CENTRI Technology

With data traffic exploding more than 5,000% since the iPhone was introduced five years ago, and average data usage on smartphones approaching 1 TB per month, we are entering a new phase of the mobile revolution. This mobile data crunch can be attributed to four primary characteristics including: The emergence of true mobile broadband, growth of rich media, shift to pervasive connectivity and the proliferation of connected devices. A recent CENTRI Technology commissioned white paper by Mark Lowenstein, Managing Director of Mobile Ecosystem, discusses the effects that this will have on the mobile network, and a new model that will improve network performance and optimization to manage these challenges.

Wireless operators and service providers will need an increasing array of tools to deal with the rapid growth of for data and the costs associated with network usage. Network performance and optimization solutions, including bandwidth management, compression and encryption have historically been piecemealed together by the operator without taking in to consideration how the solution can positively impact the requirements across the organization. However, the capacity issue cannot be solved in one fell swoop. Service providers alike need to approach it in a holistic way that will lead to their networks performing in a more intelligent and efficient manner to better serve their subscribers.

One compelling example is CENTRI Technology’s byte-level caching, compression and bandwidth management, which takes a new approach to optimizing the network. The client-server software architecture captures data at a granular level from one endpoint like the LAN or device to the network.

The ability to capture data across networks, not just the WAN is also an important aspect of the platform. Wi-Fi is proving to be an important piece of how operators are managing data traffic, and there is a need for solution that provides a comprehensive view into data utilization and the ability to manage data across all networks.

The white paper discusses a more comprehensive approach to helping operators deliver intelligent network optimization and bandwidth management solutions that will not only improve the performance and efficiency of their networks but also help them deliver a superior user experience to reduce churn amongst their subscribers.

To request a copy of the white paper please email whitepaper@centritechnology.com.

For CIOs and IT managers, bring-your-own-device often seems short for “bring your own dilemma.” On the one hand, enterprises don’t want employee-provided devices undermining security, including providing new back doors to the company network. On the other, heavy-handed policies and tools undermine the user experience to the point that employees try to get around those safeguards, creating even more security risks.

BYOD is the latest security challenge that enterprises, government agencies and other organizations face as more and more of their workforce goes mobile. In fact, Ericsson predicts that by 2016, 70% of cloud access will be over cellular. That trend means at many organizations, many or most employees will spend their workday using a tablet or smartphone.

In many respects, mobile operators are in the same boat as enterprises. For example, both need to identify and stop malware before it starts to spread. There are bottom-line costs when malware isn’t nipped in the bud, including overloaded help desks and contact centers fielding calls about devices that suddenly don’t work right. Malware also produces unwanted traffic, so it clogs up the operator’s network, and it eats up the enterprise’s data bucket.

There’s no shortage of mobile device management, mobile application management and other tools for maximizing security, but they each have their drawbacks. For example, traditional security mechanisms such as IPSec and SSL VPN are processor-intensive, creating a drag on performance that undermines the user experience on even high-end smartphones and tablets. IPSec and SSL VPN also are chatty, which consumes network capacity and saps battery life.

Those drawbacks are one reason why the network itself should help ensure security. Infrastructure will always have more processing power, memory and energy at its disposal, so it should handle the heavy lifting. The network also is in the ideal position to identify emerging threats before they spread to more devices and the problem gets out of hand. The network’s central location also makes it easier for the enterprise or mobile operator to push out security updates instead of waiting for users to download them.

That’s not to say that device-side clients can’t play an important role, too. For example, that software can provide valuable information to help the network identify problems. It also provides an additional, local layer of protection.

In some ways, having both network-level security and device-side clients can bring the best of both worlds. For example, physicians, nurses and home health aides frequently use smartphones, tablets and other devices across a variety of networks – Wi-Fi, mobile wireless or hardwired – making it essential to have policies set in place both via the network and on the device side. Managing security at the network level with policy controls can help these professionals keep the gigabytes of confidential patient data secure that is being transferred daily across a variety of devices.

