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Accurately measure the

performance of data servicesdelivered over HSPA+

The Challenge

The mobile internet is here and now with over a third of all

phones being sold Smartphones operators are having to cope

with data volumes that are doubling year on year.

LTE is on the horizon promising increased network data

capacity at a lower cost per bit; however due to spectrumavailability (especially in coverage bands) and high rollout

costs most operators remain focused on getting the most out

of their existing data networks.

For many operators this means extending the capacity of their

current HSPA networks through investment in additional

carriers and the deployment of HSPA+.

HSPA features by release

To make this evolutionary approach work it is critical for

operators to accurately measure the capacity and

performance improvements achieved by the rollout of HSPA+.

Accurate measurements will ensure operators realise the full

potential of HSPA+ and at the same time allow them

understand where additional capacity is best deployed.

Unfortunately measuring HSPA+ data network performance is

not straightforward:

HSPA+ features such as 64QAM (higher ordermodulation) and MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple

Output) offer the possibility of higher data rates but

are not achievable in all network conditions. The

success of HSPA+ rollouts will depend on

understanding when and where new the features are

available, being used and what improvements are

delivered.

Data Service KPIs are different. For voice networks

measurements like drop call rate (DCR) are both easy

to measure and broadly representative of customer

experience. For data networks more complex KPIs are

required for example measures for average data

throughput per session

Whereas circuit switched voice is effectively a single

service network customers use the data networks to

access a wide variety of services such as web surfing,

video streaming and Twitter updates. To measure the

performance of the data network operators need to

measure the performance of the many different

services that use that network.

End to end performance becomes more critical as

congestion can reside both in radio access and the core

networks.

Operators still rely on drive testing to validate the

performance of data network rollouts and as a result they

require post processing tools that can analyze the latest

network measurements and complex data services.

Analyzer for HSPA+ Data Services Analysis

Actix has worked closely with leading edge operators rolling

out extensions to their data networks to expand Actix

Analyzer by adding sophisticated data service analysis

capabilities that will allow operators to get a true picture of

performance of their data network.

Actix Analyzer, the industry leading post processing tool,

provides:

Support for latest HSPA+ devices in all major logging

formats

Supports HSPA+ measurements such as 64QAM and

MIMO

Dedicated data service analysis for troubleshooting data

services

Data service performance reports to simplify data service

validation

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Data Service Validation Features in Analyzer

Actix Analyzer now contains the following dedicated data

service analysis features.

Support for latest HSPA+ decodes: Analyzer supports the

latest drive survey decodes from all of the major vendors.

Capture of HSPA+ network measurements: Analyzer

supports the measurement of the latest HSPA+ (release 7 and

release 8) features including: CQI, frame usage, modulation

usage and number of codes.

Dedicated Data Service Analysis KPIs: Analyzer supports

powerful top down KPIs allowing operators to evaluate the

quality of different data services as perceived by end users

Performance thresholds can be set on per data service basis

(independently for upload and download) to set precise goals

for data service performance. These allow the detection of:

IP service setup failures and drops

Data sessions failures due to radio link drop

Low absolute throughput for a network technology

Low composite throughput across different network

technologies

Web browsing high page download duration

Ping high round trip time

Ping lost

Spotlight Summary Dashboard: The dashboard highlights

failed KPIs and summarizes the performance of each data

session. From here engineers can understand the

performance of data sessions, whether HSPA+ features were

used and drill down to establish the underlying causes of any

problems and areas of poor performance.

Spotlight Data Service Dashboard

Detailed Data Session Analysis: Analyzer enables drill down

to detailed data session analysis providing all the information

required by engineers to understand the root cause of the

problems affecting the data services performance.

The analysis covers the entire data session correlating data

service performance with the underlying network

measurements. This enables engineers to establish whether

the underlying cause of poor data service performance is due

to poor radio quality or congestion on the core or radio

networks and to understand when and where HSPA+ features

were available and used.

IP Packet Inspection: Analyzer provides full IP layer decodes

and session analysis to provide full inspection into the IP

traffic layer supported by HSPA+ allowing KPIs to be built that

cover Jitter and other measure of IP performance.

HSPA+ Performance Reports: Out of the box performance

reports enable operators to quickly create validation and

acceptance reports that communicate the coverage and

capacity achieved by the rollout of HSPA+ features and the

additional of new carriers.

Benchmark reports can be built allowing operators to

compare their data service performance and coverage with

their competitors.

Customer Benefits

Customers who have deployed Actixs data services analysis

capabilities have seen report building and troubleshooting

time reduced by up to 80%.

Accurate HSPA+ validation and acceptance improves both

network quality and capacity and ensures HSPA+ rollouts

realise their potential.

About Actix

Actix is one of the worlds leading mobile network analytics

companies, helping mobile network service operators provide

reliable connections on a global scale. Established in 1991,

weve grown to support more than 500 customers, with over

10,000 active software licenses deployed.

Data session analysis showing:

1. Low UE frame usage due to HSPA congestion

2. Low throughput at HSPA cell change

3.Spikes of low throughput caused by the scheduler