Monetising FTTx Networks: FTTx rollouts give operators the opportunity to apply lessons learnt from earlier technology evolutions

Transcription

1 Monetising FTTx Networks: FTTx rollouts give operators the opportunity to apply lessons learnt from earlier technology evolutions clarity.com

2 MONETISING FTTX NETWORKS FTTx rollouts give operators the opportunity to apply lessons learnt from earlier technology evolutions. Many previous network rollouts have focused on rapid build-out, at the expense of long-term service fulfilment, assurance, and customer experience. Operators engaging in FTTx rollouts should recognise the importance of operational processes and OSS as an integral part of their rollout; else face problems when trying to monetise the network to recoup their investmen.t 2 Clarity Simplifying Operations

3 MONETISING FTTX NETWORKS AS WELL AS THE PHYSICAL BUILD-OUT OF THE FTTX INFRASTRUCTURE, OPERATORS NEED TO BE THINKING OF THEIR PLANNING AND ROLLOUT TOOLS, OPERATIONAL SUPPORT TOOLS AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT TOOLS. The Need to Monetise FTTx Networks The high cost of supporting aging copper wire networks coupled with the rising demand for data speed and capacity is directing communications providers to continue the expansion of their optical fibre networks beyond the long-haul and metropolitan segments and into the last mile to the curb and to the home. Although it has been projected that costs of FTTx would be depreciated in under 20 years, operators will want to reduce that further through reduced deployment costs, increased revenue generation and reduced operational cost. The need to grow and defend market-share to compete with similar copper and wireless based services will fuel product innovation and a focus on service quality and customer experience. As well as the physical build-out of the FTTx infrastructure, operators need to be thinking of their planning and rollout tools, operational support tools and product development and deployment tools. Rather than a tactical afterthought, these tools need to be part of the holistic strategy for monetising a FTTx network. One thing is for certain. The transition to FTTx will require carriers to utilize efficient OSS platforms to manage the planning and design of the build phase, assure proper inventory and capacity information during the fulfilment phase and provide fault and performance monitoring with SLA capabilities during the assurance phase as services start to be rolled out to their customers. Clarity and FTTx Clarity s Unified OSS includes essential tools for operators undertaking a FTTx rollout; addressing both immediate deployment and long-term operations and product innovation needs: Network planning and rollout optimisation Product design and order management Network and service provisioning Network assurance and service quality Management of automated, back-office and field-force operational tasks Clarity Simplifying Operations 3

4 MONETISING FTTX NETWORKS Planning the Build-out of FTTx Efficient FTTx project rollout requires orchestration of many internal and external parties. Mistakes and delays can be avoided through presentation of the right information to the right team, timely escalation, intervention and tracking of tasks. Clarity Infrastructure Management suite provides a sophisticated network rollout tool addressing the challenges an FTTx rollout will face: Project management for a large number of inter-related technical projects Programme management through aggregating costs and time-scales Management of a large number of bills of resources and accounting for unitbased assets, such as lengths of cable Automated task allocation to groups, individuals and contracting partners, and subsequent tracking and auditing Allowing external contractors to directly interact with the project information for their tasks Management for real-estate information, such as leases, permits, surveys, easements Jeopardy management for over-running or over-budget projects and tasks Audit and asset reconciliation supporting robust accounting practices and to combat theft and vandalism The results are shorter time-scales and reduced costs for network rollout, allowing the operator to focus on return on investment. Figure 1: Managing a project in Clarity Modelling the FTTx Network As the network is deployed, a network inventory needs to be built, first to direct planning and then to support network and service assurance and provisioning. Ultimately, the network inventory will support service quality management and customer experience management. Clarity s FTTx network inventory model includes: Outside plant and civil infrastructure Optical cables, down to each strand Passive optical equipment Active electro-optical equipment Circuits and data connections running on the optical, such as Ethernet and IP Services provided to customers Network and customer addresses Uniquely, Clarity s network inventory spans geographical outside plant, passive and active equipment to logical circuits, services and customers. Clarity s Inventory Manager and Infrastructure Management improves the accuracy, accountability and efficiency of the network planning and deployment and prepares the business for longterm FTTx operations. Product Innovation Delivering technology is one thing. Designing services that customers want to buy is another. Clarity Marketplace allows operators to rapidly develop their products; exploiting modular and re-usable elements and in intuitive product design tool. The result is far greater flexibility and freedom to innovate, leading to increased market-share. Clarity Marketplace allows wholesale providers to increase revenue by reaching a wider market by managing the re-sale of its products as bundled components of retailer s product. 4 Clarity Simplifying Operations

