Transcript of our Jan 20 tweet chat on mobile monetization ... View more

Service Provider TweetChat Topic: Mobile Video Experience - What Does It Mean for Operators Date / Time: Feb 3 10-10:30 am PST (1-1:30 pm EST) To join the chat, visit http://tweetchat.com/room/ciscospchat The session will be hosted by @ciscospmobility managed by the Cisco Service Provider Marketing team. Jon Morgan, Service Provider Marketing, Mobility, @Jamncl4 Lisa Garza, Mobility Marketing Manager, @LisaGCisco Brian Walsh, Mobility Marketing Manager, @BRWalsh Kurt Rosenthal, Marketing Manager, @KurtCisco Paul Sergeant, Mobility Marketing Manager, @PaulSAtCisco Mark Grayson, Cisco Distinguished Consulting Engineer, @markg_cisco, co-author of Building the Mobile Internet Kevin Shatzkamer, Cisco Distinguished System Architect, @kshatzka, co-author of Building the Mobile Internet, You Could Be A Winner! Sweepstakes – Grand Prize $100 Amazon Gift Card Option 1. Participate in all three tweet chats for a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card. Option 2. Participate in at least one of the three tweet chats for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card (two winners will be chosen per chat session). View the sweepstakes legal details (PDF) TweetChat Schedule: Participate in all three for chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card, or participate in at least one session for chance to win one of two $50 Amazon gift cards Session #1 (read transcript). Mobile Monetization, Thursday Jan 20, 10-10:30 am PST (1-1:30 pm EST) Session #2 (read transcript). Mobile Optimization, Thursday Jan 27, 10-10:30 am PST (1-1:30 pm EST) Session #3 (read transcript). Mobile Video Experience, Thursday Feb 3, 10-10:30 am PST (1-1:30 pm EST) Questions / Comments? Please email us at csco_sp@external.cisco.com Feel free to send us questions before the event if you're unable to attend. What is a TweetChat? Tweet chats are online conversations held at a pre-arranged date/time between a group of Twitter users. Chats are uniquely identified by pre-defined Twitter hashtag (such as #ciscospchat ) to identify the discussion thread. By including this hashtag in each tweet, the conversation can be monitored separate from the larger Twitter conversations. How Do I Participate? On the day of the event, login to http://tweetchat.com and follow the #ciscospchat hashtag. To join the chat, visit http://tweetchat.com/room/ciscospchat Alternatively, you can use your favorite Twitter client (such as TweetGrid, TweetDeck) or TwitterSearch to follow the chat hashtag #ciscospchat.   During the event, you can follow the discussion, contribute questions, and submit your own comments by using the same hashtag. ... View more