Compression enables mobile-friendly encryption

Encryption is another highly effective way to ensure security in a BYOD environment, as well as when the enterprise provides employees with smartphones or tablets. Encryption helps ensure that confidential information stays confidential when it’s en route and on the device.

AES-128 and IPSec are the two major encryption standards in use today. The catch is that they were both created when PCs and wired networks were the norm in enterprise communications. As a result, they have a couple of drawbacks when they’re used on mobile devices and wireless networks. For example, they don’t use battery power and spectrum resources as efficiently as they could if they were designed for today’s mobile workforces.

By using compression in combination with either AES-128 or IPSec, to compress and encrypt in a single pass, data can be delivered up to 10 times faster. This also provides another layer of security when used in conjunction with a cache mechanism.

That has several benefits. Each download or upload requires less battery and spectrum resources. And because the employer-authorized communications mode provides a super fast connection, employees are unlikely to look for less secure alternatives, such as a random Wi-Fi signal that might be there only to harvest passwords and other confidential information. Lastly, the added security layer provides increased protection for the employer.

For CIOs and IT managers, BYOD is both a challenge and an opportunity. By selecting the right security and encryption solutions, enterprises can mitigate BYOD’s risks and reap benefits such as increased productivity and responsiveness.

One of the biggest debates in wireless over the past decade is about who owns the customer: the mobile operator or a third party such as an over-the-top (OTT) provider? What about when the user is a child or teen? Does the parent have the final say on how the device is used? And a new wrinkle in the debate is the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend, where two entities call the shots: the phone’s owner and that person’s employer.

No wonder that policy control remains a hot topic for mobile operators, enterprises, OTT providers and parents alike. Yet for all of the attention it gets, policy control is notoriously challenging to implement. One reason is that conventional policy-control solutions stop at the edge of the operator’s network. They can’t enforce policies when customers, employees or children are roaming or on Wi-Fi. The lack of Wi-Fi enforceability is a major problem because operators and employers alike are encouraging the use of Wi-Fi whenever possible.

For example, some operators now load software onto their smartphones that automatically looks for and connects to home or office WLANs that the user has previously connected to. The unfortunate byproduct is that the more that people take advantage of those tools, the less control employers and operators have. In the case of an employer, Wi-Fi means that there isn’t necessarily consistency in blocking certain types of behaviors, such as accessing Facebook during business hours. Parents also can’t use operator-provided tools to control their children’s usage when they’re connected to third-party Wi-Fi, such as at a friend’s house or at the mall.

By comparison, the ideal solution gives employers, operators and parents the ability to extend policies across all networks. This persistence pays off – literally. For example, an employer now can enforce its no-Facebook policy when its road warriors and other mobile workers are connected to public hotspots. That maximizes productivity and helps the employer’s bottom line. Mobile operators, meanwhile, have a more attractive parental-control solution because they now can market its ability to enforce policies even when children’s devices are roaming or on Wi-Fi.

Another example is the growing number of primary and secondary schools worldwide that are using tablets to supplement or replace textbooks. Mobile operators ability to capitalize on that opportunity depends partly on their ability to comply with laws. In the U.S., for instance, the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requires grant winners to ensure a certain level of device security.

At school, the firewall can block access to certain sites. But once students leave, conventional policy-control solutions no longer can provide the security and privacy safeguards that CIPA requires. The ideal solution extends those safeguards wherever students connect, whether it’s at a public hotspot or their home WLAN.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

Conventional policy-control solutions are rigid and feature-limited. For example, they rely on URL/content filtering, which often block the root-level domain, leaving any subpages with inappropriate content easily accessible.  Other shortcomings occur when explicit adult images are not screened on unblocked websites like healthcare, search engines and social media sites.

The ideal solution also should be flexible enough to enable policies to go into effect at certain times, rather than forcing them to be applied at all times. For example, the ideal solution would allow an employer with a BYOD policy to create a no-Facebook policy that goes into effect based on each employee’s shift, instead of just 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The ideal policy-control solution also gives operators and employers the flexibility to deploy it either entirely in the network or with a combination of a network-based component and a device-side client:

• A network-only solution can be a better fit for some BYOD environments because the enterprise’s IT department now doesn’t have to worry about finding software that’s compatible with every employee’s tablet or smartphone.

