LTE-network monetization: combining the data plane, signaling and user data

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CONTENTS
Market status..........................................3
LTE-network monetization: status quo................................................4 Current LTE-network monetization ...........................................4 New networks and techniques mean new challenges............................6 Network virtualization............................6 New signaling protocols........................7 Traffic management across networks.....................................7 Context awareness.................................7
ABOUT F5 NETWORKS
F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV) makes the connected world run better. F5 helps organizations meet the demands and embrace the opportunities that come with the relentless growth of voice, data, and video traffic, mobile workers, and applications in the data center, the network, and the cloud. The worlds largest businesses, service providers, government entities and consumer brands rely on F5s Intelligent Services Platform to deliver and protect their applications and services while ensuring people stay connected.
Learn more at www.f5.com

Controlling LTE and future networks.....................................8 F5 value proposition.............................8

F5 service provider portfolio solutions ..................................8 Intelligent traffic management and policy enforcement solutions........8 Diameter signaling solutions................8 CGNAT and IPv6 migration solutions................................8 Control plane messaging solutions.....9 Security solutions...................................9 Software Defined Networking (SDN) & Network Function Virtualization (NfV)..................................9

ABOUT INFORMA TELECOMS & MEDIA

Informa Telecoms & Media is the leading provider of business intelligence and strategic marketing solutions to global telecoms and media markets. Driven by constant first-hand contact with the industry, our 60 analysts and researchers produce a range of intelligence services including news and analytical products, in-depth market reports and datasets focused on technology, strategy and content. Informa Telecoms & Media Head Office Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street London W1T 3JH, UK
www.informatandm.com www.twitter.com/informatm

Future outlook........................................9

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Market status
The mobile operator business is facing a tough economic environment, and in the face of the third wave of data services, operators are attempting to use their existing infrastructure and key strengths to create new revenue streams while remaining competitive with both peers and value-chain neighbors. The previous wave of data services required operators to make a forceful landing in the Web world, where stakes are very different. Operators were accustomed to development cycles that ranged from six months to years, whereas Web services can be developed overnight and reach mass market in a matter of weeks. Smartphones and OTT apps have led subscribers to expect Web-like behavior from telecoms services and applications, something that operators could not and still cannot provide using internal resources. Moreover, the best effort and often free nature of OTT applications have created a perception that operators should not charge for similar services. For example, South Koreas pre-RCS trial was successful and popular in early trials, when the service was free. But when operators attempted to charge for it, most subscribers churned to a free OTT service. Other operators attempting to launch RCS or messaging services are also finding that they might not be able to charge a premium. Mobile operators are also faced with tougher operating environments, encompassing saturated markets, increasing regulation, high spectrum costs, massive capex requirements for nationwide network rollouts and competition within and outside the established value chain. Smartphone manufacturers and OTT companies have become full-fledged competitors for core services including voice and messaging that have traditionally been major unique strengths and sources of revenue for mobile operators. These factors have forced operators to commoditize voice and messaging while placing all bets on data access for future profitability. Even with data services, mobile operators are in danger of becoming a low-value data pipe, providing simple utility services for the benefit of third-party companies. Operators are also facing new challenges, with data access becoming available in the home, office, on the move and generally wherever subscribers are. For example, typical user behavior includes cellular connectivity on the move, fixed access in the office and Wi-Fi use at home in the evening, all of which complicate network planning and peak-hour calculations (see fig. 1). Moreover, operators attempting to capture traffic

and establish solid relationships with end-users face a situation in which more than 80% of traffic originating from smartphones and tablets disappears to untrusted, third-party networks that typically offer only a best-effort user experience. Although users might be content with the performance of these networks, operators cannot guarantee a given level of user experience when traffic over these networks cannot be controlled.
Fig. 1: Factors influencing traffic generation
Network Subscription Device Application Public Wi-Fi, carrier Wi-Fi, home, office, cellular Prepaid, postpaid, enterprise M2M module, feature phone, smartphone, tablet Real-time service, P2P traffic, browsing, HD video

