However, in the data warehouse (DW)/business intelligence (BI) world, today’s data volumes have surpassed the performance and storage capabilities of current relational database management systems (RDBMS). To tap the power of big data, you need a new strategy. Here are three big ideas to consider as you prepare to work with big data:

1.       Reassign roles, redesign systems. Relying on IT teams to prepare reports is quickly becoming a thing of past.  Trailblazers are quickly changing the traditional model of business requirements, UX design, development, iterations, etc. They are setting the right foundation and providing tools for business users to build their own reports  vs. tools for reporting teams in IT.

Relational databases are being leveraged for organizations to manage big data, but success requires the right load strategy, monitoring tools, backup plans, DB optimization, archival policies, introducing massively parallel processing (MPP) database technology, distributed file systems, and/or other technologies and tactics.

 2.      Consider a next-gen storage approach. As demand for analytics continues to increase, so does the need for real-time data. In the last few years, major developments in open-source and proprietary database approaches have emerged to better manage big data challenges.  These solutions include column-oriented DBMSes, analytics databases (e.g., Vertica, Netezza, Teradata) and NoSQL databases (e.g., HBase, MongoDB). Response times, data volumes, data sources, and other environmental factors and business demands will determine the right approach for your unique situation.

 3.       Balance data management skills with domain expertise. Investing in the data management and domain talent needed to identify the key metrics of your business success will deliver significant financial value. Demand for data management specialists with deep analytical skills continues to increase. McKinsey Global Institute reports that “by 2018, the United States alone could face a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 people with deep analytical skills as well as 1.5 million managers and analysts with the know-how to use the analysis of big data to make effective decisions.” But you have to know what’s relevant your business, so first-rate analytical skills must work hand in glove with top-tier domain expertise.  Otherwise, you risk wasting time, money and opportunities.

Laying the right groundwork for your big data strategy is crucial to arming your associates with the information they need to make better decisions, understand ROI and effectively run the business day to day. At Nexius, we develop long-term relationships with our clients, applying our experience and expertise to their unique big data opportunity. To unlock your company’s maximum BI/DW potential, please visit http://www.nexius.com/services/software-solutions.

Also, I will be speaking on a related topic at the Razorsight Annual Conference in the “Outsourcing Network Cost Management: Strategic Rationale & Key Considerations” panel discussion at 10:00 AM on May 11^th.  We encourage people to attend the event to learn more tips on creating big data strategies.

For instance, Analyst firm Berg Insight estimates “the number of cellular network connections worldwide used for machine-to-machine communication will grow from 108.0 million connections in 2011 … to 359.3 million connections in 2016.” In the U.S. alone, Yankee Group anticipates “cellular M2M connections for enterprise purposes to nearly triple from their 2011 levels of 81.3 million to 219.2 million in 2015.” Meanwhile, the Cisco Visual Networking Index predicts that between 2010 and 2015, the growth rate for Internet traffic generated by M2M modules will be 258 percent.

So what exactly is M2M? It’s a class of machine communications performed between and among devices that are not traditional human-interface machines, using wireless networks. Wired networks are also used for M2M communications, but here, the focus is on wireless. And given the constant advances in wireless networks as well as device hardware and software, we are witnessing a new generation of M2M.

In addition to traditional, industrial applications such as fleet management and remote monitoring, M2M is being used to establish remote communications with energy and smart meters, vending machines and point-of-sale devices, household appliances, e-book readers, and many more devices that were previously not connected to a network, or the Internet of Things.

While consumers enjoy the always-on connectivity, M2M can help companies establish a competitive advantage over rivals by reducing costs, improving customer service and loyalty as well as creating new streams of revenue. Wireless operators, in turn, stand to benefit from the increasing adoption of M2M solutions at both the consumer and corporate levels – if they haven’t done so already.

