By Ed Silverstein, TMCnet Contributor
Nowadays, networks are being flooded with traffic, but that traffic isn’t generating as much revenue per bit as it did before – its value is being reaped elsewhere. This threatens not only service providers’ profitability but also their control of the networks they’ve invested so much in building and growing – because new devices and applications, escalating bandwidth demands and shifting customer expectations are all external factors over which they have little influence.
As service providers confront an external environment of change and challenge, the High Leverage Network offers a model for the network of tomorrow while still tackling the urgent challenges of today. A High Leverage Network is best defined by its characteristics: · High bandwidth· Scalability and elasticity· Reliability and resilience· Cost effectiveness· Reducing the environmental footprint· Multiple and concurrent customized services over a single, flatter, higher-performance IP architecture· Network capabilities that enhance end-user quality of experience· Intelligence · Security and privacy Under the Alcatel-Lucent (News – Alert) strategy of application enablement, service providers need to change their role from traffic carrier to “application enabler” – deriving the greatest possible value from the network and its capabilities through the development and delivery of first- and third-party applications. To “enable” applications, service providers require a High Leverage Network: one marked by scalability, awareness and optimization, oriented toward service delivery, monetization, and faster times to market and accelerated ROI. Such a network is defined not by any one architecture or technology, but instead by the value service providers derive from it. The HLN offers an approach to evolving the network — one focused on achieving specific business goals unique to each service provider’s market and operational realities.
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