02 November 2020
Ehab Kanary, vice president enterprise EMEA at CommScope
The ways in which networks are being used have changed dramatically over the past few years, for a multitude of reasons. Though we’ve seen unprecedented demand for streaming services such as Netflix over the past few months, download speed is no longer the be all and end all. Uplink is now equally crucial to the network user experience - whether it’s to effectively use videoconferencing services like Zoom to communicate with work colleagues and extended family, or our children uploading videos to TikTok.
Another way that network expectations have shifted is that latency is becoming more and more pivotal. Online gaming has filled the void of entertainment for many during the lockdown period, with the producers of leading titles such as Call of Duty and FIFA reporting huge surges in player numbers (and indeed revenue). This is a great example of a low-latency application where just a few milliseconds can make a huge difference to the user experience and enjoyment. Add this to immersive technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) and you have a network use case that is very reliant on low latency.
The home is also increasingly complex for both consumers and service providers. We are all connecting more devices, mainly over Wi-Fi—whether voice assistants, smart doorbells or anything else that forms part of our increasingly smart homes. The home gateway is the starting point for delivering these services, and evolving it is one of the ways that service providers are using to meet these complexity challenges. This is partly through the gateway becoming more like a platform, much like an edge computing device, where applications can be loaded on demand and discarded when not required.
Navigating network complexity
However, complexity is not simply a home networking issue. As schools, workplaces and factories alike begin to re-open in earnest, indoor connectivity in turn returns to the fore as a crucial talking point for service providers. Like home broadband, in-building wireless (IBW) is also viewed by many as the “next utility”—that is, a modern convenience that has become as accepted and expected as electricity and running water. Users are not interested in knowing where the wires are laid or how the pipes are arranged. They simply expect the convenience of seamless, invisible, universal access and performance.
So the challenge becomes one of extending outdoor wireless services to indoor spaces, which can make for an increasingly complex environment for today’s IT network operator. All of these different parts of the network now come together to create the ubiquitous experience that users demand. This spans the wireline part of the network, including copper and fibre, to the wireless part, which is now cellular as well as Wi-Fi. People are also increasingly conscious of the types of networks they’re using in public spaces, whether it’s because of security considerations or simply that they don’t want to be charged unnecessarily for data.
With the introduction of new technologies such as Wi-Fi 6, the launch of spectrum sharing, the uptick in interest for private networks and the continued rollout of 5G networks - many of which are underpinned by fibre – we’ve seen a lot of progress when it comes to in-building connectivity.
Convergence and virtualisation: the keys to our future networks
Wireless operators and service providers are also looking to network convergence as a way to meet these bandwidth and mobility challenges head-on. A converged network is, by definition, built on a versatile, high-performance infrastructure capable of handling multiple kinds of services and applications simultaneously. Fibre networks offer the performance and flexibility to easily handle both fixed and wireless services; support commercial, industrial and residential customers; and enable both increased network densification and improved connectivity at the network edge. The sheer number of applications available means that most operators and service providers can find a compelling reason to engage in some level or degree of network convergence, as the benefits are virtually universal.
On top of this, virtualisation will continue to play a key role in the future of broadband networks as operators replace management plane functionality, control plane functionality, and data plane functionality that originally resided in the physical network. This enables multiple benefits for operators. For example, horizontal scaling allows operators to expand their network capacity, adding new servers whenever demand requires it. This is particularly pertinent in the current climate as our online habits shift in new ways and our return to usual working and leisure patterns is staggered.
Virtualisation also allows a single pane of glass visibility into the entire network, giving you comprehensive insight through data analysis and traffic analysis of what's going on in the network. When coupled with artificial intelligence software, it also opens the door to full headend automation in the future. Cloud management tools are also essential when it comes to proactively managing the home network, by avoiding issues before they happen and allowing the helpdesk to rapidly address any problems that do arise.
For the telecoms industry as a whole, the goals here are to build networks that are simple, reliable and adaptable to provide exceptional user experience. Simple in the way the network is provisioned, managed, maintained, and migrated. Reliable by all parts of the network working together efficiently to provide a smooth user experience. And adaptable enough to adapt and migrate to what your users will be demanding from and using your network for in the future. Through collaboration, innovation and forward planning, we can help deliver an efficient network to meet the shifting demands of connectivity for years to come.