As providers look to rapidly expand in the M2M space, some critical issues await them, including:

• What business models will work for M2M providers
• With massive scale potential, how do the economic models differ from the traditional ARPU model
• What to do with the potentially monetizable data generated
• How to scale service assurance for volume of end point machines
• How to optimize networks to handle increased load and differing QoS demands.
• How to provide machine management solutions that are as flexible as the machines themselves

To assist your efforts, future posts in this blog will address some of these key issues in M2M.  In the meantime, of course, we encourage you to contact us at +1-703-650-7777 for M2M assistance.

Operators in Brazil, for example, are looking to WiFi offload strategies to handle all of the soccer-driven usage expected from the 2014 World Cup. Otherwise, they simply don’t have the infrastructure on the 3G side to support the infusion of millions of people into that network. At the venues specifically as well as the nearby parking lots, shopping districts and other areas supporting those venues, operators plan to roll out some sort of WiFi network to offload the data. Beyond sporting events, WiFi offload is becoming an attractive strategy wherever there’s indoor concentration of POPs, including in enterprise settings.

Driving in-building wireless strategies is the issue concerning frequencies and the ability to penetrate walls, floors, and other in-building structural components. That’s why the 700MHz band is so attractive for LTE: it delivers good penetration compared to 1.8GHz, 1.9GHz and higher frequencies. Those higher bands require two to three times the number of sites to get the same amount of coverage as 700MHz, and they still don’t have the same penetration characteristics. So spectrum is clearly another reason to look at WiFi offload.

Bottom line, WiFi offload can help carriers deliver high quality of service. With all the carriers competing for the same subscriber, the carrier with best quality of service is going to win — even if it costs more. Users, especially business users, are willing to pay a little more if they know they’ll have great data and voice service, regardless of location. And that quality of service drives loyalty, customer retention, recommendations by existing customers to new customers, etc.

On the device side, some interesting technical issues have been identified to support WiFi offload. A key issue is mobility. Performing the handoff of voice and data on different networks is that challenge. Say you’re driving and running a mobile app on WiFi that’s provided via mesh network. When you move from one WiFi access point to another, the app has to be able to handle that handoff cleanly, transparently from the user’s perspective.

Quite a few technically challenging issues need to be overcome to provide that kind of seamless mobile operation, which is something that isn’t an issue in static settings such as shopping malls, sports venues, office parks and the like. On the mobile side, devices are not quite there yet when it comes to WiFi auto-switching. There are constant complaints of reconnection to 3G when roaming off a WiFi connection.  The capabilities are there but are fraught with issues that need to be resolved.  Handset and OS vendors and working diligently to try and provide a better user experience here.

Nexius has developed a considerable wealth of experience and expertise in in-building and venue applications, including WiFi offload and DAS services and solutions. And at CTIA, I’ll be speaking on that topic at the Tower Technology Summit as a member of the panel session, “In-Building Wireless: Tailoring the System to Meet the Enterprises’ Needs.” The session will address technical and business trends surrounding WiFi offload, wireless security, cloud networking and MIMO antennas among others.

The Tower Technology Summit is being held May 8-10^th and co-located with CTIA 2012 in New Orleans, and my “In-Building Wireless” session will be held May 9^th  at 2:15pm. Of course, if you can’t make it to New Orleans, don’t hesitate to call or email us for help on your in-building or venue challenges.

When it comes to global availability, LTE seems to be outpacing Moore’s Law. The number of countries in which LTE is available has more than doubled every year for the past three years, growing from two countries in 2009 to more than 32 in 2012. Granted LTE won’t be able to maintain its Moore-inspired growth trajectory for long, but the rapid expansion of LTE service areas is striking nonetheless.

Likewise, LTE is seeing hockey stick growth in worldwide commercial network launches, particularly from approximately 50 actual launches in/by 2011 to more than 100 actual and reasonably anticipated launches in/by 2012. Overall, the industry has witnessed 63 percent growth in LTE networks in just three years, since 2009. And that rise in networks has equated to a similar rise in subscriber numbers, with 22 million LTE subscribers predicted by the end of this year.

