Restructuring the Telecommunication Networks Rodolfo López Aladros, Franz-Josef Banet, Dr. Stephan Rupp, Dr. Ehrhard Winter First International Working Conference on Performance Modelling and Evaluation of Heterogeneous Networks (HET-NETs ‘03, 21st-23rd of July 2003) First International Working Conference on Performance Modelling and Evaluation of Heterogeneous Networks (HET-NETs ‘03, 21st-23rd of July 2003)

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 2 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus Agenda > Some problems Mobile Network Operators are facing > The tortuous way of network restructuring > Giving Data the role they deserve > Three orthogonal directions to simplify MNO’s life > EU project PoLoS: applying theory in the praxis > Conclusions

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 3 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus The current problem

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 4 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus Telco Networks Today No future! S.V5.1#3 Y.V1.3#4 Z.V1.2#19 X.V2.5#17 Specialised Network Elements Specialized Protocols Subscriber Data enclosed in Network Elements a closed environment a network for each service too complex too expensive

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 5 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus The KILLER application in mobile networks > The killer application for the next 5 years: HUNDRED NICHE APPLICATIONS > There is plenty of room for niche applications (supposed they are easy to use): 1 single niche application may not show up in your balance but, 50 niche applications may boost your business.

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 6 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus Agenda > Some problems Mobile Network Operators are facing > The tortuous way of network restructuring > Giving Data the role they deserve > Three orthogonal directions to simplify MNO’s life > EU project PoLoS: applying theory in the praxis > Conclusions

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 7 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus Today: Control & Connectivity are combined MSC Call Control Mobility Management VLR Switching Example: Circuit Switching Control Functions and Connectivity Functions in the same Network Element MSC:Mobile Switching Centre VLR:Visitor Location Register

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 8 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus Next Generation: Separated Control and Connectivity Example: Circuit Switching MGW Connectivity Plane MGW Call Server Control Plane Call Handling Mobility Management VLR Media Gateway Control Connectivity and Transport (Switching, Routing) MGW:Media Gateway

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 9 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus There are some more planes Call Server Control Plane MGW Connectivity Plane SGSN GGSN Service Plane SCP HLR SMS MMS …. Business Plane CCBS O&M CRM SAP …. CCBS:Customer Care and Billing System CRM:Customer Relationship Management O&M:Operation and Maintenance SAP:Systeme, Anwendungen, Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 10 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus Agenda > Some problems Mobile Network Operators are facing > The tortuous way of network restructuring > Giving Data the role they deserve > Three orthogonal directions to simplify MNO’s life > EU project PoLoS: applying theory in the praxis > Conclusions

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 11 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus A new approach: NGN with consolidated storage Storage Plane Service Plane SCP HLR Business Plane CCBS O&M CRM SAP Call Server Control Plane MGW Connectivity Plane SGSN GGSN

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 12 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus Agenda > Some problems Mobile Network Operators are facing > The tortuous way of network restructuring > Giving Data the role they deserve > Three orthogonal directions to simplify MNO’s life > EU project PoLoS: applying theory in the praxis > Conclusions

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 13 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus 1 Physical Consolidation of Storage Three orthogonal directions to simplify MNO’s life

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 14 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus Get the data out of the network elements Data Interface storage S.V5.1#3 Y.V1.3#4 Z.V1.2#19 facilitates integration facilitates introduction of new services facilitates NM & OSS simplifies NE uses standard IT technologies

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 15 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus The physical implementation of the Storage Plane Robot & Tapes Backup Server FC Switches / Directors Storage system (disks & cache) SAN FC Fibre Channel (FC) Data Servers Data network Application servers (HLR, SCP, MMS, Billing, CRM, CC, …)

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 16 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus 2 Logical Consolidation of Storage Three orthogonal directions to simplify MNO’s life

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 17 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus The Customer Billing SCP HLRCRM CC Marketing A conceptional switch: This way…?

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 18 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus Billing SCP HLRCRM CC Marketing A conceptional switch: … or this way? Consolidation of customer data “The CUSTOMER PROFILE”

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 19 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus 3 Consolidation of Interfaces Three orthogonal directions to simplify MNO’s life

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 20 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus Two Busses instead of many Interfaces (Sandwich) for the internal implementation Application Interface Data Interface ……. Ap n CF nAp 1 CF 1 Ap: Application CF: Common Function DBS: Data Base Servers SAN: Storage Area Network Data Objects SAN DBS Functional modules and applications protocol binding re-use of functions (such as AA) easy to extend easy to integrate easy to maintain

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 21 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus Use a service architecture for new applications standard interface towards external applications scalable open easy to integrate Data Interface storage Application Interface App. CF Intranet Operator’s Network App. 1 App. N Extranet Third party Applications

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 22 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus A.:Application CF:Common Function DBS:Data Base Servers SAN:Storage Area Network EAI:Enterprise Application Interface TAI:Telecommunication Application Interface EAI TAI Data Interface Application Interface CF 1 CF n Ap 1 Ap n Data Objects SAN DBS DB CRM Billing Legacy Business Applications Other DB Other GGSN SCF Legacy Telecom Applications DB

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 23 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus Agenda > Some problems Mobile Network Operators are facing > The tortuous way of network restructuring > Giving Data the role they deserve > Three orthogonal directions to simplify MNO’s life > EU project PoLoS: applying theory in the praxis > Conclusions

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 24 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus PoLoS: Integrated Platform for Location Based Services Overview Mobile (Indoor) (Outdoor) Platform Service Execution Geo Information System Service Creation Environment Services WLAN Service Position GPS PoLoS Consortium Proprietary

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 25 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus Harmonizing the Application Interface by using Web Services technology PoLoSKernel Service Creation Environment Positioning Component OSA Network Infrastructure GIS Component Text Data Graph Data GSM/GPRS UMTSWLAN GPSJava HTTP Interfaces Component WAP SMS PoLoS Consortium Proprietary PoLoS platform Web Services based interface

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 26 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus Agenda > Some problems Mobile Network Operators are facing > The tortuous way of network restructuring > Giving Data the role they deserve > Three orthogonal directions to simplify MNO’s life > EU project PoLoS: applying theory in the praxis > Conclusions

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 27 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus Conclusions 1 Current mobile networks are very complex This complexity increases with each new application “HUNDRED NICHE APPLICATIONS!” Integration and maintenance costs increases

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 28 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus Conclusions 2 To reverse this evolution, out-of-the-box thinking is required A switch from a functional centered architecture to a data centered one: the storage plane Current infrastructure (i.e. SAN) and software tools (Object Oriented approach, CORBA, Database servers) supports the consolidation of data Consolidate the interfaces : decrease work-flows complexity and integration effort

Het-Nets ‘03, , R. López - 29 All rights reserved © 2003, Alcatel & E-Plus Thank you for your attention! Contact: