Roadmap to Operational Excellence for Next Generation Mobile Networks

Dr. Peter Meissner Operating Officer, NGMN Alliance February 22, 2011 Karlsruhe, Germany

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Agenda

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True Customer

Value

Challenges

NGMN

SON, OPE, ORI

Objective and scope of Operational Excellence changes through the years

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Operational Excellence (OpEx) Timeframe

Source: Opexgroep (www.opexgroep.nl) , NGMN

Operational Excellence as an instrument for controlling standardization

Operational Excellence as an instrument for controlling variety

Operational Excellence as an instrument for controlling true customer value

Operational Excellence is not only about achieving an optimized cost position

Definition „Operational Excellence“

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Operational Excellence is a philosophy of leadership, teamwork and problem solving resulting in continuous improvement throughout the organization by focusing on the needs of the customer, empowering employees, and optimizing existing activities in the process.

Operational Excellence’s main objective is to reduce operation cost and wastes, without affecting quality, time delivery and cost of products and services one has to offer.

Provide Customer Value

Empower Employees

Reduce Cost

Improve Processes

THE OBJECTIVE OF OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE IS TO ACHIEVE TRUE CUSTOMER VALUE THROUGH HIGHLY RELIABLE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES BASED ON PROCESSES OF OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE

Source: Opexgroep, Wikipedia, Accenture, NGMN

Industry example – Traditional Power Supply

5 Source: Vattenfall

Industry example – Future Power Supply: Smart Grids

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  Network of integrated micro grids

  Demand management   Smart appliances   Sensors

  Self monitoring and self healing

  Energy and cost savings for suppliers and customers

Industry example – Traditional Transport Systems

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Industry example – Intelligent Transport Systems

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  Vehicle-to vehicle systems   Car-to-X communication   Rerouting through variable

message signs   Variable speed limits with

automated enforcement

  Improved safety and user services

  Reduced environmental impact of traffic

  Higher capacity

How should operations evolve in the Telecom Industry?

9 Source: BT

How should operations evolve in the Telecom Industry?

10 Source: AT&T

Agenda revisited

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True Customer

Value

Challenges

NGMN

SON, OPE, ORI

Operators and vendors face significant operational challenges

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  Traffic growth, capacity requirements for radio and backhaul   Energy consumption   Number of nodes to be managed, optimised, configured –

increase in manual interaction

Efficiency

QoS

Complexity Management

  Customer & service demand, roaming challenges   High performance radio & core   Security concerns, system vulnerability, carrier grade availability

  Multi-technology networks – legacy and next generation   Multi-vendor environment - proprietary vs. open interfaces   Multiple deployment scenarios: Macro, micro, pico, femto   Fixed / Mobile convergence

Need to increase revenue and operational efficiency

Traffic and Revenue Challenge for Operators

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TB/m

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Inte

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iona

l M

obile

Dat

a Tr

affic

Illustrative

Revenue

Devices & Applications: Utilization of all assets (brain included…) to generate additional revenues

Need for higher efficiency and improved cost management

Source: Cisco, NGMN

Shift from voice dominant to data dominant business

Mobile operator’s revenue and traffic de-coupled

In the wireless area, technology evolution and introduction of new services rapidly continues

  1995 and beyond: GSM experience, Wireless revolution   2000 and beyond: GPRS/EDGE experience,   Mobile Internet, Mobile Data, It‘s not only about voice …   2005 and beyond: HSPA/HSPA+ experience, Data Devices,

Mobile Broadband

2006: Foundation of the NGMN Alliance

  2010 and beyond: LTE experience starts, Challenge of the   “Mobile Internet”, Mobile Telephones become Smart Devices,

True Mobile Broadband at the horizon, IPv6 introduction   2015 and beyond: LTE-Advance experience,   “Internet of Things”, from Smart Devices to Smart Living   2020 and beyond:

“Converged All-IP Broadband Networks” become reality, Cognitive Radio in place, Connected “Everything – Everywhere” 14

Agenda revisited

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True Customer

Value

Challenges

NGMN

SON, OPE, ORI

The NGMN Alliance addresses industry challenges to create a successful ecosystem

16 Status:1.01.2011

Members

Sponsors, New Innovators, Advisors

  Articulates requirements and gives guidance for future mobile broadband networks, devices & services – does not develop standards

  Collates and uses the experience and expertise of its leadership partner network to drive innovation and to develop a viable ecosystem

  Promotes the adoption of NGMN technologies by the industry and users

Approach & Characteristics NGMN

  Business driven

  End-to-end view

  Against fragmentation

  Next Generation focus

LTE launches by NGMN Operators

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Operator Country Launch Date/Comment

AT&T USA Q2/Q3 2011

China Mobile China Q2 2010 / TD-LTE Showcase Network

Deutsche Telekom Germany Q2 2011 / Digital Dividend (800MHz Band)

KDDI Japan 2012

LG U+ South Korea Q3 2011

NTT DOCOMO Japan Q4 2010, Service called Xi (“Crossy”)

SK Telecom South Korea Q3 2011, focus on Metropolitan Areas

Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway and Sweden Q4 2009 / First commercial LTE Network

