A Better Grip

The numbers in wireless data are continuing to grow.

According to a recent Nielsen Mobile study, the U.S. had the highest mobile Internet penetration in the world at 15.6% of its wireless subscribers, clocking 40 million mobile data users for a 30-day period in May. In addition, a recent Synergy Research Group report found smartphones made up 12.2% of total handsets shipped in the U.S. in the first half of 2008, versus less than 10% for the same period in 2007. Apple's iPhone alone posted 125.6% year-over-year shipment growth in the second quarter.

With more subscribers using complex mobile devices to access the Internet, the importance of wireless network management and optimization is greater than ever. Intensive management tools such as deep-packet inspection (DPI) are finding their way into more solutions as vendors tweak their offerings to help operators provide a better user experience — as well as gauge how much souped-up services affect networks.

“I think [operators are] looking at optimization across the entire infrastructure and not just the basic core,” Paula McCarty, senior manager for global services marketing for Motorola. “They're looking at the analysis of real subscriber traffic usage and location.”

The days of the drive test — when technicians were sent into the field to take a reading of network performance — are passing, McCarty said. Such tests offer only a brief snapshot from one location and one moment in time to show how a network is running. With increased pressure to attract new subscribers, McCarty added, operators are shifting their optimization views away from the guts of the network toward the end stage of service delivery — that includes knowing which apps subscribers are using and how much they use them.

Motorola offers its Intelligent Design and Growth Planning service, which uses geo-location to monitor mobile subscriber traffic changes and usage patterns. IDGP then can help an operator tailor a management plan for optimized performance and expansion of a network based on what users are doing. McCarty said Motorola can customize its service to individual operators, setting guaranteed levels of mobile network quality.