Meeting the demands of converged networks: Routers or purpose-built gateways?

White Paper

Executive summary: Choosing routers or gateways for converged networks

Table of contents
2 Executive summary: Choosing routers or gateways for converged networks 3 Growing digital lifestyle puts new demands on the mobile packet core 5 Mobile broadband raises new challenges 8 Gateways with router functionality or routers with gateway functionality? 11 The value of open, standards-based hardware platforms 12 Nokia Siemens Networks Flexi Network Gateway 14 Conclusion: Gateways outperform routers in converged networks 15 Abbreviations
For many years fixed and mobile communications infrastructure have evolved along different paths, being based and developed on different system architectures and optimized to meet different communications needs. The delivery of Internet services that are independent of device and location, and the high maintenance costs to run separate networks are encouraging fixed and mobile network communications service providers (CSP) to consider the convergence of their networks. This raises the question about which architecture approach, fixed or mobile, is better suited to the need of future networks. In short is it better to implement routers with built-in mobile gateway functionality, or to deploy network gateways with built-in router functions? Future growth opportunities are plentiful on the mobile side. One research firm predicts that mobile broadband subscriptions will exceed 1 billion during 2011. Such growth is being driven by the availability of high-speed wireless connectivity, great consumer devices delivering excellent customer experience, and the rapidly growing popularity of social networking. The characteristics of mobile communications impose technical demands that are not seen in fixed networks. For example, the rapid rise of smartphones is creating large volumes of network signaling traffic that generate no revenue for the CSP yet must be handled efficiently in order to avoid congestion that can damage service availability.
2 Routers or purpose-built gateways white paper

This essential difference between fixed and mobile traffic characteristics leads to multi-dimensional scaling requirements. There are four key dimensions of mobile networks that either routers or gateways must accommodate - high throughput capacity, high signaling capacity, high session density and integrated service intelligence. Inability to provide high performance, scalability and flexibility in all four dimensions can lead to a poor customer experience and restrict CSP business growth. It turns out that routers are largely unable to manage the combination of data and signaling traffic that mobile networks create, whereas purposebuilt mobile gateways based on open, standards-based hardware platforms can not only support key routing capabilities, but are also able to meet the requirements of existing and future mobile packet core networks. The Nokia Siemens Networks Flexi Network Gateway uses a unique design based on the open ATCA platform that achieves lower cost, higher performance and better flexibility than a router-based platform. When comparing routers and purposebuilt gateways in terms of cost and throughput, some CSPs conclude erroneously that purpose-built gateways are relatively expensive. Yet its the benefits of ATCA (fast time to market, commercially available components, latest innovations to keep pace with Moores law describing the long-term trend in the history of computing hardware) that make purpose-built mobile gateways ultimately more efficient than fixed router-based solutions.

Growing digital lifestyle puts new demands on the mobile packet core
The booming digital lifestyle is creating unprecedented change in the communications sector. It could be argued that the scale of change over the last five years has been greater than in the preceding 100 years. In little more than five years, for example, Facebook has grown from launch to claim 500 million users by the end of 2010, helping to make social networking the fourth most popular online activity globally. The rate of change shows no signs of slowing. It is likely that by 2015, mobile data traffic will have increased by far more than 1,000 percent, reaching 23 Exabytes per year, equivalent to 6.3 billion people each downloading a digital book or 2-3 music files every day. There are already 500 million smartphone or tablet computer users. In five years, there are likely to be two billion. Mobile technologies will dominate the growth in the number of people connected over the next five years. In 2010, out of a total world population of just under 7 billion, 3.1 billion people had mobile access, with 600 million using fixed connections. By 2015 the number of fixed connections will remain flat while 4.4 billion people will have mobile connectivity. It is not just applications like social networking that are driving this extreme growth. The sheer number and variety of devices, particularly smart devices, being connected is booming too. Communications networks will need to deal with a huge number of home devices like desktops, machines, smart ovens, electricity meters, 3D HDTV, set top boxes, and video gaming consoles.

