NGMN will focus additional attention on Mobile Backhaul for LTE
The NGMN Alliance, an open industry forum of world-leading mobile operators, vendors and research institutes, has announced it will focus some additional attention on backhaul for the next generation of mobile networks. It was prompted by the completion of the Optimised Solutions for Backhaul (OSB) project which provides the industry with valuable guidance on LTE backhaul network dimensioning, deployment scenarios and security considerations.
The OSB project resulted in the publication of three whitepapers:
- “Guidelines for LTE Backhaul Traffic Estimation“, describes how to predict traffic levels in transport networks used to backhaul LTE eNode Bs.
- “LTE Backhauling Deployment Scenarios“, addresses LTE operators’ need to look at how backhaul networks can adapt to the packet based environment of LTE without disrupting existing services.
- “Security in LTE Backhauling whitepaper”, concentrates on the packet based architecture for the LTE backhaul from a security perspective. High-level scenarios and common terminology is introduced for implementations of security in LTE environments.The OSB project has benefitted from the combined experience of operators as well as vendors cooperating in the NGMN Alliance with their early LTE deployments. The released papers are available at the NGMN public download page: http://www.ngmn.org/nc/downloads.html.
The deployment of LTE networks is a key step in fulfilling the promise of high speed broadband anytime, anywhere. The next iteration of the current Backhaul Evolution Project will have specific focus on how transport networks will need to transform to best serve new access networks, including strategies for the adoption of ‘small cell’ topologies, how to handle the increasing disparities between peak and average bitrates and how to support differentiated value added services at the backhaul level.
“LTE as a technology is continuously evolving and deployments are progressing rapidly in nearly all regions of the world. It is important for operators and vendors to be well prepared especially in the backhaul areas to cater for the challenges posed by the accelerating global demand for mobile broadband services,” said Dr. Peter Meissner, NGMN Operating Officer. He continued, “A high performance LTE network is a key asset to ensure customer satisfaction which is essential for operator success, and I would like to thank all contributors for their efforts and valuable input.”
About the NGMN Alliance
The NGMN Alliance was founded by leading international mobile network operators in 2006. Its goal is to ensure that the standards for next generation network infrastructure, service platforms and devices will meet the requirements of operators and, ultimately, will satisfy end user demand and expectations. In its current work programme, the NGMN Alliance addresses the challenges of operations, global roaming, service quality, and the evolution of heterogeneous networks. The NGMN Alliance will drive and guide the development of all future mobile broadband technology enhancements focusing on LTE & EPC and its evolution. The targets of these activities are supported by the strong and well-established partnership of worldwide leading operators, vendors, universities, and successful co-operations with other industry organisations.
