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Food for thought
Inventory management is a vital ingredient in the feast known as VoIP services, as Julie Wingerter explains
It's like a hamburger and fries: it's just better together. And in the case of VoIP, IPTV, and other IP based services, inventory management really does make a difference in the overall ability of service providers to roll out these services profitably and efficiently. VoIP services offer operators significant revenue upside, but they also come with a set of deployment and operational challenges. That's where a robust inventory management solution comes into play.
Because IP services such as VoIP and IPTV are executed over a combination of shared multi-service transport environments, there are more devices to provision and maintain; network topologies to keep straight, and; network bandwidth/traffic issues that require prioritisation, than in a typical POTS scenario.
For VoIP to work, all of these network related activities, equipment and designs have to be monitored and managed in real time. To do this, a powerful network inventory management system is required. Such a system provides an accurate view of the network and serves as the core data repository supporting the automation of routine functions and providing vital information that allow billing, order management, service provisioning, outside plant, and purchasing to run efficiently.
Carrier success
How will carriers be successful in rolling out new VoIP services? From a network perspective their multi-service transport/broadband IP environments must meet some pretty high standards: ie tough enough to facilitate millions of phone calls; reliable as legacy phone services with a sound network architecture and POTS interconnection strategy; high quality (e.g. jitter-free, static-free), and; designed to rapidly process customers' orders and provision services.
What lies ahead in rolling out new IP based services? Let's look at some of the specific challenges carriers face when introducing VoIP.
If you don't know what is in your pantry you may not have all of the ingredients necessary to create an appetising dinner. Similarly, VoIP requires carriers to maintain an accurate picture of their network inventory so they can determine which services are available and when they are available, and so they can plan ahead to avoid any 'shortages.' This is particularly important, as IP generally requires many more network devices and configuration parameters than POTS services, including additional Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) and home networking components and associated MAC Ids, IP numbers, customer services data, pricing, etc.; Access Technologies -- HFC/cable, DSL, PON (FTTH); and PSTN off-net and other off-net connectivity components like media gateways, SS7, etc.
There is also a need to integrate with additional management applications that use inventory information such as billing systems, network management applications, etc., which may be using the information differently in order to introduce usage mediation or real-time trouble-shooting.
In short, VoIP services are more complex than standard POTS services because of the additional products and numbers/addresses that are used. Consequently, service providers need an inventory solution that provides: a mechanism to capture all of the physical and logical assets of the network; an integrated inside and outside plant inventory that supports an end-to-end view of the network; a means to keep the data current, and; a mechanism to integrate with service provisioning processes.
Oversubscription Management
Network congestion increases as thousands of new customers are added on an IP network. Oversubscription management looks at the usage patterns and analyses traffic and network capacity real-time. However, for this information to be accurate, carriers must have a view into their whole network. With up-to-date network data from inventory management this is achievable. With the ability to view the entire current network, service providers can adjust © oversubscription management based on experienced performance and quality to ensure that performance does not suffer.
Traffic Prioritisation
For most consumers, static filled calls are not acceptable. Therefore, to ensure QoS, a carrier needs to effectively monitor and prioritise the types of packets running through the network. Voice needs bandwidth. If there is not enough bandwidth available, voice quality deteriorates as 'static,' or 'jitter,' and dropped calls become inherent problems.
A carrier needs to facilitate traffic prioritization policies to ensure that voice and video are prioritized over data transmission activities. Enforcing and adjusting these policies is paramount especially when offering triple play services that all vie for bandwidth on the same network. All of this revolves around accurate network inventory data to maintain bandwidth at levels that match network activity levels.
Self-Service Feature Management
Creating individual, made-to-order bundles of VoIP services is required to stay competitive and is heavily dependent upon accurate network inventory information. Through web-based customer sites or by phone, users should be able to, in real-time, change their VoIP features. For example, customers may go online and adjust their call forwarding, call waiting, or voice mail parameters. Importantly, customers don't expect to have to wait for these changes to be applied-they want them to be instantaneous. This capability requires accurate customer information and the associated network details.
Another unique VoIP service feature is virtual phone numbers. It is possible to have a VoIP number reflect where a person or company would like to have virtual offices or presence in other countries. For instance someone from the United States might want to have a virtual office in the United Kingdom. Using VoIP, they can now have a number that matches UK phone numbering conventions even while all calls are routed back to the original US number. These unique enhanced service features require a network inventory that is flexible and integrates with other processes. VoIP brings to the table all these new service features that didn't exist in the traditional POTS environment.
IPTV deployment challenges mirror those of VoIP, only they tend to be intensified in scope. IPTV requires a bevy of new supporting equipment from encoders and video-on-demand servers, to video compression and IP- encapsulation. For many carriers today, IPTV is the next big service they intend to roll out and VoIP is their introduction to IP-services.
Accurate inventory, traffic prioritisation, oversubscription management and self-service feature management are just a few of the areas that must be managed well to generate profits from VoIP and IPTV services. An inventory-based OSS delivers the capabilities that allow carriers to see their whole network, add services and capacity to maximise their resources, and analyse results for future planning.
NetCracker Technology's OSS Solution is improving how carriers rollout next-gen services such as VoIP, IPTV, Fibre-to-the-Home and others. The Solution includes industry-proven inventory-based OSS software and the professional services delivery expertise to make it happen. NetCracker customers include Telstra, Australia's largest carrier; Telus, Canada's second largest carrier; MGTS, one of the largest wireline providers in Europe; and Covad, a leading North American broadband service provider, among others.
A moveable feast
VoIP and IPTV do have their unique challenges. However, combined with a solid inventory management, OSS service providers can generate higher revenues, increase market share, maximize network resources and remain competitive.
A multi-service transport environment, IP's additional equipment and design parameters need to be kept in synch using inventory management.
Julie Wingerter, Vice President of Strategy, NetCracker Technology www.netcracker.com
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