Figure 1: Internet market growth

1200% 1000% 800% 600% 400% 200% 0% 3.000 bn$

Adjacent industry Data apps Data Voice

Traffic growth of 50% YoY Objects growth of 40% YoY Subscriber growth of 10% YoY

2.500 bn$ 2.000 bn$ 1.500 bn$ 1.000 bn$ 500 bn$ 0 bn$

2009

2015

Source: Combined analyst data and NSN Analysis Harbor research Pervasive Internet & Smart Services Market Forecast
Figure 1: Internet market growth

Routers or purpose-built gateways white paper

Meanwhile, we are seeing huge growth in the number of mobile Internet devices such as laptops, netbooks, tablets, eBook readers, smartphones, MP3 players, digital cameras, portable navigation devices, connected cars, and body sensors. Many of these devices and their applications depend upon the delivery of real-time content to and from the cloud. There is growing demand for high definition (HD) video conferencing,

HD audio streaming, 3D HDTV streaming, video sharing, mobile payment, remote office working, home automation, smart grid control, security, and remote health monitoring. A third driver of growth is the rise of individualization and communities. Professional communities and social networking are creating demand for shared information and shared location. In addition, content and applications are being tailored to

users or groups of users needs, such as advertisements, entertainment and connected objects. Such is the pace of development that technologies and applications are breaking out of the classical telecommunications market and being adopted by vertical markets such as energy, building, retail, healthcare, transport and security.

Figure 2: Smart services market growth

80 bn 70 bn

35% 34% 33% 25% 27% 34% 40% 29%

2013 2010 2011 2012

Revenue per year

60 bn 50 bn 40 bn 30 bn 20 bn 10 bn 0 bn Health care Retail

Energy Transport Security Industrial IT & Building networks

280 bn market in 2013 with an average growth rate of 33% (CAGR)

Source: Harbor Research Pervasive Internet & Smart Services Market Forecast (2010-2013)

Figure 2: Smart services market growth

Routers or purpose-built gateways white paper

Mobile broadband raises new challenges

Mobile Broadband growth is a global phenomenon being driven by the dramatic evolution of terminals, rapid growth of laptop data cards and widespread deployment of high speed networking technologies. People rely on their smart devices to help them make decisions large and small instant information, instant peer advice, and online recommendations are increasingly influencing what people do every day. Today, more than 150 million active users access Facebook through their mobile devices and these mobile users are twice as active as non-mobile users. In developed countries, users expect similar performance as fixed broadband and mobile voice. In growth markets, mobile broadband through basic handsets is the first and only access to the Internet for many people. Predicting and modeling mobile broadband traffic is more complex than mobile voice or text messaging ever has been. Nearly 1 Exabyte (EB is a number with 18 digits) of IP traffic was sent over mobile devices and networks during 2008. That figure will rise dramatically in the next few years. Several regions of the world will then be transferring more mobile data per month than they are today.

Figure 3: Total mobile network data traffic from 2008 to 2014

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Africa Middle East Latin America North America Asia-Pacific Eastern Europe Western Europe

Mobile data traffic in Exabytes

15

10

0 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Source: ABI Research, 3Q2009 Mobile Data Traffic Analysis

Figure 3: Total mobile network data traffic from 2008 to 2014

Routers or purpose-built gateways white paper

Yet thats not the whole story because we also need to consider the types of traffic being generated by mobile devices. Laptops tend to create just high volumes of data traffic. But, smartphones generate high volumes of signaling traffic, which can peak unexpectedly and cause poor network performance when a new application gains in popularity or a new smartphone operating system is released for instance. An average laptop with a data card consumes up to six times more traffic than the most active smartphone currently. But a smartphone is always on and produces a lot of signaling traffic as it disconnects and reconnects to the network while looking for updated content. This constant signaling creates no revenue for the CSP but can create network congestion, poor handset battery life and slow online response. In the future, mobile networks will have to deal with all the traditional mobile devices, but smartphones are

becoming a killer application for router-based gateways. In many developed markets smartphone penetration is more than 20% and growing rapidly with new shipments rising at up to 80% per year.

High Signaling Capacity: The increasing popularity of smartphones with interactive applications that connect to the Internet frequently has created a leap in the volume of signaling traffic in the mobile gateway. In addition, mobile networks see many more transactions than fixed networks. Sessions (or bearers) are created, modified and disconnected as mobile subscribers are switched between base stations and/or SGSNs and as devices move between different radio access technologies, for example from LTE to 3G and vice versa.

