Network monitoring challenges in the evolved packet core

The move towards broadband converged networks and applications is increasing the need for advanced network monitoring. As the EPC will completely overhaul the classic GPRS architecture by replacing it with a much flatter all-IP network; it will become a single converged core handling all applications including the existing telephony services. In this context, application performance monitoring will be essential in order to measure the user experience and to get more insight into the traffic trends and applications usage. In this paper, we will discuss the challenges facing network monitoring in EPC and provide recommendations in this regard.