Digital Lifescapes

The demand for high-performance connectivity is reaching new highs in the 5G wireless era. Annual data traffic from the top 30 countries is forecast to grow from almost 1,100 exabytes in 2022 to over 4,000 exabytes in 2027 -- with 5G making up ~60 percent of total data traffic in 2027. Based on the higher data throughput and lower latency required by 5G networks, backhaul or transport solutions must also adapt to meet the increased requirements needed by advanced cellular technology. While fiber-optic links remain a preferred choice for 5G network backhaul, microwave technology is still seen as a key component in many 5G networks due to its lower deployment costs and ability to be deployed in areas where fiber deployment is difficult. Wireless Backhaul Market Development Additionally, wireless backhaul deployments can also be used to complement fiber backhaul deployments by providing increased resiliency. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, the total number ...

The worldwide Optical networking infrastructure market is predicted to grow from $13.6 billion in 2016 to $17.3 billion by 2021, according to the latest market study by ACG Research. Moreover, purchases of Optical Data Center Interconnect (DCI) equipment are expected to grow from $1.69 billion in 2016 to $4.3 billion in 2021. And, there's growth in all geographic regions. In 2016, Metro optical increased 5.5 percent and Long-Haul delivered 10.5 percent growth. Asia-Pacific remains the largest optical networking region, with 10 percent growth in spending in 2016. Driven in part by Verizon network upgrades, the North American Metro Optical market will return to growth in 2017 after a slow 2016. Optical Networking Market Development ACG Research analysts anticipate worldwide Metro Optical spending to increase 9.4 percent in 2017. When combined with the 19.1 percent decline in legacy Optical infrastructure spending in 2016, total Optical infrastructure managed a modest 2.7 perce...

Mobile internet applications have grown exponentially over the last decade, especially within urban areas around the globe. Mobile network service providers have started to deploy small cell wireless communications technology to support the growing demand. Outdoor small cell deployments were off to a slow start, but are now showing signs that they will grow significantly over the next several years, according to the latest worldwide market study by IHS Technology . Infrastructure investment is driven mostly by the mobile network operator common need to enhance saturated macro-cellular networks, and improve the mobile broadband experience by adding capacity through dense low power node deployments. Mobile Internet Market Development IHS has forecast that the global outdoor small cell backhaul market will reach $2.2 billion in 2020, with a five-year (2016–2020) compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 80 percent. Mobile network operators are currently testing and field trialing ma...

As we look toward 2015, we'll see signs that the mobile service provider sector will start to shift its investment budget into new technologies. The 4G Americas organization says Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) each offer an opportunity for expanded network flexibility and capacity, while also enabling the reduction of operating and capital expenses. By utilizing more off-the-shelf bare metal hardware and open source-based software solutions, they're going to be in a much better position to revolutionize mobile networking infrastructure optimization. According to the latest global market study by ABI Research, the total worldwide wireless network operator capital investment (CAPEX) budget will increase by 5.9 percent by the end of 2014 -- that's a slower rate than 2013. The investment will reach $185.5 billion as large capital expenditure is expected in developing regions of Latin America, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. ABI Re...

Infonetics Research released excerpts from its latest carrier Wi-Fi and hotspot survey, which explores the drivers, strategies, models and technology choices that are shaping mobile network service provider Wi-Fi deployments. "Best-effort WiFi is no longer good enough; mobile operators need carrier-class sophistication," said Richard Webb, directing analyst for microwave and carrier WiFi at Infonetics Research . Next-gen carrier WiFi has evolved to enable operators to deliver the same quality of experience as mobile networks through closer integration with the mobile RAN. Hotspot 2.0 will go a long way to building the bridge between the technologies from a technical standpoint, but operators are still figuring out how to position WiFi within their broadband offerings and which service models will generate the most revenue. According to the Infonetics assessment, mobile network offload of data traffic is not enough; WiFi has got to pay for itself -- by becoming a new s...

With the advent of network technologies such as 3G and 4G, mobile data traffic has been growing at an unprecedented pace and is increasingly outstripping the available mobile network capacity. The introduction of smartphones, tablets, and other devices has been driving mobile data growth. According to the latest market study by Juniper Research, almost 50 percent of data traffic generated by these mobile phones, tablets and other 3G/4G connected devices, will be offloaded to Wi-Fi and Small Cell networks this year. This is equivalent to 10 billion movie downloads or 9,000 petabytes (PB) per year being offloaded from mobile operator’s networks. The Juniper market study found that while mobile network operators were benefiting from much needed relief on their over-subscribed networks, they were potentially losing monetization opportunities on the lost data usage. In response, mobile service providers are actively partnering with existing Wi-Fi networks and launching their own car...

Infonetics Research released excerpts of the findings from its latest global market study of mobile broadband service providers, which provides insights into network operator's current and future plans for outdoor small cells and backhaul. "The challenge is on for small cell operators. They've been scrambling to test and trial a large number of technologies, products, and topologies for outdoor small cells, and they're under growing pressure to make the rubber meet the road -- not only from their technology and operations people, but even their business planners," said Michael Howard, co-founder and principal analyst for carrier networks at Infonetics Research . But, according to the current Infonetics' assessment, it won't be easy. These operators face some daunting challenges: outdoor small cell gear isn't small enough or cheap enough yet, and there are problems backhauling in dense urban areas -- includiing municipal regulations regarding the ...

