TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................ 4
I.

INTRODUCTION & KEY FINDINGS ..................................................................... 5

1.1
1.2

Key Findings.......................................................................................................... 5
Report Scope & Structure ..................................................................................... 8

II.

ECONOMIC DRIVERS ALL-IP MOBILE NETWORKS ........................................ 9

2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4

A Surge of Mobile Data Traffic .............................................................................. 9

Is a Capacity Crunch Coming?............................................................................ 11
Mobile Data Revenues Are Accelerating............................................................. 12
Mobile Broadband Pricing Trends ....................................................................... 14
Comparing Mobile Broadband With Fixed Broadband Pricing ............................ 16
Where's the Bottom on Mobile Broadband Pricing? ............................................ 17

III.

MOBILE NETWORK ARCHITECTURE EVOLUTION ....................................... 18

3.1
3.2
3.3

Classic Architecture............................................................................................. 18
Overview of Architecture Evolution ..................................................................... 19
Drivers for Flatter Architectures........................................................................... 20
Lower Cost per Bit With IP .................................................................................. 20
Value-Based Service Pricing ............................................................................... 20
Preparation for 4G Radio Interfaces.................................................................... 20
Ability to Integrate Non 3GPP Access ................................................................. 21
Flat Architecture & Lower Latency ...................................................................... 21
Adjacent Initiatives Impacting Packet Data Architectures ................................... 21
IP/MPLS Core & Backhaul .................................................................................. 22
Mobile Softswitching............................................................................................ 22
IP RAN ................................................................................................................ 22
Non-3GPP Access (UMA/GAN, I-WLAN, & Femtocells) ..................................... 23

3.4

IV.

DIRECT TUNNEL ARCHITECTURE .................................................................. 24

4.1

Direct Tunnel Architecture (One Tunnel)............................................................. 24

Vendor Positioning Direct Tunnel ..................................................................... 25
Direct Tunnel With Flat RAN for HSPA+ ............................................................. 26
Vendor Positioning Flat 3G RAN ...................................................................... 29

4.2

V.

LTE/SAE ARCHITECTURE & EVOLVED PACKET CORE ............................... 30

5.1

Evolved Packet System Architecture .................................................................. 31

Migrating to Evolved Packet Core ....................................................................... 32
Distributed User Plane Processing in the Evolved Packet Core ......................... 33
Vendor Positioning Evolved Packet Core......................................................... 34

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VI.

MOBILE PACKET CORE ................................................................................... 35

6.1
6.2

6.4

Packet Core Market Value .................................................................................. 35

Packet Core Market Share .................................................................................. 35
3GPP2 Packet Core Market ................................................................................ 37
Deep Packet Inspection ...................................................................................... 37
Vendor Positioning Deep Packet Inspection .................................................... 38
Traffic Management & RAN/Core Integration...................................................... 40

VII.

VENDOR PROFILES .......................................................................................... 41

7.1
7.2
7.3
7.4
7.5
7.6
7.7
7.8
7.9
7.10
7.11
7.12
7.13
7.14

Alcatel-Lucent...................................................................................................... 41
Allot Communications Ltd.................................................................................... 42
Arbor Networks Inc. (Ellacoya Networks) ............................................................ 43
Cisco Systems Inc. .............................................................................................. 44
Ericsson AB ......................................................................................................... 45
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. ............................................................................ 47
Juniper Networks Inc. .......................................................................................... 49
Motorola Inc......................................................................................................... 50
Nokia Siemens Networks .................................................................................... 50
Nortel Networks Corp. ......................................................................................... 53
Sandvine Inc........................................................................................................ 54
Starent Networks Corp. ....................................................................................... 55
WiChorus Inc. ...................................................................................................... 57
ZTE Corp. ............................................................................................................ 59

6.3

APPENDIX A: ABOUT THE AUTHOR........................................................................... 60

APPENDIX B: LEGAL DISCLAIMER ............................................................................ 61

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