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An InfoVista White Paper

Proactive Service Assurance for Mobile Data Services

Proven Solutions for Proactive Service Assurance

Copyright 2008 InfoVista S.A. All Rights Reserved 2


Executive Summary

The need for enhanced, proactive customer experience management tools has become increasingly important for mobile operators as they ramp up their efforts to add more subscribers hungry for 3G and 3G+ mobile data services. According to SNL Kagan, a resource for financial intelligence in the media and communications sector, revenue from mobile data services will increase by a compound annual growth rate of 16 percent from $24 billion in 2007 to over $100 billion in 2017. Meanwhile, Pyramid Research predicts that worldwide mobile data services revenue will surpass that of fixed Internet access services in as early as 2008 primarily due to the mobile markets larger user base while Goldman Sachs adds that revenue from U.S. mobile data services is expected to grow 45% that same year.

In some parts of the world, mobile phones provide the only medium for Internet access. In others, demand for accessing any content on any device at any time is growing. These customers, who have signed up for expensive data service packages, expect a quality user experience. When they dont get it, they become a strong candidate for churn and will likely switch to a competitor.

Hence, mobile operators are demanding from service assurance vendors a robust set of tools that can ensure proactive capacity planning, provide preemptive trouble identification, and allow rapid troubleshooting and enhancement of their 3G, bandwidth-intensive, time-sensitive services.

Until very recently, customer volume for data services was so low that service providers couldnt justify investment in robust, end-to-end service assurance solutions for mobile data services. Now, with the volume of data services on mobile networks growing, the business case for such an investment is clear a straight tie to the end user quality of service experience. InfoVistas new mobile service assurance solution is a significant step in the direction of addressing some of the very sticking mobile operator pains:

The lack of linkages and cross visibility between mobile packet core and IP core networksff

The lack of integration between the different organizations and toolsets assigned to manage these two networksff

No correlation of data service impairments to underlying network resourcesff

Inability to accurately forecast device and interface level capacityff

Lack of business-centric metrics for consumer services that would help product management and marketing better plan these ffservices and reduce customer churn

No in-depth SLA reporting for enterprise and mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) customersff



InfoVista has a packaged solution for mobile carriers focused specifically around mobile data services. The solution has been planned in a comprehensive and detail-oriented manner, significantly enhancing the engineering and troubleshooting abilities of carriers for their mobile data services. While operators have traditionally extended existing data mart types of tools to also cover the mobile packet core, the current stellar growth in data revenue (triple-digit growth) calls for a focused solution with deeper capabilities - InfoVistas mobile data services solution promises to be such a tool with pre-built intelligence to enhance the operators analytical capabilities beyond simply collecting and reporting at the nodal level. This paper lays out the technical merits and value propositions of the solution.

Standards-Driven Content for Packet Core Elements

True to the objective of being vendor-agnostic, the mobile service assurance solution offers out-of-the-box content for mobile packet core elements (SGSNs and GGSNs) by choosing standards-based (3GPP) indicators with verified support across leading vendors. The obvious benefit for operators is ready to go content for packet core elements, regardless of the vendor network elements that they might have deployed. The out-of-the-box content includes indicator libraries with pre-defined dashboard views (called portal pages) and reports for targeted user groups within a mobile carrier. The solution monitors packet core entities (GGSN, SGSN and APNs) on domain-specific aspects (e.g., mobility management, session management, and GTP), as well as traditional aspects (host performance and interfaces).

Topology Awareness for Troubleshooting and Planning

As engineers and planners know, network troubleshooting and network capacity planning should never happen in isolation. InfoVistas mobile solution tracks the connectivity between SGSNs and GGSNs and between SGSNs and BSCs/RNCs, enabling the user to sectionalize traffic as well as impairments across downstream elements. This also allows synthesis of valuable in-bound roaming statistics by bringing together SGSN and GGSN statistics, which are otherwise not available from individual nodes.

The solution also models the Layer 2 and Layer 3 support gear that is adjacent to the SGSNs and GGSNs, enabling:

Enhanced Troubleshootingff The solution provides much needed visibility into the performance (and impairments) of supporting switches and routers for any given SGSN or GGSN helping operations teams identify impairments in the immediate switching/routing equipment that might have caused the SGSN or GGSN to not provide the required services. The solution thus helps answer questions like: Were there any issues with the Gn VLAN in the Paris Data Center that caused high PDP Context Failures on the Paris GGSN on Friday night?

