Get Automated

Before any carrier can provision network services, it must converge business and marketing plans into an optimal network design supported by strategic inventory management. To reach network and service deployment as quickly as possible, these network plans and design considerations need to be translated swiftly via switch- and radio-configuration-management tools. This includes provisioning base stations, MSCs and transmission equipment. The problem is that carriers are performing most of these activities manually with limited support tools.

Although manual provisioning is sufficient for early network development, it becomes expensive to employ enough people to keep up with network and subscriber growth. Also, manual provisioning plagues growing carriers with an inefficient network design, inventory that is out of sync with real needs, and the inability to introduce and configure network technologies and service offerings rapidly.

You can't afford to let this happen in today's competitive environment. You need to automate the network-provisioning processes of your switch and radio components to accommodate routing, link and RF-engineering network demands. With automation you don't have to find experienced people to perform all of the operations work manually.

A majority of the network-management tasks you must perform are included in operations support systems (OSSs) software. Although the cost of OSSs may seem high at first, they pay for themselves quickly by increasing productivity and producing new revenue-generating opportunities. Because OSSs centralize operation activities, you only need a few experts to provision and maintain an entire network from a central location. This is an important consideration because you never can afford to co-locate or constantly dispatch people with every piece of equipment that needs attention.

Your success depends on keeping the network up and running. Quick provisioning of new network resources is the only way to accomplish this. Automated-provisioning-, switch-configuration- and radio-configuration-management OSSs that adhere to the telecommunications-management network (TMN) architecture can do all of this and more.

Provisioning Physical Resources

As wireless networks are built, network elements are added and configured in phases. Capturing a complete and accurate picture of an entire network -- each element and its configuration, what it is connected to, and how it serves the subscriber -- is fragmented. You need solutions that ensure networks are running at peak form, help reduce the time it takes to turn up services, and enable you to deliver the best possible service to subscribers. Any solution you consider must accommodate new and changing network technologies, features or service offerings without significant development.

Physical-resource management (PRM) systems are designed specifically to handle these chores efficiently and cost-effectively. These object-oriented, rules-based bandwidth provisioning OSSs offer physical network inventory and circuit design applications for transport sub-network. By providing a view of the physical connectivity in the network as well as work-order tracking for network activities, PRM manages the provisioning process from the time a request is received until physical implementation is complete.

An easy-to-use, interactive graphics-based interface supported by automated rules-based design processes, the PRM allows fewer engineering personnel with less training to process more work. Also, because PRM represents the network in terms of objects, network managers don't have to know vendor-specific details to operate individual network elements. With the ability to support network elements from a variety of vendors, PRM creates one cohesive network, even though each element has different commands and functions. Operational transparency makes it easy for you to provision and configure equipment as well as support maintenance activities across an entire network. This is an important consideration if you plan to partner with other companies to establish nationwide footprints.

The power of the PRM function lies in the core network data it provides and shares across your business and network operation (planning, inventory, financial, design, engineering). This allows each group to base decisions on the same accurate and up-to-date information. In addition, having central access to the network order reduces the time it takes to track order status and improve coordination in the provisioning process. PRM also directly facilitates surveillance and maintenance activities by providing the gateway interface to other network-operations systems. With this window into the network, you can pinpoint most network troubles quickly. Then, automated interfaces can replace faulty equipment more quickly.

Improving Switch Configuration

Today's networks are undergoing paradigm shifts and drastic architectural changes to keep pace with ever-changing market demands. As a result, delivering multiple services requires a multivendor environment. To reduce the operating costs and service set-up times of these diverse systems, you must eliminate the manual process of change orders and configuration.

An automated translation and provisioning (ATP) OSS is one way you can improve productivity and drive down operating costs. These systems are designed specifically to handle the entire configuration process including trunking, routing, SS7, charging and complex services. These tools allow you to accomplish intricate updates involving multiple views and tables quickly and simply.

The secret behind ATP is its switch coupler, which creates and maintains an isomorphic copy of switches. Known as the shadow database, this virtual copy of the network-switch database (in relational format) can greatly reduce errors. With ATP, you can validate queries and generate new messages via application-program interfaces without interrupting a switch until you are ready to execute the change. Because the system detects problems with configuration messages pro-actively, the switch no longer has to generate error messages.

The switch has vital information and configuration data that various organizations need to access. ATP reduces the number of direct queries and updates, and eliminates a significant amount of the load placed on switches. The ATP system also can manage the translation interfaces to various switches efficiently, support multiple switch generics and provide historical configuration data. With the ATP's ability to build configuration updates across the entire network (NPA splits), schedule changes and monitor them as they are applied to the network, it can reduce the cost of switch-configuration activities.

