Mobile Broadband Services

LTE

In the race to expand mobile services to include broadband and multimedia (for example, video services, as discussed in the next section), many mobile operators are championing a standard known as LTE.

LTE includes substantial changes to both sides of the mobile network - both the radio access network and the core network. But while it will require significant capital investment, LTE is expected to unlock new revenue streams and provide better competitive positioning by allowing mobile network operators to offer broadband services and a better quality of service in a way that greatly improves the efficient use of network resources.

Alternative technical paths to delivering mobile broadband services are available. Some, such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), are near-term solutions on a path to later versions of LTE, and others, such as WiMAX, appear to be long-term alternative or complementary architectures. Some mobile network operators have already announced their intentions to pursue these and are actively deploying them.

In a new white paper entitled LTE: A New Competitive Paradigm for Mobile Broadband, Dialogic examines the business rationale and key technical components of LTE, which can provide a solid basis for understanding the bigger picture. The paper is also an attempt to explain the high-level architecture standards and issues of LTE, and, of course, the "lingo" of the LTE community, to those who are familiar with communications technology but who lack in-depth knowledge of the mobile industry.

Video Services

The challenge of delivering video services is inspiring a high-level of activity and innovation in communications standards bodies and the marketplace. For example, more than 100 network operators and 50 million subscribers are already using 3G-324M, an umbrella standard for the delivery of real-time multimedia services over existing circuit-switched mobile networks. You can learn more about 3G-324M and mobile video delivery in the Dialogic white paper Mobile Video - A New Opportunity.

Now carriers, developers, and standards bodies are focused on a new challenge - converging video services. Alternatively called "three screens," "multi-screen," or the "new triple play," converged video services will allow the same content to be displayed simultaneously with equal clarity on television, a laptop or desktop computer, and a mobile handheld. Converged video services present a huge market opportunity and are inspiring a high-energy competition among developers. Unlike 3G-324M, achieving converged video services requires a powerful combination of standards and techniques that include intensive transcoding and transrating. You can read more about this this subject in a new Dialogic white paper called Finding Success in a Multi-Screen World.

Here are other Dialogic white papers that discuss video:

Bringing Video to the Mobile Handheld Market: Background, Challenges, and Potential presents a brief background on the evolution of the mobile wireless network, discusses some of the challenges to be overcome to make video to the mobile handheld practical, not only as a source of entertainment but also as an enhanced collaborative business-communication tool, and presents some scenarios on the potential for video to the mobile handheld market.

Addressing Video Processing Challenges with the IP Multimedia Subsystem: Performance, Architecture, and Network Topologies discusses how the IMS network can be used to convert video content so that it is accessible to any user, and how network-based processing techniques could be applied to a wide variety of applications.

Quality of Experience for Mobile Video Users distinguishes between traditional Quality of Service (QoS), which emphasizes network performance, and Quality of Experience (QoE), which concentrates on the overall experience the viewer has when using a service, specifically video services. Aspects of QoE considered include how video quality is typically measured, information about tools and techniques in use today, and suggestions for promising ways to measure video quality in the future.

Application Technology

Application technology enables partners to successfully implement, deploy, and monitor their applications in increasingly complex networks.

Dialogic is well known for the broad range of APIs that it provides to enable the development of customized solutions. As technologies and markets evolve, Dialogic is continuing its API development in new areas: XML, JSR309, and IETF Media Server Control (mediactrl).

APIs are supported with evolving Operations, Administration, Monitoring, and Provisioning (OAM&P) utilities that help customers deploy Dialogic® products with rich functionality in complex networks. Along with standard product installation, configuration, and monitoring, the utilities increasingly support multiple product instances, which, in turn, support product provisioning on the network.

Security Applications and Technologies

Understanding the security aspects of IP networks is paramount to maintaining security for both network access and content.

A Dialogic white paper entitled Security Applications and Technologies for IP Communications Networks briefly highlights past network security issues, examines the shortcomings of existing security architectures that do not address future security requirements, and presents possible approaches that can solve issues.