Kit Beall, Vice President Mobile Internet is interviewed at Middle East Telco World Summit. He answers questions about the importance of network intelligence, new revenue streams for regional service provides / operators, and video optimization. Transcript: Q: How important will intelligent networks be for operators going forward? What’s happened over the last several years as we move from a discussion of how to connect users to the network and how to connect the different elements together, which, of course, Cisco spends a lot of time in discussion around intelligence in the network. Areas like the EPC and the data center are going to be really critical for being able to deliver those unique user experiences in the mobile network, but also to drive the monetization that the operators are going to need to run a successful business model.  The economics of having a very intelligent network with the level of performance required to be able to scale is going to be critical for the operator business model. Q: Will these new networks help operators develop new revenue streams? Absolutely.  We think that the new revenue streams really are going to be the fundamental shift in the industry, particularly when you look at things like integration with enterprise applications, the expansion and extension of consumer applications, and then you start to think about bringing in some of the video technologies.  Where today that’s running over the top, we think we can actually improve the user experience while at the same time creating new revenue streams to the operators. Being able to do things like add HD, new richer content, localized content and, obviously, we’re here in Dubai so we start to think about things like regional content where that could be interesting for maybe a population who doesn’t live here. Maybe we can start to extend that by creating some premium content channels and such. Q: What are your views on video optimization? We get pretty good mileage from the Cisco VNI.  As you know in 2014, we project that there’ll be over 3.6 exabytes per month on the global mobile Internet, two-thirds of which we project will be video traffic. Video is about optimization in terms of being able to manage where the content’s located, but also about being able to create these new opportunities for users. So things like adding high-definition video streams, and caching content closer that’s optimized for their device. As an example, you might be running an iPad and might need one format and I might have a BlackBerry and can optimize the experience by using a smaller format. The intelligent in the network is really going to be the critical element to creating the differentiation for the operators so they don’t have to do a one-size-fits-all. They can create an optimized experience for the user to make sure that the economics make sense for delivering that on their network. Q: Does video pose a unique challenge? What’s interesting is that two-thirds of the traffic we project by 2014 will be video, and that means it’s important to the user, right? So it’s not something you can turn off or you really want to throttle. What you want to be able to do is to make it a good user experience while at the same time making sure it doesn’t become a killer to the network. So what we really see is that the operators are going to need the intelligence in the network, but also they need to look at video as being a core design consideration in terms of how they architect. Whether it’s in their EPC or their backhaul, in their data center environment, or even in their core IP transport networks, video is going to be pervasive, and we think that it’s going to be a critical decision point for most operators on the optimization side as well as on the monetization side. Q: Cloud computing has been a hot topic at the even this year, what is Cisco’s view? Cloud in 2011 and even now in 2010, is going to be an absolutely critical topic for every service provider. The reason is that cloud allows you to leverage a lot of the virtualization techniques that we’ve developed and honed in the data center, in some of our enterprise environments and we’re now going to bring that to the mobile network. What you’re going to start to see is that applications that have traditionally been built in silos or on purpose-built servers, are now going to be virtualized. So, it’s about virtualizing both application and content delivery, leveraging the intelligence in the network again – there’s that keyword, intelligence – and then linking that back into a data center environment.  The other interesting point is that data center is not going to be a monolith any more. Data center is going to be a pervasive concept that’s going to move out of a single location, and spread across the entire network. You really need to take the mobile network intelligence and link that together with the data center and the cloud technologies to deliver those applications and content in a virtualized way. Q: Will the two-sided business model be important for you going forward? The two-sided business model is actually a key consideration for Cisco. We have been spending a lot of time working with our customers and partners to help develop this business model.  You look at something like the Amazon Kindle in the US has been tremendously successful, most people can’t even tell you what kind of a network it runs on or who the network provider is. They’ve done such a great job of masking that in the background. We see this as really being something we’re going to extend into many domains, whether it’s an application for a consumer or for an enterprise. But back to the content discussion, we look at the content providers as being the beneficiaries of a two-sided business model because they have such great brands.  That’s what we want to do - we want the consumers to be able to get access to those brands and those services, but leverage the network capabilities of our service provider customers and partners to be able to deliver that experience. We really think the two-sided business model is going to be the game changer long term for the service providers as they look to augment, and in some cases replace the revenue streams they see with the shift in voice traffic, and even just some of the basic data access services as they see those revenue mixes change. This will be critical. Q: How important is this show for your business? These regional shows are critical for us because we get a chance to meet with our customers. Of course, we do that a lot. For myself and the other executives who visit these shows, who are not here every day in the region, we are able to take a pulse to see what the hot issues are. What’s interesting is we see the unique things that are going on here, some things around local content, and around local regulations that are driving some of the decisions.  We also see the similarities. That’s what’s really exciting about coming here to Dubai. We’re able to bring a lot of the learnings from the US, Europe and Asia Pacific and find the synergies, but then we also find the unique things and we’re able to bring that back out to the rest of the world. ... View more

