4. Good ol’ GSM
• Launched in 1991
• Skype 2003
• Gtalk 2005
• Twitter 2006
• Whatsapp 2009
5. UMTS
• Launched on 2001
• iPhone 2007
• Foursquare 2009
• Google latitude 2009
• Instagram 2010
6. So what?
• The bottom line is:
• Telecom industry used to work this way:
1. See what you can do with state-of-the-art
hardware / RF
technology push (also requires standards)
2. Money invested will eventually come back when
somebody finds how to use the technology
7. BUT what about now?
• Fact #1
– The Internet (= core network) just works
• Fact #2
– Radio access technology is (largely!)
overprovisioned
• IEEE 802.11n: easily 100 Mb/s, can be 300 Mb/s
• HSPA+: up to 84 Mb/s
• LTE: up to 300 Mb/s
• Let’s not even mention LTE-A!
8. SO where is the problem exactly?
• Theoretical capacity is already there
BUT
• Actual capacity is not always where the user
wants it to be (i.e., close to him/her)
HENCE
• NO NEED for a technology push
– the network is already adapting to what the users
want NOW densification of wireless networks
9. Back to the original question
• We have demands from market/users TODAY
• We have technology supporting those
demands TODAY
• UNFORTUNATELY, we just can’t continue to
deploy new base stations since that would
break the spell we have a problem TODAY
backhauling constraints, control protocols do
not scale well, growth is not economically
viable, etc.
11. Any tips on what we could do?
• Goal: deploy lots of access points operating
efficiently in a sustainable manner
– Sustainable = cost-effective
hardware must be simple
operation must be energy-efficient
– Efficient operation = continuous optimisation
control must be complex
• Solution:
– Software Defined Networking!
www.ict-crowd.eu
@FP7CROWD
12. SDN for DenseNets
• From:
– static, vendor-specific, centralised control
• To:
– dynamic, open, distributed control
Local
controller
Regional
controller
Core network
Backhauling
13. Well, life is not THAT easy
much research to be done
More realistic view
of the architecture
14. Contacts
My name: Claudio Cicconetti
My affiliation: INTECS S.p.A.
My email: claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it
My bio: about.me/ccicconetti
My twitter channel: @ccicconetti
My ongoing project: www.ict-crowd.eu
Scan this (if you can)