Bright Road Ahead For NGNs: Networks 2006
By Sunil Kumar
Mumbai, Nov 9, 2006

If you think convergence ended with 3G, think again. Networks 2006, a three-day conference aimed at exploring the various facets of Next Generation Networking (NGN) is witnessing insightful discussions relating to fixed and mobile convergence, network planning, IMS and migration from existing networks, and various other elements of NGN in detail.

G.Young, chief technology officer, Tata Teleservices, India started the ball rolling with keynote session where he elaborated what makes India unique with its diversity of languages, varied geographies, various mobile operators and declining Average Revenue Per User (ARPU).

R.N. Padukone, senior deputy director general, Telecommunications Engg Govt Center stated that growth in the NGN arena would be the result of a combined growth of various technologies, a focus on 'better customer experience', and the rise of e-commerce and national level scalability.

Analyzing the economics of convergence, J Schafer, CEO, Arcor AG stressed on a feasible cost benefit analysis for convergence. Revenues would come as a result of gradual progress towards more comprehensive convergence across varied geographies in the world, he said.

Discussing the economics of migration strategies, Bodo Jacobs, project manager, Traffic Engineering & Network Planning, T-Systems Nova GmBH stressed on having legacy systems in place and the problems involved with various wireless and wireline carriers to migrate to NGNs in term of revenues and building an effective network backbone.

Elaborating on the explosion of new social technologies such as IM and blogs, A Ciarniello, CEO, Telecom Italia Mobile said that an increasing interaction between people would facilitate growth for NGNs.

In an open discussion, S.K Gupta, Advisor (CN), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India maintained that in his experience, the factors inhibiting growth were economics and lack of an adequate network infrastructure in various parts of the country was hampering the growth of NGNs.

There was a detailed session on network security headed by U Chandrashekhar. Problems related to securing enterprises and meeting regulatory mandates were discussed in the session.

A presentation by F.Faryar, network manager, AT&T discussed how they secured VoIP for AT&Ts current carrier VoIP Security Architecture.

A.M Abbas, professor, IIT Delhi elaborated on the use of ad hoc networks in various fields including riot control and generalized applications across the board. Route failure time in NGNs and possible solutions were discussed in depth by Abbas. To make security ingrained in the collective mindset of vendors and academia attending the conference, Chandrasekhar added that security is an ongoing process.

In the evolution of network session, speakers including W.Frohberg, network architect, Alcatel and Z.Sayed from Holmdel, USA discussed transport technologies for existing and upcoming network architectures. The business case was analyzed in detail with NPV and IRR of current investments analyzed and the economics of future investments being discussed.

The second day ended with a lively debate on whether voice should be free and whether alternative business models were sustainable. Abhijit Das from BT India said that the growth of voice would depend on the way it was projected as a service offering. R.Thanawala, symposium chair mentioned that current business models for email could be an indicator to make voice-based offerings more accessible and affordable.

The final presentation of the day was by Anuj Kapur, sales head, Alcatel, India, who elaborated on IPTV becoming a more viable, sustainable social option in large parts of the world and Alcatel possibly going-to-market its IPTV offering in India.