AdvancedTCA Poised to Penetrate LTE

By Ernie Bergstrom, Crystal Cube Consulting

LTE (Long Term Evolution) is a new high performance interface for cellular mobile communications systems. It is the latest step toward the 4G (4th Generation) of radio frequency technologies created to increase the capacity and speed of mobile telephone networks. LTE consists of enhancements to the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) which will be introduced in 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) Release 8.

Most major mobile carriers worldwide have announced plans to convert their networks to LTE. TeliaSonera opened the world's first public LTE service in Stockholm and Oslo in December 2009.

Based on industry experience, 4G standards such as LTE will have aggressive performance requirements. For example, the handover procedure is intended to reduce interruption time below that of circuit-switched handovers in 2G networks. Such specifications will require large amounts of computing power. As the industry moves forward aggressively into LTE, AdvancedTCA-based systems have a clear competitive advantage over proprietary systems in that they leverage the ecosystem’s ability to offer products that incorporate the latest processors and other devices. Such products can provide increased capacity in new application-ready blades, as well as capabilities to implement methods such as Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) to offer guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS). An example approach is the filtering of bandwidth-intensive applications such as Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing.

Cellular service providers are continuously looking for ways to increase their Average Revenue per User (ARPU), and gain incremental revenue from tiered service offerings. An AdvancedTCA-based DPI module in an LTE network can help. According to industry analysts, DPI modules can utilize the network efficiently by managing heavy users, such as those producing P2P and YouTube-like video traffic and using Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS), and providing traffic shaping under load conditions in accordance with Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Lawful intercept under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) and other features will be key differentiators for DPI module deployment at the LTE core. Such functionality opens up many opportunities for revenue generation. Furthermore, market analysts report that cellular data usage is growing 30 percent annually, far above fixed broadband revenues and growth.

A smooth, fast, cost-effective migration from 3G to LTE is crucial for network operators. Fully tested and application-ready AdvancedTCA LTE solutions offer wireless and DPI functionality at either the component or platform level. An integrated AdvancedTCA solution is an efficient base platform for a network operator to deliver high-speed data services with differentiation. It is also a solid investment as AdvancedTCA processor blades will continue to leverage innovations and improved architectures. The technology offered by LTE at the network level is complemented well by AdvancedTCA-based solutions to yield the fastest migration approach, maximizing time to market and offering a quicker revenue stream for network operators and improved quality of service for end users.

Ernie Bergstrom is President of Crystal Cube Consulting and a Contributing Editor to the ATCA Newsletter. You can reach him at ernie@atcanewsletter.com.