Siemens showcasing in Hong Kong technology for flexible network access, rapid data transport and new applications

It is a global trend: Telecommunications companies’ revenue from traditional voice business is flat or even declining, while data transport over networks is on the rise. And more and more people expect the global stream of data to not pass them by. They want fast and reliable access to the communications network using their preferred technology.

At the ITU Telecom World and 3G World Congress in Hong Kong from December 4 to 8, 2006, Siemens Networks will show what new technologies exist to enable fixed-network and mobile operators to optimize their offerings for customers and bring their networks up-to-date. Attractive services combined with the potential for cutting network costs – Siemens shows how carriers can profit from the opportunities offered by rising data traffic.

ITU Telecom World / 3G World Congress, Hongkong - Asia is a boom region. Real economic growth in China was officially 10.2 percent in 2005, while the growth rate in India in the same year was about 8.4 percent. The telecommunications sector will also profit from this rapid upswing. In particular, data traffic in communications networks will increase significantly as a result of residential and business users.

Christoph Caselitz, President of Mobile Networks at Siemens Networks, is convinced: “Things are happening in Asia. Demand for leading-edge communications is enormous, especially in the region’s fast growing markets, of course. We estimate that almost 1.8 billion mobile accounts will be created in Asia in 2011, more than 730 million of them in China alone.”

“The market is fiercely contested because it is full of opportunities. We expect fixed-network business in the APAC region to grow at six percent per year through 2008. We are aiming at doubling that rate in sales growth with our products and solutions,” added Christian Unterberger, President of Fixed Networks Siemens Networks.

Siemens is reflecting this positive market assessment at the year’s largest telecommunications industry event in Asia. In Hong Kong, the company will present solutions and products that offer carriers many ways of equipping and building their networks cost-effectively. The goal is to help them cope easily with the increasing flow of data at a level of quality that meets subscribers’ expectations.

Mobile communications technology

Mobile TV via DVB-H is one of the services that increase data traffic in networks as a result of their interactive character. As a modern lifestyle service, it strengthens customer loyalty and can lead to higher sales. At the trade show in Hong Kong, BBC World, Bloomberg TV and Asian TV programs can be received live on all common end-user devices. Interactive features are also demonstrated: music voting along with the possibility of buying ringtones, music clip downloads, horse betting and quizzes on different cities. The market for Mobile TV is still in its infancy, and good growth opportunities are forecast: The market research institute Informa expects that by 2011 around 210 million people in the world will use their mobile end devices as an interactive television set and that around ten percent of all mobile handsets will have an integrated TV receiver.

The prepaid market is booming – especially in Asian countries. According to Informa Telecom&Media, around 1.5 billion subscribers worldwide used prepaid systems for their mobile phone (status: July 2006), and 60 percent of all prepaid customers come from Asia. Prepaid service has been offered to more than 300 million subscribers worldwide by means of Siemens technology. Siemens is expanding this market position by further developing convergent postpaid and prepaid tariffing systems, including integration of business customer applications, to create end-to-end customer-centric solutions. Mobile operators will be able to offer their customers tariffs and bonus systems that are tailored flexibly to their personal phoning habits. On exhibit in Hong Kong is an online tariffing and customer care solution that can be used for quick and simple creation of invoices for customers who have hybrid postpaid and prepaid tariffs, for example.

Siemens addresses the market for convergent networks – and the trend toward the “integrated carrier” that wishes to operate its networks at low cost – at the core network and application level. The IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) platform IMS@advantage is a service control unit that offers uniform control of fixed and mobile network services. IMS from Siemens enables carriers to cut capital and operating expenses by up to 30 percent compared with individual solutions. The system has proven in many global interoperability tests (e.g. GSMA, MSF) and in commercial operation that it works perfectly with other network components, including those from other vendors. Another point of special interest to carriers is that they can offer new applications flexibly with IMS. In this way, they cut their time to market – a key aspect in the face of global competition, given that carriers also want to provide smaller target groups with very specific services quickly and inexpensively. Siemens expects that the IMS market in Asia will achieve an average growth rate of 74 percent per annum through 2011.

Unified Communications permits a comprehensive and unified range of services. Regardless of whether subscribers are using a fixed or a mobile network, regardless of whether they are residential or business customers – the carrier or service provider can provide its customers with all services (voice, data and video) and consistent user guidance on the basis of a hosted solution. At the ITU, Siemens will demonstrate this with reference to the mobile IP Centrex solution Surpass Hosted Office. With this solution, enterprises do not need their own private branch exchange to use services such as group calls, conferences, presence information, unified and instant messaging in fixed and mobile networks. However, an existing communications system can be integrated if desired.

Fixed Network technology

Siemens is also on top of the trend with its IPTV offering: Television over a DSL line in high-definition quality (HDTV) has now entered the market. IPTV is of great interest to fixed-network carriers because, among other things, it allows them to counter the growing competitive pressure from cable network operators with a new offering and tap new revenue streams. Siemens expects that the IPTV market in Asia will grow at an average pace of 52 percent a year between 2006 and 2011. It has further enhanced its IPTV offering: A clearly structured graphical user interface allows the TV set to be used more simply and intuitively for surfing through the digital universe. In addition, carriers can also offer their customers the possibility of calling interactive elements – such as information pages – from the current TV program or taking part in votes.

The Surpass hiT 7300 is celebrating its Asian premiere in Hong Kong. The new DWDM (Dense Wave Division Multiplexing) platform for optical transport networks cuts the costs of commissioning and operation by up to 60 percent thanks to the high degree of automation. The new technology is used in metro, regional and long-haul networks. It is therefore suitable for installation in urban regions or even regional backbone networks. According to Siemens’ estimates, DWDM has very great growth potential in the transport segment: an average of 11 percent a year through 2010. Siemens is demonstrating the new DWDM platform live in Hong Kong. In conjunction with a GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) system, it is showcasing an optical end-to-end solution that enables data rates of up to 2.5 Gbps on the subscriber side.

Siemens is presenting broadband access technology for fixed networks with its Surpass hiX 5625/30/35. The IP DSLAMs (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexers) enable mixed operation of voice and data (xDSL and Ethernet connection variants) within a single system. They thus become multiservice access nodes. All line cards can be used in each of the three devices. In addition, the high line density of Siemens systems (e.g. 72 ADSL2+ ports per line card) means that a comparatively large number of ports can be implemented in a small space.

Also on exhibit is the new Surpass hiD 6630, with which Siemens rounds out the lower end of its portfolio of Carrier Ethernet switches for the first and second mile. Equipped with three slots, the switch has a maximum data throughput of 120 gigabits a second, allowing carriers to implement smaller installations cost-effectively. At the same time the system offers all the advantages of an Ethernet switch: high scalability and great flexibility in setting up a variety of services. The fact that the modules can also be used in Siemens’ other Ethernet switches makes maintaining inventory simple and cheaper for carriers. A special treat at the Siemens booth will be a demonstration of the extremely short switchover time of under 50 milliseconds. Thanks to Ethernet Ring Protection (ERP), Siemens ensures that the system switches over to an alternative connection very quickly if a line is interrupted. As a result, the network needs less hardware to provide redundancy.

Siemens Networks is represented at the ITU Telecom World and the 3G World Congress in Hall 9, Booth 9006, AsiaWorld-Expo, Hong Kong International
Airport, Lantau.