At the heart of any attempt to generate revenues is the need to monetize new services. Our OSS/BSS/CEM coverage addresses this by looking at the billing and operation market dynamics, and the implications for the customer experience.
TEOCO unveiled its support for the 5G Innovation Center in a bid to elevate its ecosystem influence in the nascent development of 5G technology, especially with starting gate inclusion of SON capabilities.
TEOCO needs to develop or acquire orchestration platforms to ensure it can play a pivotal role in operator adoption of 5G technology, particularly in relation to OSS transformation aspects.
TEOCO’s decision to back the 5G Innovation Center (5GIC), located at the University of Surrey (UK), yielded a sales and marketing opportunity to promote its network planning and optimization portfolio for use and application at the 5GIC. The TEOCO portfolio assets include:
Helix, its cloud-based platform designed to provide service assurance with real-time analytics and machine learning;
ASSET, its radio planning product which includes small-cell planning; and
DIMENSION, developed for end-to-end visualization and capacity planning.
Vodafone Italy’s virtualized VoLTE launch and China Mobile’s planned launch provide a good opportunity to assess the current state of vendors’ virtualized IMS technology
While there are many unanswered questions, particularly around NFV MANO, the overwhelming conclusion is that operator confidence just stepped up a gear
Huawei acquired the SDN software assets of Ireland-headquartered Amartus in a bid to accelerate its SDN roadmap and enhance its presence in the European market.
Huawei takes over the Amartus Chameleon SDS platform but gains precious little new channel influence and begs the question why it could not develop equivalent service orchestration assets in-house.
Huawei acquired the SDN software assets of Amartus, although the financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The terms of the deal include the senior team and product staff based in Ireland joining Huawei with the remaining Amartus staff retaining the rights to service current customers and pursue operator software development and integration service opportunities. Huawei gains the Amartus Chameleon SDS product, which is designed as a multi-vendor service orchestrator that extends lifecycle automation for on-demand cloud and network services over hybrid virtual and physical environments. Specifically the Chameleon SDS uses the Amartus Runtime Programmable Modelling technology which is developed to enable developers to build orchestration apps via runtime configuration and modeling while avoiding legacy coding methods.
How does the acquisition of the Amartus SDN software assets advance its SDN roadmap and improve Huawei’s competitive prospects?
• Huawei touts the potential fivefold increase in operator adoption of SON technology during 2015 as validation for the essential role SON can play in OSS transformation, including O&M apps.
• Huawei SON portfolio innovations such as intelligent interference management and energy savings from carrier shutdown methods address core operator SON demands.
Huawei in a recent SON briefing shared market projection data which endorsed that self-organizing network (SON) technology will likely witness breakthrough acceptance by operators during 2015. This includes the potential for a fivefold increase in operator adoption of SON technology from the 9% of operators who already used SON at the beginning of 2015 rising to a 46% total by the end of the year. Huawei identifies the surge in SON adoption as linked to operator prioritization of improving the operations and management (O&M) efficiency of their mobile broadband networks. However Huawei must contend with a host of SON suppliers that have identified the same trend. How does Huawei propose to win over operators in adopting its SON portfolio to meet their evolving O&M objectives?:
• Energy Efficiency Advances: The Huawei SON solution proposes shutting down carriers based on actual customer and network usage. This includes the shutdown of both idle and lightly used carriers to improve energy efficiency metrics. Combined with real-time start capabilities to support the re-use of carriers for moderate to heavy activity, Huawei asserts new SON energy efficiency breakthroughs that previous and alternative SON solutions lacked. These energy advances become particularly critical in developing regions and countries (e.g., Philippines) where electricity supplies can prove expensive or even cost-prohibitive in the support of building out mobile broadband networks.
• Intelligent Interference Management: Huawei asserts its Call History Recording (CHR) algorithms are designed to minimize conflict resolution within multi-RAT and multi-vendor environments as well as between base stations and overlapping cells. In distinction from standard conflict resolution algorithms, the Huawei CHR approach has the capability to identify the prime conflict source that resolves the overall conflict issue without the need to wade through each conflict event among the multitude of conflict sources. While rivals will likely dispute the CHR algorithm resolution claim, the intelligent interference management capability enables Huawei to make CHR capabilities a key consideration in the selection of SON solutions.
As Huawei champions its SON portfolio, what steps can the company take to render its SON proposition more compelling in meeting operator mobile network efficiency demands?