• An operator or employer might prefer a network-only solution to prevent employees and children from uninstalling it or changing its settings, two common drawbacks to policy-control solutions that rely on apps and other software.

• A network-only solution also might be attractive because it doesn’t use the tablet’s or smartphone’s processor and memory, thereby maximizing device performance. That’s particularly valuable for enterprises because BYOD or not, employee productivity isn’t undermined by sluggish devices. For both enterprises and operators, the lack of a performance hit means fewer troubleshooting calls to the help desk or customer care, respectively.

• A device-side client could be used to collect QoS metrics and other information about the user experience, all of which is reported back to the policy-control platform. The operator or enterprise then can use this data for troubleshooting, including identifying problems before they become noticeable to users.

Policy control ultimately can be a problem or an opportunity. Historically it’s been a problem because conventional solutions lack the flexibility and granularity necessary to accommodate a wide variety of use cases. By taking a completely different approach in terms of architecture and capabilities, the ideal solution makes policy control an opportunity for enterprises, operators and parents to stay in control no matter how their devices connect.

Given consumers and business professionals’ growing reliance on mobile devices, there undoubtedly has been a wide-scale adoption of smartphones and tablets, as well as significant growth in mobile data as more and more people are using connected devices for a variety of tasks and across a variety of networks. In fact, it is expected that there will be 50 billion connected devices by 2020 – everything from smartphones, tablets, TVs and cars, to smart meters and homes, will be wirelessly connected. For the wireless industry, this growth is a major coup. But it does not come without challenge in the form of security, monetization of services, network capacity and more.

We’re facing these challenges head on with our new Connected Experience Platform (CXP). Announced today, CXP is the only comprehensive solution that retains full visibility to the data stream across mobile, Wi-Fi, and broadband, with detailed reporting and analytics to tailor the user experience across any network and any connected device. The platform enables operators to more efficiently monetize and manage their network with a fully encompassing end-to-end solution. The range of capabilities enabled by CXP is critical to solving a host of issues from BYOD policy to monetization and optimization.

Here’s a breakdown of our new Connected Experience Platform (CXP):

• There are three core product suites: BitSmart CX, Premium CX and Insights CX, which are focused on driving network efficiency, management and monetization of new services, and real-time reporting and analytics, respectively.
• CXP also utilizes an intuitive cloud-based portal, CX Manager, which allows administrators to apply controls and premium services to the network and to specific devices.

Unique features of the platform consist of the following:

BitSmart CX:

• SmartStream QoS: drives network efficiency by managing and prioritizing bandwidth across the networks, as well as proactively offloading network-intensive activities to available Wi-Fi networks.
• End-to-End Data Protection: advanced encryption technology and security-based policies minimize the fear of unwanted content or malware attacks on the device.
• Data Optimization: achieves unmatched end-to-end network data efficiency through advanced patented-compression of all network traffic, which can significantly improve the user experience.

Premium CX:

• Tailored User Experience: generates new operator revenues by providing flexible usage plans based on subscribers’ needs, reducing churn and increasing customer satisfaction.
• Consumer and Enterprise Controls: sets always-on and always-active parental and corporate controls to enforce Web protection for minors and policies for employees.
• Any Connected Device on Any Network: settings and policies remain consistent across all mobile devices and networks.

Insights CX:

• Full Data Visibility: provide operators with actionable insight into what content and services are being accessed across the network for both BitSmart CX and Premium CX.
• Real-Time Tracking: tracks data usage, performance, optimization and malware for any device connected through any network.

We will be showcasing CXP next week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. For press and analyst inquiries, please contact us at centri@globalresultspr.com. For more information on CXP or to request a demo, please contact info@centritechnology.com.

Is your network providing maximum value for you and your customers? It’s not an academic question, considering that in 2013, ABI Research estimates that North American mobile operators will spend a collective $10.5 billion on LTE and other network upgrades.

It’s also a timely question. Between number portability, the growing number of low-cost mobile virtual network operators and the slow death of subsidy lock, it’s easier than ever for customers to churn.