From the perspective of a services and solutions provider, the stat that stands out for us is the revenue generated by 4G LTE infrastructure revenues. Here, we’ve seen a 250 percent growth last year as revenues soared from $0.6 billion in 2010 to $2.1 billion in 2011. On the consumer side, routers, dongles and smartphones are dominating the LTE device uptake. Modules, tablets, notebooks, PC cards and femtocells also factor into the device mix.

What may be most revealing about 4G, however, is consumers’ perceptions of the technology. Basically, 80 percent of the population is aware of 4G, 50 percent of the population understands it, and almost 75 percent plan to buy a 4G phone in the next 12 months. In other words, understanding a technology is not a prerequisite to demanding that technology. That’s star power for you.

At this year’s CTIA, we will be highlighting our groundbreaking work in 4G and our position as the go-to firm for Tier 1 wireless operators seeking a partner who can help them pursue 4G opportunities. As an end-to-end provider, we’ve created LTE strategies, evaluated technologies, designed network architectures, managed lab testing, delivered end-to-end deployment services and more. That 4G leadership is going to be an overarching theme of our CTIA presence.

We’ve also got a number of activities planned for CTIA, including:

• 4G LTE Customer Successes — We will be highlighting the company’s newest 4G LTE solutions, including our recent work optimizing LTE networks for major operators throughout North America and beyond.
• Infographic: Seven 4G LTE Facts That Might Surprise You — We put this infographic together to visually represent 4G’s most interesting facts and emphasize the extent to which 4G technology will penetrate daily life for corporate and consumer subscribers.
• The Path to 4G — Nexius is sponsoring this FierceWireless event, which will look at all aspects of the 4G revolution – from the networks to the services to the backhaul and the pricing plans. “The Path to 4G” will be held May 8 and co-located with CTIA 2012 at the Morial Convention Center.
• Tower Technology Summit — Another event sponsored by Nexius and co-located with CTIA 2012, the Summit will give us a chance to showcase our Network Services division. In addition, Gary Williamson, vice president of Software Solutions at Nexius will speak at the event as a member of the panel discussing “In-Building Wireless: Tailoring the System to Meet the Enterprises’ Needs” on May 9 at 2:15pm.
• “Nexius New Orleans Celebration” — Okay, so this is more of an “extracurricular” activity, but after spending the day on your feet (and months planning and preparing for the show itself), don’t you deserve a refreshing beverage, some hors d’oeuvres, and a little jazz? Of course you do. Join us in booth number 5363 on May 9, between 3:30pm — 5:00pm to celebrate all that our wireless industry has achieved.

If you’ll be at CTIA 2012, please stop by and say “hello” or email pr@nexius.com to schedule a meeting at the event. We’ll be happy to show you what we’re up to as well as discuss where we and the industry are heading, and most important, how we can help you succeed in wireless. If you won’t be at the show, we’d still love to hear from you and discuss creative solutions to your most pressing wireless challenges. Reach us at +1-703-650-7777.

• 90% of Tablets Used Wi-Fi Exclusively Over Mobile Broadband Last Year

The numbers don’t lie; tablet owners are abandoning cellular connections in favor of Wi-Fi. There are a few factors influencing this decision. First, many tablet owners view the tablet Internet connection as a duplication. Most are already paying for smartphone Internet access, so paying for tablet Internet access on top of that seems excessive.  Even if the rates are reasonable, they know they can only be on one device at a time seriously so they definitely think twice before paying for multiple device connections.

Second, Wi-Fi  is becoming more commonly available making the cellular connection less necessary .  Wi-Fi hotspots are anything but rare these days with retail chains like Starbucks and McDonalds offering you free Wi-Fi on every corner. You can go into most restaurants and public places and find open access.

Third, some operators still require long-term contracts for tablet connections forcing customers to pay for data that they may never be using on a device which has the potential to be obsolete in less than 24 months. It will be interesting to see to how Apple’s $130 4G LTE hardware option (monthly connection extra) for the next generation of iPad’s will perform in such an environment.