(This blog was contributed by Zeeshan, Senior Manager, Mobile Internet Architecture. Thank you for completing these video interviews and updating us on the customer briefings.) This week, Cisco Mobile Internet Team was in Toronto, Canada. Coincidentally this week recorded the coldest temperatures of the year, reaching -20 degrees Celsius with windchill. Quite a contrast to a recent visit to UAE (with +30 degrees Celsius). Nonetheless, the winter chill and white pavements provided a little reminder that Winter holidays are fast approaching. Most of day 1 was spent with the Cisco Canada Service Provider (SP) team discussing, reviewing, exploring, and debating the Canadian Mobile Internet market and its unique trends. Canada's population is approximately 34 million, with Toronto being its largest city and most diverse ethnic mosaic. One can easily take a taxi through the city, and find themselves within many diverse cultural corners such as Greektown/Danforth, Little Italy, Gerrard India Bazaar, and many other ethnic locales within 10-15 minutes of one another. Of particular mention is the Toronto-based National Hockey Hall of Fame, a symbol of the great national sport and rich history of the nation. Canada boasts three established national, mobile service providers; Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless, and TELUS, as well as several new entrants into the market such as Wind Mobile, Mobilicity, Public Mobile. With recent changes to Canadian foreign ownership regulations, Canada is now seeing a plethora of Mobile Internet companies and operators setup shop, seeking to make a Canadian dollar. Simply walking through Eaton Center or Square One, one of the largest indoor malls in Toronto - one wonders how many mobile stores can a mall occupy. In Square One alone, the team counted up to five mobile operator stores, plus six partner retailer outlets / kiosks. Of particular note was Virgin Mobile, operated under MVNO in Canada, with its tradition Virgin-splash, appeal, and coolness - attracting many youth. Virgin as well as other mobile service providers in Canada offer pre-paid mobile Internet “sticks”, something which has become increasingly popular for mobile professionals. A short visit through Toronto’s Financial District via city’s amazing, interconnected, underground path, revealed the large amount of traders, brokers, and analysts busy with their laptops and netbooks reviewing TSE (Toronto Stock Exchange) activities during lunch. Unlike their American cousins, unlimited wireless data plans are almost unknown in Canada, a strategy mobile service providers elsewhere are starting to emulate as they look for ways to cope with booming demand and capacity limits. Canada’s “Big Three” (Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless, and TELUS) – command profit margins that are the envy of the industry. Canadians pay an average of $57 per month for wireless service. Canada's Big Three (in their respective ILEC regions) also offer quad-play services starting from $100 per month. Of particular note is TELUS TV in Western Canada, which is fast growing IPTV based service running over Cisco infrastructure. Day 2 for the team was spent with some of our mobile service provider customers exploring and discussing the Canadian Mobile Internet trends, as well as each operators plans to meet the challenges of the next wave of applications, users, and ever-growing demands on their networks. A common theme was, Mobile Internet is happening now in Canada, and users are demanding more from their mobile networks, devices, and content. That's no surprise. A simple morning commute via Go Transit commuter rail system to downtown Toronto will demonstrate the massive amount of business professionals reading emails, browsing the daily news, updating Facebook status - through their Canadian-made Blackberry's, iPhones, and other smart devices. While LTE is not yet commercially available in Canada, HSPA+ services are being widely adopted by the mass of data hungry consumer and business professionals. All in all, quite an impressive rate of progress for the Canadian Mobile Internet market, as well as growing competition - which is all good news for the end users. So as long as Canadian's have Tim Horton's coffee, hockey night in Canada, and mobile Internet at their fingertips - now considered national essentials - the country continues to make its distinct mark on the world's stage. Cisco's Mobile Internet Team would like to thank Cisco's Canada SP Team and our Mobile Service Provider customers for their warm hospitality. Ian Hood, Senior Marketing Manager, Mobile Internet Tim Taverner, Systems Engineer, Mobile Internet Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_mobile_phone_companies http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/us-telecoms-look-to-emulate-canadas-mobile-market/article1774631 ... View more

