues, are dedicating CAPEX to rationalizing backhaul, and are gradually shifting to an all-IP core, which includes the migration of their mobile core to an NGN. Once again, service routers and the NGN are used as the unifying agents of transformation.
Applications and associated control architecture
Table 2 summarizes a number of SP announcements with respect to control plane architecture and applications. BT and KPN are the only operators to announce a denite date for PSTN switch-off. Most operators deploy an overlay NGN/IMS control plane, while simultaneously freezing or reducing TDM investments and migrating customers to the new control plane infrastructure. Incidentally, KPN is one of the rst operators to choose an aggressive cannibalization migration strategy, where they repurpose their existing TDM voice lines for VoIP service. Most Tier 1 carriers seem to agree that IMS is the preferred communication service control plane design. Yet for most operators, the adoption of IMS is only gradual. AT&T, FT, KPN and Cingular are at the forefront of full-scale IMS network deployment. Alcatel-Lucent has market leadership in IMS architecture, which xed and mobile operators view as the starting point for converged multimedia communication services. It preserves value in the network, and provides an efcient framework for service time-to-market, in contrast to the end-to-end Internet service model utilized by Internet competitors. IMS provides network capabilities that enable personalized service delivery with Quality of Service guarantees that can be differentiating assets for telecom operators.

Proven ability to integrate end-toend solutions (network + applications + OSS); Experience and capability in customer service migrations: end-to-end methods and procedures, migration tools.
As a consequence, a holistic approach, as illustrated in Figure 1, is essential to realize the full benets of transformation. Yet IP Transformation projects are highly complex projects, involving many business and technical challenges:
The introduction of new services requires service providers to quickly develop new IP skills and capabilities; The decommissioning of legacy platforms and associated IT platforms is often slowed down by challenging customer migration processes; OPEX3 saving targets can only be reached if operational processes are totally reengineered to fully leverage the new all-IP environment.
One strategy to overcome the inherent transformation risks is for service providers to select a partner with:
By offering innovative Triple Play and IPTV services to our customers while driving down the operational costs of the company, Wind is strengthening its competitive position in the Italian marketplace. Our partnership with Alcatel-Lucent is a signicant element of our ongoing network transformation strategy to IP-based technologies
Jere Calmes, Chief Operating Ofcer, Wind
Advanced IP technology R&D across multiple platforms to ensure equipment interoperability;
3 Operational Expenditure
Figure 2: Pre-integrated Triple Play solution
Alcatel-Lucent has close strategic relationships with major service providers undergoing IP transformation, such as Telecom New Zealand, AT&T (USA), KPN (The Netherlands), Wind (Italy) and Telstra (Australia). These customers are taking advantage of Alcatel-Lucents pre-integrated solutions to reduce time-to-market and cost.
Wind, a full-service provider (xed and mobile) in Italy, recently decided to implement a Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) project, and to invest in a state-of-the-art IP network to deliver IPTV services, Video on Demand, personal TV, high-speed Internet access and VoIP. Alcatel-Lucent was selected to deploy a turnkey, end-to-end Triple Play solution and is responsible for: Network infrastructure: access, NGN voice, Ethernet aggregation, OSS; End-to-end design and integration; Program management including roll-out of LLU sites; Management of all third parties, including Microsoft (IPTV middleware).

TELSTRA

With a project so technically complex and challenging, the Integration Lab that we have built with Alcatel-Lucent gives us the condence that, as we move forward with our network transformation, we will be deploying proven, end-to-end solutions. Together with our partners, we will use the lab to maintain a highquality service experience for our customers at all times.
Greg Winn, Chief Operating Ofcer, Telstra

