Operators Beware: a Tidal Wave of Data Approaches
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VENDOR VIEW SPONSORED AND WRITTEN BY Operators Beware: A Tidal Wave of Data Approaches The mobile industry is facing a tsunami of data as smartphones and other mobile devices grow in popularity. What can the industry do to cope? Ken Denman, Openwave CEO, offers his insight. fter years of talk about mobile data proved browsers in the latest smartphones inson and handset vendor INQ, launched services, the day has finally arrived are driving a huge increase in mobile the INQ1, which integrates data services Awhere demand is close to rivalling browsing. such as Facebook, MSN and eBay directly the hype. Instead of figuring out how to While this trend is important for opera- into the software of the handset. entice users to adopt new applications tors, we expect that the second wave of and services, the main issue at hand demand, fuelled by netbooks, 3G-equipped User Experience 2.0 is how to deal with the imminent tidal PCs, and other new mobile devices, will be As we have witnessed in the traditional waves of data usage heading to operators’ even greater than the smartphone wave, web, niche information and personalised networks. both in terms of magnitude and speed. content are usurping mass market “hits.” In the last two years we’ve seen smart- Because a single PC produces far more data We now see major brands prioritising phones move to the mainstream and we traffic than a smartphone, converting just the customer experience and exploring expect continued uptake, along with the a few percent of the PC installed base from the best ways to reach their customers development of other mobile devices such DSL to 3G drives an enormous increase in through what some are calling “User as netbooks and PCs with 3G dongles and mobile data traffic. Strategy Analytics pre- Experience 2.0,” an attempt to proactively built-in 3G radios. According to industry dicts that the traffic from this second wave unite users with relevant content and analyst firm Strategy Analytics, by 2012, will be more than 4,000 petabytes per year services. The goal is to make content dis- the amount of mobile data traffic will by 2012, or about 16 times the data traffic covery much simpler and more targeted, increase to more than five times its cur- from smartphones. eliminating the awkward left-to-right rent level. This second wave is already starting scrolling when browsing, presenting to gather in Europe, where a number of relevant content first, and improving site Data Tsunami operators are offering free 3G netbooks navigation. It is a dynamic process of We’ve been closely tracking the amount with the purchase of a two-year service interpreting the content being served and of data on networks and have identified contract. Analyst firm Forrester predicts enhancing and adapting it on the fly to two approaching waves of demand for that 125 million Europeans will access provide the best possible user experience. mobile data. As stated above, the first is the mobile Internet by 2013, more than User Experience 2.0 is an exciting pros- upon us: the arrival of smartphones in tripling today’s users. According to a De- pect for consumers, but it can be a little the market. From mid-2006 to mid-2009, cember 2008 comScore report, 25 percent bit daunting for operators. Networks are the volume of data served to smartphones of the total UK population now accesses already struggling to support the increase increased almost 100 times. The current the Internet from a mobile device, up nine in traffic; a better experience will only amount of data traffic to smartphones is percent compared to last year. increase traffic volume. estimated at about 66 petabytes per year. These netbook bundles are only the By 2012, this could grow to as much as beginning of the merger of the wired and Smart Money 250 petabytes, as predicted by Strategy wireless Internet worlds. In February, And thus, the operators are faced with Analytics. France Telecom-Orange announced a the current dilemma of investing in their This is much larger than the current large push into the combined mobile and infrastructure during uncertain economic flow of HTML data traffic to feature PC Internet space, through a joint deal times. Cutting corners could result in a phones. The prominence of smartphones with HP. Skype announced deals with poor user experience, impacting the opera- in data traffic is being driven by two Nokia and Sony Ericsson to integrate its tor directly as subscribers are more likely things: the most aggressive data users are service into several different phone mod- to blame the network than the handset or migrating to smartphones, and the im- els. Before Christmas, the operator Hutch- content provider. 26-27_MCI159.indd 30 5/6/09 17:00:37 VENDOR VIEW It is paramount that operators embrace change head on, invest in the infrastructure needed to manage the data tsunamis, and begin to develop Ken Denham CEO of Openwave services that will make the most of the coming Email: [email protected] opportunities. Website: www.openwave.com Operators must figure out how best to new pricing structure. Smart operators A Complete Mobile Internet Solution spend their money to cope with this mas- will be able to distinguish themselves from Openwave’s Mobile Internet platform sive increase in data demand, improve their competitors by offering premium and services are a mass-market approach the experience and monetise it in a way services to customers. This will require to bringing the PC Internet to mobile that benefits their business and their close monitoring of bandwidth utilisa- devices. Leveraging the mobile operator’s subscribers. tion in order to make sure that a sufficient network ownership and direct relation- portion is preserved for these preferred ship with the consumer, the Openwave Content Optimization services. solution not only helps deliver a fast, safe In the short term, operators can take and seamless user experience, but gives quick action to ensure they are optimiz- More Devices, More Opportunity operators the monitoring tools to man- ing their networks. The key is to use The expanding eco-system of the mobile age traffic and effectively market their data management and compression Internet will also bring new business services. techniques. Openwave’s experience with opportunities for operators. New devices Openwave’s Mobile Internet solution customers around the world, including mean new mobile Internet services and ad- begins with Integra, a mobile internet Telstra in Australia, has shown how the ditional sources of revenue. The introduc- service management platform. The Integra ability to rapidly scale to meet changing tion of the iPhone alone has increased data platform sits in the operator’s network customer needs, as well as support new traffic six-fold per customer. The Blackber- and functions as a single point of control, protocols, content types and applications ry Storm and other popular mobile devices managing all the services required to is critical to competitiveness. will only solidify these trends. deliver a better internet experience: content Integra, Openwave’s mobile internet In order to launch the right services, adaptation, network optimization, security service management platform, addresses it’s critical for operators to gain a deep and analytics. the market’s need for fast, open and secure understanding of consumers’ online internet access from a widely diverse range habits. Openwave’s Mobile Analytics Conclusion of mobile devices. Integra’s open interface tool does just this, working seamlessly It is clear to us that the magnitude of and flexible design also gives operators the and unobtrusively with the data access the challenge facing the mobile indus- ability to introduce new services without layer to monitor usage. Mobile Analytics try is immense. As an industry, we are having to overhaul the infrastructure, gives operators significant advantages barely coping with the first part of the which can provide significant cost savings. by combining demographic information smartphone tidal wave, and woefully At Telstra, the introduction of Integra has with data consumption patterns to deliver unprepared for the second wave that will brought a fourfold efficiency gain over an relevant products and targeted advertising come from 3G-equipped PCs and other equivalent WAP gateway. to consumers. new devices. Some networks are already If operators are slow to act, the market at their capacity limits, and experienc- Different Pricing Models will move without them and they will be ing intermittent service failures, due to In the long term, bandwidth management marginalised to the role of a “dumb pipe,” smartphone data traffic. The problem is will require more than just optimisation. mere providers of flat-rate data access, only going to get worse. It is paramount Some operators are considering whether a similar to the fixed-line operators before that operators embrace this change head- tiered usage and cost model will be better them. Operators need a solution that capi- on, invest in the infrastructure needed to for their business than the current “all you talises on their core business and unique manage the data tsunamis, and begin to can eat” subscriptions. If so, they must assets to add value across a mass market of develop services that will make the most figure out how to migrate their users to this handsets. of the coming opportunities. 26-27_MCI159.indd 31 5/6/09 17:00:38.