Source: Informa Telecoms & Media

Even operators that own and control different networks (fixed, mobile and wireless) almost never offer a consistent user experience or operate a single control mechanism for their networks. For example, a mobile, Wi-Fi and DSL network will operate through different provisioning silos, which are often unconnected due to legacy practices and high integration costs. As such, a hybrid operator is able to offer only a limited number of subscription combinations of heterogeneous network access. For instance, the only service combinations powered by different control networks to have penetrated the mass markets of each country are bundles of fixed or mobile services, but not both. Despite the challenges of the hostile and rapidly expanding data-services ecosystem, mobile operators possess several tools that are often underestimated and that can be used to remain competitive in an OTT-driven world and promote revenue growth in the mobile and adjacent markets. These tools include: Mobility: More vertical markets are starting to take advantage of mobility, and the consumer market has become fully accustomed to always-on data access. Although the role of the mobile operator is often undervalued, mobility can be precious to consumers and enterprises alike. The situation is likely to remain in the coming years as LTE technology, rollouts in developing markets and rural connectivity boost mobile data network coverage. Big data: Often overhyped and misused, this term refers to databases that are often too large (and unstructured) to be manipulated by standard tools. As in other industries, the telecoms market is home to several companies that generate vast amounts of data, which is often underused or, in some cases, stored and discarded after a certain period.

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 Real-time charging: This new opportunity enables operators to charge more efficiently and follow subscriber behavior more closely. Despite the well-established paradigm under which minutes, messages and megabytes are bundled in a package, user behavior requires a much more flexible and unstructured way of provisioning. For example, high-value users might spend a premium to stream a video in high definition without interruptions, whereas prepaid non-data users might prefer to use only certain applications, such as Facebook, on their handsets for a flat fee. Customer trust: Due to having billing relationships with customers and being reputable companies with years of experience, operators are more likely than OTT companies to establish commercial relationships with end-users. The likelihood that operators will be able to further monetize this relationship is questionable, however, even though they possess the tools and data to do so. Identity management: With users creating profiles in several domains, such as fixed, mobile, Web and payment, a need has arisen for centralized identity management. Mobile operators are likely to become trusted providers of identity data, unlike Web services, which might have access to such data only for specific use cases. Service availability: Enterprise customers are depending on their smartphones and applications to work on the move. Among communications providers, mobile operators have the most potential to provide reliable service continuity for customers that require it. Continuity covers several domains, including time, location while customer profiling, visibility of network behavior and advanced charging platforms. Operators are also finding that enterprise offerings that combine elements of mobile, fixed, wireless and cloud infrastructure are a key area for revenue growth, and they should be planning to migrate to a more-flexible infrastructure, namely virtualized and Software Defined Networks (SDN). This migration, although promising, is expected to take a considerable amount of time, effort and capex, since many parts of the legacy network might have to be refreshed or even replaced. As the telco and IT worlds begin to merge, several computing principles are starting to be applied in the telecoms value chain, with SDN and virtualization the most popular. Policy-based management is a key area for revenue generation in modern mobile data networks. 3GPP specifications have included policy and charging architectures since Release 7 (released in 4Q07), and

policy is being used for traffic management and early revenue-boosting initiatives, such as family plans. The main element for implementing policy is the Policy Charging and Rules Function (PCRF), which accesses subscriber data and decides whether a certain service should be enabled or disabled for a certain user, time, network and device. Assuming that operators can exercise control throughout these domains, they are best placed to attempt offering a homogenous user experience over different networks and devices. There are several key elements to consider for operators aiming to squeeze the most profit out of their LTE networks.

LTE-network monetization: status quo

According to Informa estimates, there are 111 live LTE networks in more than 50 countries, covering more than 500 million people and serving 50 million LTE subscriptions as of November. According to the GSA, there are 550 LTE-enabled device models on the market, which include a variety of smartphones, a key factor in monetizing LTE networks. Although the first networks offered USB modems and fixed terminals only, the biggest growth in LTE has come in the US, where aggressive plans from Verizon Wireless and AT&T have accelerated the global LTE market significantly. According to Informas latest Industry Outlook (IO) survey, LTE is operators most critical strategic priority, illustrating that offering a high-speed data network is a key business objective of mobile operators worldwide. Even though the bulk of the worlds subscribers are still using CDMA networks, the IO survey illustrates that network expansion is a key priority for all operators, whether they are considering CDMA or UMTS networks and whether they are in developing or developed markets. It is clear that LTE has become the biggest priority for mobile operators worldwide as the best strategy to deliver high-speed data services.

