Because of its GSM leadership advantage, Ericsson is uniquely qualified to help operators cut costs and raise revenues, says marketing manager Rohan Dias. "Introducing a new, modernized network architecture lets operators gain greater network efficiency and reduce operational costs, while the launch of new services gives subscribers richer communication opportunities and increased revenue for operators," Dias says.
A further reason for the new GSM functionalities is the chance to offer maximum interoperability with WCDMA via the seamless network concept. A seamless network optimizes investment through node reuse, a single combined radio resource (with subsequent spectrum efficiency gains), shared transmission, site sharing and end-user service transparency. The seamless network permits operators, as well as end users, to grow into and get used to the idea of the richer-than-ever mobile services portfolio made possible by a network capable of step-by-step migration from 2G via 2.5G to 3G.
An example is the introduction of dual access nodes for GSM and WCDMA, which brings seamless data services and improves accessibility for the end user.
Another new functionality is the ability, for the first time, for GSM to operate in dual transfer mode (DTM), which permits users to carry on a voice call while sending or receiving data. At the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes earlier this year, this functionality attracted a lot of interest from operators, says Knut Leuckfeld, a sales manager at Ericsson, "This increases minutes of use and brings true multimedia possibilities into GSM," he says.
Leuckfeld explains that Ericsson's latest GSM systems release is the first to support the full introduction of mobile softswitch and a layered architecture for 2G. "Leaving a monolithic architecture behind can result in savings of up to 50 percent in core network operational expenditure," he says.
The architectural changes enable a reduction in the number and size of main core network sites, and enables switching to be distributed to the edges of the network for maximum transmission efficiency. This is achieved by letting the mobile switching center servers (MSC-S) handle control, while the mobile media gateways (M-MGws) take care of the payload. This also paves the way for simplified and more efficient network operation. Dias explains: "Network expansion by building media gateways is more cost effective, since you're able to concentrate MSC-S to a small number of main sites. This is easier to maintain and reduces site rental costs. And by running MSC-Ss in pool you also use the nodes to a higher degree of their capacity and increase the redundancy."
In Ericsson's solution, a pool of MSC-S nodes serves the combined area as one large area, where each base station controller (BSC) is connected to the MSC-S pool. As Dias points out: "The need for fewer large sites leads to significant savings in both capex and opex."
Two further unique Ericsson features are the mega base station controller (MegaBSC) – enabling extra large sites and thus supporting cost-effective network expansion – and Flexible Abis, which reduces transmission costs by facilitating transmission methods between the BSC and the radio base station.
When it comes to end users, Ericsson's ambition is to enable richer communication by helping operators deploy new, attractive services that are easy to use and bring added value to the user. "Service Aware Charging and Control is one good example," Leuckfeld suggests. "If a user tries to access a service that they do not have a subscription for, the network senses this and offers to sign them up."
The introduction of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) lets operators offer new, exciting services and enhancements of existing services; services that will enhance everyday life. The fundamentally new thing about IMS is that operators will be able to commercially try out and then deploy cost-efficiently in large scale, a multitude of new, standardized services on the same platform.
Read more at: www.ericsson.com/products/hp/GSM_Releases_pa.shtml