The four dimensions of network demand

There are four key aspects, or dimensions, of mobile broadband that mobile packet core platforms and products must tackle: High Throughput Capacity: Coupled with flat mobile data tariffs, new mobile devices and radio access technologies have encouraged consumers to view mobile broadband as a viable alternative to fixed broadband. Consequently, mobile Internet use via handsets tripled in 2010, creating more and more data traffic that networks must have the capacity to be able to handle.

Figure 4: Broadband wireless subscriptions from 2008 to 2014

Mobile devices in millions
7,000 6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 0 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Smartphones

2013

2014

Consumer data cards

Enterprise data cards

Mobile devices in use

Source: Yankee Group Research, Sep 2010 Link Data Global ConnectedView Forecast

Figure 4: Broadband wireless subscriptions from 2008 to 2014

Routers or purpose-built gateways white paper

This tearing down of radio access bearers creates many packet data protocol (PDP) context modifications with Direct Tunnel, in which RNCs are connected directly to the gateway, bypassing the SGSN. I-HSPA even removes RNCs altogether, a 3GPP flat architecture that is also used in LTE (see Figure 5). Moreover, LTE will significantly increase signaling load, because all subscriber movements are directly visible to the gateway. User profiles are also often accessed and changes reported back to policy control and charging systems in the core network.

subscriber/terminal. LTE is alwayson with default bearers for every connected device. Additionally, multiple dedicated bearers per subscriber for services with different Quality of Service (QoS) further increase the number of sessions. Service Intelligence: Typically, just 5% of subscribers consume more than 90% of network capacity. By differentiating services and applying different QoS to different services, CSPs can make the most efficient use of limited capacity and optimize their network resources. This enables them to avoid network congestion and build customer loyalty by ensuring a superior customer experience on all mobile devices.

All four dimensions require the ability to provide high performance, scalability and flexibility in order not to endanger the customer experience and restrict CSP business growth. A proper balance across all dimensions is needed to maintain system performance. Network evolution towards flatter architecture is very important to consider. The replacement of BSCs and RNCs by LTE Base Stations means that the MME and S/P-GW will face higher demand for mobility management and signaling load, and many more network elements that need to be interfaced.

High Session Density: More With network-based intelligence, subscriptions, always-on CSPs can offer different services to connectivity, and an increasing different subscriber classes, enforce number of applications (dongles, fair usage limits, enable different M2M, IM and push email) are charging for premium services driving high session density. The based on content or by using Deep advent of smartphones with multiple Packet Inspection (DPI), and collect applications running creates not statistics about subscriber behavior only high levels of data traffic, but to optimize customer care. multiple5: The evolution of traditional Packet Core to Evolved sessions (or bearers) per Figure

Packet Core (EPC)

Radio access network

Evolved Packet Core

HLR/HSS AAA Charging PCRF

Services in packet data network

IMS Operator services

2G BTS 3G NodeB LTE eNodeB MME RNC BSC SGSN S-GW P-GW
Control plane User plane

Internet Company intranets

Figure 5: The evolution of traditional Packet Core to Evolved Packet Core (EPC)

Routers or purpose-built gateways white paper

Gateways with router functionality or routers with gateway functionality?

Fixed networks have typically been built using access multiplexers (e.g. DSL Access Multiplexers (DSLAM)) to connect subscribers and broadband aggregation nodes to concentrate user traffic. The BRAS/BNG terminates the connections and authenticates subscribers, assigns IP addresses and routes data traffic to and from the Internet and other corporate services or data services. In mobile networks, subscribers access data services by connecting via various radio access technologies (2G, 3G, and LTE) to the mobile packet-switched core and to the mobile circuit-switched core domain for telephony. The Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) or server handles subscriber authentication and mobility management, while the Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) or gateway terminates the packet data connections from the user device, handles IP address allocation, routes and forwards IP packets, and performs policy and charging functions. However, the rising use of Internet services across a wide range of devices independent of whether people are stationary at home or are traveling, and the high cost of running separate networks are encouraging fixed and mobile CSPs to consider the convergence of their networks. This raises the question of which approach to network design is better suited for future networks - gateways or routers? Is it better to deploy routers with built-in gateway functionality or gateways with built-in router capabilities?

