Bellcore puts carriers in pilot seat

A new configuration management system from Bellcore provides the Bell regional holding companies and other emerging carriers, including wireless and cable, with a cost-effective, scalable way to automate their service activation management for SS7 networks.

Bellcore's NetPilot system is the first to automate the provisioning of signal transfer points (STPs) from multiple vendors, significantly reducing carriers' operations costs.

"Because we can do this across platform types, that means a service provider that deploys NetPilot can streamline its SS7 operations," said Jeffrey Saadeh, principal product specialist for element management systems at Bellcore. "You don't have to train technicians how to use interfaces for five different STPs; all you have to know is the NetPilot graphical user interface.

Automating STP provisioning will also help carriers implement local number portability quickly and cost effectively because the technology will increase the number of STP transactions required in the signaling network, Saadeh said.

All RHCs have committed to deploy the NetPilot system, which would replace the mainframe-based signaling engineering and administration systems now in place.

Bellcore also is marketing the product to emerging carriers such as wireless and cable operators, Saadeh said.

"[New carriers] are now buying and deploying their own STPs," he said. "With NetPilot, they can buy from multiple vendors to diversify their network. And even if a carrier only has one STP type, it provides value because it facilitates local number portability."