Equipment vendors must adopt more secure development and design practices to correct the security vulnerabilities in their network infrastructure equipment as mobile operators transition to advanced broadband services, according to a new report.
Key findings:
-- Awareness of the importance of network security is growing. The recent, high-profile cyber-attacks on Google, the US military, the governments of Georgia and Estonia, and power plants in Iran have raised awareness of network security to a new level. With the increasing pervasiveness of computing and Internet connectivity, the scale of what an attack can achieve is staggering. This is leading organizations of all types (including organized crime, terrorist groups, and some nation-states) to invest enormous time and resources into designing cyber-attacks.
-- The mobile network has traditionally been less vulnerable to attacks than the wireline network, but that gap is closing. The mobile network has had much less exposure to IP traffic and IP end-points, but it is growing as mobile operators acquire more mobile broadband subscribers and become true ISPs. In the architectural transition to LTE, operators will remove TDM from the network and replace it with IP protocols, which are much easier to attack. And after 20 years in commercial service, the original A5/1 encryption algorithm for GSM is finally at risk of being broken and will need supplementing with the later A5/3 algorithm.
-- The changing security landscape gives primary infrastructure vendors a major opportunity to differentiate their value proposition for mobile operators. Optimal mobile network security requires a layered approach, and one key layer is the security of the operator's base stations, RNCs, gateways, switches, routers, and transmission equipment. A comprehensive assessment of the security offered by these products encompasses the security of the development environment in which they are brought to market; some of the design aspects associated with their hardware and software platforms, and the interaction between the two; and their support of the security feature roadmaps defined by the likes of 3GPP and the IETF.
Comment from Patrick Donegan, Senior Analyst of Heavy Reading: Until relatively recently, the mobile industry has been somewhat removed from security threats. It has been possible to treat the low-level fraud that has been with the mobile industry since its inception as a minor irritant. The data-oriented direction that the mobile industry is embarking on will expose the mobile network to a variety of new security challenges.At the same time the mobile industry is evolving, cyber-attacks are gaining a higher profile within society as a whole. So where mobile network security was once taken for granted, operators, infrastructure vendors, handset vendors, and application providers are being called to account as never before and asked for reassurance, near-term solutions, and long-term roadmaps that will ensure that the next 20 years of the mobile industry's evolution are built on as secure a platform as the first.
About the report: Next-Gen Security Strategies for Mobile Network Infrastructure costs $3,995 and is published in PDF format. The price includes an enterprise license covering all of the employees at the purchaser's company.
Contact: http://www.heavyreading.com
Showing posts with label Mobile networks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mobile networks. Show all posts
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Wireless Service Providers Say the "Capacity Crunch" Impacts Brand Perception
Mobile networks are struggling to cope. More than 60 percent of wireless service providers interviewed in a recent survey are experiencing data congestion, with 20 percent registering severe overload at specific times. Service providers in the Middle East and Africa report that this overload poses serious consequences for their brand reputation and has led to an increase in customer complaints around service quality; Asian and American operators say it is contributing to churn.
Other key findings:
-- Data demand is driven by smartphones and laptops with mobile broadband: In the Americas and Europe smartphones are driving data demand, accounting for more than 40 percent of total data consumption. In Asia, the Middle East and Africa, laptops with mobile broadband is the key driver. A further factor fueling demand is flat-rate data tariffs where "bandwidth hogs," although comprising only an estimated 2-3 percent of the customer base, are consuming approximately 30 percent of the network's capacity, contributing to further service degradation for the overall user base.
-- Quality of service design is a major challenge: 75 percent of wireless service providers surveyed view end-to-end quality of service (QOS) design - which ensures a satisfactory customer experience during a voice call or data transfer - as having the greatest impact on their bottom line through increased customer support costs and customer churn. Respondents stated that specialist planning, design and capacity management tools are required to prevent issues such as loss of signal, cross-talk and slow service response time.
-- Heavy network expansion is underway; Ethernet is a priority: Wireless service providers see building out additional network capacity as essential, with 97 percent of those surveyed stating they intended to roll out Ethernet to alleviate congestion. Respondents said that the gap between the growth in demand for capacity as compared to revenues received for data services was a matter of concern when considering extra investment.
