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Fixed-mobile convergence in focus at Broadband Forum
In a bid to meet the need for speed and responsive network provisioning, key industry players met at the third quarterly Broadband Forum meeting recently to discuss the future of fixed-mobile convergence.
October 21, 2008
At the Broadband Forum 2008 meeting in Stockholm in September, three key industry players – 3GPP, the WiMAX Forum and the BB Forum – met with Ericsson for the first time at the symposium “Driving a Converged Broadband Network.”
Jaume Rius i Riu, Ericsson’s coordinator for Broadband Forum, believes there are several ways to approach the challenge. But at its heart, the question concerns: “Allowing operators to offer increased bandwidth to customers in both fixed and mobile networks, while cutting the costs of network operation and ownership for these same operators. Those items combined are driving the converged broadband network,” he says.
“This convergence, of course, is a long discussed paradigm, but now that the technology has evolved we can take advantage of it and grow revenue from new opportunities that the technology evolution enables. Functionality that is currently spread throughout different network elements or nodes might end up in new, converged network nodes.”
This strategic approach positions Ericsson as actively driving the standardization activities for fixed broadband and for fixed-mobile convergence. It should also enable Ericsson’s Full Service Broadband solutions for operators to offer predictable, secure and guaranteed quality of service for the broadest range of services to consumers.
“Such was the case with Ericsson’s Redback acquisition,” Rius i Riu says. “Getting Redback’s technology, which offers convergence opportunities, was a key step on Ericsson’s way to offering convergence in a “one-box” concept for the operator.”
Earlier this year, Ericsson’s Redback Networks launched a smart Ethernet switch called SM 480, which was designed to help operators converge their fixed and mobile networks. SM 480 allows telephone operators to manage several internet service providers at a much lower cost than traditional multi-service routers.
Ericsson sponsored the Broadband Forum meeting together with Telia Sonera. As well as the future of fixed-mobile convergence, the role of Internet Protocol (IP) v6, fiber-architecture work and successful deployment of IPTV over DSL were also discussed at the meeting.
Rius i Riu believes the meeting was a complete success.
“Fixed and mobile-broadband network convergence might become one of the most efficient paths for operators to reduce customer churn and to increase their average revenue per user (ARPU),” he says. “People at the meeting were eager to talk about their success stories and the troubles they have experienced, which, in the end, is what helps us perfect our products and solutions.”