• Expand SON-Services Link: The SON portfolio messaging needs to include more direct links to Huawei’s services portfolio, including automation of OSS processes such as O&M. Within many top-tier networks (e.g., EMEA), operators have embarked on re-establishing in-house control of O&M functions, reversing the trend of outsourcing these functions to third parties that started a few years prior. To accelerate operator re-integration of O&M, the Huawei services unit should advocate SON adoption as essential in the automation of O&M processes required to ease the in-house sourcing of the reverse migration. Otherwise operators risk making the re-assumption of O&M a costly, manual-intensive engineering quest that could undermine the objective of driving their own service creation and innovation in-house.
• Use SON to Drive Automation: Many operators, especially within the Latin America and Asia-Pacific regions, did not outsource key OSS capabilities but remain anxious about using automation techniques such as SON to improve O&M efficiencies. Reasons include lack of in-house expertise and nervousness related to risking service disruptions in transitioning proven but less efficient O&M processes to an automated approach. Huawei needs to use its SON portfolio to assuage these concerns, since SON technology is well-suited for scaling mobile broadband services like LTE. Without the benefits of SON automation in place, operators in these situations risk stressing their existing resources without improving the customer experience – as well as diminishing their capacity to defend their customer footprint.
Overall Huawei has the SON portfolio assets to expand its capacity in meeting operator OSS transformation goals, including O&M efficiencies. Now Huawei must show it can develop a more compelling services integration tie-in and refresh its SON automation targeting to drive even more operator OSS transformation projects.
Nokia used the TMF Live! event to conduct its 2015 Nice Analyst Day, including an update on its Nokia Telco Analytics solution highlighting China Mobile’s adoption for predictive complaint analysis as well as its overall approach to solving operator pain points.
Nokia still must show that its Telco Analytics solution can improve near-future operator monetization and data management objectives to avoid extending operator ROI concerns with previous analytics investments.
Nokia provided an update of its Nokia Telco Analytics solution at its Nice Analyst Day during the TM Forum Live! event. The solution encompasses descriptive analytics (e.g., traffic steering, analytics-aware SON), online analytics (real-time GEO) and predictive analytics. The predictive analytics component included a China Mobile use case for predictive complaint analysis applications that enabled the operator to realize outcomes such as a 38% decrease in complaints about network and service quality and 66% improvement in first call resolution. Continue reading “Nokia: Betting Telco Analytics Proves Essential for Driving Agile Telco Cloud Evolution”→
• CSG International purpose-developed its CSG Ascendon platform to enable operators, content providers, and retailers to transform their operations to improve the pursuit and targeting of rapidly expanding digital services opportunities.
• By focusing more on the cloud/SaaS security credentials of the Ascendon platform, including the potential acquisition of cloud security broker technology, CSG International can further differentiate its new digital services platform against a sea of competitive alternatives.
CSG International developed its CSG Ascendon platform to enable operators to capitalize on burgeoning digital services opportunities. The CSG Ascendon platform is designed to support an overlay framework that enables operators to identify, analyze and scale existing and new digital services. The platform offers cloud-based consumer profiles, preferences, digital entitlements, e-wallet and payment options to drive operator differentiation of their digital service plans. The Ascendon platform benefits from CSG’s SaaS service support resources and deployment experience to address operator concerns related to the adoption and integration of new digital services technology.
The CSG Ascendon platform must contend against a plethora of rival digital service platform competition including offerings from systems integrators, infrastructure vendors, and OSS/BSS suppliers. What platform attributes enable CSG International to differentiate its Ascendon offering?:
• Configuration Flexibility: The CSG Ascendon platform offers four solution configuration options that combine its BSS assets and content management products into a single integrated platform. As a result, the platform can drive operator digital services goals related to the building and monetizing of new digital customer relationships, extending order management to third-party digital commerce products, integrating policy control into all digital services flows, and supporting overall business transformation objectives. Few digital service platform rivals can match the CSG Ascendon platform’s configuration range and flexibility.
• Digital Services Deployment Experience: CSG International can tout its deployment track record within a wide variety of digital services environments, including Comcast XFINITY On Campus, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Cineplex Entertainment and ESPN digital services implementations. Due to its systems integration heritage and diverse digital services channels, CSG International gains a leg up against solutions that lack equivalent digital services experience backgrounds, especially within non-operator environments such as retailer and content provider networks.
With the CSG Ascendon platform targeting burgeoning operator investment in digital services build-outs, what moves can CSG International make to advance its attractiveness to meeting operator digital services concerns?:
• SaaS Security: Operators consistently identify cloud security as the single most important potential impediment to accelerated adoption of SaaS implementations such as Ascendon. While the infrastructure side of the operator’s SaaS implementation can deliver nearly foolproof security assurances, individual users of SaaS apps typically lack appropriate security controls that minimize risk. This includes vulnerability to phishing and other attack techniques that can compromise digital content and services. The lack of a distinct security component somewhat dilutes the Ascendon platform’s overall digital services enablement virtues.