Infonetics Research released excerpts from its latest global market study and report which forecasts the fastest growing segment of the mobile network infrastructure market -- that being outdoor small cell backhaul. The market study was devided into eight discrete categories: the 3 forms of wireline -- copper, fiber, DSL; and the 5 forms of wireless -- licensed and unlicensed millimeter wave and point-to-point, point-to-multi-point, and non-line-of-sight, or NLOS, microwave. Their resulting report tracks and forecasts outdoor small cell backhaul equipment revenue, units, connections (aka links) and small cell sites by medium (copper, fiber, air). "There's been wild speculation on the small cell opportunity -- some that lump together small cells with residential femtocells, WiFi hotspots, and in-building and outdoor. Our latest research focuses on just the new, faster-growing outdoor small cell backhaul equipment market," says Michael Howard, co-founder and principal...

The next generation of consumer electronics (CE) devices has made mobile connectivity a key focal point. Mobile phones are something of a gateway device -- enabling consumers to select the most interesting mobile content. Between mobile applications, data, voice, and video, global wireless bandwidth usage has increased ten-fold since 2008, and there are no signs of it slowing. The process by which these consumer electronic devices communicate with the content source is called backhaul. According to the latest NPD In-Stat market study, they now forecast that the number of fiber-enabled mobile service backhaul macro base stations will approach 1.8 million in 2014. "For mobile operators the challenge is to match the best backhaul solutions with the needs of their networks. In tailoring the proper backhaul solution, operators have to balance considerations like cost and time of deployment," said Chris Kissel, Senior Analyst at NPD In-Stat . At the same time, operators m...

Mobile wireless signal reception issues are more acute when access devices, such as smartphones, are designed to use bandwidth-intensive applications. Adding new macro base stations has been the traditional way of creating new mobile radio capacity for service provider networks. However, cell tower locations are becoming harder to acquire, and the cost of new base stations can be prohibitive. The solution is to utilize distributed antenna systems. DAS represent a versatile indoor/outdoor approach for mobile transport by routing radio frequency (RF) signals through fiber or copper cabling from a single base station to multiple antennas located throughout a building or through antenna nodes. According to the latest market study by In-Stat , the total global revenue from DAS will surpass 13 billion in 2015. "Distributed antenna systems bridge several key areas in cellular coverage," says Chris Kissel, Analyst at In-Stat. "Femto-, pico-, micro-, and macrocells all au...

When mobile network infrastructure comes to mind in 2011, 4G LTE is likely the focal point. Yet the very meaning of the acronym -- Long-Term Evolution -- is a hint that the required network investment will proceed slowly. LTE's deployment as the mainstay 4G technology will take place gradually, and won't even begin to gather real momentum until 2013. Nonetheless, LTE is forecast by ABI Research to generate more than $11 billion in service revenue in the U.S market in 2015, with nearly a further $650 million to come from Western Europe. "The LTE service revenue growth curve for Western Europe is practically a straight line," notes ABI Research director Philip Solis. That contrasts sharply with constantly accelerating revenue growth in the US, and is largely due to the sometimes exorbitant amounts European network operators paid for their 3G spectrum -- many of those operators want to squeeze every drop of value from their 3G investments before migrating to 4G. ...

Femtocells and enterprise femtocells are going to help mobile phone operators provide indoor coverage to their subscribers, while at the same time, relieve network backhaul and infrastructure costs, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . Although all segments of the emerging compact base station market -- which includes indoor and metropolitan picocells as well as microcells -- are expected to show growth, femtocells and enterprise femtocells will have the most significant increase in unit shipments. In-Stat forecasts that annual femtocell shipments will reach 31.8 million by 2014. "Enterprise femtocells may even save businesses money. If PBX features are incorporated into enterprise femtocells, they could displace many wireless PBX and IP PBX installs, as well as the purchase of wireline phones," says Allen Nogee, Principal Analyst at In-Stat. Additionally, In-Stat expects consumer demand for femtocells to be strong, because they allow better in-home cell...

The demand for more mobile network backhaul capacity will grow three fold between 2009 and 2013, according to a recent market study by In-Stat. Mobile network operators are deploying EV-DO 2000, HSPA/HSPA+, WiMAX, and LTE to meet the growing demand for high-speed mobile data. In the process, the bottleneck affect of cell site network backhaul has become more prominent. Traditionally, voice has dominated the traffic going across a mobile operator's network. With voice as the primary traffic component, an operator could meet its backhaul requirements with a couple of T-1 lines per base station. That has all changed with operators relying on data for revenue growth. "Cellular and WiMAX backhaul provides that crucial link between the mobile operator's radio access network and its core network," says Frank Dickson, In-Stat's VP of Mobile Internet research. "It does an operator no good to install a base station with 7.2 Mbps capacity if the backhaul is limited to 4...

Infonetics Research released its microwave equipment market size, market share, and forecast report. The report tracks access and backhaul/transport PDH/SDH microwave equipment and Ethernet and dual Ethernet/TDM microwave equipment. "The big trend in the microwave equipment market is the transition from TDM to Ethernet. Microwave enables mobile operators to make phased upgrades of their backhaul networks from TDM-only to hybrid TDM/Ethernet systems to packet-based all-Ethernet solutions in the future, said Richard Webb, Infonetics Research analyst. This offers a scalable and cost-effective roadmap for managing the escalating bandwidth demands driven by the mobile broadband boom, and future 4G deployments. Typically, operators will keep legacy TDM microwave for another 5-10 years to support 2G/3G voice while deploying Ethernet for growing volumes of data traffic. The Infonetics market study highlights include: - Worldwide microwave equipment sales hit $4.9 billion in 2008, up 23 pe...