How routers and gateways differ

In general, routers have been developed for high capacity packet forwarding in fixed networks and are built on the basic design principle of a clear separation between control plane (routing engine) and forwarding plane (packet forwarding engine) to achieve high resiliency and reliability. Routers offer powerful packet forwarding with high-performance IP/ MPLS lookup and are optimized for wireline speed any-to-any forwarding. They are robust and implement comprehensive protocol support for routing and transport and provide a wide range of different interfaces from low bit rate to ultra-high capacity (PDH, SDH/ATM, 100 Gigabit Ethernet). BNGs have developed from fixed broadband termination, where bandwidth is the main factor with typically very little state information (for example no mobility), simple charging, and limited use of control interfaces. In contrast, purpose-built mobile gateways must fulfill various other functions, besides forwarding packets and routing between the Gn (interface between SGSN and GGSN) and Gi (interface to PDN, e.g. Internet). Mobile networks pose additional requirements, including managing subscribers and their sessions in conjunction with mobility. Security and redundancy must also be handled at the subscriber and/or session level.

Is the market moving to gateways? A few years ago, a major router vendor introduced a purpose-built mobile gateway into its portfolio by acquiring a small company. In October 2009, Current Analysis said: The acquisition is essentially a tacit acknowledgement that routers are not the best fit for all network applications you cannot develop every specialized network application on a router and get what operators need.

Routers separate the control plane and user plane

As mentioned above, a key architectural aspect of routers is that they decouple the user plane (UP) from the control plane (CP). While this works well for routing and forwarding, it is not the ideal arrangement for mobile gateways. Current router-based GGSNs terminate the GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP) on an application blade, which means that all traffic is forwarded internally to a general purpose CPU. The centralized control plane creates transactions between the routing engine and the packet forwarding engine to handle signaling, which reduces the routers overall switching capacity and may cause bottlenecks between separate cards.

Routers or purpose-built gateways white paper

Traffic handling and QoS for each bearer requires substantial memory
Routers are typically very powerful, but do not provide enough memory to handle the high number of sessions with state information that are seen at the GGSN and which will even increase with the introduction of flat all-IP networks and the advent of LTE. High subscriber and session density require a large number of queues and corresponding policers/shapers per session (or bearer) to limit the bandwidth and implement subscriber and service individual quality of service. Unlike fixed networks in which each subscriber has a dedicated bit rate and access (DSL for instance), mobile networks suffer from scarce radio resources, which are also shared among several subscribers in a radio cell. To ensure fair usage for all subscribers, bandwidth may need to be modified during a session using policy enforcement. Routers use Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC), but even programmable ASICs cannot provide enough queues for the high number of subscribers and sessions. Furthermore, the development of new ASICs is costly, requiring a sizeable market to justify the necessary investment, and lengthy, which may not be able to take account of new items developed by 3GPP standardization. In contrast, purpose-built gateways using software-configurable solutions based on flexible hardware

(see section The value of open, standards-based hardware platforms on page 11) can incorporate changes quickly. For example, the addition of new user plane (UP) counters is trivial compared to an ASIC-based solution. Substantial memory is needed in a mobile gateway application to handle the high density of subscribers and their sessions. A typical approach for router design is to use Ternary Content Addressable Memory (TCAM), that can do a very wide data search in a very short, fixed time period to implement longest prefix match operation for routing lookup and packet classification. But this kind of technology is expensive and provides less capacity in the system or on a specific blade. Routers with separated UP and CP demand even more memory because access to the subscriber session profile is required for both UP and CP for instance, and because high density requires fast access to simultaneously handle the traffic of multiple subscribers. Even worse, if UP and CP separation happens on dedicated boards, then additional processing is needed to keep session profiles synchronized across different blades.

typically run fewer sessions due to the absence of subscriber mobility. Also, subscriber management and policy handling have not been a priority because very little state information is needed in fixed broadband networks. Session scalability in routers is limited by their use of ASICs and depends on the memory architecture (TCAM) which can lead to swapping of sessions due to limited memory. The separated UP and CP architecture requires twice as much memory footprint. A purpose-built gateway, on the other hand, can use standard memory like Synchronous Dynamic RAM (SDRAM), enabling faster evolution and providing significantly greater capacity for shared subscriber session handling.