Bandwidth scaling

Congestion avoidance
One of the key challenges for operators is to build an infrastructure that is optimized for todays offering and can scale for future needs. The most apparent change brought by Triple Play, in particular due to the video component, is the massive increase in bandwidth to be aggregated and transported in the network. To support video services, the architecture must be optimized for sustained high-bandwidth demand, and it must scale cost-effectively from a basic broadcast TV service offering to a mass-market uptake of Video on Demand (VoD) and Internet video. This gives operators the opportunity to right-size their investment over time to optimize their capital expenditure (CAPEX) investment as their networks evolve. Todays predominant mode of video service is Broadcast TV (BTV). TPSDA incorporates the exibility to optimize for BTV service now, and still scale bandwidth levels to support a full unicast model such as VoD and network-based Personal Video Recording (nPVR) at high concurrency levels. BTV is optimized by implementing multicast packet replication and IGMP proxy multicasting in the BSAN, the BSA, the BSR and the optical layer. Multicasting increases the efciency of the network by reducing the bandwidth and ber requirements for delivering broadcast channels to the subscriber. As video services mature, a higher percentage of unicast trafc will ow into the network, creating a greater bandwidth demand. TPSDA can efciently scale to offer the required capacity, while always being able to give priority to the premium services (IPTV) over other video services (Internet video) in case of congestion:
Assuring Quality of Experience for video is not just a matter of provisioning bandwidth capacity. Proper network dimensioning is essential, but not sufcient. A comprehensive approach to congestion avoidance is also needed to meet service quality, availability and cost objectives. In particular, service admission control can be a useful complement to other quality assurance mechanisms to preserve service sessions in progress against the risk of quality degradation due to a network overload (e.g., extreme demand peaks or multiple link failures). In general, admission control only applies to session-oriented services requiring deterministic QoS and bandwidth guarantees to function properly (streaming video and real-time communications over IP). Alcatel-Lucents TPSDA supports both multicast service admission control (i.e., Broadcast TV) and unicast service admission control (e.g., VoD and streaming IP multimedia). A centralized policy control mechanism performs arbitration between service requests made by subscribers and available network resources, and guarantees service delivery when multiple services compete for the same bandwidth. Alcatel-Lucent deploys a centralized broadband policy server to support unied subscriber management and service delivery control for Triple Play. The policy-based authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) and service admission control1 functions are tightly integrated and centrally administered, to close the loop on service authorization based on the subscriber service prole and network resource availability.

For the operator, TPSDA enables the cost-effective and rapid introduction of new services to improve the bottom line, reduce time to revenue, and increase customer satisfaction, while providing full control over the quality of the services that are being delivered to the end users.
Lisa Ciangiulli is Senior Marketing Manager, Wireline Business Group, based in Murray Hill, NJ, USA. Email: lciangiulli@alcatel-lucent.com Roland Mestric is Director, Wireline Solution Marketing, Wireline Business Group, based in Villarceaux, France. Email: roland.mestric@alcatel-lucent.fr
For the end user, TPSDA provides a superior user experience. The scalability and high availability of TPSDA, combined with congestion avoidance mechanisms, effectively deliver a guaranteed Quality of Experience for individual subscribers anytime, anywhere.
By offering innovative Triple Play and IPTV services to our customers while driving down the operational costs of the company, Wind is strengthening its competitive position in the Italian marketplace. Our partnership with Alcatel-Lucent is a signicant element of our ongoing network transformation strategy to IP-based technologies.
On the Road to 3G and Beyond, Alcatel-Lucent Leads the Way
By S. Mukerjee, K. Steinert
With the broadest, most comprehensive wireless portfolio in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent helps operators transform their networks to support more advanced wireless services, and expand their service offerings into new areas.
In the wireless world, service providers, their customers and the vendors that support them are constantly looking toward the next-generation horizon, the services they will nd there, and the technologies that will enable these new services to ourish. In some markets, the next generation is third-generation or 3G, while in other markets operators are already looking toward 4G and beyond. Interestingly, for each operator the next-generation future will be distinct from those of their competitors, and will be dened by a variety of characteristics including business models, target customer sets, relationships with parent companies or partners, spectrum holdings, and a vast array of other factors. As importantly, the road to the next-generation future is different for each operator each has a different starting point and a different ultimate destination, and each road will almost certainly include a variety of stops and detours along the way. The simple truth is that there is no single path to the future of broadband wireless communications. Instead, what operators face is a continuous journey through an ever-changing landscape. What they need is a guide or at least a traveling companion who can help them navigate this landscape, select the best path, and ensure that their journey is a