• Acquire Cloud Security Specialists: As part of the Ascendon proposition, CSG should consider proactively guiding operator outreach endeavors to educate users on best practices for avoiding security breaches. Moreover CSG needs to consider acquiring a cloud access security broker specialist, such as Skyhigh Networks or Netskope, to burnish its cloud security credentials. Such a move can ease integration of cloud security with operator policies, using technology purpose-built for cloud environments and thus avoid stretching security platforms designed for enterprise or on-premise settings.
Overall, CSG commands the portfolio and channel resources to play a major role in using the CSG Ascendon platform to drive operator as well as retailer and content provider adoption, and scaling of digital services. With a robust security offering and message in place upfront, the CSG Ascendon platform can become a more compelling solution for operators to select in steering the ascent of their digital services packages.
ZTE employs its “Method for ZTE OSS Projects”, which includes consulting, OSS swapping, OSS improvement, and managed service optimization components to address evolving operator OSS transformation demands.
ZTE needs to accent BDA/analytics integration capabilities, while also producing OSS swapping use cases, to improve its prospects in driving more operator adoption of its OSS proposition.
ZTE advances its “Method for ZTE OSS Projects” as needed by operators to meet their OSS transformation ends. The ZTE OSS project methodology includes consulting, OSS improvement, OSS swapping, and managed service optimization components. The components all use ZTE portfolio assets including unified managed services, tools to visualize OSS processes and data, and transparency across management of the entire network to meet operator OSS transformation demands according to their specific needs. Continue reading “ZTE: Method Behind OSS Transformation Projects Insightful, but Needs Analytics and Swapping Refresh”→
• IBM unveiled the opening of two new Network Innovation Centers in Nice, France and Dallas, Texas, designed for operators and large enterprises to test SDN, virtualization and analytics-driven automation technologies for easing adoption of cloud models.
• After recent restructurings reduced its telco portfolio assets, IBM faces channel challenges in convincing operators that its innovation centers will prove essential in testing the orchestration and automation between their various IT systems and network infrastructure platforms.
IBM launched two new Network Innovation Centers, designed to address operator and large enterprise testing of SDN, virtualization and analytics-driven automation technologies, to ease the adoption of cloud models for driving their IT and network transformation objectives. Lab participants can vet solutions for capabilities such as automated and dynamic network resource management in support of burgeoning data applications such as Internet of Things (IoT), online transactions, social media, and mobile apps. Continue reading “IBM: Can New Network Innovation Centers Drive Operator Adoption of SDN, Virtualization and Analytics-Driven Automation?”→
InfoVista introduced its VistaNEO solution that targets growing operator demand to use geo-analysis of subscriber and network experience to advance QoS management and actionable insight.
InfoVista can improve the VistaNEO proposition by forming alliances with geo-location specialists, such as Polaris Wireless, to improve device location inputs and address policy control interworking concerns.
At Mobile World Congress 2015, InfoVista introduced its VistaNEO solution designed to extend geo-analytics of subscriber and network experience to improve operator management of network and service quality at the subscriber level. The solution targets the RAN engineering, optimization, and troubleshooting teams of operators with the goal of reducing customer churn and defending existing revenue streams. VistaNEO automates the collection and post-processing of subscriber-centered call detail records to aid operator analysis of QoS over temporal and spatial dimensions. Continue reading “InfoVista: Can the VistaNEO Solution Advance Mobile Network Experience Optimization?”→
MWC 2015 has passed into history, but the Q&A between operators and vendors on how much existing data center infrastructure can be re-used for NFV continues.
Whether it’s using existing infrastructure better or procuring new NFV-optimized kit, vendors are stepping up to help.
As March draws to a close, and memories of Mobile World Congress 2015 start to fade, the Current Analysis’ Service Provider Infrastructure practice has been publishing its final advisory reports. The team has also been asking itself whether any aspects of the show have been overlooked and reviewing the news flow pre-, during and post the event together with digesting on-site vendor briefings around the SDN/NFV theme. One conclusion is that there seems to be an underlying “question and answer” session going on between operators and vendors about the readiness (or otherwise) of their existing data center infrastructure to support NFV. After all, NFV is supposed to liberate applications from having to run on specialized telecom hardware and set them free to run on “commodity” hardware, but is it the hardware telcos already have or is it something different? Continue reading “When Operators Ask “Will My Data Center Support NFV?”, Vendors Reply “Yes, But …””→
