An Overview of Techniques for Cost Reduction
Dinesh Chandra Verma, Paridhi Verma · 2014
As mobile data grows, operators of mobile networks are looking for approaches that can reduce their cost of operation. This chapter looks at some of these cost reduction approaches. One method to reduce cost is to share the infrastructure required for running networks with other network operators. Virtualization technologies, which enable the creation of virtual networks that can be operated with isolation among different network operators, make the process of sharing infrastructure easier. Another approach that helps in reducing costs is consolidation. Consolidation consists of replacing a network consisting of large number of distributed devices by another network where the distributed devices become smaller in size and function, with the missing functions being provided by consolidated large devices in a few locations. Consolidation can significantly reduce the cost of operation of large networks. Another general approach to reduce costs is to migrate the network functions onto general-purpose servers and software. As the processing capacity of computers used in laptops and servers increases following technology improvements, it becomes feasible to replace hardware systems performing network operations with equivalent function being done as software on servers. This migration of the network towards software on servers can significantly reduce the cost of operations in many situations.