Current LTE-network monetization

Current LTE networks are offering services that are equivalent to an evolution rather than a revolution of existing mobile data networks. Pricing models range from premium positioning (e.g., TeliaSonera) to complete parity with 3G networks (e.g., Verizon Wireless). LTE pricing plans follow the pattern of legacy offerings but offer higher speeds and larger data bundles, making profitability challenging, because regular consumers might not see any strong advantage in using LTE rather than 3G+ networks. In general, operators are adjusting their LTE packages to put their pricing in line with 3G

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rates. The capex requirement for nationwide rollouts is massive, and selling LTE access might not provide the return on investment that operators are looking for. The global and local economic environments are making it even more challenging to reap revenue from LTE. Two pessimistic examples are VoLTE and RCS, both of which were poised to become key factors in monetizing LTE networks. Operators have since become skeptical about the potential for profit of both services, given that OTT providers offer them free. Operators are now likely to offer free HD voice through VoLTE and free RCS messaging, in an effort to compete with OTT services.

new areas of growth and new ways to generate revenue from an existing subscriber base.
Fig. 2: Necessary elements for network monetization
Diameter SIP ENUM Control plane RADIUS DNS

Future LTE monetization

Despite operators initial inability to profit from LTE networks, there is considerable potential for the future. The consumer and vertical markets are ripe with opportunities, as long as the operator is able to identify addressable market segments and create services that solve certain problems. For example, in 2012, several vertical markets were brought to mobile, including health care, transport and M2M. Cloud-based services also appear to be a perfect match for the high-speed, low-latency nature of LTE, as long as operators can package and sell services that are not traditional for telecoms firms. For example, several operators are bundling cloud-based software subscriptions with packages for small and medium-sized enterprises that include fixed, mobile and IP-PBX. Although LTE is often viewed merely as a faster incarnation of previous mobile data networks, its data-oriented nature will provide considerable new opportunities for mobile operators. LTE is the first air interface designed solely for data access even voice is a packet-based service whereas previous networks were designed for voice, with UMTS being an intermediate step. With LTE networks using only IP, several aspects of network operation have changed, including traffic management and the control plane. Operators are finding out that they need to become experts in new areas, particularly those having to do with IP connectivity. Such aspects are critical for monetization, and operators are finding out often the hard way, through nationwide outages that the new breed of data networks requires new techniques and technologies.

CDN IP Data plane PCRF

Source: Informa Telecoms & Media

MOU User analytics Big data CDRs

Three pillars of LTE-network monetization

For LTE networks to bring in profit beyond mere access, operators must become experts in three main areas: the control plane, the data plane (traffic) and subscriber data (see fig. 2). The combination of these might provide both

Each of these areas holds opportunities, but each introduces new parameters in network design and maintenance. The list below sets out some protocols and technologies that are introduced in LTE and will be used for future networks. Control plane: New protocols and technologies have been introduced in LTE networks that in many cases depart from traditional network operation. Relevant protocols and technologies include: Diameter: An Authentication, Authorization and Accounting protocol that has been adopted for LTE and future networks, having been used for charging and policy control in 3G networks. It is a considerable departure from legacy protocols (SS7), since it operates in a different way and might require centralized entities handling Diameter messages to maintain an efficient network operation. SIP: The Session Initiation Protocol is used to control communication sessions over IP networks. In VoLTE, SIP is used to initiate and terminate voice calls and messages and create a variety of new services. SIP is also used for exchanging presence information across networks. DNS and NAT: Domain Name System and Network Address Translation are two key pieces of IP networking that were in use before the advent of LTE networks. The data-oriented nature of LTE means that these protocols are heavily used for handsets, portable devices and M2M modules.

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 Data plane: The traffic generated by subscribers is managed and optimized by the core network. As with the control plane, LTE and all-IP networks include some new elements but also use some older protocols more extensively. These include: PCRF/PCEF: The policy engine is both a data and control-plane element and is expected to be key to network monetization, especially when realtime charging is implemented, enabling granular charging of the subscriber base. IPv6: The latest incarnation of the IP protocol has been designed to overcome the shortcomings of IPv4, namely the exhaustion of IP addresses, and to add security, enhanced mobility and other improvements. ENUM: The E.164 Number Mapping protocol is used to translate telephone numbers to Uniform Resource Identifiers or IP addresses. It is expected to be critical for operators of IP networks that interface with legacy systems. User analytics: The wealth of subscriber data that the operator collects can be used internally and externally, assuming that potential privacy and security problems are addressed. Databases: Hybrid operators can operate several repositories of user data, and many of these might not communicate with each other. For operators to fully use and monetize their networks, they will have to combine and extract relevant data from all databases regarding their subscribers. Location and subscriber information: Because operators can retain location information for all subscribers (not only smartphone users), they are in a position to use aggregated data to understand user behavior and improve services for many users. Service-aware control: With access to a variety of information about subscribers, operators can tailor services according to subscription type, status, location and several other factors relevant to an individual subscriber. Service-control granularity can be very high: Operators can distinguish between types of application traffic. By tying these three elements together, operators will effectively be creating an innovation platform that can be used for new services, new applications or even subscription methods. One or two pillars can be used, but the combination of all three creates new opportunities, including context awareness, that can be applied in the existing subscriber base.

