A collection of components called the EPC (Evolved Packet Core) was introduced along with the LTE (Long-Term Evolution) standard and has also been extended to 3G networks, bringing new capabilities such as shaping traffic according to carrier policies. Management appliance vendor Sandvine announced Tuesday at the CTIA Wireless trade show that it is now working with Citrix to reduce delays in both types of networks.

Using Citrix's NetScaler technology, Sandvine will allow carriers to send mobile data traffic directly to the Internet, bypassing their traditional core networks. Doing so will break a logical link between the subscriber's device and "home" network that can force Web pages, video streams and other data to needlessly traverse a national or international backbone. This capability could cut latency, or delay, by 20 percent or more on LTE networks and even more dramatically on 3G, according to Sandvine Chief Technology Officer Don Bowman.

At CTIA on Tuesday, carrier network executives said EPC is a critical tool for delivering good services while conserving capacity.

"If you look at the promise of an LTE network, it doesn't reside in downlink speed exclusively," said AT&T Chief Technology Officer John Donovan. Reducing latency is AT&T's foremost goal in deploying its EPC, he said.

EPC systems from most other vendors also include tools to shift IP (Internet Protocol) data traffic directly onto the Internet, a capability called mobile IP offload, said analyst Chetan Sharma of Chetan Sharma Consulting. The technology is all fairly new, and different vendors offload data to the Internet at different points in the carrier network, he said. Using NetScaler, Sandvine will offload the data between the cellular base station radio and the serving gateway, an aggregation router, according to Bowman.