The nature of the mobile network has changed significantly with the
rapid growth of mobile traffic, specifically the rise of encrypted
mobile video and content, and the build-out of LTE and LTE-advanced
networks. This shift has been highly disruptive for service providers
struggling to achieve the best total cost of ownership (TCO) from the
strategic platforms within their infrastructure. Service providers need
platforms that readily adapt to dynamic traffic trends and, help them
deliver highly efficient and profitable services that can maximize the
yield of their LTE networks. Service providers require leading-edge
technology focused on improving the subscriber experience, which today
largely means the availability of higher quality media content with less
video stalling. The mobile video experience is fast becoming a key
enabler to attracting and retaining mobile subscribers.
Today, Citrix announced the availability of the new NetScaler T1000
series which integrates proven ByteMobile optimization technology with
the highly scalable, higher performance NetScaler platform architecture.
This innovative Citrix solution vastly improves the economics of mobile
traffic handling. The NetScaler T1000 offers service providers the
industry’s leading price-performance platform that combines optimization
technology for enhanced mobile subscriber experience with ADC technology
for improved network efficiency. The software-first foundation that
powers the Citrix Networking portfolio helps customers protect and
future-proof their technology investments as the NetScaler platform can
be easily updated to address new technologies and industry trends for
the secure delivery of applications and data.
The Evolution of Traffic
To ensure future success, service providers need a platform that can
easily scale out to meet the continued explosive rapid growth of mobile
traffic - specifically the rise of encrypted mobile video and content.
According to the 2016
Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecast, mobile video will grow
at a CAGR of 62 percent between 2015 and 2020 with three-fourths (75
percent) of the world’s mobile data traffic consisting of video traffic
by 2020.
Service providers need a solution that directly addresses the evolution
of this traffic. Mobile video presently places the most stress on the
mobile network yet its delivery serves as a key differentiator within
the highly competitive mobile service provider marketplace. The
optimization of this traffic becomes even more essential to meet the
demands to improve network efficiency and enhance user experience –
providing higher quality videos with less stalling to ultimately enhance
subscriber quality of experience (QoE). Service providers are also
seeking a platform that can dynamically and efficiently steer traffic
through the most efficient service paths, directly determined by the
subscribers’ needs. This helps reduce latency, improve speed and
preserve functionality. Perhaps most importantly however, this can
greatly reduce the costs to the service provider in delivering new
services. The NetScaler T1000 platform combines subscriber-aware
steering, load balancing, CGNAT and unique traffic identification and
optimization technology - all in one single platform.
NetScaler is the only platform that can: scale at a dramatically lower
cost per unit of capacity; provide the fluidity to evolve different
elements of a network at different rates; and be leveraged seamlessly
across physical, hybrid and fully virtualized and containerized
implementations to assist the migration to NFV.
As the leader in the application virtualization and delivery markets,
Citrix introduces this new enhanced platform which includes: a flexible
architecture to manage different types of traffic; increased capacity
which enables operational agility and flexibility; enhanced IT
efficiencies through higher infrastructure utilization and consolidation
ratios; and lower TCO of datacenter and network operations.
Additional benefits of the NetScaler T1000 for service providers include
providing the ability to:
-
Consolidate multiple functions on a single platform – Allows
operators to simplify S/Gi-LAN deployment and reduce complexity and
inefficiency. The most impactful consolidated scenario is that of
carrier-grade network address translation (CGNAT), data-plane load
balancing, optimization and traffic steering.
-
Scale mobile S/Gi-LAN services – Enables operators to scale out
any network use case, including optimization and load balancing,
CGNAT, optimization and traffic-steering in the data plane; and LTE
DNS, SMPP, SIP, and Diameter load-balancing in the control plane.
-
Platform and scalability options to address different network sizes –
NetScaler T1000 comes in models supporting from 20 Gbps to 100 Gbps
and 100 Gbps to 160 Gbps with paygrow options that allow license
upgrades to higher throughputs. Furthermore, clustering of appliances
can scale capacity up to 3.3 Tbps.
-
Improved CAPEX and OPEX – NetScaler T1000 significantly lowers
the cost per Gigabit capacity, providing up to 1/3 the cost of
competitive ASIC-based platforms. Mobile operators can augment their
networks with NetScaler and lower their overall total cost of
ownership.
-
Transition to automated and virtualized networks – NetScaler is
certified with popular OpenStack distributions, such as Red Hat and
Mirantis, and can be deployed as a physical network function (PNF).
Furthermore, the NetScaler virtual ADCs, the VPX, can co-exist with
NetScaler PNFs in a hybrid network exposing the same APIs to NFV
orchestration platforms allowing all NetScaler platforms to be managed
using the same management framework.
“We are improving the economics of mobile traffic management by
delivering an innovative solution that combines ByteMobile optimization
technology with NetScaler ADC platform, to help improve overall network
efficiency and deliver an enhanced subscriber experience. In a world
where traffic keeps growing at a rapid pace, service providers need a
consolidated platform that scales with demand while also reducing costs.” --
Chris Koopmans, Vice President and General Manager, Service Provider
Platform at Citrix
Availability
Citrix NetScaler T1000 will be generally available in Q1 2016.