Throughout the incredible journey of the telecom OSS/BSS sector over
the last 10 years, VanillaPlus has remained a reliable source of both key
news but also informative, objective and thought-provoking assessments of
the key trends which have shaped our industry. I am looking forward to
VanillaPlus and their more recent Stream journal continuing to play a key
role in providing valuable insights as we enter one of the most exciting
phases of the telecoms OSS/BSS market evolutions.
Kieran Moynihan
Vice President & CTO Telecoms
IBM Tivoli Division
Test & Measurement
Launch of Test Automation Alliance led by Spirent
Spirent Communications plc (LSE: SPT), a global provider of
performance analysis and service management solutions, has announced
the formation of the Test Automation Alliance (TAA), an "ecosystem" of
best-in-class testing companies focused on improving productivity across
the entire telecom product development and service deployment life
cycle. This alliance is the first of its kind to promote a common vision
enabling service providers and network equipment manufacturers to
optimise lab resources through advanced automation.
Achieving
seamless, straightforward, sustainable and cost effective test
automation is a significant challenge for lab managers. TAA offers a
unique framework called Automation Continuum™ which integrates
best-in-class test automation technologies such as lab management,
configuration management, test authoring and test management.
Members of the alliance include EdenTree Technologies,
FanFare and MRV. These companies have a track record of
delivering automation technology and are committed to
leveraging their combined expertise to advance the Automation
Continuum.
Spirent TestCenter™ offers enhanced testing productivity by
covering a broad range of network technologies from Layer 2 to Layer 7
for LAN, Enterprise, Metropolitan, Carrier and Broadband Access
networks and their devices – all on a single platform. EdenTree
provides a software platform that delivers a dynamic lab
environment to optimise equipment usage, sharing and tracking.
Fanfare's test authoring and test management tools iTest™ Team
and iTest™ Personal eliminate the need for manual and repetitive
testing tasks. While MRV brings a comprehensive set of physical layer tools
that enable test automation of the physical layer and facilitates
remote testing, reduces cable-related test errors and allows test
equipment to be shared between multiple testers.
“The Test Automation Alliance challenges the status quo and
redefines testing as a continuum that integrates best-in-class lab
testing tools to create a holistic approach to lab automation,” said
Elisabeth Rainge, director of Network Software at IDC. “It focuses on
the requirements of service providers and network equipment
manufacturers to accelerate the deployment of new services and products
as the testing cycles have begun to exceed development cycles.”
Test automation traditionally is developed and supported with
in-house solutions that require labs to shift highly skilled test
operators from testing and troubleshooting to creating and supporting
complex in-house test automation environments. Today, automation
technologies are highly advanced and much more cost effective to
deploy, which minimises the need for in-house solutions. The Automation
Continuum enables test labs to either choose from a suite of
device-agnostic, best-in-class tools targeted at advancing a specific
area of their existing automation framework or purchase a complete test
automation framework. No matter what level of automation the test labs
have deployed, the alliance enables a continuum in automation
advancements.
ariesoGEO aims for faster, more accurate subscriber data collection
Current subscriber data monitoring techniques often provide data
that is incomplete or imprecise, leading to unnecessary and ineffective
expenditure without solving the real network issues. Now, wireless
network optimisation provider, Arieso has launched a geo-location event
observer, ariesoGEO, for network performance monitoring and
optimisation.
Using the new software, which is compatible with
both UMTS and CDMA2000 networks, operators will be able to pinpoint
technical performance issues as and when they occur, based on the
subscribers’ experience.
Through the real-time, automated
collection and analysis of existing data, ariesoGEO enables operators
to solve potential network faults before subscribers are aware of them,
thus reducing churn and minimising operating costs.
ariesoGEO
collects data transmitted by mobiles in the normal course of conducting
a call and requires no additional hardware, such as GPS handsets. By
geo-locating tens of millions of calls per minute, ariesoGEO reportedly
creates a true-to-life picture of network performance as witnessed by
the networks’ subscribers, whether they are indoors or outdoors, or in
business or residential areas, and at any time of the day, any day of
the week.
ariesoGEO was recently used by a tier-1 US operator to
identify critical problem areas within its network, in order to gain
the maximum return from a limited budget. The outcome was said to be a
dramatic improvement in all of the operator's strategic KPIs, including
a 24% reduction in dropped calls.