Australia Q4 2011

Vodafone Germany (& USA) Q4 2010 / Digital Dividend (800MHz Band)

Source: Public announcements, press clippings

Role and activities of NGMN

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  Analysis of technical frameworks and relevant solutions

  Development of performance targets

  Requirements definition based on use cases

  Identification of gaps in standards

  Contribution to SDOs & Industry Associations

  Development of implementation guidelines

  Active communication on the technology’s performance, availability and customer benefits

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NGMN drives industry development

Testing & Trials �

Deployment,

Operations �

NGMN �Requirements �

Critical Role of NGMN

Operator community leads the requirement definition to ensure that customer’s needs and expectations on mobile broadband are fulfilled

NGMN actively drives requirement alignment, technology standard convergence to guarantee

industry scale

Successful offering:

Viable ecosystem, scale:

Source: Y. Sha (China Mobile)/ NGMN Industry Conference 2010, NGMN

Operations improvements have been an essential requirement from the beginning

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NGMN White Paper

  Definition of requirements within NGMN White Paper – drafted 2005, ratified and published by the NGMN Board in 2006.

  Work Groups, Projects, Task-forces based on these requirements

  The traditional O&M functionality is seen as an integral part of this self-organising concept and as such the next generation mobile networks shall organise its own resources in an automatic and optimal manner to increase overall network quality and performance. The O&M related solutions shall also be very effective and highly cost-optimised to especially minimise the need for manual intervention and hence ongoing operator resources.

  An obvious, yet indispensable recommendation for the commercial launch of next generation mobile networks is that their self organising systems including O&M functionality must support all tasks needed to provide carrier grade quality from inception, providing a state-of-the-art standardised architecture and easily operated open and standardised interfaces.

  In order to minimise complexity and cost, all interfaces shall be fully open and standardised for multi-vendor equipment interoperability with the absolute minimum set of options. Where options do exist, the interfaces should be functionally able to negotiate different support levels in a fully compatible way.

Operations Requirements out of NGMN Whitepaper

Numerous activities have been based on initial NGMN Whitepaper requirements

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Industry Conference & Exhibition Public Conference Contributions

2007 2008 2009 2010

„Next Generation Mobile Networks Use Cases related to Self Organising Networks, Overall Description”

„NGMN Recommend. on SON and O&M Requirements”

Project: „Operational Efficiency and Top OPE Requirements”

2011

Project :

Next Generation Converged Operations Requirements

launched February 2011

Project: “Multi-Vendor RAN”, 2008 / 2009

Project: “Open Baseband Unit – Remote Radiohead Interface”, ETSI ISG ORI, April 2009

Activities in the Area of Operations

Published May 2007

Published Dec. 2008

Published Sept. 2010

Agenda revisited

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True Customer

Value

Challenges

NGMN

SON, OPE, ORI

Development towards SON

23 Source: Deutsche Telekom

Plug & Play Installation

Automatic Neighbour Relationship (ANR) Configuration

OSS Integration (Fully Standardised Northbound Configuration-, Alarm- and Performance- Management)

Handover Optimisation (Mobility Robustness Optimisation)

Minimisation of Drive Tests (MDT)

Cell Outage Compensation

Load Balancing

Energy Saving

Interaction Home/Macro BTS

QoS Optimisation

SON use cases defined by NGMN – close co-operation with Socrates

24 Source: Project “Operational Efficiency”, F. Lehser (DTAG)

Project „Operational Efficiency“ and the “Top OPE Recommendations”

NGMN‘s „Top OPE Recommendations”, Consolidated outcome of the project “Operational Efficiency” addressing SON and O&M, published September 2010

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O&M

SON

Top OPE Recomm.

Project Operat. Efficiency

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Standardized interface, plug&play, SOA / NGOSS, support of LTE parameters & SON use cases, modeling & setting, efficient IRP

groupings, inventory, conformance checking

SON in Core Network, QoS optimisation, minimisation of drive tests, HO optimisation, load balancing, common channel optimisation, macro-home interworking, cell outage compensation, energy saving

Drivers for NGCOR:

  Further enhancement of NGMN Top OPE Recommendations: Fully standardized interfaces & enhanced interworking solutions throughout O&M/OSS

  O&M requirements for converged wireline/wireless networks

  Guidance to SDOs (3GPP, TMF, …): Resolve misalignments and close gaps in relevant standards

Overall objective: Faster time to market, more efficient operations, low integration cost

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OSS Requirements for Fault Management on the Northbound Interface Focus on EMS-NMS interface

OPE recommendation for Converged Networks

Operator governance and tooling requirements for converged and aligned management interface specifications

Delivery of OSS Requirements for Inventory Management

Project Next Generation Converged Operations Requirements (NGCOR)- focus on O&M / OSS

Project Sub-Tasks

Network Operator’s position stated in a letter to TMF and 3GPP (issued February 2011)

Proposal and next steps   Joint development of optimal interface standards (e.g. information model, transfer protocols, bi-

directional message formats and semantics) supported by widely accepted specification methods and adequate tools.