From Nexius’ perspective, recent activity in our Technology Strategy group would reinforce Sharma’s finding. We have seen a strong uptick in requests for Wi-Fi strategy support over the past year and, assuming Sharma’s report numbers are correct, this trend will likely only increase. The report certainly points out the necessity for operators to put a strong Wi-Fi plan in place for the future or risk losing important customers.

• 70% of US Smartphone Owners Use Under 1 GB of Data/Month  

Sharma reports that data now constitutes over 85% of all the mobile traffic in the US generating $67 billion in revenues for 2011. The real point of interest is that all this data accounts for only 39% of the overall revenue carriers collected.

Currently, voice minutes are driving operator earnings, but a change in data price points seems imminent. As Sharma puts it “Operators who start to bundle multiple devices by single data plans and data buckets are going to see a better yield … We expect family data plans to be introduced in the US market soon.”  All this points to data revenue overtaking its voice counterpart in the US market, possibly as early as next year.

• 2011: The Year of Mobile Patent Disputes

It’s worth noting that 2011 has already been referred to as World Patent War 1.  All the chief mobile players were heavily active at the patent office last year in a preemptive protection/positioning strategy. IBM was the front runner with just under 2000 patents, followed closely by Samsung and Microsoft.  Nokia took the #12 spot, Intel #13, Apple #16, Motorola #21, and Google showed up #23 with just over 200 patents.  The relative strength of all these patents is yet to be determined, but there’s clearly a tsunami sweeping the industry and flooding the patent office, with any and all intellectual property at stake.

Sharma’s US report helps remind us that today’s mobile market is just that: mobile! Change is inevitable and often times rapid, and that’s precisely what gives Nexius such an advantage in today’s market. Our experienced wireless consultants are always studying what’s next and continuously enhancing our service offerings to support our customers with their most pressing needs. Nexius is, by design, poised to keep pace with the world’s mobile requirements and our over 45 clients in 25 countries seem to agree.

First of all, the show was heavily promoted and well-attended by a diverse group from around the world. On the vendor side, there were a huge number of start-up companies at the show. I saw a lot of startups from across the globe and there were 25 country pavilions set up on the show floor showcasing companies from France, Turkey, Israel, Sweden, and elsewhere; companies just a year or two old and at the show, promoting their technology. The combination of new companies and a packed show flow are clearly indicators of the health of the industry.

Other signs include the turnout by the OEMs and technology companies and their large booths. Likewise, the device vendors were there in strength as was Google Android. The Qualcomm booth was extremely impressive and showed off their diverse product line. Juniper had a strong presence to promote their mobile technologies including mobile packet core and video optimization.

Other Mobile World Congress highlights include:

LTE – Customer experience and other customer-centric issues dominated the show. Spectrum was a primary concern as developing countries around the world try to figure out 1) where the best spectrum is going to be, 2) the impacts to technology, and 3) the impacts to cost and carriers’ ability to deploy. It was interesting to watch demonstrations from companies like SK Telecom and Alcatel Lucent on how they are helping operators leverage both LTE and WiFi to manage network traffic by application type based on the real-time traffic conditions. The creativity around how to optimize LTE traffic and apply it to multiple application areas was a key topic at the show.

Small Cell Technology – DAS, in-building Wi-Fi and other small cell technologies were all were big topics. Whether its interference mitigation or backhaul technology, there’s just a lot of interest in really small footprint solutions. Small cell technology is an advancement that holds promises on a global scale and there has been a trend over the past year of larger OEMs purchasing smaller firms to get a bigger foothold in this emerging area. Just this month, in fact, Ubee purchased Airwalk Communications and at MWC Nokia Siemens Networks CEO spoke on the importance of small cell technology it acquired from Motorola on the company’s future strategy.

Policy – Government regulations and policies were another dominant piece of this year’s Mobile World Congress. Many countries are still creating their LTE strategies. As a result, there were many political figures at the show to learn about the technology and the ramifications of their technology decisions.

