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Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks are rolling out new products and services at the Mobile World Congress 2011 show in Barcelona designed to help mobile operators handle the exploding amount of data on their networks.
Cisco on Feb. 14 unveiled Cisco MOVE, a collection of solutions to enable service providers to not only better manage the rapidly growing amount of mobile traffic on their networks, but also to do a better job making money from it. MOVE (Monetization, Optimization, Videoscape Experience) is part of Cisco’s larger Service Provider Mobility strategy, which was introduced at last year’s MWC show and leverages some of the technology gained when Cisco bought Starent Networks for $2.9 billion in late 2009.
For its part, Juniper officials on Feb. 13 unveiled a host of new solutions and partnerships designed to help mobile operators keep up with the growth of data traffic fueled by the growth of such devices as smartphones and workloads of rich media applications.
Officials with both Cisco and Juniper point to the rapid and continued growth of Internet-connected mobile devices and data moving over mobile networks. By 2015, Cisco expects there to be 5 billion mobile devices in the world, as well as 2 billion machine-to-machine devices, according to Kurt Rosenthal, marketing manager for the company’s Service Provider Group.
The company estimates there will be some 6.3 exabytes of mobile traffic, with two-thirds of that being video. Mobile video traffic will double every year between 2010 and 2015, according to a Cisco report on global video network traffic.
“It’s a staggering amount of data [mobile] operators are trying to manage these days,” Rosenthal said in an interview with eWEEK.
Brian White, an analyst with Ticonderoga Securities, said such growth is putting mobile operators under pressure.
“Clearly, the ramp of the mobile Internet has driven rapid IP traffic growth but with questionable economics for wireless carriers,” White said in a Feb. 14 research note. “Ultimately, this trend cannot continue indefinitely as wireless carriers will increasingly require a more efficient network that can profitably and efficiently support the rapid IP traffic growth requirements of consumers.”
According to Rosenthal, Cisco’s MOVE framework will enable mobile operators to better manage the wave of network traffic and to better make money from it. Operators will be able to address key pressures, including the need to grow revenues, reduce costs and improve the experience for customers, he said.
Included in MOVE is Cisco Mobile Videoscape, which offers new technologies on Cisco’s ASR 5000 and UCS (Unified Computing System) to help mobile operators to optimize the delivery of video content while driving down overall costs.
Cisco AIR (Adaptive Intelligent Routing) provides service intelligence throughout the network. Cisco AIR, based on technology gained through the Starent deal, optimizes traffic routing and handling across the company’s ASR 1000, 5000 and 9000 platforms, bringing intelligence to the network to best direct traffic. Through Cisco’s Service Provider WiFi Solution, mobile operators will be able to efficiently utilize WiFi for mobile data offload. The WiFi solution includes the Cisco Next Generation Hotspot technology for a platform with highly-secure authentication to enable roaming and delivering new services and mobile experiences.
In addition, the WiFi offering includes Cisco’s new Aironet 1550 Series outdoor wireless access point with CleanAir technology, which lets operators offer low-cost capacity and secure coverage in such areas as sports arenas and transportation areas.
Juniper unveiled a number of solutions, including MobileNext platform-from the company’s Project Falcom effort-that bring together IP and mobile technologies into a single group of offerings, and enable mobile operators to support legacy technologies as well as migrate to newer ones, including LTE (long-term evolution) 4G.
Juniper also is offering Mobile Internet Professional Services that include assessment offerings around LTE and IPv6, mobile video optimization and managed security.
“By 2020, there will be billions of smartphones and tens of billions of machine-to-machine devices on the market which will accelerate the move to IP-based mobile architectures and new business models. To capitalize on these dynamics, Juniper offers mobile operators a differentiated pathway to profitability,” Manoj Leelanivas, executive vice president and general manager of Junos Application Software for Juniper, said in a statement. “Juniper is providing solutions that immediately lower cost, orchestrate data and video delivery to maximize precious RAN resources, and offer a service innovation platform to unleash new services that operators can monetize.”