GIGAOM
OM MALIK
11 MARCH 2008
Data traffic management, viewed as a vile practice on the wired networks, could actually prove to be useful when it comes to the smooth functioning of wireless broadband networks, thanks to a novel new approach and technology developed by Bell Labs and introduced today by its corporate parent, Alcatel-Lucent.
In recent months, there has been steady growth in the number of wireless data users, who are sharing a finite amount of air spectrum and wireless resources such as airtime, RF channels and bandwidth. With the emergence of unlimited data plans, we might see more stress on the wireless data networks as more devices come online. The situation will get worse when 4G technologies like LTE start to get deployed.
What network operators would need is a new kind of networking management tool that goes beyond the current generation of tools that are geared towards voice quality. The traffic-shaping tools used on the wired networks are also of limited utility. So, Alcatel-Lucent, the somewhat humbled telecom hardware maker that counts wireless operators like Verizon amongst its customers, is introducing a new product that does precisely that. Canada’s Bell Mobility is currently running trials of this awkwardly named product, Alcatel-Lucent 9900 Wireless Network Guardian (WNG).