Keynote talk

MBB: Handling traffic and Network Scalability issues.

M. Teresa Herrero-Zamorano
Mobile Network Manager, Telefonica Spain


Abstract:

Telco Companies are living an uncertain period, seeking new sources of
growth. Mobile Broadband and Ethernet- based connectivity services for
Businesses seem to be the answer in a market where commoditization is
the greatest threat. None of them is easy to deploy, despite the fact
that MBB has shown an spectacular growth in the last year. The ability
to support a continuous increase in traffic and users is a challenge
that Mobile Operators must solve, focusing on several areas.
Indentifying the bottlenecks is the first step to improve network
capacity: Packet core, Radio Access and Backhaul are the three basic
infraestructures involved. They are tighlty correlated, but very
 different in several ways. Packet core gives a different set of nodes
 that allows mobile networks to  have context and session awareness.
 These properties are basic to provide mobility and are the main
 difference between mobile and fixed core data networks. These mobility
 properties may be used to provide a better service. Radio access is
 inherently limited by the usage of a shared medium and the cost of site
 delpoyment. These external conditions limit the real improvements in
the overall capacity expected from new technical enhancements. The
extension of new sites, the growth in the number of bearers and those
technical enhancements require the usage of a flexible backhaul. The
best solution to obtain this flexibility seems to be ethernet networks,
but their footprint hasn't the granularity a mobile network needs.
Finally, we must analyze the particular conditions of mobile networks in
relation with typical data services. The use of the same applications in
fixed and mobile networks creates several problems we must have in mind.


Bio.

Teresa began her professional career in Telefónica Móviles España as
Value Added Services Engineer, which includes Technical specification of
new products, Project planning, Coordination of different areas in the
company for service deployment, as well as for the commercial rollout.
She took part in Prepaid service definition and deployment  in Spain,
and also in the adaptation of it for different foreign Telefónica
markets. This adaptation comprises different regulatory scenarios and
technical requisites. Besides Intelligent network services, Teresa
developed different SVAs based on SS7 signalling and traditional ISUP
platforms. As technologist she made different proof of concept with SOAP
and CORBA based SDPs, as well as Web services platforms. In the
Technology department she analyzed and evaluated IMS/NGN architectures,
taking part in different RFI/RFQ processes. Simultaneously she executed
several studies about Radio access capacity and evolution, and the
ability to absorb VoIP traffic over a mobile Network. Since 2008 she
manages a team responsible for the dimensioning of wire line networks in
Telefónica Spain, which include IP, ATM, Ethernet and PSTN
infrastructure. This responsibility covers from  link status analysis to
existing and new services study and its associated flows through the
network, irrespective of the technology used to provide the service.
Teresa`s team responsibilities also cover traffic evolution predictions
through customer and service characterization, combined with a deep
analysis of technical constrains and topology restrictions. These tasks
respond to key strategic dilemmas in present networks.