New networks and techniques mean new challenges

Taking advantage of the three pillars presented above requires new network elements, techniques and, in many cases, changes in operator culture. Given that telecoms networks are usually fragmented and have been operating in silos, changing operating procedures is a long and arduous process that is in some cases impossible. But some emerging technologies are aiming to make networks more cost-effective or enable new monetization efforts.

Network virtualization
Although network virtualization might not directly relate to monetization, it is a major force behind network evolution and offers the potential to change established network operations, aiding monetization efforts. Virtualization and SDNs are being discussed and are set to be further standardized for use in telecoms networks, borrowing several concepts from the IT world. Initial attempts to virtualize telecoms infrastructure focus on processing-power-heavy elements, such as traffic optimization, particularly for video. Other attempts might focus on enterprise applications that are hosted in the operator domain and allocate capacity on demand. For these areas, virtualization can result in significant cost savings while addressing unplanned events that might not be covered by legacy overprovisioning networkplanning principles. Virtualization enables operators to create several instances of the three pillars presented above and route data through them accordingly. Not only restricted to MVNOs, virtualized environments could be created for high-value customers such as enterprise clients for which the network will operate with particularly high service quality.

Challenges
A particular challenge for virtualization is the decisionmaking process for several aspects of the network. For example, when routing traffic in new instances of videooptimization engines, which element will decide which traffic is routed, and what information is used for the decision to route to new engines or legacy ones? Also, some traffic (e.g., paid-for HD streams) might require priority handling, which could require input from the policy engine (PCRF), subscriber databases or other sources. It is still unclear which element will be used, depending on what information is transmitted and how traffic is routed. Enterprise servers powered by the operator cloud might be subject to the same challenge.

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New signaling protocols

Diameter and SIP present new revenue opportunities for mobile operators. For example, interest regarding the Sy interface (between PCRF and the Online Charging System) is increasing, indicating that online charging is important for network monetization. Diameter is the interface between the business (marketing) and network (PCRF) realms and the bridge between the IT (subscriber databases) and network (PCRF, OCS) domains. SIP is also a key element of LTE networks and, beyond that, can enable new services and make legacy services such as voice and messaging run in the IP domain, which in turn enables operators to streamline their networks.

need to be anchored to LTE rather than Wi-Fi to avoid misusing resources.

Challenges
The heterogeneous and fragmented nature of networks and devices provides a difficult environment for mobile operators. Losing insight into user behavior and traffic patterns to other often untrusted networks is a dangerous exercise for mobile operators, which might even have difficulties dimensioning their own network for the future. It is futile to attempt to control all traffic, but operators should try to retain visibility of as much traffic as they can, if they are to remain relevant and not become merely a provider of access.

Challenges
Diameter and SIP are new protocols, which are not as mature or proven as SS7. Recent nationwide outages indicate that dedicated Diameter equipment is necessary rather than Diameter software add-ons to existing network components to maintain network integrity and make sure that current and future monetization efforts are catered for. New interfaces (e.g., Sy) and online charging will only exert more stress between the subscriber databases (HSS, HLR) and the policy engines, necessitating a robust signaling network.

Context awareness
Context awareness is a term often discussed in the mobile value chain, though it has not been possible to apply it to revenue generation in legacy networks. For example, the decision to offload traffic to a specific network as in the scenario discussed above requires context rather than simple network or location awareness. For example, the decision-making process will require input from the network, device and application being used. The opportunities offered by context awareness in a network are numerous, and not limited to mobile advertising. For example, better understanding of user behavior through context awareness will help operators further segment their subscriber base and address each subscriber group or even each subscriber individually, offering better service and quality of experience.

