Broadband World Forum 2012 Highlights

Broadband World Forum

16-18 October 2012 Amsterdam

www.alanquayle.com/blog

© 2012 Alan Quayle Business and Service Development

Structure

• Delivering the Olympics, Richard Cooper, BBC

o Good data points on OTT live TV consumption

• The Network in the Cloud and the Cloud in the Network? “IT Speed for NT”,

Bruno Jacobfeuerborn, Group CTO, DT

o Common theme on the Software Defined Network (SDN) though there was a lack of

clarity on what it actually does for an operator

• Creating an Intelligent, Cost-Optimized Edge Network, Axel Clauberg, VP IP

Architecture and Design, DT

o Overview of the Open Networking Foundation – the one to watch in the whole SDN

debate

• Mobile Big Data Analytics Today and Tomorrow, Von McConnell, Sprint

o Good overview, and highlights the gap in approach, that is focusing on external use

when the first step should be understanding the customer.

• Economically Gbps Broadband with DSL and WiFi, John Cioffi, Assia

o Great review of how to squeeze more bps from copper

o I also include a few additional slides on Vectoring, G.Fast and bonding, all technologies

to sweat the copper asset

Structure

• How Service Providers are Transforming Themselves, Craig Sprosts, Nominum

o Example of how to use the DNS (Domain Name System), an existing asset, for content

filtering, business intelligence, advertising, and lots of other apps DPI is supported to do

• Cloud Service Broker presentations from Korea Telecom and KPN

o Highlighting the market issues that define the cloud strategy an operator can adopt and need

for partnering (or aggressive M&A) in most western markets

• Home Gateway Initiative slides

o I remain perplexed at both the view of the world the HGI creates for itself and how detached

it appears from reality, there’s devices and service in the internet, only video may require

something in the middle (but it’s just the main STB)

• Defining the Smart Home, Hugh Bradlow, Telstra o Great taxonomy of the home network, but I struggle given the reality of my own

experience how an operator can deliver this beyond video as the anchor and a few

services reusing the capabilities used by the video service.

• FTTx Worldwide Panorama, IDATE o Great review of the state of FTTX deployment, and the challenge Europe faces (need

for operator consolidation)

• IMS deployment experiences, Tomas GrineviDius, TEO and Pieter Veenstra,

KPN o Great practical implementation examples on the need to focus using platforms to

improve customer experience in building services and using business intelligence

The BBC gave a keynote on their experiences in supporting the Olympics – massive live multi-screen OTT TV service. No network QoS was involved in

the delivery of this service!!!!

Overall video architecture. Online encoders were provided by Elemental.

User experience is defined by the video quality, adaptive bit rate essential to use the capacity available given the screen size / resolution / device – but no

more (else wasting resources).

This is a national OTT live TV service. Most of the use was for live TV viewing, which isn’t surprising given it’s a sports event.

Bulk of mobile stream are at 480 kbit/s, which for mobile devices gives a TV like experience, at peak use there is no shift to lower rates, showing they were

not hitting congestion problems.

Peak tablet use at bed time, and peak computer use at work. It will be interesting to see if as enterprises limit non-work related video access if this

shifts – perhaps smartphones will get a larger lift as most tablets are not mobile connected so would still be limited by the enterprise firewall.

A key theme for the conference was Software Defined Networks, that is virtualizing the network so changes can be made at the speed of IT rather than NT. The service provider’s business case for this investment remains

unclear beyond ‘its cool technology.’

Strategic implication was as everything is automated so should the network

DT’s keynote focused on SDN being one of its cornerstones

Axel took the vision and linked it closely to the motivations of the main SDN actors

Within the Data Center SDN is clear – automate to remove IT staff costs and commoditizes routers and switches by making it easier to migrate from Cisco

The Open Network Foundation is the one to watch as it has the main IT/web players involved.

The model is just like cloud computing using virtualization and automation. One implication is core network sharing, which I remain dubious about given core is a small cost compared to access. There is a claim about a new category of network start-ups –

but I think we’ll need to see such business models in the data center first.

Given the painfully slow move to SOA in the OSS, and the challenge in moving to real-time BSS. The leap to a real-time OSS appears a leap too far given the multi-vendor situation and slow pace of evolution, this would be a remarkable turn-around. Note

most of the OSS is dealing with access elements not routers.

OpenFlow allows the path of network packets through the network of switches to be determined by software running on multiple routers. I think of it as a way for all the non-Cisco router and switch vendors to help customers (mainly data centers) migrate

to multi-vendor network hardware rather than Cisco-only.