Shirin Dehghan, CEO of Arieso, commented: “By providing access to more accurate
and timely data, ariesoGEO will enable operators to focus their resources and
drastically reduce their CapEx and OpEx for both current and future network
developments. ariesoGEO will, for the first time, enable operators to really
know how their network is functioning at any given time or
location.”
Dehghan added: “Access to information of this quality that
allows you to spot and correct the kinds of faults that lead to unhappy
customers and increased churn is unprecedented. Knowing what the subscriber is
experiencing, without the need to invest in expensive probes, will give
operators a huge competitive advantage.”
ariesoGEO estimates the
geographical location of mobile subscribers, and identifies the spatial
characteristics of the subscriber profile and network performance, enabling
operators to visualize a diverse set of metrics in the form of high-resolution
maps and detailed charts or reports. These metrics may range from explicitly
financial (e.g. revenue and ROI) to technical (e.g. interference and call drops)
Key Performance Indicators.
Colombians ask Astellia for post-migration network audit
Astellia has been contracted by a tier one operator in Colombia
to perform an audit of its GSM network. The operator wants to benchmark and
check the behaviour of its network after a swap to a new equipment manufacturer
due to next generation network migration.
After giving
a snapshot of the network and delivering a detailed troubleshooting report,
Astellia will make recommendations on how to further optimise and improve network
performance.
This contract consolidates Astellia's position in the region. Since
the beginning of 2008, Astellia has won two major new customers here, one in
Chile and one in Colombia.
A large operator in Chile (also unnamed) appointed Astellia earlier this
year to audit its GSM and UMTS (3G) network.
The Astellia
system is compatible with and complements the operator’s internal tools. It gives
the operational optimisation team a complete picture of the customers’ behaviour
and of quality of service on the network.
The customer reportedly appreciates the fact that a single, non-intrusive and vendor-independent
system provides roaming statistics and information per handset type. With it,
they can monitor the core and the access networks alike.
Nigel Pink to manage Ipanema in UK and Ireland
London, UK.
September 8, 2008 — Ipanema
Technologies, a leader in application traffic management systems for wide area
networks, today announced that Nigel Pink has been appointed vice president and
general manager for the UK and Ireland (UKI).
Pink
has extensive experience both in the UK & Ireland and internationally, including most of
the 27 European Union countries, as well as the Middle East, Africa, China and the United States. Recent
roles have included key positions at Cisco Systems, SAP and Interel PR and
PA Consulting. Pink led the creation of Cisco’s Europe Middle East & Africa
(EMEA) business with IBM, which grew to become a multi-billion dollar business. At SAP, he drove its public sector business in
EMEA’s non-German speaking countries. At Interel, his practice provided sales
management consulting for leading organisations including Oracle Corporation,
Unisys and SUN Micro Systems.
Reza Madhavi, president of Ipanema Technologies,
said: “The UK & Ireland market is an exciting and increasingly important one for
Ipanema. We are ramping up to meet
strong demand for our offerings. Nigel’s appointment is central to our
growth here. He brings the right mix of leadership skills, high-tech experience and
knowledge of global markets through key prior management roles.”
Enterprises
are increasingly
demanding their service providers deliver value added network services versus
pure bandwidth services. Ipanema Technologies in partnership with BT, Cable
& Wireless, Orange Business Services, TATA Communications and VANCO, part
of the Reliance Telecom Group, is the first in the UK & Ireland to offer turnkey
managed services that address the strategic requirements of global network
management and optimisation.
Complementing the value added network services
approach, Ipanema sells directly to enterprises, partnering with systems
integrator such as Telindus. According to Pink, “Performance of
business critical applications across the network is essential to every
organisations' success. Ipanema's Autonomic Networking System ensures
applications such as point of sales and supply change management perform at all
times. In doing so, Ipanema provides detailed insight to manage valuable
network infrastructure and resources.”
Nexus Telecom deploys Adax for load and stress tests
Reading,
UK. October 24, 2008 – Adax Europe, a
high performance signalling infrastructure provider, has announced that its HDCII-PMC
solution is being deployed by Nexus Telecom to enhance its load and stress test system for telecom manufacturers and
operators.