Traffic management across networks

Subscriber behavior dictates that traffic is generated across different network domains and by different devices. For example, smartphone traffic is most likely to be covered by a Wi-Fi network at work or home, at higher data rates and lower cost. Many operators view such activity as offloading that alleviates capacity concerns, but there is a value in keeping the traffic on-net, in that it enables operators to remain in control. By doing so, operators can maintain a high quality of experience for their subscribers and perhaps segment their subscriber base into different quality tiers. Even operators that deploy their own Wi-Fi networks might find it challenging to maintain consistent levels of quality of experience throughout their footprint and between the cellular and Wi-Fi domains, due to problems integrating the two realms. Operators that own different networks might also need context awareness to offload traffic or route it to the most efficient network. For example, an interference-limited Wi-Fi network might not be a good choice for offload when the cellular network can offer ample spare capacity. Some cases require specific management practices. For example, being connected to the edge of a Wi-Fi network might cause unnecessary resource allocations between Wi-Fi and LTE. Services that require high mobility might

Challenges
Contextual awareness has not been applied in existing networks, due to the difficulty of compiling enough information to attain a certain level of context. And different parts of the network (e.g., traffic management, signaling, user databases) are often provided by different vendors, making it difficult if not impossible to combine and correlate data. And operators might not yet be able to take advantage of this rich information, another reason context awareness has not been used to monetize networks so far. At the same time, local regulations might limit operators abilities to provide contextual awareness, especially to third parties.

Controlling LTE and future networks

A centralized element that provides traffic control and contextual awareness is necessary for the monetization of LTE networks beyond mere access. However, there

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are few technologies that enable operators to do so in a simple platform, leading to technology and vendor fragmentation. For example, a centralized element that decides about traffic and subscribers in general might have to take into account elements of the data plane, signaling (both SIP and Diameter in LTE) and subscriber data. Because few elements or vendors can achieve this, operators have little choice but to operate fragmented networks. These problems will become exaggerated as next-generation networks are deployed including LTE and SDNs increasing the need for networks to operate in real time.

critical traffic visibility and analytics, and sophisticated traffic steering capabilities, including the ability to inspect and route traffic based on data type and subscribers' profiles. In addition, the BIG-IP PEM offers multi-platform support for load-balancing traffic, monitoring network health, and steering traffic based on subscriber type, server availability and network policies helping to improve service availability, performance and reliability in the most demanding conditions.

Diameter signaling solutions

F5s industry-leading Diameter routing, load balancing, and gateway connectivity solution gives you the ability to manage, scale and maximize the profit from your 4G LTE deployments. As the markets most mature Diameter solution, the Traffix Signaling Delivery Controller (SDC) gives you the control you need to manage your networks Diameter signaling and achieve your business objectives. The Traffix SDC consolidates a Diameter Routing Agent (DRA), a Diameter Edge Agent (DEA), a Diameter load balancer, and a Diameter interworking function on a single platform. You benefit from context-aware intelligent routing, reliable load balancing and flexible, seamless connectivity. The result is a more cost-effective and simpler control plane architecture. The Traffix SDC offers features that include: Support for all Diameter interfaces currently more than 50 interfaces Central maintenance and management of routing and failover Routing based on any combination of AVP content Network topology hiding for third-party interfaces Network visibility and analytics for real-time troubleshooting and capacity planning

F5 value proposition
F5 service provider portfolio solutions
Optimize your network to support massive data growth and simplify your architecture; secure your network with unmatched scalability and flexibility, and monetize your network with powerful context-aware policy enforcement and signaling capabilities. The environment for service providers has never been more challenging. Traditional services such as voice and messaging services are in decline. On the other hand, smartphones and other connected mobile devices, cloud-based services and high-data-consumption mobile applications, and advanced 4G LTE network deployments have led to massive and sustained growth in data usage. As a result, average revenue per user (ARPU) has trended flat to negative while operating costs continue to rise. F5 offers a broad portfolio of carrier-grade solutions tailored to service providers, so you can respond to this challenging environment with creative and innovative strategies to improve profitability by bolstering ARPU and reducing infrastructure costs simultaneously. Based on an intelligent services framework with multi-function capabilities, F5 solutions enable you to optimize, secure and monetize services at multiple locations in your IP-based network architecture. F5 delivers contextaware network intelligence and programmability so you can fulfill your critical business needs.