The impact of different packet flows

Incorporating a mobile gateway with a router-based platform relies on the routers separate mobility/services engine and forwarding engine to handle CP and UP traffic respectively. The mobility/services engine typically uses general purpose processors to manage the CP, while the forwarding engine has custom ASICs to handle UP traffic. This can lead to bottlenecks, as CP transactions need to be communicated across blades. In contrast, a purpose-built gateway based on flexible ATCA architecture can use a single blade to handle both UP and CP traffic, enabling the use of shared RAM for extremely efficient operation. UP and CP performance can be handled flexibly within the blades and is software-configurable.
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Mobile networks create many more sessions than fixed networks

Flat all-IP networks and always-on smart services (for example electricity metering) create a huge number of sessions that need to be supported in the gateway. Classical routers are not built to manage high numbers of sessions because they have been developed for fixed networks that

Routers or purpose-built gateways white paper

Flexi Network Gateway ATCA architecture Service

aware blade Service blade Service blade

Mobile gateway on top of a router

Routing engine Routing engine Mobility & services engine Forwarding engine

Forwarding engine

Typical traffic flow

Flow with L7 DPI

Optimum traffic flow

Traffic flow for nonoptimum case

Single blade type for user plane (UP) and control plane (CP)
Both processed on the same blade (UP processing up to L4). UP and CP performance handled flexibly within the blade. Flows requiring L7 analysis (DPI) switched to another blade
(same hardware).

Decoupled user plane (UP) and control plane (CP)

Separated routing engine / mobility & services engine (CP) and In optimum scenario, UP only goes via forwarding engine. In other L7 Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) on separate blade.
scenarios, UP needs to be taken to mobility & services engine. forwarding engine (UP).

Control plane

User plane

DPI analysis

Figure 6: Comparison of packet flow

In addition, signaling performance can be scaled up linearly just by adding more service blades.

Meeting CSPs need for a smart bit-pipe

Mobile networks typically have scarce radio resources that mobile CSPs must manage efficiently by implementing packet metering for bandwidth management and by using sophisticated policy enforcement and
Flexi Network Gateway Supports key routing capabilities like VRF, IP/ MPLS, and BGP. Focuses simultaneously on throughput, signaling, sessions, and service intelligence. Provides huge memory on board for close interaction of user plane and control plane. Benefits from software-based solution for flexible feature implementation and from fast hardware evolution. Gains from ATCA ecosystem (open standard and off the self).

charging. Conventionally this is not an issue for fixed networks. The mobile gateway is well placed to report service usage to the Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), which then modifies session QoS or activates different policy rules (for instance throttling). Policy Charging and Control (PCC) requires substantial flow processing flexibility. A routers ASIC-based processors cannot handle dynamic PCC filters. Furthermore, ASIC-based
Routers Support various routing protocols and many types of interfaces. Are strong in line rate forwarding, but only with IP/MPLS lookup. Have low memory consumption and pay high penalty if packets need to be processed on dedicated application hardware. Cannot be utilized fully (unused capacity) if used for mobile gateway due to bottlenecks. Use proprietary hardware, making them costly and inflexible.

UP has limited memory for PCC rule handling. In addition, charging, especially online charging, requires considerable interaction between the UP and the CP. The decoupled architecture of routers is difficult to scale up to meet this requirement. To summarize, the following key drivers differentiate the ATCA platform-based, purpose-built mobile gateway from mobile gateways built on top of a classic router-based platform:

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Routers or purpose-built gateways white paper