(This blog was contributed by Zeeshan, Senior Manager, Mobile Internet Architecture. Thank you for completing these video interviews and updating us on this event. Go Team Go!) The Cisco service provider mobility team visited United Arab Emirates in support of the 3G Middle East Telco World Summit. The three day trip to Dubai was inspiring and energizing for the Cisco team. From the moment they landed at Dubai’s state of the art terminal 3 and took a short walk to the Etisalat and dU kiosks at the terminal -- one can very easily pick up an iPhone 4 with all the services for a fairly reasonable price. What was of particular note, was the ability of both service providers (SPs) to offer prepaid plans to visitors, which not only included traditional bundled voice minutes, but also the option to prepay a data bundle -- whether it's BlackBerry, iPhone, or other device data plan. Truly a unique offer for prepaid services, but very common for UAE. The team decided on the prepaid Blackberry service plan, and happy were to report the service worked phenomenally well and enabled cost savings using local SIM, avoiding expensive roaming fees. Perhaps this is not so much of a surprise, as UAE is a unique market for mobility. Although the country’s population is 8.19 million, just under 20% are UAE nationals or Emiratis, while the majority of the population are expatriates. The number of mobile subscribers in the UAE has grown by an annual average of 25.6%, almost four times its population growth. Due to the contractual nature of expatriate employment, the majority of mobile subscribers are on prepaid voice and data plans. The discussions, speaking sessions, and visits to the Cisco booth were particularly interesting. SP customers, partners, and ecosystem vendors are looking forward to the successful launch of 4G services in Gulf region, but also agreed the user experience was most important, especially given local trends. Many professionals in UAE will carry two devices, one corporate device, and one personal device -- which will accompany them after hours to suit their lifestyle. It seems that users prefer more social -- application enabled devices, some dazzled in pure 24 karat gold casings. Only in Dubai! Even though the local Dubai economy has hit the traditional real estate and financial markets hard, the mobile business is seeing no real slow down. Usage of social applications, including faster replacement of devices through an open market, unlocked, import model is booming. Of particular surprise was the return flight back. Dubai duty free, which is a mecca of last-minute shoppers for items ranging from chocolates to expensive liquors, carried a wide ranging variety of mobile phones, devices, and tablets imported into UAE. It was an interesting and tempting selection indeed. Overall the trip to UAE, discussions with SP customers, and engagements with the Cisco UAE team truly allowed the Cisco mobility team to understand the rapid pace of development, innovation, and user-led behaviors, which are motivating regional SPs to become more innovative and creative as they respond to growing demands on their networks, but also scale to regional preferences, and local usage patterns / profiles of a highly affluent, multicultural society. Truly an engaging and inspiring experience. We thank the Cisco UAE team, as well as event organizers for hosting us. The following three videos are quick summaries of the event from the local and corporate Cisco team. Kit Beall, VP Mobile Internet Jumana Akkawi, PR Manager, UAE Lonnie Shilling, Director, Mobile Internet ... View more

I wanted to give you a quick update on the GSM 3G Middle East Summit, which launched at the Dubai World Trade Center, with Cisco as the Summit Sponsor at the show. The first day of the event proved to be very successful. Three senior level customer meetings were held with management teams from two customers, Cisco’s local team and our corporate mobile group. Discussions focused on IP-RAN, Core Expansions, Transport Optimization and LTE strategy for the two service providers. Rabih Dabboussi's keynote presentation at the main conference "Strategies Leading to LTE" got great delegate feedback and reviews. The ASR 5000 and KAON demos in our booth attracted considerable interest from the delegates at the event. Additionally, we participated in two media interviews with Network World (CPI publication) and Communications Middle East (ITP publication). All in all, the great team effort that has been placed into this initiative from the local, theatre and corporate Cisco teams was very visible. Paulo Pereira’s seminar presentation on "Fixed Mobile Network Convergence" is at 11am on day 2 of the Summit. A televised interview is also planned for tomorrow with Kit Beall, VP around Cisco solutions in the Mobile space. Looking forward to more successful customer discussions tomorrow. I'll let you know what transpires. ... View more