CGNAT and IPv6 migration solutions

F5provides a high-performance and scalable CGNAT solution for IPv4 address translation and also functions as a native IPv4 to IPv6 gateway for all advanced services by transparently managing application delivery in both networking topologies. The BIG-IP system provides an opportunity to support IPv4 address mitigation or start migrating either clients or servers or both simultaneously to IPv6 networks without having to impact clients, application services and both sides of the network all at once. The F5 BIG-IP platform delivers capabilities such as: IPv4/IPv6 Dual Stack, NAT44 and NAT444 in N:1 or 1:1 configurations and NAPT (PAT) support Deterministic NAT capability and Endpoint Independent Mapping/Filtering including full cone NAT features

Intelligent traffic management and policy enforcement solutions

F5 offers intelligent traffic management and policy enforcement solutions that enable service providers to manage data traffic, conserve network resources, and quickly deliver more profitable services. The BIG-IP PEM system offers subscriber- and context-aware solutions with a full proxy architecture and rich IP capabilities for

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 NAT64 and DNS64 resolution services, reverse proxy NAT64 and NAT46, and Dual-Stack Lite (DS-Lite) termination High-speed and reliable system logging with customizable logs, such as MSISDN/IMSI and destination URL/URI fields insertion

Control plane messaging solutions

As mobile subscribers use more services, existing control plane infrastructure will become overloaded and strain to handle the traffic loads. F5 offers comprehensive control plane solutions that optimize, intelligently scale and secure management messaging interfaces such as RADIUS, DNS and SIP. F5 provides DNS solutions for all critical footprints in the carriers network from Local DNS and user Authoritative DNS to Infrastructure DNS supporting machine-to-machine connectivity, F5s capabilities ensure device, service and application resiliency through dynamic DNS resolution and high-performance query handling. The BIG-IP Global Traffic Manager (GTM) employs a range of global load balancing methods and intelligent monitoring specific to each device, application and/or service, along with understanding the client origination to provide the best response according to your business policies and current network and user conditions. Using high-performance and flexible DNS services, the BIG-IP system scales and secures your DNS infrastructure from DDoS attacks, provides white/black listing and delivers a complete, real-time DNSSEC solution. With DNS Express and DNS caching and resolving, BIG-IP GTM enables fast, same-site responses in a shorter period of time. SIP and RADIUS are also critical components of control plane architectures. The BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) provides intelligent SIP traffic management solutions for high scalability, availability and reliability to the Session Border Controller, media servers and many other SIP devices. In addition, the BIG-IP LTM provides a number of ways to accelerate, optimize and scale authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) infrastructure server deployments and uses an advanced health monitor that logs on to a RADIUS server to ensure traffic is only sent to available RADIUS servers.

changing and increasingly threatening landscape, and a common platform to deliver applications and improve responsiveness. The security solutions from F5 enable service providers to support: Stateful, full-proxy network firewall with unparalleled session scale, throughput and connections per second Defense against DDoS attacks across all layers: network, session and application, including SYN floods and IP port scan attacks, DNS floods and SQL injections Unmatched flexibility and control of network traffic with iRules a scripting language that enables dynamic protection against newly uncovered threats Integration with leading Web-application scanning tools for comprehensive vulnerability assessments and automated security policy development

Software Defined Networking (SDN) & Network Function Virtualization (NfV)

F5 solutions provide operators the ability to move to SDN and NfV architectures. F5s products are available across a variety of platforms, from highly scalable physical devices with virtualization options to virtual editions ready to run the solutions on all major hypervisors. F5s flexibility and programmatic APIs allow operators to tie the F5 solutions into the virtualization management and orchestration systems enabling an agile and dynamic network. This includes the ability for service utilization to be monitored and additional resources added proactively as demand increases and resources deprovisioned when demand decreases.

Future outlook
Operators are facing intense competition within and from outside the telecoms value chain and are currently able to use only one of the pillars discussed above control plane, data plane and subscriber data at a time to monetize their networks. With the ability to combine the three elements, operators could use and combine information that they already have access to, enabling them to remain relevant in the telecoms world and to innovate and introduce new types of offerings for their subscribers. There are several indications that the network is evolving to become simpler, more distributed and more virtualized. The three pillars discussed in this paper will soon be a necessary rather than optional feature of the network, especially considering the additional service monetization necessary to support LTE networks and beyond. Operators that move quickly to combine functionality of the control plane, data plane and user data will be best prepared for the future.

Security solutions
F5 offers integrated, high-performance ICSA-certified security solutions, such as the F5 application delivery firewall, that protect your entire infrastructure and scale to perform under the most demanding conditions. You get the intelligence and flexibility you need to enhance and simplify network security in the ever-

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