Trevor Dearing, EMEA Marketing Director at Gigamon, has made the following comments:
"These announcements are likely to shake up the telecoms market again, as well as raise other questions in relation to the problem of networks becoming overloaded with so many new subscribers. As demonstrated by the GSMA study, the mobile market is continuing to grow, and it’s not surprising that Internet giants like Google and Facebook want, in their own way, to leverage the many opportunities the market offers. Aside from the need to differentiate services when a new operator comes to the market, service providers also need to consider the issue of network management, in order to ensure they are able to deal with an increase in the number of mobile subscribers.
“To address this problem, operators have begun to deploy new technologies, which allow them to remain competitive and improve the services they offer their subscribers. Currently, mobile operators are being seduced by new technologies such as VoIP, VoLTE, network virtualisation and an increase in network speeds – which all offer better voice quality, the deployment of faster and more dynamic services, and accelerated connectivity. However, when deploying these technologies in unison, they find themselves faced with compatibility problems, overloaded bandwidth or the loss of data packets – which all have the opposite effect to what was intended.
“Operators must be able to upgrade their technologies, while also ensure the continuity of monitoring, management and security tools in order to cope with, and compete with, the arrival of new players in the market. The lack of visibility coupled with the deployment of new technologies presents a challenge and can make operators lose any advantage they have. In addressing these issues, and increasing visibility into their networks, providers can expand their offerings and effectively respond to the new demands that arise from the evolution of technology and how it’s used.”