Exciting day for Cisco at LTE North America 2010. Cisco's ASR 5000 has won an award for Best Enabling Product/Technology for LTE by a North American Company. This award is a great recognition of Cisco’s leading technology. Cisco’s ASR 5000 offers the simplest migration from 2.5G/3G packet core to 4G and provides the most flexible network architecture. Additionally, its 3G packet core is software upgradable to all EPC functions, while allowing for integration of multiple EPC elements and even 2.5G/3G in a common node. This is a huge, cost-effective advantage, as there is a reduced need to replace existing networks and provides significant network architecture flexibility. Listen to Jon Morgan talk about the award as well as highlights from day 2 at the conference. By supporting 3G and 4G within the same platform and offering seamless software upgrades from 3G to 4G, the Total Cost of Ownership for deploying an LTE/EPC infrastructure is significantly reduced. Cisco’s ASR 5000 allows operators to get more from their existing 3G investment, there is also an opportunity for cost outpacing revenue with the explosion of mobile broadband services. The ASR 5000 is the only solution providing operators with a simplified migration through a true software upgrade from 3G to EPC, no ‘forklift’ required. Its platform can serve as the Mobility Management Entity (MME), Serving Gateway (SGW), Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW) and Evolved Packet Data Gateway (ePDG), separately or integrated into its platform. Mobile operators who want to have the highest level of network flexibility and to smoothly migrate their networks can maximize their investments and offer an exceptional experience to their customers. The ASR 5000 was officially launched at Mobile World Congress in February 2010. It is the LTE solution for operators around the globe, including Verizon Wireless, Cox Communications, Mobilkom Austria Group, Telenor Norway and Telenor Denmark. The platform is in over 20 trials as well.  Cisco is also collaborating with Verizon as part of Verizon’s LTE Innovation Center in Waltham, MA. What is the operators' perspective on LTE? Listen to Jon discuss his observations from the conference. ... View more

My colleague Jon Morgan is at LTE North America, a flagship event for everything related to LTE. Jon again is taking part as Cisco panelist, speaker and a delegate. His presentation will focus on Optimization Methods for the Evolution of the Evolved Packet Core . We’ll be hearing much more on LTE and the EPC from Jon and his colleagues at LTE North America from Day 1 at the show. Visit us tomorrow to see more. Jonathan Morgan is a member of the Service Provider Mobility marketing team working, writing, and thinking about Evolved Packet Core solutions. You can read Jonathan's tweets at http://twitter.com/jamncl4 LTE North America Conference 2010: What Are The Hot Topics Being Discussed? One of the attendees tells us what he learned so far at this year's conference. And Jon is back again to quickly summarize today's conference. ... View more

I'd like to introduce everyone to a colleague of mine - Angela Singhal-Whiteford. Over the next week Angela will be traveling through Asia as she meets with mobile operators to explore the many aspects of how to monetize 3G and 4G mobile networks. Take it away Angela.... "After a lot of planning, I'm off to to the great cities of Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai and Delhi to meet several mobile operators. It will be interesting to see what data services they are looking to launch over the next 12-18 months. I love going to Asia. They were always at the fore front when it came to wireless technology. I heard there are phones in Asia that are only used for Facebook - no voice.  How wild is that? People doing all their interactions over Facebook. I lived in Singapore for a couple of years in early 2000 and now I am completely addicted to Asian food. I cannot wait to eat my way through this trip.  Bring on the Laksa, Nasi Goreng, and Aloo Paranthas!" Biography. Angela Singhal-Whiteford. Angela is a mobility solution manager for Cisco's service provider marketing team. She came to Cisco through the Starent Networks acquisition in December 2009. She is a 15-year telecommunications industry veteran and previously served as Director of Nortel's Municipal Wireless Solutions Officer in Asia. Ms. Whiteford is a graduate of the MIT Sloan School of Business with an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering and an MBA specializing in new product and venture development. ... View more

(Reposting this entry due to system errors - orignally posted Oct 2009) Check out this archived video webcast on the Light Reading webinar titled “IP RAN and Evolving Backhaul Architectures”.  This was originally available in Oct 2009 but still very relevant. You'll need to register first but can immediately view the recorded video webcast. http://www.lightreading.com/webinar.asp?webinar_id=29228&webinar_promo=27245 ... View more

Carl Townsend of WiMAX.com interviews our own Andy Capener (formerly of Starent), Director of Service Provider Marketing for mobility at Cisco Amid the buzz of operator deployments and new product announcements, mobile network architecture solutions that help service providers better manage the explosion of mobile data are finding a captive audience. This article discuss the significance of the Internet's move toward mobile, the explosion of video on mobile networks, and the multitude of mobile devices and form factors. ... View more