Network trends for 2011

BANGALORE, INDIA: 2010 was a very happening year in the networking landscape. But what are all would be the trends in networking for 2011. Some experts share their view. Read on:

By P Balaji, VP, communications & business development, Ericsson India:

IP Networking

IP networking is no longer just user-to-network but it has now become user-to-user, user-to-cloud, and machine to machine.

One of the most important factors is that this connection is more often going to be mobile. Now mobile broadband Internet is coming into play, and that’s where we see what the fourth generation of IP networking will be: converged IP services.

IP networking is no longer only about routers and routing. It's about applying the right new packet transport (MPLS, WDM) technologies, wherever appropriate, to lower cost in the network, whilst adding new intelligence, such as policy control features, at the edge, closer to the user. Making the network more service-aware will open up avenues for operators to work with other members of the ecosystem, such as cloud players.

LTE

The Internet generation is becoming used to having broadband access everywhere. Long Term Evolution (TD-LTE) offers a superior user experience and simplified technology for next-generation mobile broadband. Of the estimated 3.4 billion people who will have broadband by 2014, about 80 per cent will be mobile broadband subscribers — and the majority will be served by High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and TD-LTE networks.

With LTE, the user experience will be even better. It will enhance more demanding applications such as interactive TV, mobile video blogging, advanced games and professional services. The step towards full mobile broadband is intuitive and simple, especially with LTE that offers ubiquitous coverage and roaming with existing 2G and upcoming 3G networks.

Green networking

In order to meet the heavy demands of telecom industry which expects telecom network to be available 24x7, the telecom operators have to invest in alternative power resource to ensure continuous availability of telecom infrastructure. Since power can become a limiting resource for operators, green networking products and solutions have come as an innovative solution to address these problems.

It is evident that in a challenging economic environment, customers are looking at an increased value for their investments by choosing energy-efficient products and solutions that reduce power consumption, cooling requirements, occupy a smaller footprint in data centers while at the same time reduce environmental impact. The benefits of investing in green technology are increasingly turning to vendors who offer simple, scalable and highly efficient equipment.

GPON/FTTH

An ideal option for constructing full-service broadband networks, because of its high bandwidth, efficiency, multi-service support and manageability is the GPON Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) technology.

Industry verticals that are broadband enabled require GPON for delivering high bandwidth to end users and network nodes with high capacity requirements.

Hence it cannot only be used for residential users but also for enterprises having similar needs. It offers certain advantages over copper wire, like life of fiber is much more than copper, and it is more cost effective, because of which it has been more widely chosen by operators. Also copper wire delivers a speed of 14 MBps, whereas, fiber can deliver it up to 100MBps.

Considering the economic platform that India is on, FTTH is expected to witness a tremendous adoption and the technology will be vastly deployed in the country. More than 40 million people worldwide currently subscribe to fiber optic networks including FTTH, or fiber to the home. However, despite this, Indian will see approximately one million residential and enterprise customers getting connected on FTTH within the next 3 years.

By Manjit Singh, MD India & SAARC, Ruckus Wireless:

Investment by verticals in their networking gear will be more application-based than pure-play connectivity-based.

Cloud computing will show signs of adoption in India with SMBs investing in it. However, this depends largely on huge investments in improving network infrastructure to provide seamless flow of large data traffic.

Need to access to real-time information at all times will be huge in 2011. 3G will play key role in mCommerce popularity, uptake and acceptance in Indian market.

Wi-Fi will play an integral part for proliferation of broadband services in rural India. Smart mobile phones shall complement computers to increase the reach of broadband services.

Wi-Fi shall be accepted as the best last mile access technology all across different industries.