There has been more news lately about some high-profile botnets, and the latest was one of the largest ever seen in Internet history, causing Internet slowdowns to hundreds of millions of users. The scale was orders of magnitude larger than anything seen before, affecting the very core Internet routers that make the Internet function. As mobile networks evolve to all-IP networks, these are the very security concerns operators should be focused on.

In this latest episode, attackers first targeted Spamhaus, and then the security company hired to break the attack, CloudFlare. A domino-effect ensued for any and all companies and groups associated with either Spamhaus or CloudFlare, peaking with a stream of data as big as 300 billion bits per second, which compromised sites – slowing them down or making them unavailable – for as many as nine days.

At the core of the assault was a powerful botnet — a network of thousands of remotely controlled, infected computers that caused a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. That attack is expected to be re-launched in upcoming days, according to Internet chatter, and it is causing security experts like Kaspersky Labs to note that DDOS-type activity is increasing rapidly, and far more malicious than fraudulent service and network security breaches of the past.

How Can DSRs and Policy Servers Help Mobile Operators?

For mobile operators, the rise in malicious attacks highlights a need to go beyond a socialized approach where one appliance is trusted as a security gateway. It pushes everyone toward a multi-layered-security approach, where operators protect the core, the transport layer and the application layer from rogue sites.

The Diameter Signaling Router (DSR) and Policy Server (PCRF) can strengthen security at particularly the control and application layers. Because botnets exploit routing software and servers, DSRs and Policy Servers play a role in preventing amplifications that otherwise get out of control and bring down networks.

For example, in our recent whitepaper, “Multi-layer Security for the Digital Lifestyle Provider,” we describe Access Control(ACL) Lists, Topology Hiding, Encryption, Congestion Control and other security measures augmented by the DSR and/or PCRF.

We look at the ways in which operators can add layers of protection, such as by implementing topology hiding, which protects the network host names from a DDOS. and we look at how encryption can be used for safeguarding subscriber data.

All in all, the operators’ strategies have to be proactive and multi-layered in order to prevent access from unknown partners or rogue sites. There’s no question the growing sophistication of services, and the mobilization and social revolution underway will mean not only innovation, but also more malicious security threats among operators and the third parties with which they will work – intentionally or not.

Mobile operators will continue to invest heavily in their relationships with customers, as they want to champion their brands as Apple, Samsung and Google have done. They also want to ensure their revenues and profits are not further eroded long term by third-party applications and over-the-top providers.

To create positive consumer perceptions about their brands and to deepen their customer relationships, operators know they have to differentiate according to more sharply defined customer wants and behaviors. This means offers and supporting network resources must evolve to dynamically adjust according to how people behave as individuals and in groups. This may include sharing data in real time with advertisers, or optimizing Quality of Service according the needs of an over-the-top application. In short, operators are are becoming “digital-lifestyle providers.”

The most critical element of this transition to digital lifestyle provider status is an adaptable, dynamic and flexible network, one that understands the customer in detail and responds to their actions with personalized, informed reactions. In short, operators require ThinkingNetworks™. This is not a ‘rip-and-replace’ proposition; rather, it is a phased evolutionary approach that adds and changes technological resources as the operator’s business changes according to market demand.

To evolve today’s mobile networks toward this more effective end state, we see four key overlapping phases, including:

• The New Diameter Network (NDN)
• Virtualize through the Cloud
• Monetize in mobile and social-networking environments
• Realize a policy-driven, software-defined ThinkingNetworks™ end state

In the first phase, operators tame the ‘signaling storm’ that could compromise their investments in Diameter-based environments through the New Diameter Network, which brings agility and speed to routing and signaling and provides crucial policy insight about subscribers and their devices, behaviors and apps. Policy becomes the ‘big brain’ of the network, keeping all relevant gateways, databases and operator systems informed. It also facilitates the real-time personalization that is essential to today’s demanding customers.

With that network humming, operators are ready to move into the second phase – a cloud environment that virtualizes network resources. This adds the benefits of on-demand resource allocation and optimal capacity utilization. It also exploits industry trends in software-defined networking (SDN) and standardized hardware improvements that are bringing down CapEx and OpEx unit costs.

