From Traffic Management to Traffic Operation

Internet service providers and terminal manufacturers such as Google, Baidu, Tencent, and Apple are directly or indirectly deriving profit from data traffic on an operator’s network. Faced with the new competition, operators need to rethink their contractual relationships with internet companies and users in order to be at the top of the new internet industrial chain.

First, operators need to monitor traffic in communication pipes. They need to clearly determine traffic volume and trends in different services to maximize their value. Communication pipes are the infrastructure, but traffic is the source of revenue and will be the cornerstone of profit in the future. 

Traffic Bubble Triggers Demand for Better Traffic Management

Increasing network capacity and bandwidth can be a solution to service applications, but it’s not the ultimate solution. Regardless of how high the bandwidth is, it can be occupied by inefficient or low-value traffic. This is called a traffic bubble.

Traffic that can truly improve customer experience and create profit is squeezed out by inefficient traffic. At present, the real challenge is not expanding bandwidth but intelligently managing bandwidth consumption in the network. Only a manageable network is a good network that benefits both operators and users.

The effect of increased network bandwidth is that value is shifted to over-the-top applications. As such applications proliferate, operators need to upgrade their networks to satisfy customer expectations, and this widens the gap between income and cost. Increased traffic doesn’t necessarily mean increased revenue, so the answer lies in better traffic management. Higher-value traffic and better service quality will deflate traffic bubbles and bring the revenue sought by operators.

Exporting bandwidth and connecting between networks are costly for telecom operators. Has the internetwork link met requirements? Who are the main users of internetwork bandwidth? What are the usage levels during different times of the day? Which users and what types of services are consuming bandwidth? Does the export bandwidth capacity really need expanding? To answer these questions, operators need a clear traffic chart that can be used as the basis for network planning.

Traffic Monitoring and Management

An intelligent traffic monitoring system must be able to view, manage, and control network traffic. It must have multidimensional perception, in-depth analytics, and smart control.

Visualizing network traffic means collecting, classifying, and counting traffic on a multidimensional basis. This allows an operator to identify and differentiate both services and users. Network traffic visualization is the basis of intelligent traffic management. Information about network traffic can be collected in real time from user groups, service applications, and network interfaces and can then be sent to an intelligent traffic management and control system for analysis. 

Managing traffic involves managing network performance, configuration, billing, faults, and security. By correlating collected traffic information, managers can clearly identify traffic types, bandwidth occupation, time and space distribution, and service flow. Precisely identifying traffic allows operators to bill according to service features, and this balances the profit relationship between the operator and its commercial partners. Managers can also set thresholds for key indexes. The network sets off an automatic alarm when resource occupation approaches or exceeds the threshold. Managers can then adjust the traffic flow to ensure reliable network operation.

Controlling network traffic means dynamically allocating network resources according to specific policies. Bandwidth is allocated on demand; traffic is offloaded appropriately; high-priority applications are guaranteed; and abnormal traffic flow is controlled to save network resources. With such policies, operators can greatly improve network resource use and optimize customer experience. 

To meet the pressing need for effective traffic management, ZTE has launched UniCare, a solution for monitoring fixed-broadband network traffic. UniCare can collect information about traffic in a fixed-broadband network. It can then send this information to CRM and resource systems through northbound interfaces, SNMP interfaces, NetFlow/sFlow protocols, and network probes. The solution provides customized, multidimensional traffic statistics and analysis in the form of various types of charts. It can show development trends and side-by-side comparisons, and can also rank the resource use for different traffic flows. This gives operators a complete picture of their network traffic so that they can optimize OAM and transform their networks if necessary.

From Traffic Management to Traffic Operation

Traffic management is fundamental for traffic operation, which involves using an open service convergence platform to proactively expand traffic volume and generate revenue. Only through traffic operation can operators transform themselves.

Flat-rate monthly billing plans have flat-lined operator ARPU, and various technical bottlenecks have not allowed operators to adequately scale their operations to achieve the necessary revenue growth. A transformation from voice traffic operation to data traffic operation must take place. An operational mode based on a single business is no longer sufficient; operators need to extend the scope of their businesses; work on differentiated and value-added businesses; and expand as well. 

Operators often use a forward-charging model, which involves charging end users. Internet service providers often use a backward-charging model, which involves charging advertisers and partners. These two charging models require a large user base—the biggest resource an operator has. Operators should make full use of this resource by establishing a converged application platform where internet service providers and users are the target customers. Data traffic is currency of transactions on the platform. In the internet age, users are not only information receivers but also information producers. All the traffic on a network will be covered by B2C, B2B and C2C business models. An operator can leverage the advantages of its traffic platform to provide personalized service and information support for everyone conducting transactions on the platform. In this way, the operator can be involved in the traders’ pricing processes and gain more revenue. Implementing both forward- and backward-charging models allows an operator to generate revenue from all traffic flowing through the platform. Traffic management is essentially the unified management of traffic interactions between information producers and receivers. By creating and managing a sufficiently large platform for conducting such transactions, operators are engaged in traffic-based operation. A simple analogy is a chain supermarket where producers sell their products quickly and promote new products through the supermarket platform. Supermarket operators can pick different products from producers to meet individual demands of consumers.

As CT and IT converge and competition diversifies, operators are in crisis mode and are aware that they need to transform their businesses. However, such transformation is challenging and demands wisdom. Making the pipe smart is one way an operator can deal with the challenges. Managing traffic is the first step to building a smart pipe that can provide differentiated traffic management and controllable traffic allocation to meet the requirements of individual services.