  Telco and OSS industry must drive the development and be fully committed to the common results. Ultimate target is “zero integration tax”!

  Network Operators must clearly define and state their business and functional requirements – most suitable through a common forum like the NGMN Alliance.

27 Full letter at: http://ftp.3gpp.org/ftp/tsg_sa/TSG_SA/TSGS_50/Docs/SP-100839.zip

The key responsibility of the NGMN Alliance is to define and align Network Operator requirements.

Relevant SDO’s develop standards in line with these requirements.

Industry (Telco and OSS) is requested to implement these standards.

Starting point and challenges for Network Operators   Increasing demand to maintain and improve customer

experience requires full end-to-end service management and hence, multi-technology and multi-vendor network management capabilities.

Automation is key - Standardization is a must   Cooperative, federated interface definition: all involved

parties agree on one common information framework – on a certain model level and acting as an umbrella for end-to-end management purposes. This umbrella should allow for federation / integration of the various network resource information models – mobile and fixed, today an d in future.

management functions (OSS)

network related functions

“Smart” Deployment with “Smart” Antennas and the Open Radio Equipment Interface (ORI)

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The Future: Antenna Embedded Radio™

The Past: Conventional BTS

The Present: Remote Radio Head

Base Station Server

Heavy Coaxial Cable

Passive Antennas

Masthead Amplifiers

RET

Base Station Server

Remote Radio Head

Passive Antennas

COAX Cables

RET COAX Jumpers

Source: Ubidyne

29 Source: NTT DOCOMO, A. Neubacher (T-Mobile), NGMN

Open Radio Equipment Interface (ORI): What it will enable in the future

Radio equipment control = Baseband Unit (BBU)

Remote radio head (RRH)

Open BBU-RRH interface / ORI

RRH

BBU

BBU

RRH

RRH

RRH

RRH

RRH

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“ORI” as the basis for multi-vendor deployment and operation scenarios

Source: A. Neubacher (T-Mobile), NGMN

Advantages Remote Radio Head deployment:

  Fibres easy to run with low space consumption. Spare capacity for extensions

  Nearly no constrains in fibre length

  Flexibility in antenna placement

  Higher power efficiency

However, currently no interoperability between BBU and RRH allowing multi-vendor solutions

Drivers for Open Radio Equipment Interface (ORI)

Overview ORI Standardisation

refined from CPRI Spec by ETSI ORI

Refined CPRI specification by ETSI

  OBRI project launched within NGMN, later transferred to ETSI to continue work on the detailed specification

  CPRI covers Layer 1 and 2, ETSI ORI will additionally specify C&M Layer

Laye

r 1

Laye

r 2

Laye

r 3

Out of scope of ETSI ORI (referenced from CPRI)

The NGMN Alliance – beyond 2010

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  Share experiences from initial deployment to identify gaps

  Provide requirements to drive future technology enhancements

  Ensure global alignment to avoid fragmentation and to build scale

SDO Alignment

 Trials, trial result sharing

 FDD/TD-LTE convergence

 Antenna design and configuration

 Backhaul

 Centralized RAN

 Heterogeniousnetworks

 QoS

 API standardisation

 Smart networks

 Global spectrum harmonisation

 Bandwidth aggregation

 Standards evolution (LTE-A)

 Technology evaluation

 Voice over LTE

 NGRAI

 Multi-mode, multi-band devices

 Certification

 SON use cases

 OSS interfaces

 OSS for converged networks

Overview Work Areas and potential topics

Operational Efficiency Devices

Network Architecture

Application Enablers Spectrum Deployment

Aspects

SDO Alignment

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Operational Efficiency Devices Network

Architecture Application

Enablers Spectrum SDO Alignment

Deployment Aspects

NGMN will drive and follow up development of SON, OPE, ORI etc. in SDO’s – support and input come from several work areas

Rel. 11 (features t.b.d.)   MDT enhancements   SON for Relays & Carrier Aggregation   SON for LTE-A features   ...

Rel. 8   Self-conf.

procedures

Rel. 9   SON procedures   Energy Saving for

Intra-RAT

Rel.10   Extended SON features   MDT basic features   Energy Saving extensions   3G-ANR

OSS related standards for next generation networks – information frameworks, software interfaces, process frameworks

Development of the standard for the Open Radio equipment Interface in ETSI ISG ORI

Development and integration of SON and OPE functionality into standards:

Agenda revisited

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True Customer

Value

Challenges

NGMN

SON, OPE, ORI

Summary

Challenges to work on are:   Reliability Management   Recovery Management   Change Management   Service Management   Collection Management   Performance Management (QoS, GoS for NGRAI)   ….   Customer Experience & Relationship Management

for truly converged networks in a connected world - including smart devices, smart cars, smart homes, smart grids… The NGMN Alliance is well positioned to drive this work programme - you are the experts: Get involved and contribute!

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THE OBJECTIVE OF OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE IS TO ACHIEVE TRUE CUSTOMER VALUE THROUGH HIGHLY RELIABLE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES BASED ON PROCESSES OF OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE

Thank You