DMR

Mobile Broadband Networks – What’s Next ?

Dr. Hans-Peter Petry, Dr. Wolfgang Knospe — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Wireless technologies dominate our lives today and have changed our daily habits. The unlimited possibility to communicate anywhere at any time is attractive for many reasons. While the available services in the past were essentially limited to voice communication and narrowband data traffic, the latest technologies enable us to take the first step in the direction of true broadband communications. These prospects give rise to many new questions concerning the performance which can be expected in future and the consequences for the fixed networks. This article attempts to answer these questions and to describe their commercial context.

Interview with Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ulrich Trick: Access with a Future

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0100

The research group for telecommunications networks at the University of Applied Sciences of Frankfurt supports the migration to all-IP networks and the related service platforms with its research, an important contribution in view of the major changes going on in the telecommunications industry. The research group and the results of its work are significant for the continuous improvement of technologies, products, and standards. Two research projects investigating the topics of emergency calls and service delivery in NGN have been successfully concluded in cooperation with Detecon. While public discussions are concentrating primarily on the core networks and service delivery, the greatest investments continue to be made in the access networks and their installation and expansion. That is why we spoke to the head of this research group, Prof. Dr. Ulrich Trick, asking about the relationship between all-IP transformation and the changes in access networks.

Interview with Mohammed Khalfan Al Qamzi CEO, Etisalat (UAE), etisalat

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Etisalat is the largest Telco operator in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and one of the leading operators in the Middle East and North Africa. Etisalat was launched as the first operator in the UAE some 30 years ago and today offers a wide range of fixed and mobile voice as well as data services to its customers. Additional services are provided through its subsidiaries, for example cable TV, Internet access and clearinghouse services.

Business Models for Access Networks

Dirk Münning, Frank Wisselink — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Access networks incur high costs for the operator and require a long-term planning outlook, which is why the utilization of economies of scale is especially important for incumbent network operators. At the same time, there is increasing regulatory pressure in the direction of network neutrality. Special strategies are needed to survive in this environment of high investments, which is also driven by fast technological developments. Access networks are generally operated as an integral productive platform for a telecommunications provider, whereby access networks are offered as wholesale products to third parties in addition to the operator’s own services based on these networks. However, there are also providers who offer exclusively access functions as a service. Will the one business model be more successful than the other in the future?

Service Supporting Equipment at the Customer Premises

George Salisbury — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0100

In the early days of telephony, the end-user device - the telephone, was provided by the service provider, end-users were not permitted to connect “foreign” devices to the network. This situation continued until 1968 when a U.S.A. court ruled in favour of allowing suitable approved third party devices to be connected to the service provider’s network. Today’s broadband based telecommunications services are complex and require support from equipment located at the customers’ premises. This article considers whether such functionality should be provided by network owned equipment, as in the pre-1968 ruling, or via equipment provided by a third party.

Farewell to the Copper Pair?

Dr. Kai Grunert, Stephan Schäfer — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0100

The copper double lead (copper pair) can look back on a history of astonishing success. Originally installed for the transmission of analog telephone signals, the leads today carry bandwidths large enough for triple play services. Yet its future appears to be highly uncertain. Today’s wireless technologies such as CDMA and WiMAX are at least as good as the copper pair for the transmission of lower bandwidths such as those for example needed in developing countries. But it is physically not capable of transmitting really high bandwidths. Does the network upgrade with VDSL2 technology herald the last chapter in the long story of the copper pair?

"1M – 10M – 100M – 1G"

Andreas Melcher, Dr. Mathias Schweigel — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0100

The communications landscape of the present is characterized by a broad diversity of highly varied services, beginning with the classic voice service and continuing via various types of data services on to triple play offers. The consequent increase in bandwidth requirements all the way to the end customer has led to new technical framework conditions for the access network. Fixed network operators must make greater use of active technology in this part of the network, while mobile network operators are focusing on raising the density of their base stations and expanding the connections among existing stations. At the same time, solutions which meet all of the technical framework conditions and can also be realized at low cost must be found, yet taking into account the specific properties of the existing networks. Scalability and flexibility with respect to the adaptation to new services are further important basic conditions.

Supplier Relationship Management

Michael Hanke, Peter Langosch — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0200

Not many areas of business have had to deal with as many new impulses as procurement has done as a result of globalization. On the one hand the production depth of the companies is being reduced, on the other hand the opportunity of global sourcing means that the number of suppliers to be considered is growing exponentially. As a result competition is heating up and in many cases better conditions can be negotiated than was previously possible. The correct use of the Internet and web-based supplier portals can provide a company with a previously unknown degree of transparency. Some companies are already setting up procurement offices in countries such as China or India to allow the thorough analysis of potential purchases on site. Others are building entire production plants to take full advantage of new procurement markets and cheaper work forces.

A close-up on strategic procurement

Dr. Thomas Krause, Marco Grundel, Stephan Herrel — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0200

Whereas the operational purchasing process tended to be the focus at the beginning of the eBusiness consolidation process, present optimization initiatives now concentrate on the strategic processes of sourcing and supply management. Shifting responsibility for increasingly complex management tasks related to the supply network of a company to procurement opens up optimization potential.Cost pressure in this area forces continuous rationalization. The demands being made on the IT tools available to strategic procurement are growing, a unified overall strategy seems wise. In this article Detecon provides details of projects currently being carried out in a variety of industries and outlines answers to questions now being raised in supply management and strategic sourcing.

Best-in-class methods for operative purchasing

Mate Balthazar, Seyran Dayan — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0200

Everyone knows that good purchasing leads to success. But what exactly is ‘good purchasing’? What are the elements and components of successful operative purchasing? What are the main mistakes to be avoided in order to make the best use of available potential? This article provides an overview of the most important methods to help optimize operative purchasing activities and describes typical tripwires which can lead to failure.

