Olivier Suard, marketing director at Comptel’s inventory management division, Incatel, explains why a converged inventory solution is fundamental to mobile operator operations and how a better planned and managed transmission network will lead to greater operational efficiencies
Since the initial rush in the early 1990s to deploy the first generation of mobile services, operators have, to a large extent, chosen to lease backhaul transmission capacity from local fixed-line operators. This allowed them the time and resource to develop and manage their radio network. There were many benefits in doing this, particularly in terms of early revenue generation and market share gains.
Today, the mobile market has matured considerably. Operators are banking on new services to increase their revenues. The rollout to 3G is intensifying and with talk of HSDPA already on the horizon, mobile operators are turning their attention to the transmission capacity of the network. These new networks are considerably more complex than first generation networks, and while they offer the promise of new and augmented revenue streams for mobile operators, they are also putting pressure on operators to build out their own transmission networks, to take advantage of the opportunities.
Consequentially, mobile operators are realising that implementing the right operational support systems (OSS), is crucial in order to sustain network services for 3G traffic and beyond. Today, mobile operators need to address the finer details of OSS and part of that process is addressing inventory management, which lies at the core of operational systems.
Getting the planning, deployment and management of the transmission part of the network right is very challenging. Firstly, the network is based around a variety of technologies, from TDM (2G/2.5G), ATM (UMTS Release 99) and Ethernet/Internet Protocol (UMTS Release 5 and 6). Secondly, this network needs to deliver the expected service and quality for voice, data and video services in a transparent manner to the end-user, while, at the same time, being scalable for future revenue generating services.
However, most mobile operators lack the basic OSSs to support new technologies. Many mobile operators have only invested in basic radio-planning software to design their radio networks and element management systems, to manage their core networks on a day-to-day basis. This was the fastest and cheapest way to work. The problem now is that new focus of issues in the transmission technologies mean operators need to find the means to get an end-to-end view of their network.
Most concern
Perhaps, what’s of most concern is that many operators have been known to document their network assets on simple desktop office tools, like Excel! This raises obvious concerns including; data loss and system losses, there are also serious issues with scalability and the risks associated with data storage, system back up, shared access and ownership and control. It’s also a highly impractical way of managing what are essentially very valuable resources. Furthermore, such solutions are unlikely to meet the stringent asset accounting requirements which is imposed by new legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley act.
A modern convergent network inventory is designed to hold information about all the resources within the network. It can model both the physical and logical assets in the network, as well as share information with interested and authorised parties. Using such a systems, mobile operators can plot all their assets on a map, relating cell and transmission planning. A convergent inventory can handle the variety of network equipment, media, protocols, logical connectivity and capacity. More advanced inventory systems, like Comptel’s Incatel/NIMS product offer comprehensive planning capabilities that allow planned changes to be held separately from the existing network design.
A converged inventory becomes the central reference for virtually all a mobile operators’ network operations, and can participate in many of the key business processes, including planning, provisioning and service assurance.
As operators take advantage of the paradigm shift from voice to content, to drive new revenues and increase market share, it’s becoming increasingly important for them to utilise their network assets more effectively in order to maximise overall operational infrastructure. Investing in a convergent network inventory enables mobile operators to do just that.