In Phase 3, operators turn the tables in the market and go from passive ‘pull’ status to active, relevant ‘push’ vehicles, capable of interacting with entire social networks based on user interests and group behaviors. And, just as the human brain takes in multiple data points simultaneously to influence one’s actions, “one-of” consumer transactions suddenly become a dynamic real-time web of interactions. The network can then push revenue-generating recommendations, offers and ads based not just on one-to-one behaviors, but across this pulsating network of group insights, preferences and decisions.

Finally, in phase 4, ThinkingNetworks™ continually listen, learn and optimize. Instead of periodic off-line reporting and inexact capacity planning exercises, the operator is now given the power to adapt resources according to that delicate balance among business plan goals, network conditions, and customer desires.

The end game is achieved by giving the operator the capabilities they have sought for so many years: the ability to serve the market more quickly, more dynamically and more cost-effectively, and this is what brings differentiation and puts the operator in the driver’s seat as digital lifestyle providers.

To learn more read the new whitepaper: The ThinkingNetworks™ Revolution: A Call to Action for Digital Lifestyle Providers

Every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data — so much that 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone, according to IBM figures. For mobile operators, “Big Data” presents real opportunity for generating new revenue streams if they figure out how to morph abstract data points into something visceral, emotional and tangible, as stated by Rick Smolan last week during the inaugural Wired Health Conference in New York.

There is no doubt Policy and governance will grow in importance as mobile operators and enterprises across different industries explore how new types of data such as “self quantifiers” will be gathered via smartphones and other mobile devices to measure everything from sleeping patterns to toe nail growth, to a person’s cadence and balance as they walk. Extending the reach of policy to smart devices will also help operators better match network resources to services and customers, as with Wi-Fi offloads and actions related to fair usage.

If the concept of “Policy Everywhere” evolves at a pace commensurate with that of “Data Everywhere,” then mobile operators can build an intelligent network model, for which Policy will be the innovation engine.

Operators will have to transition Policy’s complexion from one of monitoring monthly quota and fair-use management to one that goes beyond the core network and onto subscriber devices, machine-to-machine (M2M) devices, cloud providers, and service delivery and OTT provider platforms.

Using Policy Everywhere, mobile operators can play a bigger role in helping health care, utility, automotive and other industries derive business insights from the surging amount of data gathered from social media, digital videos and pictures, purchase transaction records, cell phone GPS signals, consumer genomics, and personal trackers (like Fitbit, Zeo or the Nike fuel bracelet).

In other words, mobile operators’ use of Policy Everywhere will be a critical factor in making Big Data something people care about, and making it something they don’t have to worry about.

With the ability to push policy control beyond the network core to its edge, operators can develop creative strategies to:

• Optimize and personalize each subscriber’s experience
• Create lucrative, two-sided business models with third-party, OTT and cloud providers
• Maximize resources and improve QoS

It’s just a matter of time before Policy becomes centrally defined within an intelligent control layer that is independent of the underlying network infrastructure and applied globally across networks, devices and applications.

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The mobile data business is growing rapidly, To fully capture this mobile data opportunity, service providers need to become a service and content enabler. Click on the video below to hear Travis Russell, technologist, Tekelec discuss why adding value to the network should be a top priority for service providers.

Guest Post By Richard Webb , Directing Analyst, Mobile Devices, at Infonetics Research

As the analyst responsible for tracking the mobile broadband devices market at Infonetics Research, I have been asked to participate as a judge for the smartphones category at the Mobile World Congress industry awards taking place in February 2012.

As I considered where to place my vote, I had to consider each phone’s functionality, aesthetic appeal, performance, value-for-money, and other criteria. This became increasingly tricky, because not all smartphones are trying to appeal in the same way to the same user. This sounds obvious, but of late, differentiation in this segment has become much more marked due to the market entrance of a new breed of smartphone.

A Segment Emerges: The Low-End Smartphone

Previously, all the focus of innovation in the smartphone market had been at the top end: making smartphones even smarter, faster, flashier . . . and more expensive. Functionality comes at a price and the drive from vendors had been to exceed the capabilities of its competitors, confident in the belief that early-adopters would not be able to resist.

But this focus has changed. Not completely, because of course there is still much attention being paid to making smartphones better than ever: the dream of the ‘ultra-smartphone’ (whatever exactly that might mean) still spurs vendors on to new heights. But there is now a discernible counterpoint to the likes of the iPhone and the Galaxy: the ‘low-end’ smartphone.