Policy control and performance are two ideal ways for operators to differentiate themselves, minimize churn and create new revenue streams. For example, most operators are phasing out flat-rate, unlimited-use buckets in favor of tiered plans. The next step is à la carte pricing, which also is an opportunity for operators to co-opt the over-the-top threat.

For instance, an operator could partner with an OTT video provider so that customers can stream a movie for a flat fee – say, $1.99 – that includes the data usage, instead of having it count against their prepaid or postpaid bucket. The operator could afford to do that if the OTT provider agrees, for example, to share some of its revenue, because in return, the operator provides higher quality of service for its videos. That way, it’s the operator getting the most out of its network, instead of someone else: OTT providers.

The same business model and customer offering could be applied to other OTT services, such as Voice over Internet Protocol. Either way, the operator benefits because it has turned OTT from a problem – revenue leakage – into an opportunity. If the operator is the OTT provider’s exclusive partner in that market, that relationship also could help it attract customers who are fans of the OTT provider.

Déjà vu or really new?

If that scenario sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the kind of vision that vendors and operators have been discussing and attempting for years. But those strategies typically haven’t panned out, largely because OSS/BSS and other systems are incapable of providing operators with the tools necessary to facilitate them. For example, policy charging and rules function nodes aren’t granular enough to distinguish between individual users and services.

Hence the need for a new solution, one that can provide deep, actionable insights into each of the device’s usage of network services, all in real time. To do that, the solution must span both the network and the devices, whether they’re a smartphone, tablet or machine-to-machine module. The device-side aspect is key, because it provides the operator with visibility even when the device is roaming on Wi-Fi or on another mobile network. By comparison, PCRF is limited to the operator’s home mobile network.

Wi-Fi visibility is valuable because most operators worldwide are increasing their reliance on Wi-Fi offload, whether that’s a home network, an enterprise WLAN, a public hotspot or all of the above. Offload typically means no visibility into usage and the customer experience, and no policy enforcement. Extending that visibility and policy control to any network, regardless of ownership or technology, extends the operator’s ability to increase the value it provides its customers.

Operators can add value by leveraging their customers’ awareness – particularly among enterprises – about mobile malware and other security risks. Many operators provide customers with free security apps, just as many enterprises equip their smartphones and tablets with security software. But providing them is one thing; ensuring that people actually use them is quite another.

A network-based security solution avoids the risk and expense that come when customers don’t know about or don’t use mobile security solutions, and when employees bypass company-required solutions because they’re a hassle. For example, a network-based security system can detect malware as it begins to move across the network, and stop it before it reaches employee or customer devices.

That solution helps maximize capacity and performance by nipping malware in the bud, before it can clog the network and undermine the user experience. The operator also saves money because it doesn’t have to staff up its contact centers to field calls regarding malware-related problems. At the same time, the IT staff is free to focus on other projects instead of helping employees troubleshoot infected devices. A network-based approach also gives operators and their enterprise customers a way to secure older devices, such as those that lack the memory and processing power necessary to run security applications without slowing down.

Finally, when considering a solution like this, operators should consider how they want to deploy, whether it be cloud-based or on-premise. Typically, a cloud-based solution will give the operator more flexibility and scalability. This approach enables faster deployment, too – as little as three months – because the operator and its vendor don’t have to spend the better part of a year making the architecture work within the operator’s infrastructure.

Did you know that while 60 percent of consumers report being issued a PC/laptop by their employer, less than 10 percent have an employer-issued smartphone? This is all according to a recent Twitter survey we conducted.

In fact, an increasing number of companies are following the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend by permitting employees to bring personally owned devices – laptops, tablets and smartphones – to work, and using those devices to access privileged company information and applications.

Of our survey respondents, 80 percent said that they use their personal devices (laptop, smartphone or tablet) for work activities. This new trend of BYOD in the workplace certainly lightens the load for employees, since they no longer have to lug around two mobile phones – one for pleasure and one for work. And it helps companies mitigate equipment costs. Unfortunately it also poses some major challenges, especially for the more than half (55 percent) of companies who do not have a BYOD plan in place. Those companies without a BYOD policy or management tools are making themselves vulnerable to a host of security risks – especially as their employees migrate from one network to another, such as a public Wi-Fi hotspot.

