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Spirent envisages new epoch in telecom industry
Spirent Communication is among the key collaborators involved in 21CN. David Hill is its VP of Sales & Marketing for the EMEA region, and is very excited about the prospects for the future that the project holds. “As we move towards triple play and, once wireless is added, quad play, the whole way that we think about telecommunication will change forever” he eulogises “There will be a seamless transmission between different parts of the network, so that the subscriber gets exactly what is the optimised solution for them at that time. You won’t be worried about the mechanics involved in using different services or whether you should go through your landline, mobile, etc. It will all be converged so you can be assured that you are getting the most available bandwidth and the most cost effective manner.”
“Our primary involvement in the project is currently in the lab testing. Interoperability between us and other vendors is clearly vital. With so many different players involved you have to check that the information moves through the network correctly” he states “It’s one thing to have systems that all conform to specific standards, however that is not the end of the story. The standards are all pretty tight, but there are always additional annexes that some partners equipment might have and others might not. These little inconsistencies can raise issues.” The team at Spirent are therefore engaged in validating how well all of this will interact once it is deployed. “That way when the roll-out begins in earnest, everyone knows exactly what to expect” Hill continues, “There are thousands of test cases that need to be covered, and Spirent is helping to automate much of this process so that it can be carried out quicker. Moving forward to the next stage, it is likely that our handheld testers will utilised by engineers as they work on the upgrading network out in the field.”
Though all of this is clearly a great importance, in his opinion the content side of the NGN revolution will be just as significant as any technological concerns. “It is unlikely that subscribers will get their video needs served by one provider, their voice calls from another, and their Internet from yet another. It will make more sense to get all of them bundled together, as there will almost certainly be price advantages to do so. This gives companies huge opportunities to enter markets that they never played in before, but at the same time they will have new players encroaching on their home turf too. If customers aren’t picking who to go with based on one service, then the service providers need to ensure that they can provide the whole package, and most importantly offer compelling content. Otherwise they are likely to be squeezed out.”
This could possibly be a problem for the carriers looking to get a piece of the service provider action. The markets that they will have to address are very different from those they have been involved in previously. It is certain to mean that these firms will need a crash course in providing content. Meanwhile those coming at it from a content-based background will be looking to snatch the voice and data business to complement their IPTV and video streaming offerings. Hill feels that the whole business landscape within this sector is about to change irrevocably. As he points out, “Just because you can offer plenty of bandwidth it won’t necessarily mean that you get the business. What will count is what you can deliver the customer base as a result. If companies can’t get the football matches, music videos, games, etc. that offer an attractive mix to the public at large, they are likely to miss out.”