4G mobile Internet is back in the news with word that Apple has sold over 5 million LTE-enabled iPhone 5s in the first three days it went on sale, and I know that my wife is counting down the hours until she is eligible for an upgrade (likely my two-year old daughter too… if she could talk.  Have you seen how kids naturally master an iPhone like Ronaldhino and soccer ball?).

Whether it’s for uploading pictures of the kids to social media sites or getting work done faster, over 100 million smartphone users will belong to the “gigabyte club” (over 1 GB per month) in 2012 according to the Cisco Visual Networking Index. However Read More »

Tags: 4G, ASR 901, Cisco, Emerging Markets, iphone, LTE, mobile backhaul, Partho Mishra, Service Provider

As the industry leader in MPLS and Carrier Ethernet, Cisco will have a strong presence at MPLS and Ethernet World Congress in Paris, France from February 7-10, 2012.

With the spotlight in the industry around cloud services, this year’s conference will focus on how MPLS as a technology can help enable and deliver cloud Read More »

Tags: Cisco, Cloud Computing, cloud networking, data center, mobile backhaul, mpls, MPLS World Congress, MPLS-TP, packet transport, Service Provider, SP360, Unified MPLS, v6 world congress

There is now dramatic evidence that Cisco’s focus on intelligent, efficient, end-to-end services via the IP network is transforming the mobile vendor landscape.  As mobile operators shift more of their expenditures from the RAN to the packet core to unleash innovative new services and to IP backhaul to more efficiently and economically offload data traffic, Cisco is becoming the vendor of choice.

Numbers Tell the Story

According to the Q3 2011 Worldwide Mobile IP Infrastructure report just published by ACG Research, mobile operators in large numbers are embracing the shift from radio-centric to IP-centric investments. That conclusion is based on these findings:

• Quarterly segment revenue has nearly doubled in three years: Since 2008, the worldwide mobile IP infrastructure market (mobile IP backbone, mobile IP backhaul, and packet core) has gone from $550 million in the first quarter of 2008 to more than $1 billion in the third quarter of 2011
• Brisk year-over-year growth: The total mobile IP infrastructure market grew 14% year over year -- Q3 2011 vs. Q3 2010. This includes 10% growth in infrastructure for mobile IP backbone, 10% growth in infrastructure for mobile IP backhaul routing and switching, and 20% growth in infrastructure for packet core (which includes Mobile Packet Core covering 2G and 3G and Evolved Packet Core covering 4G) Read More »

Tags: ACG Research, ip backhaul, mobile backhaul, mobile ip, mobile ip backbone, packet core, Service Provider

The “information superhighway” metaphor is more appropriate than ever for mobile networks today. There are increasingly more and different types of traffic, drivers, and vehicles. And the focus on speed, cost, and efficiency in mobile backhaul is akin to moving more cars through freeway on-ramps and exits faster and with less overhead.

As outlined by Cisco’s Next-Generation Internet architecture, Cisco is working to optimize the service provider roadway with innovative and cost-effective solutions like the new ASR 9000 System.  And just as a better car can offer an improved experience, better safety, and more miles-per-gallon, Cisco’s Unified RAN Backhaul solution provides greater performance, reliability, scale, and power efficiency. Read More »

Tags: asr 9000, ASR 901, ASR 903, ASR9000, M.O.VE, mobile backhaul, monetization, network intelligence, optimization, RAN backhaul, Service Provider

Yesterday we announced that Charter Communications, a leading broadband communications and entertainment provider and the 4th largest cable company in the United States selected the Cisco CRS-3 and ASR 9000 as part of a major network upgrade. This of course brings up the question our readers often ask – why? What is driving these investments? While we have our perspective (which we share regularly on the SP360 blog and other forums), it’s even better when we get the view directly from the customer.  To that end, we had the opportunity to  interview Bob Hunt, Charter’s VP of Network Engineering on Charter’s perspective on the network upgrade, the drivers, and the growth in DOCSIS 3.0 usage and the network efficiencies he’s forecasting. Read More »

Tags: ASR9000, Bob Hunt, Charter Business, Charter Communications, Cisco, CRS, CRS-3, DOCSIS3.0, ExerciseTV, mobile backhaul, NFL Network, OnDemand, Redzone