Lucent optimizing network for MetroPCS

Long Beach, Calif.—Lucent Technologies announced this week from TeleManagement World it would be providing MetroPCS with its NetMinder software solutions for network optimization.

MetroPCS will use Lucent’s NetMinder Network Trouble Patterning (NTP) software and Remote Technical Support Advantage (RTS-A) to help identify network failures and maintain its network hardware and software infrastructures remotely.

NetMinder NTP provides a comprehensive single network level view of services across various network elements. In addition to detecting physical faults, the software identifies logical problems associated with processes such as provisioning and routing and with changes in usage patterns and call quality. It uses a threshold-based analysis and correlation tool to identify and even anticipate the troubles, providing MetroPCS the opportunity to fix them before they become service affecting.

"We are now getting to the real root causes of problems in the network," said Deepak Kanwar, vice president of product marketing for Lucent.

Through its subsidiaries, Dallas, Texas-based MetroPCS serves customers in Miami, San Francisco, Atlanta and Sacramento.

Lucent also announced the availability of the latest version of VitalSuite, the company’s suite of software solutions for managing networks. VitalSuite 9.3 includes new features that support wireless data and VoIP technologies.

The suite consists of four applications: VitalApps, VitalEvents, VitalArt and VitalNet that provide real-time access to network resources, application transactions and monitor compliance with service level agreements.

Version 9.3 includes support for monitoring, measuring and managing the performance of mission-critical applications and remote services for operators using CDMA, 1XRTT/EVDO, UMTS or GPRS. It also includes a new version of VitalNet, which integrates VoIP and network performance as well as supports ATM over MPLS, storage area networking, wireless LAN and DNS/DHCP performance monitoring.

"With VoIP the amount of data coming at [the network management system] is like a fire hose. So you have to know where to put the controls," Kanwar said. "And the measure of quality is now tied more to the performance of services than to internal network metrics."

Japan Telecom recently chose the VitalSuite software for use in its Enterprise Network Operations Center.