Innovating at the Edge in the Age of the Cloud

With the rise of Software as a Service and Social Media network service providers are witnessing a game changing shift in how consumer and business services and applications are delivered. Some service providers see the opportunity to break beyond their connection oriented business model and embrace these new cloud-based services. In order to do so they are looking for ways to adapt their networks to accommodate these new services.

Service Delivery on the Edge
In order to take advantage of the new business models brought about by the service transformation network service providers need to consider a number of factors, including adopting progressive business and monetization strategies and considering subscribers’ preferences in the service definition process. For the network service provider the most critical change is to leverage the underlying network architecture to support the new service offerings. As a result the traditional architecture of service provider edge networks is undergoing an aggressive period of evolution and shifting focus from simply a point of network connectivity to becoming a vital services creation and innovation point.

Subscriber Defined Services
Matching services and applications to customer expectations has always been a formidable challenge for telecom operators. However, it is now even more difficult given that the expectations of a telecom subscriber have changed drastically over the past few years. In the past consumer and business subscribers were tethered to the network services provider as their sole source of services, but today these subscribers have connections to OTT providers and access a variety of personal and business applications. An Important change is that these subscribers are not just service consumers, but they are also shaping service innovations by leveraging more intelligent and programmable platforms and devices.