With the proliferation of WiFi powered devices, many public spaces have been converted into hotspots for mobile workers, students or tourists. Today, any valued hotel, airport or even shopping mall could not be conceived without a WiFi service.

But with the eruption of 3G data some voices predicted the death of WiFi outside of homes. 

In this blog post, I'm looking at the global trends in mobile data and the need for new approaches to operator services that can help increase the mobile data margins and help operators play a more decisive and enabling role in the mobile ecosystem. 

As you certainly know, Service Providers are taking a serious look at how to migrate towards IPv6, and how to coexist with IPv4 for many years to come.  They are being forced to act for several reasons, not simply due to IPv4 address depletion (although that isn’t a minor consideration: IPv4’s address space of 4.3 billion is largely exhausted; IPv6 allows for 340 undecillion addresses – 340 x 10³⁶! That’s a lot of addresses).  In many cases governments are requiring support of IPv6, as are certain industries, notably the financial services sector.  IPv6 has now moved from a trend to a reality.  The problem is how to make it a reality in your network, without messing up everything else that is already therre.  The solution?  Call in the experts!

IPv6 evolved from a trending topic in 2011 to a reality in 2012. Now that the space for new IPv4 addresses is exhausted in Europe many service providers are setting up their plans for IPv4 conservation and transformation towards IPv6. Today, there are a few IPv6 services that generate additional revenues.

Today’s subscriber expectations about their broadband service providers are merely about connectivity; the times where the subscribers where exhibiting their ISP email address are over… and this can be a weakness when service providers are looking to raise their profile from connectivity to content and cloud services.

In fierce competition with the over-the-top players, Managed Business Service providers are perceived as mere connectivity providers and challenged to differentiate and move up the value chain. The challenge to address rapid network growth with these divergent needs in a changing environment demands network flexibility, service assurance, and new economics.

It’s February, it’s Barcelona so it’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) time. At MWC Juniper will be highlighting the “Three Innovation Imperatives for Network Innovation and the Next Wave of Mobile Growth”.

The tremendous growth in mobile traffic is a challenge for Service Providers in more ways than one.  I think that one of the most important messages to keep in mind, regardless of the project, is that you are not alone.  Juniper Networks Professional Services consultants can be a great temporary addition to your team.  They bring expertise and the experience that comes from having done it already, usually many times over.

Fixed and mobile operators are increasingly challenged to deliver high bandwidth services while growth in average revenue and margin per user fails to justify significant infrastructure investments. So, what’s the solution? While many networks have seen benefits from convergence in the core and on the edge, a similar transformation is now clearly required in the access network.

I’m pleased to announce that Juniper Networks is attending once more the MPLS & Ethernet World Congress as Platinum sponsor. Co-hosted with this event is the second edition of V6 World Congress where Juniper is also a Gold Sponsor.

While the internet community is busy planning the IPv6 World Launch by June 2012 many service providers in Europe are still debating their IPv6 strategy. Internet service providers (ISPs) and enterprises are upgrading their networks to IPv6, they are likely to incur costs running into hundreds of millions of dollars

Just a few days away now from this year’s MPLS & Ethernet World Congress in Paris (the event is combined with V6 World Congress, too). The event runs February 7-10^th 2012, located at The Marriott Rive Gauche Hotel & Conference Center, in downtown Paris.

On 6 February2012 in Paris, and prior to the MPLS & Ethernet World Congress 2012, Juniper Networks will be hosting once more the MPLS User Forum. It’s already a tradition for many of our customers and if you haven’t attended previously, in these lines I would like to encourage you to join us if you have the opportunity, even if you’re not attending the MPLS World Congress.

During the first half of 2011, IPv6 was a hot topic, not just in the industry but also covered by the mass media. I was surprised to see IPv6 being mentioned on the TV News opening highlights along with the news of the Arab Spring. However, according to the news, it seems now we moved to a quite period, but what’s happening behind the scenes?

(Read more...)

2011 will be known as the year for Over-the-Top (OTT) TV in Europe. With the proliferation of Broadband, in almost every country one or more Video-on-demand (VoD) provider is offering paid streaming services over the Internet, modestly competing with the well established cable, satellite and IPTV platforms.

Let's analyze the challenges it represents to the SPs and the key strategies to compete in that space. 

“Bring Your Own Device” is rapidly becoming big nightmare for CIOs and IT departments all over the world.  The phenomenon implies employees demanding to use their own iPads, MacBooks and Ultrabooks, Android phones and tablets, and so on, to access corporate applications and data.

In the blog I discuss the opportunities for the Service Providers to monetize this tred.

I recently attended the Carrier Ethernet World Congress Europe in Amsterdam, once more an interesting reality check of this industry segment. It is a great to hear from the Service Provider community the way they are using the Carrier Ethernet technology.

In this blog I share my observations in how this industry is evolving.

Traditionally, the network has been the main revenue centre for Service Providers (SPs). With the growth of the Internet and especially the Over-the-Top (OTT) services, SPs have been forced to throw additional resources to support the traffic growth and are rapidly being forced to build unsustainable business models were the network becomes a cost centre.

With the boom of over-the-top Internet and mobile data traffic and the gradual move of services to Internet players, Service Providers are struggling to find space in this fragmented competitive market. Why not just simply transport the traffic and continue with the traditional business model? Well, it worked during the ‘land grab’ periods, where a large number of new users were subscribing to new services and the model could justify large investments in new infrastructure...