The value of open, standards-based hardware platforms

Routers on the market today tend to use proprietary chipsets in the form of ASICs, which leads to longer development cycles and generally higher costs because of limited economies of scale. A more cost-effective approach adopted by Nokia Siemens Networks is to base hardware on Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA) technology as the strategic common platform for its gateway and many other core products. ATCA is an industry specification created by the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG) that defines open standards-based guidelines for the design and manufacture of next-generation carriergrade communication equipment. Using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components that are available from multiple vendors around the world reduces the cost of hardware and helps to achieve fast time to market for the latest technology industry-wide. ATCAbased hardware is also easily scalable to meet demand and can be designed into different form factors for more flexible deployment in a CSP network. Unlike routers based on ASICs, gateways using standard multi-core packet processors (MPP) are more flexible in adapting to changing traffic profiles and provide dedicated hardware support to accelerate TCP/IP packet data processing. MPP technology is modular, highly flexible and scalable, and enables fast development cycles for new functionality. The MPP concept allows full software programmability and enables interface capacity to be expanded easily to meet future network growth. Control Plane scalability is equally as important in the mobile environment as User Plane scalability because of high signaling loads. The Nokia Siemens Networks Flexi Network Gateway implements service blades with several multi-core MPPs and plenty of SDRAM memory to handle user plane and control plane traffic on the same board in a very fast and flexible way. This achieves independent and linear scalability for both planes, as well as flexibility to modify UP and CP resource allocation by software configuration on the fly.

UP CP Throughput-intensive configuration
Configuration Optimization

UP CP Signaling-intensive configuration

Figure 7: Flexible configuration for user and control plane

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Nokia Siemens Networks Flexi Network Gateway

The Nokia Siemens Networks Flexi Network Gateway is a purpose-built, carrier-class gateway to meet the needs of all mobile broadband networks. It can be deployed as an intelligent, high-capacity GGSN for HSPA and I-HSPA networks, and at the same time as an enhanced 3GPP R8 Serving and PDN gateway for LTE with built-in policy and charging functions in the same rack. Flexi Network Gateway offers leading performance for mobile packet core networks making it about twice as powerful as other gateways on the market. Its unique design fully eliminates inter-board communication, and thus avoids the internal system bottlenecks that routers can suffer. Flexi Network Gateway provides highly efficient scaling in all four dimensions of mobile broadband networks as described in section Mobile broadband raises new challenges on page 5.

Figure 8: Flexi Network Gateway product family

DPI Differentiated Charging S-GW
2G, 3G, LTE

Policy Enforcement P-GW

2G, 3G, LTE

Security

Reporting

Security

GGSN
2G, 3G

Stand-alone L2
2G, 3G, LTE, DSL, WiMAX, CDMA, etc.

BNG
DSL

Next-generation hardware and software platform Flexi Network Gateway product family provides multiple applications based on a common hardware & software platform, as well as versatile common value adding features on top.
Figure 8: Flexi Network Gateway product family

High Throughput Capacity: Flexi Network Gateway provides the highest mobile data throughput capacity on the market. Within a fully equipped rack, it can provide 360 Gbps (based on 512 Bytes packet size). High Signaling Capacity: Flexi Network Gateway is highly and linearly scalable, and a three-shelf ATCA platform is able to handle 108,000 signaling transactions per second. High Session Density: Flexi Network Gateway in a full rack configuration can handle 21.6 million sessions (PDP contexts or EPS bearers). Integrated Service Intelligence: Flexi Network Gateway design is flexible and scalable, allowing the service intelligence functionality to be predictable. Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) software can be updated and run without any interruption of the gateway functionality. It can identify more than 600 different protocols (for example multiple kinds of P2P traffic), representing the vast majority of applications and Internet protocols used today. Leading service intelligence on flexible and scalable hardware helps to ensure a superior end user experience and optimization of network resources.

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Figure 9: Unique 4D scaling makes Flexi Network Gateway the most powerful gateway
Leading throughput to accommodate traffic explosion 360 Gbps and 1.44 Tbps in 2012 Leading signaling capacity for Smartphone traffic in LTE 108 k tr/s and 324 k tr/s in 2012

MME

S/P-GW

Leading session density for always-on subscribers 21.6 m and 36 m in 2012

Leading service intelligence to ensure user experience while optimizing network

Figure 9: Unique 4D scaling makes Flexi Network Gateway the most powerful gateway

To help CSPs to stay in control of their network, Flexi Network Gateway provides Integrated Operation and Maintenance capabilities for configuration management, fault management, and performance management. A mobile gateway application is often a loose hardware integration, a box hosting several

independent gateways (GGSN for 2G/3G and S/P-GW for LTE) and DPI nodes. Flexi Network Gateway enables a CSP to log in on every card separately.