Finally, I’d say I was really struck by just how on target Nexius has been in its mobile engagement over the last 12 months. The market opportunities we have been championing and pursuing were dominant topics at Mobile World Congress. We are aligned with, and in many cases leading the industry’s evolution. And given that alignment as well as the global flavor of the show, I wouldn’t be surprised if we increase our presence at Mobile World Congress 2013.

Now on to CTIA Wireless, where we expect to see similar topics emerge but with a stronger North America focus. Nexius will be speaking at the Tower Summit event co-located with the CTIA show as well as exhibiting on the show floor. We look forward to seeing you there! Contact us if you would like to schedule a meeting at the show.

As proud as I am that we have maintained such a cohesive community amidst the rapid growth we’ve experienced over the past few years, I’m equally proud of the big initiatives we’ve taken on as company. In the last year alone, we’re going toe-to-toe with billion-dollar, Fortune 500 companies and beaten them for large, long term service contracts.

For instance, we are currently executing a major network overlay project as a partner/vendor for a Tier 1 operator with one of the world’s largest device manufacturers. And we’re following that up with three more projects that are equal in size, contracts we won within the last year or so. Today, we take these deals in stride, developing and delivering large project initiatives is who we are. But just a few years ago, this one program would have represented a substantial portion of our annual income as a company.

So why are we winning these deals given our competition for the business? Two reasons: 1.) We sell end-to-end solutions and 2.) We hire the smartest people.

When it comes to solution selling our services portfolio is unique to the industry. We can engage at every point of a client’s project lifecycle, from technology to engineering and deployment. As a result, we have a very different perspective. Even if we’re called on for just a piece of a project — say, deployment — our engineering and technology experience lets us approach that deployment component as part of a bigger picture.

When we have more pieces of a project, we understand it from a deeper perspective than our competitors. If you look at what we’re doing with one major Tier 1 operator project, you’ll see that relationship started with technology and planning about two years ago, so we place our architects and strategists to start working with our customers at the early planning stages of their projects. As the projects enter the engineering phase, we have the technical engineers and network deployment personnel who bring the customer’s plans to reality. Bottom line, our end-to-end suite of services let us deliver higher quality solutions.

The other half of our services equation is our people, the men and women we have hand selected to stake our reputation on. One of our top clients affectionately refers to us as “the smart guys.” We may not have the 10,000+ head count of our billion-dollar rivals, but our telecom focus and the quality of our people means that we can assemble superior teams.

Once we engage a client, we forge deep relationships and deliver very high quality work, regardless of the scope of the initial engagement. Over time, the momentum gained from highly motivated Nexius professionals breeds deep familiarity and understanding of the client’s goals. In turn, we can propose solutions that are so detailed and precisely targeted that clients think of us as just an extension of their team, no company uniforms, simply a team dedicated to client goals.

And even with Nexius winning more deals and moving further up the telecom services value chain, we will maintain the “boutique” elements that have contributed to our growth thus far. Companies become large but they maintain a culture that defines them just as closely as an individual’s reputation becomes synonymous with their name. For Nexius, may the amazing men and women that craft our end-to-end services and solutions continue to help us put brains over brawn and be “the smart guys” that our customers can depend on, now and into the future.

At Nexius, we expect to a few more themes to emerge at the show and throughout the year based on what we are experiencing working with today’s leading operators around the globe, including:

• Connected Life – finally. We hear about this concept every year, but thanks to maturing technologies and affordable price points, 2012 looks like the year homes, cars and other tech-enabled environments truly connect. We’ll see the promise of M2M, machine-to-machine, come to a reality as wireless devices integrate with wired ones in main stream homes and more data is transferred across personal appliances. Enterprises, including utilities, retail, transportation and medical organizations, are also capitalizing on this trend and benefiting from M2M enabled devices, such as connected smart meters, healthcare monitors, telematics devices, and more. Check out the GSMA Connected House, “where everyone and everything will benefit from intelligent wireless connections.” Likewise, William Clay Ford, Jr., executive chairman of Ford Motor Company, will deliver a keynote speech on Ford’s efforts to improve the motoring experience through technology innovation and ubiquitous connectivity.”
  
