Growing demand for packet applications, combined with faster radio access technologies, is accelerating the move to flat, all-IP mobile networks, finds the latest research report from Unstrung Insider.

Flat IP Architectures for Mobile Networks investigates flat architecture initiatives from across the wireless industry, as operators seek to lower costs, reduce system latency, and decouple radio access and core network evolution. The 30-page report also analyzes the strategies and product roadmaps of leading equipment suppliers looking to seize this disruptive opportunity to win market share.

Driving the market is widespread acceptance that today's hierarchical architectures, conceived in the circuit-switched era, won't be able to efficiently support mass-market, real-time IP services in the medium term. With the shift to lower-latency flat networks that comprise fewer network nodes, mobile operators can align infrastructure capabilities with emerging application requirements and benefit from substantially greater flexibility in how core and access networks are integrated.

At a high level, there's remarkable agreement about what the next-generation IP network architecture should look like: base station router products interconnected by IP/Ethernet, deployed in a flat user-plane architecture, with services provisioned and managed by an IMS control plane.

Key to the emergence of flat networks is advanced base station equipment that integrates functions such as radio control, header compression, encryption, call admission control, and policy enforcement. In the mobile core, the requirement is for "access gateway" products capable of supporting multiple radio technologies simultaneously on a common hardware and software platform, scaleable to multiple cost and traffic profiles.

Getting to that point is the challenge. With differing visions of how the migration should occur, industry participants are investigating the relative benefits of what are sometimes called "maximally-flat" and "semi-flat" architectures – depending on how many distinct pieces of equipment should be removed from, or retained in, the network. In this context, the Insider report identifies five key technology paths to the flat, all-IP mobile network:

Naturally, this migration to flat IP architectures opens up substantial opportunities for router vendors. Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), for example, is involved with all the major 3G and 4G initiatives and looks set to emerge as leading supplier of access services network (ASN) gateways to WiMax operators. Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) is pursing a "unified mobile edge" strategy that will see it partner with major radio suppliers to provide key expertise in IP security and policy management. And specialist mobile core supplier Starent Networks Corp. (Nasdaq: STAR) is currently the only provider with a convincing common platform story for multi-standard access gateways.

— Gabriel Brown, Chief Analyst, Unstrung Insider

The report, Flat IP Architectures for Mobile Networks, is available as part of an annual subscription (12 monthly issues) to Unstrung Insider, priced at $1,595. Individual reports are available for $900. To subscribe, please visit: www.unstrung.com/insider.