As the need for centralized network translations and provisioning increases, the functionality of the ATP software will expand to support intelligent network elements such as SCPs for SS7-related updates. Similarly, ATP will accommodate intelligent peripheral elements such as voice-mail systems for updates related to signaling, trunking and call routing.

Network-Wide Configuration

The need to access current, pending and past network configurations with precision has never been greater. Carriers are demanding new solutions that automate network provisioning and re-configuration as well as provide a centralized method for modifying radio equipment across multiple networks.

As a result, vendors are developing and testing automated configuration-management OSSs for radio components. The goal is to centralize the radio-related management functions required for daily network operation into software that is technology-independent. By centralizing all of the operations and maintenance-control capabilities onto one terminal, you can realize maximum administrative efficiency and cost-savings.

Because radio-configuration management is performed on a cell-by-cell basis, it requires time-consuming and costly manual cross validation and impact analysis. Automated radio-configuration systems, on the other hand, will perform automatic cross-network validation so you can configure cell sites easily while keeping an eye on the entire radio network. Single task-execution commands will greatly minimize the time it takes to make changes in response to subscriber needs. Methods for creating and implementing multiple network views will provide even greater flexibility.

Using an object-oriented model to support network-management tasks, automated radio-configuration systems allow you to create, delete, examine and change managed objects according to a set of network- or service-specific rules. These new systems also take into account the ripple effect any one change could have on the rest of the network. They provide a gateway interface for other applications requiring network information. To ensure adequate capacity always is available, these systems perform dynamic changes when call patterns fluctuate (natural-disaster events or concert-ticket sales).

When it comes time to introduce (and update) neighbor lists, automated configuration-management OSSs provide a visual representation of the proposed configuration prior to execution. It's quick, easy to use and extremely flexible. If you are not satisfied with the proposed list, the configuration simply rolls back without affecting the network.

When there is a problem with an existing list, the automated configuration-management OSS can create and execute a new neighbor list immediately after isolating the affected cell site. When the faulty cell is restored to service, the original neighbor-list mapping is brought back on line. In today's environment (sans automated configuration management), such changes are extremely time-consuming and expensive. Often, carriers sacrifice service quality because they are reluctant to implement list changes.

Gaining the Competitive Advantage

Many carriers are discovering that state-of-the-art equipment, a clearly identified target market and delivering advanced revenue-generating services is not enough to stay competitive. You need someone -- or something -- to run the complex daily operations.

OSSs, which mechanize the routine, time-consuming or tedious tasks, are readily available to support many activities. You must find ways to deliver service and perform operational activities at least as well as, if not better, than the competition.

Theoretically, people can accomplish most of the functions an OSS performs. Yet, finding experienced people is one of the biggest problems today. By automating a manual activity, you can reduce service intervals, lower costs and improve reliability. In addition, the advanced analysis tools and user-friendly interfaces of TMN-compliant network-provisioning OSSs will enable you to respond to subscriber concerns, and reduce handoffs and dropped-call problems more quickly.

Providing highly reliable service more quickly than anyone else is a good way to differentiate your company. Although keeping costs down is important, spending a little extra money to offer subscribers new services quickly is critical. If you can't deliver service in hours, or even minutes, subscribers will find someone who can.

Between convergence and competition, carriers are busy enough just keeping up. So it was no surprise that vendors used Wireless 1999 to introduce tools that allow carriers to automate tasks, delegate more work to non-technical personnel and incorporate new technologies.

* Granite Systems' Xpercom/Visual Edition is a Java-based tool that streamlines network design and management by incorporating inventory-management and computer-aided design into a single package. Another tool, Xperworx, coordinates changes to the network by automatically generating detailed work orders.

* Hewlett-Packard's (HP) Windows-based PoST software guides sales clerks and other non-technical personnel through basic troubleshooting tests on AMPS, CDMA and N-AMPS handsets. HP also has introduced the H7295SA, a Windows-based software that provides remote PC control of its 8935 series base-station test sets. The software allows technicians to perform RF measurements and do trend analysis.

* Inet's Spectra trunk tester gives carriers the ability to see how well their packet- or circuit-switched voice networks hold up under the stress of as many as 1.8 million calls per hour. The single-unit device can test up to 14 SS7 links and up to 420 voice channels with a variety of scenarios, including sudden surges and gradual increases.

* Tekelec's new EAGLE IP7 product line looks to capitalize on the convergence of SS7 and IP by combining STP functionality and IP connectivity. Tekelec also renamed its MGTS 2000 network-monitoring tool the MGTS Sentinel.

* Integrated Design Strategies' Cellular Automated Roaming Management System lets you manage and update all switches from a single point. It provides a database for auditing and reconciling switches with technical data from your partners.

* Westell Technologies SmartLink system provides automatic switching protection. SmartLink allows you to deliver a live standby protection circuit that connects directly to cell sites and other network locations.