An ideal guide on the road to 3G and beyond
Operators that partner with AlcatelLucent can count on having access to the most innovative wireless networking solutions the industry has to offer, regardless of the technology path they have chosen. The strength of our new portfolio goes beyond the combination of products to something much greater. For instance, we have shared technologies and techniques to install W-CDMA and WiMAX components into existing 2G base stations, called Multi-Standard Base Stations, to support complementary 2G, 3G and WiMAX solutions part of AlcatelLucents unique value proposition.
IP Key to Mobile Network Evolution As 3G networks become more widespread and mobile data services become increasingly popular, operators are seeing increasing demand for advanced mobile services such as mobile TV, IMS-based blended services, and a variety of mobile content offerings. These services are driving increases in mobile data trafc which are expected to accelerate over time. To address this demand, mobile networks are evolving rapidly, characterized by increasingly powerful radio access networks and multimedia-centric core network architectures. One of the key features of these new networks is their reliance on Internet Protocol (IP)-based radio access network (RAN) and core architectures, as well as converged transport networks that can ensure the quality of the end user experience for these advanced mobile services. One of the great benets of this approach is the ability to leverage the dramatic cost savings that IP/MPLS multi-service backbone networks offer. Additionally, operators are looking to drive IP capabilities closer and closer to the customer, ultimately leading to IP deployed end-to-end throughout the wireless network.
Alcatel-Lucents ability to drive the standardization and commercialization of new wireless technologies has grown considerably. We are now in an ideal position to drive the development of emerging wireless technologies such as LTE, Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), and further iterations of WiMAX that can help customers remain competitive. The combination of R&D organizations resulting from the merger and acquisition has provided deep pools of expertise in the development of common ATCA1-based platforms, advanced antenna technologies such as multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) and beam forming (a method used to modify signals in an array of multiple antennas to increase the power and quality of signals being directed at a particular mobile device), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) solutions, at-IP (where hierarchical layers in mobile networks are collapsed to remove network bottlenecks), software-dened radio and, of course, spread-spectrum technologies the basis for all 3G standards. In fact, many of the building blocks of tomorrows 4G networks are already being implemented in Alcatel-Lucents commercial 3G and WiMAX solutions today, such as intelligent antenna and beam forming capabilities in its CDMA portfolio, MIMO on its WiMAX platforms, and at-IP solutions in its W-CDMA portfolio with the BSR family of products.

users shows that VoIP Solutions is their number one preferred service, with Video Conferencing also ranking in their top 10 preferred services. Transport infrastructures are already evolving to support these new services, and extending these capabilities into the mobile realm looks like a foregone conclusion. These developments bring with them a host of challenges. 1xEV-DO Rev 0 based networks provide high-speed packet data, but are already experiencing the problems noted above, with network bottlenecks appearing as packet data usage grows. With the deployment of 1xEV-DO Rev A networks throughout 2007, the resulting higher speed radio capabilities on the network side will exacerbate these problems. When the initial 1xEV-DO standards were established, the benets and practicality of IP-based transport were not clearly understood. Today, however, the necessity to move to an endto-end IP scheme is increasingly evident with benets ranging from lower cost support for bandwidth-intensive applications to better end-to-end QoS support for latency-sensitive services. The 3GPP2 participants expect additional performance improvements (in latency and QoS) will be seen after attening the network and moving IP to the edge of the RAN, i.e. into the BTS. By using generic IETF 8 protocols (as opposed to 3GPP2 access specic technology) between the RAN 9 elements, co-existence of and interoperability between different air-interface technologies are facilitated. Such a network, based on IP interfaces and IMS services architecture, is the most cost-effective and scalable platform to deliver a wide range of IP-based applications.
Introducing IP into the RAN
The benets of IP from a transport/ backhaul perspective are fairly obvious. In fact, the various 1xEV-DO standards developed in 3GPP2 have always supported IP transport in the RAN, and now have been extended to encompass CDMA2000 1X as well. The choice of IP transport is strongly motivated by the high cost of T1 leased lines. Secondly, IP is already being adopted in other parts of the network and introducing IP for transport in the RAN unies the network on a single technology, reducing complexity and improving performance. There is also the additional potential for sharing network resources as other access technologies (WiMAX, DSL, etc.) adopt IP for transport.

The IMS Core and the RAN

8 Internet Engineering Task Force 9 Radio Access Network
The 3GPP2 context of introducing IP into the RAN can be viewed as essentially having two components. The rst is collapsing Layer 2 functions into the Base Station. The second is the extension of IP to the Base Station. The rst step is for the most part a pre-cursor to the second and can be seen as enabling the extension of native IP to the edge of the network. Moving the basic radio resource management functions, Layer 2 mobility management and the paging functions to the base stations avoids centralization (such as with 1xEV-DO & RNC equipped nodes) preventing these nodes from becoming bottlenecks. Mobility management itself is simplied by removing the one additional layer of mobility that exists in a 2-node (RNC-BTS) RAN. The need to distribute Layer 2 functions across base stations becomes even greater when deploying pico (smaller) cells where the numbers of such cells exceeds current macro-cells by at least an order of magnitude. Extending IP to the BTS, offers several advantages. Content may be located, hosted and cached at IP-aware base stations potentially avoiding the use of backhaul for providing some services. IP packets may be inspected at the point of the entry into the network to provide better QoS support. IP packet lters at the point of ingress (as opposed to deeper in the network) ensure that best effort data does not inadvertently preempt real-time trafc. From an over-the-air perspective, schedulers handling the downlink transmission to the mobile can use information in IP headers to ensure adequate QoS support.

