Linking Operations

Most of today's wireless carriers are challenged with controlling and linking separate operational units into a single homogeneous business. They must design a system carefully that supports a well-organized customer-care center to control churn rates. Fraud prevention and security also are critical operations that require an accurate customer database regardless of where the operation is located. Real-time access to home-record databases for prompt verification is vital to loss prevention. There must be an open route across the network to customer databases for immediate reconciliation of information.

Operating a wireless network requires access to a comprehensive set of computer applications, which may reside in other service-bureau networks. For example, you may need access to special computer services to analyze the performance level of a remote switching center or to analyze RF signals for compliance with licensing procedures. Usually, these specialized computer services are scattered around the country, dictating separate dial-up or de dicated access arrangements. Often these networks operate with different protocols requiring special network-access arrangements.

Ideally, consolidated network access would support the requirement for internal access to a broad range of specialized computer applications. This strategy would unify corporate access for all functional operations providing convenient and timely access to computer applications.

Carriers also need business support for applications such as accounting, billing, e-mail and Internet access. To meet these diverse applications, you will need multiple service platforms backed by a complete network redundancy plan.

DESIGNING AWAY ISSUES PriCellular1 is a typical service provider with geographically dispersed operations. The carrier operates in more than 30 markets and covers more than 5.1 million potential customers. Its operations cover portions of the Northeast, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. PriCellular established three technical operation centers for the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and New York areas to gain control over a diverse computer and LAN inventory.

PriCellular hired AvData Systems to redesign, manage and install a frame-relay network to consolidate all of its requirements into a fully redundant network. CTO Tim Pisula explained that this strategy provided PriCellular with a fully staffed and experienced network-management team without having to recruit and train an in-house management team. As a result, the carrier could concentrate its in-house technical resources on expanding cellular services.

PriCellular found many advantages to implementing a frame-relay network strategy. A frame-relay network ensures the high transaction levels associated with networks at all times. In addition, a fully redundant frame-relay network deploying fully meshed permanent virtual circuits between operating centers unifies all its offices into one network. This design strategy provided a high degree of fault tolerance and allowed connectivity with all of its offices, switching centers and off-net service providers.

In PriCellular's design, frame-relay switches were deployed at key points around the network. Adopting frame relay provided support for the transport of all corporate voice traffic over the data network at no additional cost. This strategy allowed PriCellular a considerable savings on internal long-distance calling.

All of the switches are linked via 128kb/s links (using F/T's) to each regional center with 56kb/s links using frame-relay access devices to connect each associated operating franchise. This arrangement ensures a high degree of data throughput across the entire enterprise network.

MANAGING THE WHOLE Supporting a dispersed network over a large geographic area presents management support challenges. Many companies attempt to resolve the issue by contracting with separate local service providers to service various levels of their networks.

But managing a backbone network for a wireless provider is an entirely separate and distinct operation that should not be confused with the management of a business network. Therefore, with minimal staff, it made sense for PriCellular to engage an outside vendor to provide a pro-active network-monitoring and equipment-maintenance service.

There were other compelling arguments to support the decision. Maintaining a network-management staff to support a widely dispersed distributed data network can be costly in terms of personnel staffing. Skilled network professionals would be required at every level to deal with the massive amounts of real-time faults that a large network can produce during operation. An off-site vendor with a trained staff supported by the proper software and equipment mix offered a more cost-effective alternative. The staff is better prepared to handle the complexities of fault management on PriCellular's network while the expense is spread over many network owners. Cost sharing is a powerful argument against maintaining a large in-house professional staff, which can detract from bottom-line profitability.

Supporting a comprehensive communications network inventory spread over a broad geographical area can be costly for a company that is not focused on selling and supporting data-communications equipment. Many companies also are unwilling to invest enough capital to maintain a comprehensive spares inventory.

For this reason, PriCellular opted to contract a full maintenance program for its network equipment. This maintenance program ensures equipment replacement for any failures.

Timeliness and accuracy in customer-satisfaction operations is of primary importance, which means every service location must interact with a centralized customer-billing application. In order to reconcile customer call records before billing, each call must be verified against the home-record database. The network provides full network redundancy with complete access to every PriCellular network node.

To support a more pro-active monitoring service, AvData configured each backbone network node with a Visual Networks smart data service unit/circuit service unit. These devices act as probes providing real-time reporting for all of PriCellular's local nodes. Accessible through in-band management over the frame-relay network, the Visual Networks probe provides the Advanced Network Control Center (ANC) with information to evaluate the viability of each node on the network. The center also can monitor all of the data communications devices using SNMP-based network-management system software. Through this comprehensive approach to pro-active monitoring, the ANC can identify potential circuit problems or network degradation before it becomes a problem to the end user. According to Pisula, pro-active monitoring was a great benefit because he would not have had the resources for a timely upgrade of PriCellular's wide area network (WAN) links.

PriCellular also receives prompt reporting and resolution of network faults. The carrier's system is able to mitigate the impact of any circuit failure, ensuring that network faults are resolved before any network location is affected.

INTEGRATED APPLICATION MATRIX The PriCellular backbone network unites the management of all support operations under a single WAN.

All cellular switch alarms are monitored at each remote location via automated switch monitoring system (ASM2). This system is linked via dedicated PVC links to the White Plains operations center. Another system, Switch Manager, running on the local billing server, supports subscriber service provisioning and is used to reconcile subscriber roaming call records. This system is linked to the White Plains operations center via a dedicated PVC.

The operational support system measures the performance of each switch and is linked to the White Plains central operations center. The backbone network also serves to link all of the remote cellular switching centers to the service center in California. The center, which is linked through the WAUSAU node, provides a service that analyzes the RF fingerprints at each cellular center to intercept fraudulent intrusions into the PriCellular network. A PVC link connects off net to the frame-relay backbone network avoiding the cost of directly dialing the network from each remote node.

All remote cellular switching centers can access the Internet via a gateway located at White Plains. This facilitates access to the World Wide Web and can support PriCellular's planned move to a WIN suite of services. One WIN service allows any Internet user to send messages (alphanumeric pages) to a PriCellular digital subscriber. The Internet message would go through the White Plains gateway and then be sent to the subscriber's voice mailbox. A signal sent to the subscriber's handset would alert him of the receipt of a message. In this application, PriCellular's enterprise network would support a subscriber service providing additional cost benefits to PriCellular's operating budget.

Each remote cellular operations center is linked internally by a PBX (2/4 wire E&M) voice circuit. These voice lines transport internal company voice traffic between locations allowing any location to speak to any other location.

Each of PriCellular's local franchise operations uses LANs to support administrative and engineering requirements. In addition, each location can talk to other locations via an internal corporate e-mail system located at the White Plains central post office so local clients can reach remote clients via a frame-relay link. The frame-relay backbone network could serve as an alternate route for subscriber voice traffic providing PriCellular with still another cost benefit avoiding IXC charges for transporting some subscriber traffic.

PriCellular looks forward to additional applications that will result in future cost savings. A frame-relay network may be the answer for other carriers, as well, that would like to optimize disbursed operational centers.