Openet launches RAN Congestion solution for wireless network bottlenecks
Openet, a provider of subscriber optimisation software supplying Transactional Intelligence for network service operators, today announced the launch of its Radio Access Network (RAN) Congestion solution. Supported by Openet’s FusionWorks Policy Manager product, the RAN Congestion solution supplies policies where needed to leverage technology for network congestion forecasting, to enable operators to make real-time traffic management decisions.
According to Openet, wireless operators need to manage the subscriber experience to ensure optimal service and performance. Continually adding capacity does not address the underlying problem as subscribers typically change their behaviour to consume whatever bandwidth is available. As a result, operators need to manage data transmission bottlenecks from the radio network to the IP network. This challenge of managing data plane bottlenecks is difficult to solve, because user traffic profiles and usage patterns are continuously changing.
Openet’s RAN Congestion solution is said to combine network forecasting with key policy management capabilities. This functionality allows operators to determine what resources are allocated appropriately to subscribers, to ensure a higher-quality experience in congested areas, and this proactive approach is said to enable operators to mitigate the effect of performance issues on subscribers before they occur. Enabled by Openet’s Policy Manager product, RAN Congestion augments topology awareness and advanced forecasting functionality to ensure optimised network performance, it’s claimed.
“As the demand for mobile data continues to increase, wireless operators have a real challenge on their hands with regard to avoiding network congestion,” said Mike Manzo, CMO of Openet. “Openet’s RAN Congestion solution, using our proven Policy Manager product, brings proactive management to wireless networks via traffic forecasting and real-time troubleshooting. This enables operators to deliver a better quality of experience for every subscriber, while prioritising revenue-generating transactions-a win for everyone involved.”
Aepona announces completion of strategic investment
Aepona today announced that SAP Ventures, a division of SAP AG, has finalized a strategic investment in the company. SAP Ventures’ investment represents the completion of the $10 million funding round announced by Aepona on May 6, 2010.
Aepona’s Universal Service Platform (USP) provides application developers access to mobile network capabilities, such as voice communications, location services, messaging and billing, making it easy to enrich enterprise applications with new mobility features. This, in turn, allows businesses to implement communications-enabled business processes that increase efficiency, enhance customer service and improve competitiveness. For mobile network operators,
Aepona’s USP provides the foundation for an end-to-end wholesale applications ecosystem and enabling new business models based on the mobile cloud computing paradigm.
The investment by SAP Ventures is said to be in line with its strategy to help build industry-leading technology companies that complement the range of enterprise application and solutions that SAP brings to market.
“Enabling application developers to easily utilize telecommunication network assets has been an industry endeavor for many years, both for telecommunication operators as well as for application developers,” said Jörg Sievert, partner at SAP Ventures.
“Aepona’s solution, which is based on a decade of technology developments, has the potential of solving a core part of this challenge to the benefit of operators and application developers alike. The main beneficiary, though, will be the customer, who eventually will have access to telco-enabled applications in an unprecedented manner. We believe that Aepona stands to be a core part of this evolving ecosystem of telecommunications companies, ISVs and customers. We look forward to working with Aepona, and to help the company deliver on this goal for the industry.”
“We are delighted to welcome SAP Ventures as an investor in Aepona,” said Al Snyder, CEO, Aepona. “Having such a prestigious brand as SAP associated with the company is a major confirmation of our strategy and market position, and we are excited about the synergies that this relationship will enable with SAP enterprise applications. We strongly believe that mobile-enabled business services will be a key driver for value creation across the mobile ecosystem. Together with last month’s investment by BlackBerry Partners Fund, Aepona is now poised to forge a leading position in the mobile ecosystem, with strong financial backing and partnership opportunities with two of the leading players in the mobile enterprise domain.”
HP to assist SFR in providing cloud-based IT infrastructure to business customers in France
HP today announced that it is helping SFR, a leading French telecom operator, to generate new revenues by extending the advantages of cloud computing to its business customers.
HP and SFR have built a complete cloud services platform designed to enable SFR to offer IT infrastructure as a service (IaaS) with utility-based pricing to French companies.
The HP Cloud Services Enablement (CSE) portfolio for Communications Service Providers (CSP) integrates HP software, hardware and services for cloud services deployments. For IaaS, the compute services offering includes HP Aggregation Platform for SaaS, HP Cloud Service Automation and HP BladeSystem Matrix.
Business benefits for SFR customers are said to include predictable operating costs, less capital investment and decreased risk in new technology adoption.
By simplifying the launch of private-public cloud hybrids, HP says it is enabling SFR to accelerate growth in its enterprise business that already serves 150,000 companies. SFR is also said to have selected the HP CSE portfolio primarily for one of its key capabilities, namely rapid time to market.
In addition to its business customers, SFR serves 30 million consumers.
“Cloud services represent a major opportunity for both SFR and our business customers,” said Paul Corbel, general manager, Business Team, SFR. “HP’s cloud expertise and proven technology will help SFR become the trusted provider for a wide range of ‘as a service’ offerings.”
The HP offering, which is tightly integrated with SFR software enablers, is hosted within SFR data centers.
By leveraging the capabilities of the HP portfolio, SFR can evolve its offerings beyond IaaS to include additional cloud-based services, such as communications as a service (CaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS).
“SFR is providing French companies with cost-effective IT infrastructure and, at the same time, building an attractive business with cloud services enablement from HP,” said Erwan Menard, vice president and general manager, Communications and Media Solutions, HP. “SFR is demonstrating the powerful multiplier effect customers enjoy when advanced HP hardware, software and services are integrated into a complete solution.”
European Commission opens investigations of WWAN modem imports
Option, a Belgian-based wireless technology company, has said that the European Commission has opened an anti-dumping investigation of imports of wireless wide area networking (WWAN) modems from China. Option had requested the investigation and immediate registration of imports because of the damage caused by the sharp increase of what it says are ‘obviously dumped’ imports into the European market.
Because of the rapidity of the increase in imports and severity of the resulting damage to the market, says Option, the Commission has at the same time initiated a safeguard investigation on the request of the Belgian Government with regard to imports of WWAN modems.
According to Option, the situation in Europe is very different from the market situation in many other parts of the world where fair trading conditions prevail. There, Option’s says its products compete well.
Option believes it is very important for Europe to foster a competitive environment where fair market practices and respect for relevant legislation protect the interests of all parties active in the market. The history of technology confirms that fair competition delivers the most innovation and growth. Unfair competition jeopardizes jobs, hurts end-users and developers and in the long run delays technological progress, it says.