Next Generation Value Network Management in Telecommunications

Dr. Andreas Rohleder, Dr.-Ing. Tobias Hausen, Frederic Pötzsch — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0200

Market dynamics and complexity have been taking the blame for weak growth and margin erosion in the telecommunications industry for quite some time now. Furthermore the increasing gap between customer expectations and company performance is mentioned frequently. As a matter of fact the ICT industry spares no costs or effort to counter these developments with new, innovative concepts. Nevertheless projects continue to fail as a leading prerequisite of successful implementation is ignored: the significance of organizational maturity. Moreover, many organizations have a weak understanding of the demand-oriented company network needed in the 21st Century and how to deploy ‘Next Generation Value Network Management’.

Anti-counterfeiting strategies

, Petra Babette Büchel — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0200

The continuously increasing number of counterfeiting cases , in particularly with their sometimes fatal consequences, calls for the development of strategies which enable effective analysis and avoidance. Alongside legal measures and best practice for the control and observation of the company’s own supply chain, innovative technologies are now also being used as a method of defense. However, these technologies are only effective for a limited time as counterfeiters are almost always able to adapt to them very quickly. In addition to this the number and variety of authentication alternatives are confusing the consumer. A promising development seems to be „Extended Tracking & Tracing“. Can the authentication and tracking and tracing of products throughout the entire supply chain from initial production and right through to the consumer really provide the necessary protection against product counterfeits?

Innovative technologies in logistics

Alexander Rinker, Patrick Braunschweig — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0200

Logistics is a key company function which has been particularly affected by the application of new technologies in the last 10 to 15 years. Present trends in those technologies relevant to logistics are now proving how networking the entire supply chain can actually provide solutions which benefit much more than just pure logistics. Marketing can for example profit from the availability of additional information about the patterns and habits in consumer behavior. We believe that the intelligent combination of complementary technologies and the synergetic use of the resulting data and information beyond the confines of the organization represent one of the most important competitive factors for the logistics of the future.

ICT applications in the logistics chain

Frédéric Cuny, Helmut Bremicker — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0200

Huge demands are being made on logistics and both production industries and logistics service providers face significant challenges in the field of IT applications and architectures. Low costs, speed and security must be achieved in combination with flexibility in the logistics chain. It is all too easy to believe that the application of modern software can solve all of a logistics manager’s problems. But the right methodology is what is needed if objectives are to be reached.

Telco 2.0

Dr. Karl-Michael Henneking — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0200

Everyone is talking about Web 2.0. The way in which the World Wide Web is being used is changing dramatically: User Generated Content, Social Networking and Virtual Reality are just a few examples of this. An equally fundamental change process is gripping the telecommunications industry. Telco 2.0 demands a thorough rethink of strategy and business model – the stretched-T strategy.

IP TV versus Web TV

Falk Wöhler-Moorhoff — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0200

Where is TV heading? This is a question to which there is presently no certain answer. The upheavals caused by digitalization, and particularly by the Internet, are so far-reaching, and make so many scenarios for the future possible, that no serious forecasting effort can be made. At the same time certain trends are visible which can be supported by more-or-less objective criteria. This article is intended as a contribution to the discussion and will investigate how the apparently competing platforms IP TV and Web TV are going to color the TV landscape of the future.

LivIng CiTies: Using ICT to improve the quality of life in cities

Jens Loosen, Lars Theobaldt — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0200

A variety of Living Cities (LC) concepts with different characteristics and scopes are being developed and in some cases implemented throughout the world. Although only a few of these projects, also known as wireless, e- or smart cities, have reached a significant degree of implementation, the extreme acceleration in this trend makes one wonder what makes it so interesting within the framework of the drive to convergence. Do Living City concepts provide a test-tube example of the Telco 2.0 business model?

Interview Al Dunn, Peter Vervest

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0200

AL DUNN and PETER VERVEST have been leaders in founding and developing the Smart Business Network Initiative with RSM Erasmus University, the Netherlands, to promote and research the development and application of digital network capabilities. As partners in D-Age Management in the UK and the Netherlands they have worked with telcos and their customers to identify and act on the opportunities of digital networks to dramatically improve their profitable performance.

eSales@telco2.0

Armin Fischer, Joerg Borowski — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0200

New communications and information technologies are having a major effect on consumer behavior. The socialization of the Internet – summarized in the term Web 2.0 – and the convergence of previously separate end user devices and communications services mean that the providers need to find new ways of reaching their customers. The Telco 2.0 can take the opportunity to set up an e-sales portfolio based on IT and telecoms competence which makes it possible for their business customers to reach their own customers in the Web 2.0 world. Telecommunications providers in mature markets can gain access to new growth using this type of B2B2C business model. The example of mobile end user devices illustrates how customers can be reached throughout their entire lifecycle – from information to transaction through to the use of services and products.

The second generation of MVNOs and mobile services

Daniel dos Reis — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0200

Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) have established themselves firmly as the second group of mobile service providers, with more than 250 in business worldwide. Whereas the first generation of MVNOs followed a strategy of cost leadership, the second generation, including Helio, Ampd or Disney Mobile, are concentrating on differentiation to address high ARPU market segments. The planned MVNO Blyk goes one step further and puts the entire business model into question with the provision of mobile services which are partially funded by advertising, as does Senopia, a type of Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE) for end users. What kind of effect are these developments going to have on the market and competitive structures in the mobile communication industry? Mobile Network Operators need to adapt their strategies in order to stay ahead of the competition