Intermittent anxieties New analysis tool nails down sporadic failures >BY CHRIS BUCHOLTZ, Intelligence & Software Editor

A new test and measurement device that can store and evaluate data on as many as 50,000 calls could provide carriers with a tool for pinpointing intermittent problems at the edges of their networks.

The E4A Communications Signal Processor, the first product from Ellipsys Technologies Inc., will help identify protocol troubles and call dispositions by storing data on as many as 2.5 million call progress events in a relational database, allowing managers to examine activities leading up to intermittent problems.

"You know the old cliche: Intermittent problems never happen when technicians are looking at the network," said Kenneth Tingley, president and chief executive officer of Soquel, Calif.-based Ellipsys. "With the E4A, you don't have to be watching when the problem recurs because all that data is recorded and can be reviewed later.

The processor's large sample of calls is screened by the E4A's event analysis engine software, and any signal that falls outside the allowed set or that fails to meet timing, voltage or current specifications is flagged as a possible call-progress signaling failure.

"The software doesn't look at measurements for the sake of the measurements," Tingley said. "It does the first step in interpreting that data and takes the observed phenomena and converts it into described events so that managers can automatically be presented with a probable cause.

By plugging the E4A into a PC through a serial port, or through a modem for remote monitoring, the device provides a graphical user interface (GUI) that displays possible problem calls that have been filtered by circuit ID, time and date, dialed telephone number or call disposition. The GUI allows technicians to view call activity in real time or to browse records after the device collects them.

The need to track down intermittent problems through applying intelligence to large volumes of data springs from two factors: competition and the addition of new carrier services.

"Things like call waiting, call forwarding, conferencing and other services that carriers are bringing in create some fairly arcane network events," Tingley said. "You have winks, flashes, battery float, loop starts, ground starts and so on. For services to work, these events have to happen, and they have to come in the right order and at the right time.

In the past, occasional problems with a service were easier to deal with because each incumbent carrier was responsible for the end-to-end integrity of its networks and could deal with failures as technical resources became available. With competition and the evolution of data networks, carriers have to pinpoint which part of the network is the source of the problem before their customers become dissatisfied with their service.

"With so many private networks and customer premises devices as potential sources of problems, there's a definite need for this," said Eileen Healy, president of Fremont, Calif.-based consultancy Healy & Co. "Tracking these sorts of intermittent troubles takes an incredible amount of time. A lot of this capability in the public network is now contained in the switch, but if you can pinpoint problems at the edge of the network through a technique like this, you can eliminate any finger pointing between carrier and customer."

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