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Conclusion: Gateways outperform routers in converged networks

Routers used to perform mobile gateway applications provide sufficient throughput capacity for packet forwarding, but fall short when it comes to meeting the needs of mobile networks in other aspects. Routers are also unable to scale easily in line with the changing traffic profile demands of mobile networks. Routers typically lack sufficient capacity to handle high subscriber and session density and the huge signaling traffic and state information seen in networks today and which will increase substantially as LTE networks come on line. Routers also lack the necessary service intelligence and policy enforcement capabilities required by CSPs. These shortfalls arise because routers use centralized control plane processing that can create a severe bottleneck with respect to signaling and mobility, especially in LTE networks. Because they separate the control and user planes, routers cannot adequately handle the combination of data and signaling traffic that mobile networks create. Nokia Siemens Networks Flexi Network Gateway is a purpose-built gateway that meets all mobile gateway requirements. Flexi Network Gateway is based on an ATCA platform, which achieves lower cost, higher performance and better flexibility than a router-based platform. In January 2010, Current Analysis stated: Nokia Siemens Networks packet core is ranked No.1 based on impressive GGSN capacity and service support. Nokia Siemens Networks foresees that fixed and mobile networks will continue to converge over the next few years. Against this backdrop, implementing mobile packet core gateways that also provide site router functions has many more advantages than the edge router being enhanced with mobile gateway functionality. Flexi Network Gateway as an intelligent edge can meet the needs of converged networks long into the future.

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Abbreviations

3GPP AAA ASIC ATCA ATM BGP BNG BRAS BSC CAGR COTS CP CPU CSP DPI DSL DSLAM EB eNodeB EPC EPS Gi GGSN Gn GPRS GTP HD HDTV HLR HSPA HSS I-HSPA IM IMS IP LTE M2M MME MPLS MPP NodeB P-GW P2P PCC PCRF PDH PDN PDP PICMG QoS RAM RNC SDH SDRAM S-GW SGSN S/P-GW TCAM TCP UP VRF YoY

Third Generation Partnership Project Authorization, Authentication, Accounting Application Specific Integrated Circuit Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture Asynchronous Transfer Mode Border Gateway Protocol Broadband Network Gateway Broadband Remote Access Server Base Station Controller Compound Annual Growth Rate Commercial off-the-shelf Control Plane Central Processing Unit Communications service provider Deep Packet Inspection Digital Subscriber Line DSL Access Multiplexers Exabyte LTE Base Station Evolved Packet Core Evolved Packet System Interface to PDN, e.g. Internet Gateway GPRS Support Node Interface between SGSN and GGSN General Packet Radio Service GPRS Tunneling Protocol High Definition HD Television Home Location Register High Speed Packet Access Home Subscriber Server Internet HSPA Instant Messaging IP Multimedia Subsystem Internet Protocol Long Term Evolution Machine-to-machine Mobility Management Entity Multi Protocol Label Switching Multi-core Packet Processor 3G Base Station Packet Data Network Gateway Peer to Peer Policy Charging and Control Policy and Charging Rules Function Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy Packet Data Network Packet Data Protocol PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group Quality of Service Random Access Memory Radio Network Controller Synchronous Digital Hierarchy Synchronous Dynamic RAM Serving Gateway Serving GPRS Support Node Serving GW / PDN GW Ternary Content Addressable Memory Transmission Control Protocol User Plane Virtual Routing and Forwarding Year on Year

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Nokia Siemens Networks P.O. Box 1 FI-02022 NOKIA SIEMENS NETWORKS Finland Visiting address: Karaportti 3, ESPOO, Finland Switchboard +358 71 400 4000 (Finland) Switchboard +49 89 5159 01 (Germany)
Product code: C401-00702-WP-201103-1-EN Copyright 2011 Nokia Siemens Networks. All rights reserved. Nokia is a registered trademark of Nokia Corporation, Siemens is a registered trademark of Siemens AG. The wave logo is a trademark of Nokia Siemens Networks Oy. Other company and product names mentioned in this document may be trademarks of their respective owners, and they are mentioned for identification purposes only. This publication is issued to provide information only and is not to form part of any order or contract. The products and services described herein are subject to availability and change without notice.

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