Next Generation (NGN) / IP Networks

Fixed operators are migrating their networks to a single converged IP core network that utilizes soft-switch architecture. Ultimately, this will minimize network complexity and associated costs. With a converged architecture in place, fixed operators will turn their attention towards delivering broadband multimedia services, in which SIP (Session Initialization Protocol) plays a key role with its ability to combine different multimedia flows into a single session. IMS (Internet Multimedia core network Subsystem) is another key technology for delivering multimedia services with its ability to tie-together different access networks to a common core network.

Customers have come to expect a high quality of service associated with their voice, video, and data applications. As operators migrate towards IP, the challenge is that they must meet or exceed their customer’s expectations for quality, whether the service is new or legacy. Monitoring multimedia services end-to-end across an all-IP network is challenging due to the complex nature of IP networks as a collection of diverse network technologies, elements, network devices and application resources. Different from the circuit switched world, accessing the true quality of a given IP session can be difficult given the distributive nature of IP.

Tektronix Communications' Network Intelligence products provide real-time end-to-end visibility of network performance and service delivery. With these solutions, mobile operators have the ability to quickly identify and isolate problems, with the ability to drill down to the root cause so corrections can be made before customers are impacted. These systems provide a flexible, scalable, vendor independent view of fixed, mobile and converged networks.