Comprehensive Capacity Planningff Triple-digit yearly traffic growth rates for mobile Internet imply diligent capacity planning not only for the packet core elements (GGSNs and SGSNs) but also for the supporting switching and routing gear down to the interface levels. Through predictive reports for switches and routers on holistic key performance indicators such as interface saturation and time to saturation, the solution will help to better guide design decisions to questions such as: My West Region GGSN seems to be getting the most Internet traffic. Are the supporting switches and routers well equipped for the next year?

Please refer to Figure 1 on next page

Solution Capabilities and Benefits



Figure 1 The InfoVista solution for mobile data services models and tracks SGSN-to-GGSN relationships as well as GGSN clustering (within data centers) to aid in enhanced sectionalization of errors and traffic.

Linking Packet Core Behavior to End-to-End IP Path Performance

In the age of convergence, the core IP backbone of a mobile service provider might carry a mix of traffic (e.g., mobile voice, mobile data, and mobile backhaul). Other service providers offering both fixed and mobile services might also have regular wireline traffic (Internet traffic and business services) carried on the converged IP core. With that in mind, generic IP performance management solutions would be inadequate to measure the end-to-end performance of IP paths specifically as it relates to the delivery of mobile data services. By modeling and monitoring the exact end-to-end IP paths between mobile nodes (the Gn IP path between the GGSN and SGSN, and the IuPS IP path between the SGSN and RNCs), the InfoVista solution provides enhanced visibility into IP path performance between key network elements in the chain of delivering mobile data services. While conventionally the management and planning functions of the IP core would be under the purview of separate organizations (with separate tools), the solution provides just the right visibility into IP performance as required by the packet core engineering and operations groups to be able to take up issues with their counterparts in the IP groups. This greater overall visibility enables benefits in the following key categories:

From a Service Quality Perspectiveff With service providers increasingly providing streaming and real-time mobile data services (AT&T Wireless launched Mobile TV in May 2008), it is imperative to report on end-to-end service quality parameters namely latency, packet loss and delay-variation. With a historical as well as a current view into these end-to-end path metrics on the Gn and IuPS links, the solution helps answer some key questions related to service quality such as: What is the end-to-end transport latency of Mobile TV being delivered to the New York City market? (a combination of the corresponding Gn and IuPS latencies).

From a Troubleshooting Perspectiveff We have had several service providers tell us that they lose productive hours going back and forth with interorganizational communications before eventually discovering that problems in their GPRS sessions were the result of an impairment in the IP core. With automatic modeling linking the mobile network elements (SGSN, GGSN and RNCs) to end-to-end IP paths, the solution helps users to drill down to view a specific IP paths performance (for example, between an SGSN and a GGSN), enabling enhanced troubleshooting.

Cluster

GGSN1GGSN2

CSG

SGSN1San Francisco, CA

SGSN2Bothel, WA

SGSN9Denver, CO

Data Center(West)

RNC/BSC1RNC/BSC2

RNC/BSC25

.........................

........

APN1APN2

APN78

Figure 2 The solution tracks all supporting Layer2/Layer3 elements in addition to monitoring the direct end-to-end IP paths that compose the Gn and IuPS links.

Gn Path luPS / Gb

GGSN RNC/BSCSGSN



From a Planning Perspectiveff The solution provides a window to help users understand how the GPRS protocols (GTPs) respond to occurrences (e.g., route convergence and packet loss) in the IP layer. It also provides visibility into detailed historical data as well as real-time data, and equips users with predictive analysis capabilities, to enable better planning and predictability of whether the growth in subscriber traffic in the GPRS/application layer will be supported by suitable performance by the IP backbone.

Service Performance Synthesized from Network Objects

Service providers derive revenue from the data services they offer to end consumers (and a well-managed and monitored network infrastructure facilitates this end goal). The solution aggregates performance across the various access points (that is, APNs within GGSNs) to produce service-level indicators for consumer services such as mobile Internet and BlackBerry. This results in the following benefits:

The solution provides views/dashboards tailored specifically for groups within the service provider that focus on service ffperformance (e.g., service operations centers and customer service organizations). Reporting on practical indicators depicting service reachability and service quality, these views allow service-oriented groups to drill down into network resources and quickly identify the root causes of network problems and service issues giving members of these groups adequate information (and evidence) for interacting with their engineering counterparts.

The solution empowers business-oriented groups within the service provider, such as marketing and product management, to look ffat usage trends as well as forecasts for each consumer data service thus helping them better plan their product offerings and pricing strategies.