NGN has been standardized since 3GPP Release 4. There is no change in the PS domain; but major changes are applied in the CS domain.
Figure 2: NGN mobile network architecture
12 HSI: High-Speed Internet 13 MGW: Media Gateway
14 UTRAN: UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network 15 TISPAN: Telecoms & Internet converged Services & Protocols for Advanced Networks
Figure 3: Packet-based backhaul network
Introducing IP in the RAN

IMS in the network

As an alternative to ATM transport, 3GPP specied IP transport in UTRAN14 Release 5. Among the main drivers for this evolution are:
High cost of leased lines; ATM-based ADSL xed networks are migrating towards IP/Ethernet transport; The foreseeable increase in bandwidth demands makes the 2 Mbit/s granularity of ATM transport bandwidth very restrictive; Mobile core networks have already begun to migrate towards an IP-based approach. The introduction of IP in the RAN enables transport technology convergence; New technologies (e.g. WiMAX) are emerging. BTS, Node B and WiMAX BS could be collocated in some RAN sites, making shared and exible transmission more and more interesting.
In its Release 5, 3GPP extended the NGN concept, by specifying IMS over the PS domain. By relying on a multiservice IP backbone, IMS enables the introduction of innovative multimedia services over mobile networks. In parallel, TISPAN15 proposes a similar initiative for xed networks. Since the whole network is IP aware, it becomes easier to ensure correct service differentiation from the application servers to the end user (or between two end users). Among the rst IMS applications proposed are Instant Messaging (enriched with presence information) and Push over Cellular. However, it is also generally accepted that the scenario observed in xed ADSL networks will be reproduced in mobile networks, i.e., more and more stringent real-time constraints will have to be supported in the network, to enable a massive deployment of VoIP or gaming (both of which imply very stringent constraints in terms of short delay and jitter). During the rst years of IMS deployment, 3G networks will propose these real-time services to a subset of users. Longer-term, when a majority of users is subscribed to
Alcatel-Lucent will provide IP transport in the 2007 versions of its BSS and UTRAN. These new nodes offer TDM+IP or ATM+IP mixed modes. This allows coping with mixed networks (i.e. those containing ATM areas and IP areas). Alcatel-Lucent provides solutions to migrate mobile access and backhaul networks towards packet-based networks, including various technologies such as microwave, DSL, IP/MPLS, Ethernet, satellite and optical. Ethernet-enabled RAN nodes can connect directly to the packet-based backhaul network. For TDM-only RAN nodes, trafc can be transported natively using multi-service platforms, or it can be transported over a packet-based backhaul network using pseudo wire technology, as illustrated in Figure 3.

IMS, it is foreseeable that some limitations of the current 3G networks will become apparent. Providing VoIP or gaming for everybody will become difcult with a good level of QoS as perceived by the end user. Massive use of VoD16 requires a lot of bandwidth over the radio segment, and HSDPA could be insufcient. Before providing a fully mature, real-time-enabled, broadband mobile network, structural changes are needed in the network. A atter architecture should allow the achievement of a futureproof network.
The ultimate mobile architecture evolution: LTE/SAE LTE in brief
Much lower latency: the latency radio budget is targeted to be below 10ms; hence very stringent real-time behavior is conceivable; Support of high-speed mobility between cells, up to 350 km/h; A SAE system has a full packet architecture. It is the rst 3GPP system without a CS domain. Communication services are provided over the IMS architecture. Very low end-to-end latency is targeted, for both user and control plane trafc. The number of nodes is reduced. This enables reduced latency, and also simplies IOT20, network management and future evolution. A SAE network supports mobility with legacy 2G/3G networks in the PS domain. Interworking with the legacy CS domain has to be supported. Thanks to a new Release 7 feature called VCC21, a voice call set up in IMS can continue in a legacy CS domain.

SAE in brief

The radio technology chosen for LTE networks is not merely an incremental improvement or modication of the WCDMA17 radio technology used in UMTS, but a new RAT18 based on OFDM19, similar to the radio technology used by WiMAX. The most important characteristics are:
The complexity of Diversity Combining/Soft Hand-Over (i.e., the same signal is sent to the mobile via two different cells) is abandoned, therefore the RNC is no longer required; Much higher throughput: Transmission bandwidth is up to 20 MHz (5MHz in UMTS); Targeted spectrum efciency is 5 bit/s/Hz for downlink, and 2.5bit/s/Hz for uplink; Consequently, the peak rates are 100 Mbit/s/cell for downlink and 50Mbit/s/cell for uplink.