Comment from Teresa Cottam, research director of Telesperience, the firm that conducted the research: Wireless service providers want to provide a good quality of service for customers, but the challenge they face is that they have been caught in a 'perfect storm' with data demand doubling year on year, yet revenues are static due to flat-rate pricing. By blindly throwing capacity at the problem, it becomes harder for operators to cope with data growth. A smarter approach to capacity management and network planning is needed for future success, with quality of service providing the competitive differentiator.
Comment from Rebecca Prudhomme, vice president of product and solutions marketing at Amdocs: The capacity crunch is not just a network problem, it's a widespread commercial and brand issue that wireless service providers need to address in the short and long term. While service providers are adding extra capacity to their networks in the short term, they need to explore policy management solutions to enforce traffic flows and enable premium rate charging. But policy management on its own will not solve the problem. It's about combining policy with charging capabilities and network knowledge. Rigorous engineering of network capacity is critical to ensure customer experience is not compromised and that brand equity is protected.
About the survey: The survey outlines the scale and significance of the data capacity crunch for mobile network service providers and their customers. The survey examined wireless service providers' strategies for coping with the increasing demand for data on their networks while maintaining acceptable service quality. The survey took place last month and is based on 30 interviews with senior executives and network planners from 30 wireless service providers worldwide. The survey was conducted by Telesperience, a UK-based telecoms analyst firm focused on how technology impacts the operational and commercial performance of telecom service providers and the customer experience they deliver.
Contact: http://www.amdocs.com
Other key findings:
-- Data demand is driven by smartphones and laptops with mobile broadband: In the Americas and Europe smartphones are driving data demand, accounting for more than 40 percent of total data consumption. In Asia, the Middle East and Africa, laptops with mobile broadband is the key driver. A further factor fueling demand is flat-rate data tariffs where "bandwidth hogs," although comprising only an estimated 2-3 percent of the customer base, are consuming approximately 30 percent of the network's capacity, contributing to further service degradation for the overall user base.
-- Quality of service design is a major challenge: 75 percent of wireless service providers surveyed view end-to-end quality of service (QOS) design - which ensures a satisfactory customer experience during a voice call or data transfer - as having the greatest impact on their bottom line through increased customer support costs and customer churn. Respondents stated that specialist planning, design and capacity management tools are required to prevent issues such as loss of signal, cross-talk and slow service response time.
-- Heavy network expansion is underway; Ethernet is a priority: Wireless service providers see building out additional network capacity as essential, with 97 percent of those surveyed stating they intended to roll out Ethernet to alleviate congestion. Respondents said that the gap between the growth in demand for capacity as compared to revenues received for data services was a matter of concern when considering extra investment.
Comment from Teresa Cottam, research director of Telesperience, the firm that conducted the research: Wireless service providers want to provide a good quality of service for customers, but the challenge they face is that they have been caught in a 'perfect storm' with data demand doubling year on year, yet revenues are static due to flat-rate pricing. By blindly throwing capacity at the problem, it becomes harder for operators to cope with data growth. A smarter approach to capacity management and network planning is needed for future success, with quality of service providing the competitive differentiator.
Comment from Rebecca Prudhomme, vice president of product and solutions marketing at Amdocs: The capacity crunch is not just a network problem, it's a widespread commercial and brand issue that wireless service providers need to address in the short and long term. While service providers are adding extra capacity to their networks in the short term, they need to explore policy management solutions to enforce traffic flows and enable premium rate charging. But policy management on its own will not solve the problem. It's about combining policy with charging capabilities and network knowledge. Rigorous engineering of network capacity is critical to ensure customer experience is not compromised and that brand equity is protected.
About the survey: The survey outlines the scale and significance of the data capacity crunch for mobile network service providers and their customers. The survey examined wireless service providers' strategies for coping with the increasing demand for data on their networks while maintaining acceptable service quality. The survey took place last month and is based on 30 interviews with senior executives and network planners from 30 wireless service providers worldwide. The survey was conducted by Telesperience, a UK-based telecoms analyst firm focused on how technology impacts the operational and commercial performance of telecom service providers and the customer experience they deliver.
Contact: http://www.amdocs.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)