Mobixell's Seamless Access Solution is an intelligent converged mobile IP traffic management solution designed to support next generation mobile internet or broadband services from mobile, portable and fixed devices.  Seamless Access sits at the core of the mobile data network allowing robust, centralized and intelligent decision-making to be applied to all types of mobile data traffic, seamlessly orchestrating the way services and network elements interact with one another or orchestrating the use of other enablers for services, and selectively applying value-added services when required on a per application and per subscriber basis.

The emergence of generally available 3G+ access networks, the deployment of 4G networks close behind, the broad use of smart phone devices, broadband-enabled laptops and the vast amount of multimedia and video content from the Internet are combining to create an environment rich with opportunities for thriving mobile internet and mobile broadband services. Mobile operators seeking to differentiate their mobile internet and mobile broadband offerings have a wide variety of new services to consider: broadband streaming services, mobile TV, music, video downloads, location-aware services, advertising-driven services and other rich multimedia services.

Ovum Research predicts that by the end of 2014 mobile broadband users will increase by over 1000% and those users will generate over $139 billion in mobile broadband revenue for mobile operators. By 2012, according to Cisco’s Visual Networking Index, mobile data traffic will grow from 1 petabyte per month to 1 extabyte per month, in half the time it took fixed data traffic to do so, increasing one thousand fold in just 7 years (2005 – 2012), vs. the 14 years the Internet took to reach the same level of traffic. As subscribers have many more ways to connect to their operator’s network, utilizing very distinct revenue models and representing very different categories of value to the operator, the network must be subscriber and service aware and therefore be able to route traffic in a manner that ensures appropriate quality of service (QoS) and cost of network resources. These new revenue models are necessary to satisfy evolved demand and competitively package services and content in a more flexible, profitable way. All this is part of the next generation Mobile Internet and Broadband evolution, where the entire world of available information is at our fingertips from any device, any location, all of the time.

The Mobile Internet and Broadband Challenges
Although revenue from mobile internet and mobile broadband services continues to grow, the number of users and the traffic they generate is growing even faster, meaning that mobile operators must be cautious about how they scale their network and service enabler infrastructure, maintaining a compelling quality of service at an affordable cost. Other challenges exist such as: network complexity, safety, security, policy flexibility, cost efficiency, future technology advances and competition from traditional and non-traditional players. The evolution of access technologies, mobile devices, and converged networks and services require core network platforms suited to cope with a wide variety of new applications and broadband services that are converging on the IP pipeline. These core network platforms must be able to orchestrate increasingly complex services, decide which policies and value-added services shall be applied and enforce these policies and services in a flexible, efficient way. Mobile operators must also consider the subscriber experience, services delivered with low to no latency, high performance, safety and security. Subscriber and application awareness must also be efficiently integrated into evolved core network platforms to meet the essential needs of profitable service delivery. Next generation core network platforms must be intelligent enough to understand who is doing what and for what value during any subscriber session, perform granular application analysis and decide/enforce polices in real time for a wide range of new and diverse services, combining this with quality of service (QoS) and bandwidth control on a subscriber or application basis.

The ability to orchestrate services, understand how subscribers are using network resources and develop appropriate policies to efficiently manage traffic as well as real time pricing models for new business opportunities is fundamental for profitable service delivery in a converged environment. Mobile operators must differentiate themselves with intelligence guiding service enhancements and innovative business models while optimizing investment in network infrastructure. To gain long term market position, mobile operators must react quickly to avoid being marginalized and must find innovative ways to add more value for their subscribers and deliver a mobile internet and broadband experience that is easy to access and easy to use. The mobile operator must ensure that the mobile internet access capability is intelligent enough to be able to match the costs of traffic handling to the revenue associated with different streams of subscriber or application traffic by ensuring that such traffic only touches network elements and enablers that add value.