The progressive introduction of IP technology in each part of the mobile network is a fundamental enabler, which allows some coherent and end-to-end solutions to be proposed in terms of data handling. Consequently, a set of new, IMS-based services can be offered to the end user. These new services will become more and more bandwidth hungry. The probable migration of voice service to the IP domain is a strong requirement for a low-latency and real-time-capable network. Alcatel-Lucent thinks that the LTE/SAE architecture is the best way to achieve future-proong, by correctly handling data trafc growth, bit rate increases, and the need for stringent real-time capabilities. The new RAT 26 will enable networks to go beyond current limitations in terms of bit rates. A reduced number of nodes will allow very low latency, making real-time services over the packet domain possible for everybody. The IMS environment will benet from these LTE/SAE evolutions. The parallelism between xed and mobile network evolution towards IP will lead to a necessary convergence between the two worlds. From an operators point of view, this will be the way to share some important parts of their infrastructures (service environment, IMS nodes, backbone, aggregation, etc.). From an end user point of view, it will provide the insurance that more or less independent of the type of access he will be able to enjoy the same range of services.
Jean-Marc Ballot is member of the CTO team of Alcatel-Lucents Convergence Business Group, Vlizy, France. Email: Jean-marc.ballot@alcatel-lucent.fr
References I. 3GPP TR 23.882: 3GPP System Architecture Evolution; Report on Technical Options and Conclusions. II. Jrome Brouet & Roland Mestric: Mobile Backhaul over Packet Network. III. Nicolas Drevon: IP Transport in UTRAN Global Feature Description.
26 RAT: Radio Access Technology
Redening Interpersonal Communication
By E. De Boer, L. Thibaut
Diversity and simplicity: two diverging end-user requirements which service providers must reconcile. IMS is the architecture designed to do so, joining agile service creation with QoS and security assurance.
The entry of new players into the person-to-person communication services market has induced many conicts of interest (Figure 1). All players want to own and keep subscribers. New entrants and incumbent service providers may deploy IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) in order to deliver or combine innovative services in new and exible ways (e.g. service blending) over different types of access networks. This article addresses the way incumbent xed, mobile or cable operators may leverage both IMS and existing assets, in order to respond to customer requirements for diversity and simplicity, while mitigating the threat of churn or revenue loss. This is one of the fundamentals of Service Transformation, as explained in the Service Providers Competitive Response article, and part of our Acuity Transformation Framework. Fixed telephony providers are faced with competition from Internet VoIP providers due to the high penetration of xed broadband access, mobile substitution and cable operators (country-specic). Terminal evolutions, including alternative Radio Access Technologies such as WiFi, and operating systems such as Linux, Windows Mobile, etc., open the way for other market players to enter the mobile service arena (Figure 2):

Figure 1: Conicts of interest between the different players
Hybrid phones (WiFi/2G-3G) offer an alternative connection to third-party operators for delivery of data and VoIP services using ADSL access, for example; Internet players such as Skype, Google-Talk and MSN may turn mobile operators into sole connectivity providers.
Skype, Google-Talk and the like, have become viable alternatives to legacy phone calls, at least for early adopters. Besides traditional voice services, Internet players offer ever richer services including presence, chat, video, etc. The risk for incumbent operators is that they might be sidelined into providing only emergency calls, or low-revenue back-up lines. Enterprises seem to be more sensitive to the potential issues (security, QoS, etc.) that Internet-based communications
Figure 2: Services reachable via hybrid (2G-3G) & WiFi terminals
present. They are interested in lowering the total costs of their communications, but have stringent requirements in order to eliminate any potential impact on their business. The opportunity for incumbents to address the new market competitors involves coupling new service creation with the comfort that only legacy assets can offer. The IMS architecture may enable them to offer security, Quality of Service (QoS) and integration with legacy networks/services in a way that is difcult for challengers to replicate. IMS services can for example, be extended to inter-work with non-IMS terminals or network services. Examples include deriving presence information from non-IMS terminals through legacy network elements (MSC, HLR/AAA); or new services that can be extended, such as instant messaging (IM) through SMS-IM inter-working. This is balanced by the requirement, as consumer research shows, that communication services remain comfortable and simple to use. A seamless experience is expected when moving from service to service and from access to access.
The demand for diversity and excitement