The focus of SDN is the core network. The most expensive part, the access is unaffected, so the solution is not end-to-end. The concept of wireless SON (Self Organizing Networks) was also folded into some

presentations. But its clear the hype has raced passed the practical implementation issues. I think we’ll see the first application in enterprise cloud services that run over carrier Ethernet that is also cloud

enabled. That is cloud aware fat pipe connected directly to the carrier’s cloud.

One of the few presentations that delved into what Big Data really means to Telcos, rather than simply using the phrase on slides to justify something unrelated.

Bottom-line: real-time and done much more cheaply than traditional BI which has singularly failed to deliver customer insight for telcos

Operators do have access to a large data set, but fail at the first step – using it to build better customer relationships.

I started to get worried when he started to discuss standards in gathering the data – given we have no skills in this area, building standards is a recipe for delay – other

industries appear to have got around this issue without the need for standards.

I think we need to walk before running, use the information to be better service providers.

I first met John when he has just formed Amati (1991), as the father of DSL he’s now focused on extending its usefulness through better management, and using multiple

customer lines in cooperation – using your neighbors capacity when they’re not.

DSL continues to be the most popular broadband technology, which will continue to be the case, however, customer needs evolve, today I find the 50 Mbps from my cable

service inadequate.

Assia’s proposition is with better management, Vectoring (removing noise) and sharing of capacity its possible to match the performance of fiber. In certain circumstances –

for example if some copper pairs are unbundled then it doesn’t work.

There continues to be active innovation in xDSL to squeeze as much capacity as possible out of the copper plant, which is necessary given the painfully slow role-out of

fiber in particular in Europe, and soon in the US as VZ slows its roll-out.

Belgacom, a close ALU customer (ALU is aggressively pushing Vectoring), will be using line management to squeeze extra capacity out VDSL

Vectoring is simply stopping the DSL lines interfering with one another by synchronizing them – in unbundled access markets its not possible.

VBB means Fiber to the Cabinet. Pair bonding can be tough in brown field situations as 10-20% of the pairs can be broken, that is repairers move to another pair to resolve a

line problem over the decades the copper has been in the ground.

G.Fast requires FTTK (Kerb) the most expensive access option, its often cheaper to go all the way to the home than have active electronics close to the home.

There’s life in copper yet! But laying fiber isn’t getting any cheaper. Bottom line is a hybrid approach is required, but as we’ll discuss later Fiber deployments are being

hampered by legacy copper management processes and thinking.

Here are a few slide to explain Vectoring

Here are a few slide to explain Vectoring

The last point is key, it gives operators time to get fiber out.

Good example of using the existing DNS investment to do what a new investment in DPI (Deep Packet Inspection) claims.

There’s a lot of traffic to the DNS which can be used without the need to

implement DPI

DNS is a good location for content controls, business intelligence, service promotion, fraud detection, advertising, BYOD support, etc.

Cloud was everywhere, the two presentations from KT and KPN provide some clarity on the role of

operators.

This is a key point – KT used cloud itself (ate its own dog food first)

Both a Business and Consumer proposition – note Korea has been able to take advantage of the lack of global cloud players in its home market to create a role for itself

in consumer, while China as simply created its own version of the internet.

For many western markets such capabilities are already provided by web-based services. So the operator’s role is difficult.

Classic benefits many more open markets already deliver

Good example of the role of an operator in a more competitive / open market

This point was made by Telefonica at the SDP Global Summit, the need to partner

The key point is it makes sense in delivering solutions to enterprises – it isn’t a ‘store’ it’s a platform to deliver integrated ICT solutions

The home gateway as been around for over 20 years, it looks increasingly out of touch with the reality of what people use: devices and cloud services

None of my devices need a home gateway and none of the service providers I use want a home gateway, none of the consumer electronics manufacturers I know plan to work with home gateways for their main-line equipment, its telcos and their suppliers talking to eachother.

Contrived view of the world, mpst people have a modem and WiFi router, I distribute TV around my home fine on WiFi.

When I have WiFi at >100 Mbit/s to my Roku I do not need QoS

Yes there is and we use it all the time WiFi

I highlight this as an example of the broken analysis driving the need for a gateway

Hugh gave a great presentation on the connected home. The challenge is I have all these services working fine without the need for the operator

providing anything other than internet access. I remain concerned the gateway is a hurdle, rather can’t the STB just work with each other in the

home (MOCA, WiFi)? Can’t the smarts be done in the cloud, not in a device in the home?

Some good data on FTTx deployments

I finish on a couple of excellent presentations on IMS – practical realities. Key is they build these apps themselves so they could learn and evolve

rapidly based on experience.

Pieter Veenstra gave a great presentation on the practical issues of IMS deployment and I focus here on using the network to discover HD

devices to ensure they connect over IP.