Summary Bullets:
- The U.S. Patent Office granted Monolith Software patent number 8,756,301 for its “systems and methods for organic knowledge base runbook automation.” The patented technology targets streamlining operator service assurance processes.
- Monolith Software needs to address how its organic knowledge base automation technology and AssureNow portfolio support the emerging policy control and assurance priorities of operators for new apps such as VoLTE.
Monolith Software recently unveiled its receipt of a U.S. patent grant for organic knowledge base automation aimed at simplifying and unifying service assurance applications. The patent extends to Monolith’s AssureNow solution, designed to automate service assurance processes. The AssureNow product processes events and applies the policy purpose-designed for each event, such as remediation of a problem, discovery of more information or required correlation to other data sources. Should the event prove unknown, the operator can choose from a set of existing policies to apply to the unknown event or designate a new policy. AssureNow uses an embedded wiki knowledge base to enable operators to organically grow and collect intelligence around network resources, services and customers.
Since Monolith Software competes against a wide range of service assurance solutions, how does it plan to differentiate and promote its organic knowledge base technology and AssureNow portfolio?
- Advance Operator Workflow Objectives: Monolith Software asserts that by combining AssureNow’s knowledge management and runbook automation functions, the AssureNow tool can now improve operator remediation capabilities by resolving operation disruptions in an automated fashion. As a result, operators can avoid allocating operational resources, such as personnel man hours, to resolve disruptions, thereby reducing operational workloads and boosting focus on core business and service assurance goals.
- Improved Disruption Resolution: Monolith Software identified the service assurance pattern that complex disruptions can require the gathering of additional information as close to the disruption timeframe as feasible. With organic knowledge base automation, the AssureNow solution can more rapidly query resources, services and applications for actionable resolution steps.
As Monolith Software develops and promotes its organic knowledge base automation proposition further into the operator channels, what are the key concerns and barriers the company needs to address?
- Policy Control Portfolio Gap: The Monolith Software AssureNow solution relies on applying operator policies purpose-designed to process events including remediation of operational disruptions. Many operators use policy control technologies to create, store and modify policies required to support service assurance apps. As such, the AssureNow solution’s effectiveness may prove highly dependent on third-party policy control technologies that are controlled by rivals – many of which pursue their own service assurance agendas as well. Monolith Software needs to consider investing in the development of its own policy control technology or at least produce a more robust policy control alliance message.
- Differentiated Resolution of Unknown Disruptions: Monolith Software claims the AssureNow solution can resolve unknown events through new application of pre-existing policies or the creation of a new policy for addressing the new unknown events. This area of service assurance resolution would benefit from Monolith producing use cases and metrics to strengthen its case in assuaging operator concerns related to unknown disturbance root causes, especially for emerging high-maintenance applications such as VoLTE. Likewise, it would further differentiate the organic knowledge base automation technology from service assurance solutions rivals making similar automated assurance claims.
Overall, Monolith Software possesses the patent-backed organic knowledge base automation technology to drive wider operator consideration of its AssureNow portfolio. However, the company needs to link its new technology innovation with new operator service assurance use cases and firm up its policy control development and alliance messaging.