Infrastructure News: Vendors focus on signaling; Google makes Wi-Fi purchase

Vendors focus on signaling
The explosion in mobile data traffic has led to an even bigger increase in signaling traffic within the networks, and infrastructure vendors are focused on helping operators recognize and address the issue. There are different types of “signaling storms,” – those that can hit the access network when a large number of users congregate in one place, and those that can hit the mobile core when network elements must communicate to enact policy and inform charging systems.
According to Alcatel-Lucent’s Josee Loudiadis, director of network intelligence, signaling storms can and do bring down server blades and resolving them can be complex. Loudiadis identifies three different parts of the wireless ecosystem that need to be involved in the solution. Vendors need to supply “a robust and well-dimensioned signaling plane that can absorb sudden spikes,” app developers and device makers need “to design their product with optimized network interactions in mind,” and operators need to invest in “strong network analytics that can track the signaling of each app, detect signaling anomalies and identify root causes quickly.”
Diameter signaling is the protocol that handles communication between IP network elements and as diameter signaling traffic skyrockets operators are thinking about ways to virtualize this function. “We can’t comment on specific operator requests but we can say that virtualization of diameter signaling control is a common topic of interest,” said Magnus Furustam, Ericsson’s VP of product area for the core network.
“Service providers are asking a lot about virtualization,” said F5 Networks’ Lenny Ridel. “They are looking to virtualize diameter routers. This is for sure.”
What does Google’s latest purchase mean for wireless?
Google has quietly acquired Alpental Technologies, a startup founded by former Clearwire engineers. Alpental is developing wireless communications technologies for the 60 GHz band that has historically been used for indoor communications. However, the Federal Communications Commission recently said it could be opened up to provide communications over distances of up to one mile.
Alpental CTO Mike Hart states on his LinkedIn profile that he has been focusing recently on WiGig/802.11ad, which is the next evolution of the 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard. It’s designed to offer speeds on par with those seen in 802.11ac, but uses just one channel instead of four.
Google has made few public comments about its plans for Wi-Fi, but there has been no shortage of speculation. The company is reportedly planning public Wi-Fi hotspots for cities that are getting Google Fiber, and is also said to be trialing an Android application that would automatically move users to its Wi-Fi hot spots whenever they are in range.
Anatel taps Cisco for high speed edge routers with NFV capability
Anatel, Uruguay’s state-owned telecom provider, plans to deploy the Cisco ASR 9000 aggregation services router 9000 series in its next generation network. Anatel competes with private companies like Claro for mobile subscribers, but it has a monopoly on delivery of fixed broadband services.
Cisco says the ASR 9000 series is optimized for mobile networks and for video delivery. Network function virtualization enables the coordination of the edge, aggregation and access points.
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