Nine Ways to Get More Value Out of IPX

IPX can reduce connectivity costs, boost service quality and improve the time to implement new services and roaming destinations. Clearly, IPX should have a central role in operators’ strategies to develop and deliver future services.

Here are nine key lessons to guide operators along the path to IPX and equip them to maximize the benefits.

1. Choose a quality network. An IPX is about far more than simply roaming data. A whole range of services, from messaging through to real-time voice and video, now flow over IPX. It is therefore critical that operators choose an IPX capable of providing the network service levels and resilience to deliver these services, as well as proactively managing the different traffic types.

2. Plan for future capacity. The growth of roaming data volumes between mobile operators has been considerable over the last few years. Add to that voice, messaging and LTE-based services and the need to plan ahead when deploying IPX is clear. A 10 M, 30 M or 100 M connection may look adequate this year, but will it continue to meet demand in 18 months time? Putting in the right long-term infrastructure now will enable the operators to soft upgrade connections rapidly to meet demand in the future.

3. Involve vendors early. Once an operator has connected and tested a service over IPX, whether that’s voice, video, messaging or another application, s/he is able to access the entire community for that service on the IPX. The initial testing process is fundamental to success and enabling infrastructure vendors early is essential to this. Even different releases of a platform from the same vendor can result in quite different results.

Ensuring equipment vendors are closely involved in the process of IPX testing from an early stage significantly reduces project timelines, and will enable full service launch sooner.

4. Recognize the value of community. An IPX is about connecting operators together with one another, and with services and applications. When choosing an IPX, an operator should consider both the range of services provided and the community of operators connected. Right now, operators may be connecting with each other to enable just one or two particular services, but in the longer term they’re likely to want more.

5. Plan roaming connectivity at the same time as domestic rollout. The success of roaming has set a high bar. Users increasingly expect all home services to be available when roaming, not six months or a year after launch. Although the initial focus may be on the domestic launch of new services such as LTE, consideration should be given to roaming of those services early on. IPX can enable the rapid rollout of roaming connectivity. Provided operators build IPX connectivity into the deployment plans for new services early on, roaming revenue can be quickly achieved for new services.

6. Ensure the IPX service can translate between systems. IPX is about enabling connectivity, and with the rapid rollout of new services, this increasingly requires the ability to bring differing implementations of the same service together. For example, two operators may have deployed different voice switches with different SIP-I implementations. An IPX should be able to translate between these switches, ironing out the differences and enabling seamless communication.

7. Choose an IPX with strong Policy and Access control. IPX is about enabling connectivity, but for operators to be able to leverage this, it’s vital that they remain in control of who can access services and what policies are applied to that access. It is therefore essential that an IPX provides clear control of services, and doesn’t merely function as a ‘dumb’ pipe connecting the various parties. An IPX that provides the ‘hubbing’ of services such as voice is not only able to increase the interoperability of services through its ability to ‘translate’ between systems (as described in #6). It can also control which partners can access services and which originators may connect – as well as applying the required policies to such traffic.

As the telecom world moves to LTE and multimedia, services such as access and policy management will become even more critical.

8. Select an IPX with strong accounting capability. Clearly, IPX must enable connectivity of services. But it must also ensure that the revenue streams follow services. Whether connecting data, messaging, voice or other applications, IPX has a key role to play in accounting functions, ensuring payment follows the traffic.

9. Consider the commercial relationships as well as the connectivity. When testing IPX connectivity, it’s important to plan ahead and select the priority roaming destinations for a service. This enables an IPX to be working on the rollout of an operator’s roaming footprint ahead of the initial connection being deployed and tested. This significantly shortens the time between the IPX connectivity being completed and the revenue and service benefits delivered. By following this advice, you’ll have what you need to make the most out of your IPX deployment.

Having an IPX that is truly multi-service, thus supporting both existing services and services on your roadmap, operators will be able to realize full cost savings and competitive advantage, rather than have to make additional investments simply to keep step with the pace of change.

John Candish is responsible for driving the company’s IPX business globally. Prior to this Candish held positions within Cable & Wireless, where he was responsible for the development of the GRX and messaging Services, subsequently leading the integration of the GRX & MMX services into the SAP Mobile Services portfolio.

This article is a sample article from SAP Mobile Services' first-ever “Mobile Operator Guide 2013: The Evolution of Mobile Services: Challenges, Strategies, Opportunities." The complete Guide can be found here.