Anand Patil, VP, Systems Engineering, Cisco speaks about
Cisco’s 3G, telepresence, bandwidth optimization and green initiatives, as well
as the introduction of MOVE, helping operators monetize VA.
How has your telecom vertical been doing in India since
the introduction of 3G?
With the introduction of 3G, we have seen a good growth
rate for our service provider business. Cisco recently announced the completion
of a new mobile network for Reliance Communications that will cover 100,000 square
kilometers — the largest 3G deployment in India. With this new network,
Reliance customers will be able to experience new mobile services such as
high-quality video telephony and high-speed mobile data, along with enhanced
music downloads, instant messaging and online gaming.
Has the performance of telepresence become better with
the introduction of 3G in India?
The availability of 3G definitely opens up new roads for technologies
and applications owing to the greater bandwidth available, as well as faster
data transfer. As data becomes more pervasive, privacy and security are
important concerns that require to be tackled efficiently, worldwide. With the
advent of 3G in India, we expect to see greater uptake of mobile applications
such as video calling. As real-time transfers will become synonymous with 3G
applications the network infrastructure required to support these apps should
provide seamless transitions.
What are some of the biggest challenges you faced in the
last fiscal in India and how are you working towards defeating these?
The main challenge that the company faced in the last
fiscal (year 2010) was the slow transition and resurgence of the global markets
from the economic slowdown. Though Cisco saw strong growth in our core sectors,
we undertook an internal restructuring exercise in India, moving from a
geographical to a vertical based structure, viz., enterprise, commercial and
service provider.
On the enterprise front, we witnessed increased traction
in IT Services business. ITS segment continues to see huge technology
investments and it showed a strong rebound last year. The BFSI segment
also indicated robust growth as India panned out its rural inclusiveness
expansion plan to make banking services pervasive across the country.
In the commercial segment, our continued efforts to
increase relevance with our partners and distributors through a sustained
programmatic approach helped us achieve significant results.
Our investment in the innovation pipeline, coupled with
our newly-restructured sales arm along industry lines, will see an increased
number of innovations for India and other similar markets. We believe that the
industry-vertical focus will see our developments being more relevant to
customers, designed to address their challenges better.
Cisco has come out with a lot of green offerings in the
recent past. Which is the most popular green telecom solution in India by Cisco
and why?
Enterprises today are increasingly looking at cost
effective means of IT investments which can deliver optimum results for a
business. Green technologies such as virtualized datacenters have swiftly taken
preference amongst organizations. Cisco designs products and solutions
that help customers’ meet their corporate sustainability and energy
commitments. Examples of these are Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS)
solution, EnergyWise, Cisco TelePresence, Cisco Energy Efficient Data Center
(EEDC) solutions and best practices provide practical guidance on how an IT
organization can lower power consumption in the datacenter, which is
responsible for maximum power consumption in an IT environment.
What solutions is Cisco offering currently in India to
help manage growing data traffic?
Operators need to manage and control subscriber traffic.
This can be accomplished by implementing service control technology, which
enhances the transport network with application and subscriber awareness.
Service control allows the network to identify, classify, and guarantee
performance for services based on unique application content and subscriber
criteria. Service control reinforces the new paradigm in which mobile service
providers can define and enforce the policies for application traffic
management on their network. In this way, operators can optimize network
performance, overcome QoS constraints, ensure that infrastructure is used for
maximum return on investment and secure their network from malicious traffic.
Cisco works closely with the Service Provider community
to drive adoption of next generation networks, which is extremely important to
meet the demands of increased data/video services, especially with the advent
of 3G/WiMax technologies. Being a leader in IP NGN, Cisco enables Service
Providers to transform to this platform.
Cisco has recently announced Cisco MOVE, a strategic
framework that comprises new solutions to enable service providers to better
manage, enhance and take financial advantage of the rapidly growing volume of
mobile video and data traffic.
With the coming in of TD-LTE shortly, how will an all-IP
network benefit the country?
According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI)
Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast 2009-2015, global mobile traffic by 2015
will be 26 times what it was in 2010. And 66 percent of this traffic will be
mobile video, with its high bandwidth and quality of service (QoS) demands.
Meanwhile, the pace of technology continues, moving from 3G to 4G mobile
communications, from circuit-switched to all-IP networks, and increasingly to
cloud-based services.
Mobile operators are positioned for tremendous growth
based on how they respond to these challenges. The key to differentiation and
profitability is capitalizing on their central position in the mobile
ecosystem. The mobile operator’s relationship with customers, combined with
increased subscriber and network intelligence and high performance through the
IP network, can be the basis for profitable new services and applications, new
business models, innovative partnerships, optimized service delivery, and an
enhanced subscriber experience.
By Beryl M