In the case of employees, how do they feel about BYOD? Most seem to be cool with it: nearly half of respondents (46 percent) said that “convenience” was the primary reason they use their own devices at work, while another 24 percent cited “preference” as a key driver. What they aren’t too jazzed about is having employers track their personal devices. An overwhelming 80 percent don’t want any tracking apps put on their BYOD device, further underscoring that although it is becoming an important part of the enterprise, employees are weary of having any type of tracking of their sites, location or app downloads that could go along with a BYOD policy.

So, what are companies to do? There’s no question that BYOD brings a significant amount of benefits to both camps – employees and employers. And, there’s no question that it also brings challenges.

Fortunately there are new vehicles for accommodating the BYOD trend that minimize security risks for companies and allow them to set their policy controls while not being obtrusive or obstructive for their employees – basically, a win-win situation. CENTRI is at the center of bringing these solutions, as well as other tools to market that are designed to accommodate the ways that employees want to use their devices – especially when they are on public Wi-Fi spots outside the office environment. These network management and policy tools are going to be critical to the success of BYOD.

For all the one-upmanship over speeds, coverage and iconic devices, wireless ultimately is a game of control. Look no further than three trends that will play out in 2013:

Who will provide mobile data policy control to consumers and enterprises? There’s no shortage of solutions available to enable parents to limit how their kids use their mobile phone, or to enable companies to block employee usage of productivity-killing apps during business hours. Those solutions exist not simply because the problems exist, but because consumers and enterprises are aware that the problems exist.

That means the only question now is which companies will sell them those solutions: mobile operators, handset OEM’s or other third party software vendors? It’s an important question for operators because although they want the revenue and stickiness that policy control services enable, most are still struggling to figure out how to create and offer them.

Control, no pun, is a big part of the answer. For example, suppose that an operator wants to provide a variety of policy control services for iOS devices. To create a solution that isn’t so limited or broadly applied that it undermines the iPhone’s or iPad’s usefulness, Apple must cooperate. Will it?

Brand recognition is yet another factor. Consumers and IT managers recognize companies such as Symantec and McAfee as providers of security-related policy solutions. Are they willing to consider their mobile operator as an equally viable source? Or to win that business, will operators have to accept co-branding, such as “AT&T Policy Control Powered by McAfee”?

Which brands will dominate cloud mind share and market share? Consumers and enterprises increasingly realize the value of cloud-based mobile services. Today, the majority are offered by non-operators such as Apple. In 2013, will mobile operators try to wrest control by offering their own branded cloud services for consumers and business users?

Possibly, if telcos are any guide. In 2011 alone, telcos announced construction of a combined 2.5 million square feet of data centers. They wouldn’t make that kind of investment if they weren’t confident that customers would consider them as viable a provider of hosted services as a major IT brand. As more and more consumers and business users access the cloud from a mobile device, it’s clear that mobile operators would be leaving a lot of money on the table if they cede cloud services to third parties such as IT vendors and smartphone OEMs.

Who will provide cross-network visibility into the user experience? Mobile operators increasingly are accepting the reality that for at least some of the time, their customers will be connected to someone else’s network. (Wi-Fi offload is just one example.) But savvy operators understand that doing so doesn’t mean they have to lose visibility into what their customers are experiencing. They want the ability to monitor and address QoS no matter which network is serving a particular customer at a particular moment.

Ditto for their enterprise customers, which want the ability to monitor employee experiences and assist with troubleshooting, even when they’re roaming on cellular and Wi-Fi. Otherwise, IT staff are flying blind when employees call to say they can’t connect at their hotel or in the airport. Enterprise IT departments also want the ability to extend policies across multiple networks, such as preventing YouTube usage when employees are connected to a public Wi-Fi hotspot.

These trends are three examples of why control will be a recurring theme in 2013 – and a long-term business opportunity. The only question is, who will win that business?