With the emergence of smartphones such as the Huawei Blaze, Motorola Defy and the ZTE Skate, launched this year at price-points around $150, the focus is no longer on maximizing functionality, but optimizing functionality: the low-end smartphone doesn’t try to do everything, but instead does enough. Enough, that is, for people for whom the array of capabilities of smart smartphones, and also the cost, is excessive. The low-end smartphone competes on price, not on being a cutting-edge must-have gadget.

This shift of emphasis acknowledges there is a degree of overkill in the segment – many smartphones are capable of far more than we ask of them. But higher functionality might be equated with lower user-friendliness –  smarter phones are fine, but if we do not use all the functionality we are paying for, does this represent value?

Barriers to Mobile Broadband Adoption Are Lowered

Cheaper smartphones are appealing. Not only do lower prices bring these smartphones into the price range of a larger potential market, but less functionality actually makes them appeal more. Focusing on a basic range of features (email, browsing, MP3, photos, applications) can be a good thing; these are the features most used by the majority of smartphone users. High-end features such as 3D video are not for everybody, and over-complexity can be a barrier to adoption.

Low-end smartphones should combine well with the emergence of shared data plans to drive mobile broadband adoption. In a recent whitepaper by Infonetics Research (All in the Family: How Shared Data Plans are Driving New Requirements, October 2011 ), we noted that mobile operators will offer plans giving users a ‘pool’ of data to be shared between multiple devices, or multiple users, to give greater flexibility in terms of usage and devices.

As smartphones get simpler and cheaper, users want more devices, but not necessarily more data plans. Not only are separate data plans per device expensive, they also frequently give users a higher total data allowance than they can actually use; however, shared data plans and low-end smartphones share a synergy that counters this: value-for-money.

Infonetics forecasts that approximately 15% of all smartphones will be sold as part of a shared data plan by 2015. It will become an increasingly important method for selling smartphones, particularly for new mobile broadband adopters looking for simplicity – exactly the demographic for whom low-end smartphones might appeal.

One Day, All Phones Will Be Like This!

This is not a ‘dumbing-down’ of the smartphone segment, just a focus on optimizing smartphones in terms of the right functionality at the right price point for the right market segment. At some point all mobile phones will be smartphones. With low-end smartphones driven by Huawei and others, we are certainly getting closer to that reality.

As for which smartphone will win the Mobile World Congress award . . . find out in Barcelona in February 2012!

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About Richard

Richard Webb is a highly sought-after analyst, consultant, writer and speaker who has been covering telecom markets for 13 years, including WiMAX since shortly after its inception in 2001, making him one of the industry’s foremost WiMAX experts. As a directing analyst with Infonetics Research, Richard authors and co-authors numerous market share and forecast reports, service provider surveys, and Continuous Research Service (CRS) opinion pieces on WiMAX, LTE, 4G, mobile broadband, FMC, microwave, mobile backhaul, and phones and devices (mobile, FMC, WiFi, smartphones).

On Tuesday, it was announced that TIM Brasil, a tier-one mobile operator with more than 55 million subscribers, has extended its deal with Tekelec to manage and monetize users’ mobile data traffic. Tekelec’s Policy Server, a policy and charging rules function (PCRF), and its Subscriber Data Management (SDM) product will help TIM Brasil offer new prepaid and postpaid tariff plans for smartphone, tablet and netbook users. TIM Brasil’s marketing and network teams will be able to create new tiers and promotions designed to grow market share and revenue, and to better control network usage to lower capex and opex.

For full details, click here.

Director of Product Management Jason Emery discusses Diameter routing LTE and IMS use cases in his latest “Reality Check” column for RCR Wireless, including centralized routing, LTE-to-LTE roaming and HSS resolution.

Excerpt:

“Diameter signaling routers are becoming the central point in 3G, IMS and LTE networks for connecting, translating and interoperating Diameter traffic. As outlined in our previous article, a Diameter signaling infrastructure at the network core facilitates signaling between network elements, endpoints such as online and offline charging systems (OCSs/OFCSs), mobility management entities (MMEs), policy control and charging rules functions (PCRFs) and home subscriber servers (HSSs).”

Read the full article here.

Joanne Steinberg, Director of Strategic Marketing, talks about how operators can use network and subscriber activity to create revenue from their mobile broadband network.

Richard Bodin, product manager for SDM solutions at Tekelec, discusses the three characteristics of an SDM solution.