Providing high capacity services in a converged fixed and mobile network poses challenges in bandwidth requirements, network flexibility and the cost of transport per bit. Michael Martinsson, Ericsson’s Full Service Broadband Marketing Director, says the key to meeting these challenges is a forward-looking network architecture that is based on open standards and provides seamless interoperability between devices and other networks.
Martinsson says: “Full Service Broadband Architecture is very much about standardizing interfaces, so we can enable this larger industry where we connect not only mobile phones, laptops and computers but any kind of device. We’re talking about open interfaces to devices, between networks, and open interfaces to content and applications.
“Today’s networks are really not able to handle this.”
Martinsson says that Ericsson has defined the world’s first standards-based converged mobile and fixed network architecture for Full Service Broadband, which is at its core a reliable, secure and cost-optimized transport network. It uses fixed and mobile access technologies, which continue to evolve to deliver any service to a screen of the user’s choice.
IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS) provides a way to allow standardized networking and communications between any mobile or fixed device, from phones, laptops or gaming devices to TV screens. “It’s the only standardized way to ensure we can achieve this type of fixed- mobile convergence.”
The Multi-Access Edge functionality unifies the access platforms that mobile and fixed subscribers are using to connect to the transport layer. “Multi-Access Edge sorts out how subscribers connect, what services get priority over the network and how to handle security and different policies.”
To succeed in a Full Service Broadband world, operators need to build out fiber lines and upgrade to wireless technologies that are capable of handling heavy loads, namely High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE).
Martinsson says some operators will undergo dramatic transformation projects to move directly to Full Service Broadband – as British Telecom (BT) has done – while others will take a more evolutionary approach.
“It will happen differently in different parts of world. Many operators will start with developing either the fixed or mobile part of the architecture,” he says. “It’s very important to consider the long-term strategic architecture while also looking at the implementation of each revenue-generating service to launch.”
