Standardization organizations play a major role in the telecom-munications industry to guarantee interoperability between vendors and allow for a common ground where all players can voice their opinion regarding the direction the industry should follow.

In this paper the authors review the current activities in some of the most relevant standardization bodies in the area of communication networks:3GPP, IEEE802.11, BBF, IETF, ONF, ETSI ISG NFV, oneM2M and ETSI TC ITS. Major innovations being developed in these bodies are sumarized, describing the most disruptive directions taken and expected to have a remarkable impact in future networks.

Some trends are identified:

i) core technology enhancements,
ii) inter-organization cooperation for con-vergence,
iii) consideration of raising disruptive technical concepts,and
iv) expanding into emerging use cases aiming at an increase of future market size.

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Download: 3GPP Radio Access Network : Rel-12 and beyond (PPT)

 "...LTE has become the fastest developing mobile system technology. As other cellular technologies LTE is continuously worked on in terms of improvements.

3GPP groups added technology components into so called releases. Initial enhancements were included in 3GPP Release 9, followed by more significant improvements in 3GPP Release 10, also known as LTE-Advanced. Beyond Release 10 a number of different market terms have been used.

However 3GPP reaffirmed that the naming for the technology family and its evolution continues to be covered by the term LTE-Advanced. I.e. LTE-Advanced remains the correct description for specifications defined from Release 10 onwards, including 3GPP Release 12. This white paper summarizes improvements specified in 3GPP Release 11".

 Download from http://www.rohde-schwarz.com/

 Keith Mallinson is a leading industry expert and analyst with WiseHarbor, the consulting firm he created in 2007. 

This paper is the full version of Keiths’ FierceWirelessEurope article “The 2020 vision for LTE”, written after the 3GPP RAN Workshop on Requirements for 3GPP Release 12, held in Ljubljana, Slovenia, June 11-12, 2012.

 This white paper researches, analyzes and discusses some of the deeper aspects of addressing the increased load on HSPA and LTE mobile broadband networks due to the new types of traffic and increased Internet access on wireless. This includes identifying requirements on most parts of the ecosystem generating the traffic and making recommendations to help mitigate the effects of new devices and services...More

This SAI paper addresses the performance targets and the technology components being studied by 3GPP for LTE Advanced. The high level targets of LTE-Advanced are to meet or exceed the IMT-Advanced requirements set by ITU-R. A short history of the LTE standard is offered, along with a discussion of its standards and performance...Download the Paper

 "...The LTE technology as specified within 3GPP Release 8 was first commercially deployed by end 2009. Since then the number of operators implementing the technology is strongly increasing around the globe. LTE has become the fastest developing mobile system technology. The same way GSM and WCDMA have been enhanced with additional features over time, LTE is continuously worked on. Initial enhancements have been included in 3GPP Release 9 and are described in this white paper.