Mobile broadband the wave of the future

By Rodney Weidemann for Cisco
Johannesburg, 14 Apr 2005

Broadband is the catalyst for convergence, allowing for the integration of telephony and data onto a mobile platform, says Cisco`s Simon Aspinall.

Speaking at a broadband press briefing day held in London earlier this week, Aspinall, director of the company`s Internet Business Solutions Group, said customers want access to services through any device, anywhere.

"Customers don`t care about the network or the technology used to deliver it, they just want the service and the assurance that it will always work," he says.

"The true value of mobile broadband will be realised by those companies that deliver individuality to clients. For example, an operator in Italy is already delivering live streaming of popular television shows and also video clips of the goals scored in Italian league football."

According to Jason Ellis, head of voice for mobile operator Orange, the company partnered with Cisco to develop Orange Link - Voice and Data (OLVD) in 2003 to begin offering mobile broadband services to clients.

"We developed OLVD to answer the question of how we would embrace the broadband market, since we needed to protect Orange`s lb1 billion voice revenue in a market where voice and data are rapidly converging," says Ellis.

"While the fixed world is not going away however mobile we get, it is of key importance that we offer the integration of mobility into organisations` offices, with services such as access to a corporate network and e-mail on the move.

"Packet-based services are gaining momentum, but traditional services will long remain, therefore true convergence will allow for the delivery of compelling differentiated services to both enterprise and SME customers, leading to the adoption of a single supplier for all a company`s voice and data needs."

He says Orange is developing convergent services such as the virtual PBX, video voicemail and presence-enabled follow me services, which can all be offered in the core or on the edge of the company`s service provider network.

"Customers and technology are both moving on and broadband access is therefore a service provider opportunity that must be seized, because convergence is happening and can`t be stopped."