5 MONETISING FTTX NETWORKS Clarity s incorporation of its own field-force job scheduler and task tracking software into the fulfilment and assurance process is an important differentiator for FTTx network operators. Figure 2: Physical Infrastructure modelling Fulfillment of FTTx Services With the build phase complete, accurate inventory recorded and innovative products designed, revenue generating services can be rapidly provisioned through managed and automated processes. An FTTx service provisioning process will typically the following steps: Customer eligibility/service availability checks Order validation and pre-qualification Identification of network access points and capacity, specific to the services requested Customer end OLT, CPE, and drop wire installation, including appointment setting Configuration of OLT equipment and logical layers (ATM, Ethernet) at the exchange Service activation, initiation of SLA and performance monitoring and service testing Clarity unified OSS modules manage the end-toend fulfilment activity: Order Manager manages orders received from the customer, performs pre-qualification checks and manages the end-to-end provisioning workflow. It provides jeopardy management, escalations and rollback Inventory Manager provides inventory and capacity information and automated design and assign functions to establish the physical and logical network routing Service Manager activates the network and service as part of the workflow, through its extensible library of network interfaces Field-service Manager for the scheduling, allocation, tracking and verification of fieldengineering jobs, such as Customer OLT, CPE and dropwire installation Test Manager initiating test activities and recording results for future reference SLA Manager providing a customer focus for the provisioning process by tracking Mean -Time-To-Provide SLAs for service orders Discovery Verification of changes made during network to provision new customers to maintain an accurate inventory Field-force Logistics In a fibre network, the role of the fieldengineer is critically important; they are the face of the company that most customers see. Effective management of field-force dispatch to the right address at the right time, allowing customers to select appointment times and right, first time activities not only reduces fieldforce costs, but also improves the customer experience. Clarity s incorporation of its own field-force job scheduler and task tracking software into the fulfilment and assurance process is an important differentiator for FTTx network operators. Clarity Simplifying Operations 5

6 MONETISING FTTX NETWORKS Assurance of FTTx An FTTx network combines passive optical infrastructure and active electrical infrastructure. The end goal of network and service assurance is to manage any outage on this complex network, assess revenue impact and restore service as quickly as possible to minimise revenue leakage. Clarity supports an end-to-end assurance process; from receiving problem notifications, through diagnostics, rootcause analysis, service impact assessment, service restoration, problem resolution and service test. It is designed to: Expose service and network information to the customer in terms of business SLAs Figure 3: Field-force task scheduling and allocation Reduce the Mean-time-to-Respond/ Restore and Max Outage Time for customer and revenue impacting service faults Increase the Mean-time-between- Failure for customer services to increase revenue Clarity s FTTx Assurance modules provides: Alarm and performance management Correlation functions, including rootcause analysis and service impact assessment Configurable network and customer troubleticket management Planned event management to schedule resolutions and assess any disruptions MTTR and Max Outage SLA management Test management to pin-point faults, diagnose problems and verify resolutions Field force logistics to fix network faults Active Network Problem Identification Clarity Alarm Manager and Performance Manager receive alarms and KPIs from the active network through an extensible library of interfaces. These bring information from vendor aligned EMS and NMS into a consolidated NOC view. Passive Network Problem Identification Clarity Test Manager identifies passive network faults, such as broken cables and splices/joints, through scheduled and reactive network testing. Customer reported faults in Ticket Manager are used to triangulate a point of failure. Tracking and Resolving Problems Both active and passive network problem identification use Inventory Manager to perform rootcause analysis and service impact assessment. Once a fault is identified, Ticket Manager manages the problem to resolution workflow, with priority set through assessed service and revenue impacts. Test, Field Service and SLA Manager actions are orchestrated through Ticket Manager to diagnose the problem, track to resolution, initiate field-jobs and manage to customer SLAs compliance. Conclusion Operators deploying FTTx infrastructure to support next generation services need to give attention to immediate rollout efficiency and the long-term fulfilment and assurance of innovative services. Clarity s Unified OSS provides a single platform to address these important aspects of FTTx and so allow operators to monetise their network and recoup on their investment. Clarity s Unified OSS can be deployed quicker and more cost effectively, than tradition best of breed solutions to allow the operator to start generating revenue from their investments faster. Clarity s product suite provides solutions for: Network planning and rollout optimisation Product design and order management Network and service provisioning Network assurance and service quality Management of back-office and fieldforce operational tasks. 6 Clarity Simplifying Operations

7 About Clarity Clarity is a global provider that enables its customers to simplify their operations with an award winning unified telecommunications management solution. It enables Service Providers to reduce the cost and risk of operations and improve the customer experience across fixed, mobile, data and converged networks. The Clarity portfolio is used to build and manage network deployments; develop, sell and charge for innovative products; fulfil orders through to network activation; and assure the quality of customer services. The portfolio supports next generation and legacy networks and is pre-integrated to reduce the cost, time and risk to deploy and manage the solution. Clarity s solutions currently help operators around the world manage over 500 million subscribers. The product portfolio is network and service neutral, driven by templates and workflows that are rapidly configurable, allowing telecom companies to dramatically cut time to market for new services. Established in 1994, Clarity has offices throughout Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America. For more information, please visit us at Clarity Simplifying Operations 7