Dec 18, 2007 6:01 PM,

NetCracker takes NExT step at France Telecom

By Tim McElligott

For NetCracker, getting a software contract from a company the size of France Telecom is one thing. Getting certified two years later as the corporate de facto standard is another

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France Telecom launched its New Experience in Telecom services (NExT) transformation initiative in the summer of 2005. That fall, NetCracker Technologies won the bid to provide resource management and other software solutions. However, that doesn’t mean they won the business. Only recently did NetCracker become certified as the de facto standard for all of France Telecom’s 136 properties and 145 million customers.

The difference between being awarded the bid and becoming certified in France Telecom’s network is the difference between getting to Tour de France and actually winning it. France Telecom has become NetCracker’s largest deployment—rivaled potentially by the deal NetCracker signed this week with Mobil'nye TeleSistemy, the largest mobile operator in Russia.

France Telecom didn’t formally announce NetCracker as a software supplier at the time, but now, the international carrier has certified the company as the Next Generation Inventory (NGI) Group Core Component (GCC) standard for its NExT program. That makes NetCracker the provider of inventory solutions across the entire France Telecom group of 136 companies.

NetCracker also announced it has successfully implemented its Wi-Fi hot-spots inventory, FTTH inventory, and VoIP services inventory for Orange in France, as well as transmission network inventory and an ADSL inventory solution in emerging market affiliates of France Telecom group.

“This was different from your traditional vendor selection; it was very comprehensive,” said Sanjay Mewada, vice president of strategy for NetCracker. “It wasn’t like a typical vendor selection for a single carrier. They were looking to select a platform that could be applicable across all their properties. And those are all kinds of providers like mobile, converged, traditional, big and small. The solutions had to scale both ways.”

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