Nexus Telecom specialises in
service assurance, mediation, revenue assurance and network & service
testing solutions. Following rigorous evaluation of available boards from
different suppliers, Nexus chose the Adax HDCII-PMC solution over its
competitors because of its ability to support Vx Works’ real-time operating system, while providing Nexus Telecom
with the integration and flexibility required. The Adax HDCII-PMC is a high-density, high-performance solution ideal for narrowband signalling
applications.
Nexus Telecom believes
Adax is highly competitive on various access technologies in
the telecom market. The HDCII-PMC is said by Adax to provide the ideal foundation for test
systems, with support for multiple protocols and the scalability and high
performance essential to telecom manufacturers and operators conducting intense
and thorough network tests.
According to Roland Reichlin,
business unit director for active test solutions at Nexus
Telecom: “It is paramount that we are able
to supply a single telecom test solution platform for all technologies. In this
context, flexible, scalable and stable hardware components are imperative. The
HDC-II card meets our demand for scalability and flexibility in order to provide
a premium solution to our customers test labs.”
JDSU acquires Circadiant to meet growing need for SFP+ and 10 GigE stress testing
Milpitas, California, USA. 18 November, 2008 – JDSU, one of the
leading providers of test solutions for the research and development (R&D), system
verification testing and production needs of carrier labs, network equipment
manufacturers and their supply chains, today announced it has acquired
Circadiant, a leading company in SFP+, 10 GigE and other stressed
signal test solutions.
Circadiant expands JDSU’s product
portfolio for the lab and production test market by capitalising on a number of
key assets, including Circadiant’s successful Hydra and OST product platforms,
established test expertise and close customer relationships with leading network
equipment manufacturers, optical module vendors and semiconductor companies. Circadiant, in turn, will benefit from JDSU’s extensive optical transport
product development capabilities and global distribution channels.
The SFP+ transceiver is specified by a multi-source agreement between manufacturers and allows greater port density (the number of
transceivers per inch along the edge of a mother board) than other transceiver
configurations. SFP+ is emerging as the 10 GigE optical interface of choice
because it enables lower cost and even higher port density network interface
cards. To achieve this, developers and manufactures are faced with new
compliance and performance test challenges that are addressed by Circadiant’s
products and systems.
“To capitalise on the economic benefits of developing SFP+
modules, equipment manufacturers require test solutions that evolve
accordingly,” said Bill Mortimer, vice president and general manager in JDSU’s
Communications Test and Measurement business segment. “Circadiant has
technology and products that not only meet this challenge but complement the
JDSU optical transport test portfolio and offer important test capabilities our
customers are asking for.”
Circadiant standards-based test solutions include the Hydra
platform, the industry’s first 10 GigE Long Reach Multimode and 10 GigE
SFP+ test systems, and the OST platform for testing optical components, modules
and systems using real world conditions.
“Testing 10GigE components and systems requires the
verification of standards compliance for product development, but also
simplified, lower cost test solutions for manufacturing,” said My Chung, CEO of
Circadiant. “Providing industry-first test solutions that help meet new and
complex challenges associated with SFP+ while also accelerating time-to-market
is the differentiator for Circadiant products. We will expand these
capabilities as part of JDSU.”
VanillaPlus Recruiting: More Telecoms Writers Needed
Owing to recent expansion, VanillaPlus is looking for additional freelance writers with experience of writing in the fields of telecoms, media and entertainment. If you have the communications skills to match writing by the likes of Alun Lewis, George Malim, and Mark Dye we'd like to hear from you.
VanillaPlus takes complex information on a rapidly evolving communications industry from varied sources including news agencies, PR companies, network operators, independent system vendors, analysts and others. Our goal is then to assess it and communicate it in a clear, vibrant, and stimulating way.
A 'can do' attitude, good English and an enquiring mind are more important than engineering expertise, but you should find new technology stimulating. If this is you or you know someone suitable, please contact VanillaPlus's Editor, Jeremy Cowan on Tel: +44 (0)1420 588638 or Email: editorial@vanillaplus.com