Customer Reporting for Key Business Partners

Mobile service providers also achieve significant revenue from partnerships and wholesale subscriptions. For this reason, the solution leverages the core benefits of the VistaFoundation Kit to enable the service provider to offer customer reporting to select external parties. To this effect, the solution includes a dashboard for corporations that purchase enterprise data services (private APNs), enabling these corporations to view the performance of the respective private data service they have purchased from the carrier. The solution also includes a high level view of packet core performance that the service provider could offer to MVNOs. This enables the operator to build trust among existing customers and also offer reporting capabilities as an incentive for potential wholesale customers.

Figure 3 The solution synthesizes service quality indicators from access points within and across GGSNs and data centers to help service providers manage the performance of consumer and enterprise data services.

HostedContent

Internet

CSG

Gn Path luPS / Gb

GGSN RNC/BSCSGSN

MobileDataCenter



Traditionally, mobile carriers have tried to manage mobile data services by extending their existing performance management solutions a strategy that is no longer sufficient due to the increasing volume and complexity of todays mobile data environment. For todays mobile data requirements, InfoVista offers a focused solution that equips service providers with the intelligence and topology awareness they need to manage their mobile data network infrastructures and assure the performance and quality of the data services they offer to the market. With comprehensive insight into the complete packet core infrastructure (including supporting Layer 2 and 3 nodes) as well as the end-end IP transport path, service providers can troubleshoot problems more proactively, and better plan for future traffic needs, to provide data services more efficiently and effectively, and enhance the end-user experience.

Conclusion

3G Third Generation

3GPP The 3rd Generation Partnership Project

APN Access Point Name

BSC Base Station Controller

CSG Content Services Gateway

GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node

Gn The interface between the GGSN and SGSN in a GPRS network

Gn VLAN Gn Virtual Local Area Network

GTP GPRS Tunneling Protocol

IP Internet Protocol

IuPS The connection between the radio network controller and the packet switched network in a GSM/GPRS/UMTS network

MMS Multimedia Message Service

MVNO Mobile Virtual Network Operator

PDP Packet Data Protocol

RNC Radio Network Controller

SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node

SLA Service-Level Agreement

SMS Short Message Service

Acronym Key


Contact informationwww.infovista.com For sales inquiries please email: [email protected]

World and European Headquarters InfoVista S.A. 6, rue de la Terre de Feu 91952 Courtaboeuf Cedex Les Ulis, France Tel +33 (0) 1 64 86 79 00 Fax +33 (0) 1 64 86 79 79 Americas Headquarters InfoVista Corporation 12950 Worldgate Drive Suite 250 Herndon, VA 20170 United States Tel +1 703 435 2435 Fax +1 703 435 5122 Asia-Pacific Headquarters InfoVista (Asia-Pacific) Pte Ltd Block 750C, #03-16/17 Chai Chee Road TechnoPark @ Chai Chee Singapore 469003 Tel +65 6449 7641 Fax +65 6449 3054

About InfoVista InfoVista empowers telecom operators, services providers and large enterprises to maximize business return and productivity by assuring the optimal performance of mission-critical networked services, applications and infrastructures. Eighty percent of the worlds largest service providers and more than 30 of the top 100 global corporations rely on InfoVistas proven solutions for proactive service assurance to foresee potential service issues before they impact end users, improve business effectiveness, reduce operating risk, lower cost of operations, increase agility and create competitive advantage. Sample customers include Bell Canada, Bharti, BNP Paribas, British Telecom, Cable & Wireless, CitiGroup, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), Deutsche Telekom, Fidelity Investments, JP Morgan Chase, SFR, SingTel, T-Mobile, Telefonica, and Telstra. InfoVista is traded on the Euronext Paris (FR0004031649) and can be found online at www.infovista.com.

Copyright 2008 InfoVista S.A. All rights reserved. InfoVista, VistaInsight, VistaFoundation and 5View are registered trademarks or trademarks of InfoVista S.A. in the United States and/or other countries.

The information contained in this document is the property of InfoVista S.A. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form (including photocopying or electronic storage on any medium) or by any means or used to make any derivative work (such as translation, transformation or adaptation) without the express written permission of InfoVista S.A.

The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice and does not carry any contractual obligation for InfoVista. InfoVista reserves the right to make changes to any products or services described in this document at any time without notice. InfoVista shall not be held responsible for the direct or indirect consequences of the use of the information contained in this document.

infovista vin3-1 mobile wp mar10 1

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