WiMAX


July 01, 2008

Optimizing Services over 4G Networks: What Can We Learn from the Cellular World

By Matt Bancroft
Sprint (News - Alert) and Clearwire recently announced the creation of a new wireless broadband company to deliver 4G WiMAX services. AT&T and Verizon Wireless plan to deploy LTE (News - Alert)-based 4G networks, with their recent 700Mhz spectrum purchases seen as likely vehicles for implementation of LTE-based services in the future. Other carriers are getting behind WiMAX, LTE, UMB, or some mix of the above. However, regardless of which air interface is under discussion, it is the new wireless network technologies themselves that tend now to dominate the discussion of the 4G platforms currently coming to market. 
 
This focus on network technology is not a new phenomenon; the capabilities of the wireless networks themselves have dominated the discussion of all new wireless network technologies as they have come to market. The relative merits of GPRS and UMTS as they were being developed and deployed are good examples. You might think that based on the quantity of conference papers, standards body activity, press coverage and news, that once the network issues were resolved and deployed, any issues having to do with delivering services over those networks were resolved as well.
 
The reality is that this is far from the case. A complex ecosystem is needed in order to successfully deliver new services over any network technology. Yes, the radio access network is a critical component in that ecosystem, but the devices and services that use the network are equally important. In building a truly functional and vibrant ecosystem, we not only need to deal with network, device, application and service issues, but we also need to deliver the key management capabilities that are essential for a truly seamless, high-quality end-user experience. 
 
Mobile device management (MDM) technologies are already playing a critical role in optimizing mobile data services over cellular networks. At their simplest, MDM technologies help operators and service providers to ensure that the mobile devices on their networks are always optimized — that devices always have the correct service settings, firmware and software, that the devices and the content on them can be secured, and that customer care agents can troubleshoot and resolve any issues with them in real time over the air. Leading mobile operators and service providers have found that the more complex the wireless ecosystem becomes, the more important this type of management capability is to ensuring a great user experience, driving towards profitability and gaining a competitive edge.
 
As the earliest 4G networks are deployed, it is no wonder, then, that service providers are already finding that they need many of these same device and service management capabilities. Rather than deploying the network first and looking for management capabilities later, service providers realize that they need these same over-the-air management capabilities to be available to 4G-capable devices on day one:
 
  • Over-the-air detection, activation and configuration of devices
  • Delivery of new applications and services, and ongoing updates and management of the software and firmware on the devices
  • Security for the devices and data on the devices
  • The ability for customer care/call center agents to troubleshoot and resolve issues over the air
  • Monitoring of the performance and availability of services
  • Support for the needs of different types of end users, including both consumers, who want the service provider to resolve problems quickly, and enterprises, which want their IT departments to be able to control employee devices and applications
 
Whether it is a mobile device operating over a cellular network, or a laptop connecting over WiMAX (News - Alert) or LTE, the above six MDM capabilities are critical to optimizing advanced data services out of the box and managing the devices on an ongoing basis. However, the following fundamental differences need to be taken into consideration in order to successfully deploy MDM capabilities within a 4G network:
  • Support for an all-IP architecture. The ways in which devices must initiate communications, and connect and link to the management server are quite different in 4G networks from the mechanisms used in cellular networks.
  • New device and user identification mechanisms. The first wave of 4G devices will be dongles, modem cards, CPE and laptops, which use fundamentally different techniques for identifying the device and the user. These type of devices need to be identified through the MAC address(es) plus an IP address allocated (often dynamically) by the network, and user identification needs to be extracted from external sources such as subscriber registries.
  • Extensions to the OMA Device Management standard to provide options to manage new 4G devices as either unified entities (e.g., laptops with built-in radios) or multiple entities (e.g., laptops with removable data cards) and devices that can connect both directly and through proxies (e.g., via femtocells or CPE equipment).
  • Support for independent device supply channels offering generic non-operator-branded 4G devices such as laptops and data cards, while still enabling service providers to manage these devices once they are activated onto their networks.
  • Consistent management of dual-mode and multi-mode devices, regardless of which network they are using. In many instances, especially early in the rollout of next-generation networks, 4G coverage will not be ubiquitous; these devices will need to be managed seamlessly when they are connected, regardless of the network type to which they are connected.
 
 
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Matt Bancroft is Chief Marketing Officer at Mformation (News - Alert) Technologies, whose solutions enable some of the largest and most demanding mobile operators around the globe and their enterprise customers to unlock the power of mobile networks, rapidly accelerate mobile data adoption, and significantly reduce support costs. To read more from Matt, please visit his columnist page.
 

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