CAP takes management to heart

A competitive access provider has become the first customer of an advanced network management and provisioning system from Siemens Stromberg-Carlson. Folsom, Calif.-based Phoenix Fiberlink Inc. will use SSC's ServiceCoordinator to provision its operations in the western U.S., starting with Salt Lake City and Reno in early 1997.

Phoenix FiberLink's decision was based on the SSC system's ability to provide an end-to-end solution that could accelerate time to market for new services and automate much of the provisioning process, said Steve Hubbard, senior vice president and chief operating officer at Phoenix FiberLink.

The ServiceCoordinator system, introduced last June (Telephony, June 10, page 16), is designed as a turnkey solution to provide automatic end-to-end provisioning for services such as ISDN.

The system consists of four elements. ServiceInform includes an object-oriented middleware application that lets carriers create business models and computer models of their networks. Through these models, the application can automatically look at the technology a service needs and the resources available when a request comes in, automating much of the provisioning process. The ServiceInform element also tracks service orders, work orders and trouble tickets.

The ServiceDelivery element provides service, asset work order and provisioning management applications. ServiceView is designed to schedule service calls, help with customer inquiries and compile data on use. The ServiceRevenue element helps identify revenue-generating events on the network.

"With ServiceCoordinator, we can really focus on managing our network service," said Hubbard.

"Phoenix FiberLink had options for running its network using multiple software packages and platforms," said Bob Boggs, director for customer network management and Telecommunications Management Network at SSC. "They saw that we had the ability to provide a solution in a single package and that they could run front-office and back-office applications from a single point. It was really one-stop shopping.

This is the major difference between SSC and its competitors, said Boggs.

"We're really up against integrators like [Objective Systems Integrators]," he said. "The advantage we have is that we can present a total, integrated package that's simple-and being simple is the key.

While SSC acknowledged that CAPs and other emerging carriers are "very important" target customers for the ServiceCoordinator product, the company said the product would appeal to other parts of the carrier marketplace. "The Bell companies are in the service provision business as much as anyone and there are other opportunities opening up around the world," Boggs said.

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