  
• Feeding the 4G fever. We’re going to continue to see a lot of growth in 4G. To date, 49 commercial LTE networks have launched in 29 countries since TeliaSonera launched the world’s first LTE network in 2009. In the U.S. Sprint, Verizon and AT&T are in a heated LTE race, and other carriers are moving quickly. Metro and Cricket are deploying LTE. Clearwire is pressing on with WiMAX and now, potentially, LTE. We’ll surely hear from operators on their successes and lessons learned. And globally, we’ll hear about the hurdles Latin America and other markets will have to overcome to start deploying 4G solutions in their regions. Expect operators in Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Colombia to lead the first wave of network deployments. And assume LTE will heat up in MEA and  Europe as well after the European Parliament’s recent ruling for member countries to free up the 800 Mhz spectrum specifically for 4G use.
  
  
• Mobile operators jump on the cloud. Researchers at Visiongain project the mobile cloud market will top $45 billion by 2016, driven by both consumer and enterprise usage. Operators may have been late to the mobile cloud party, but they still have plenty of time to take advantage of this opportunity to introduce new real-time, mobile cloud services and new business models. Expect to see operators seeking out technologies and service providers at the show that will help them leverage the cloud to deliver service-level agreements to their enterprise customers around priority and quality of service.
  
  
• Social shows staying power. When wireless researchers at Maravedis surveyed mobile operators about their plans for offering branded 4G mobile cloud services, social networking/messaging was the top ranked service. Is that really a surprise? Social networks pave the way to a broad array of mobile services, from communications to content and beyond. Many operators are exploring using these systems to offer a common, IP Comms, multi-modal platform on which operators can offer media sharing, IM, PTT, PTx, SNS, IM and other monetizable operator-branded apps and services to end user customers.  To drive the point home, Facebook CTO Bret Taylor will deliver a Mobile World Congress 2012 keynote on his company’s efforts to enhance app distribution and discovery across mobile platforms.
  
  
• Mobile marketing matures. With billions of mobile customers worldwide, mobile advertising has grown from “experimental” to “essential.” That means marketers have expand their knowledge of mobile and location based technologies as a marketing medium and then put that knowledge to work, so they can reach new consumers and reinforce their brands with existing customers. Expect to see “local” advertising getting significant buzz at the show with new technology startups gaining noticeable venture funding in this space recently. Mobile World Congress 2012 will showcase the power and the possibilities of mobile marketing with its new mPowered Brands program.
  
  

Of course, other trends and highlights may emerge at Mobile World Congress 2012. It is, after all, “the world’s largest exhibition for the mobile industry.” Regardless of size, the show promises exciting news and plenty of surprises for all those in attendance and watching remotely from around the globe. Only time will tell, however, if the leaders and innovators in wireless deliver upon all the promises we expect to hear at the event. And we look forward to meeting with many of you at the show and bringing our expertise to bear on the emerging and accelerating many of the trends above.

• Thin is still in. Small size remains the dominant factor in hardware design, from handsets to tablets and ultrabooks.
• Screens converge. Apple, Samsung, Nokia and other vendors are working to integrate smart phone, tablet and TV screens – and ultimately draw users into their ecosystems.
• HTML5 emerges. For media-oriented content, HTML5 holds much promise and raises few questions regarding how powerful it will be and how quickly it will gain traction.
• Shift to software. Apps and operating systems will overshadow hardware. User experience and core functionality – think messaging and voice – will be key.

Other high points at the show will include 1) hardware evolution including smartphones that are for all intents and purposes laptop computers and 2) Nokia’s return to Mobile World Congress with two Windows Phones, apparently.

What types of topics do you expect to see coming out of Barcelona this year? Nexius will be there and will be sharing some of the sights and sounds from the conference on our social media sites: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Be sure to follow us for updates from the show.