[April 26, 2012]

Wireless Network Worst Case Scenario: 25 Trillion Signaling Events at Once!

There's a potentially devastating wireless signaling storm brewing, and SEVEN^® Networks, a provider of innovative mobile solutions that reduce smartphone data traffic on wireless networks, has released a new infographic depicting the mounting problem that is plaguing wireless networks across the globe. The infographic is available for download here and includes statistics on the volume of signaling generated by popular mobile apps, the magnitude of the problem, which could amount to 25 trillion signaling events per hour, and what it all means for mobile users.

The issue of wireless signaling is quickly gaining mainstream attention as the number of smartphones is approaching 1 billion. On Android (News - Alert) alone, 850,000 new devices get activated daily for a total of 300 million in market, each averaging 35 downloaded apps. Many of the most popular apps are constantly pinging the network to check for updates (some up to 2,400 times per hour), each time establishing a new connection and generating up to 30 network signaling events if the radio is idle and needs to be turned on. This app chattiness not only contributes to the signaling storm but also drains the device battery, and ultimately results in a degraded user experience.

Numerous carriers around the world have already felt the impact of always-on smart devics, their chatty applications and the resulting signaling storm which have caused network congestion or even outages such as the network 'brown-out' in Japan in January 2012 where 2.5 million subscribers were unable to make voice calls.

Data for the infographic comes from lab tests conducted by SEVEN (News - Alert) for its Open Channel traffic optimization solution, which is designed to reduce unnecessary signaling by only connecting devices to the network if updates are available. The solution has been shown to reduce the amount of smartphone-generated signaling by as much as 40% and bandwidth by up to 70%.

"Wireless signaling is a tricky topic because often times it's hidden, happening in the background without any user knowledge, but is growing bigger by the minute as more users download more connected applications," said Isabelle Dumont, head of marketing at SEVEN Networks. "Our hope is that this infographic can help better educate the wireless industry not only on signaling, but on the very near-term disaster that this signaling storm can create if something does not change soon."

For more information on SEVEN Open Channel, please visit http://www.seven.com/products.traffic_optimization.php

About SEVEN

SEVEN^® Networks develops innovative mobile software solutions that help carriers and device manufacturers reduce the amount of traffic generated by mobile apps on wireless networks. The SEVEN platform delivers data from the cloud to smartphones in a way that is network efficient, providing immediate capacity and financial relief to carriers faced with the exponential growth of mobile data. SEVEN Open Channel™, the latest award-winning addition to the SEVEN product portfolio, is a breakthrough mobile traffic optimization solution that cuts mobile app bandwidth consumption by up to 70 percent and signaling usage by up to 40 percent. SEVEN is deployed worldwide at major carriers across the five continents. More information is available online at http://www.seven.com.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50253769&lang=en

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