Microwave Engineering Europe - January/February 2009 - (Page 10)

10 TEST & MEASUREMENT Using KPIs to ensure quality in a converging network By Keith Cobler, Marketing Manager Network Management, Tektronix Communications The changing role of network monitoring The telecommunications industry is undergoing a signiﬁcant change. Carriers around the globe are in the process of implementing next generation architectures and converging legacy circuit switched and packet switched networks into a multi-service IP core. As a result of this transformation, carriers will emerge more competitive, both from a cost and differentiation perspective. As for cost savings, there are huge economies of scale to be gained by migrating towards a common network infrastructure. These cost savings will translate into both CAPEX (through better utilization of network resources and equipment), and OPEX savings (as a result of having to support fewer disparate technologies). As for services and applications, next generation architectures are also enabling the delivery of highly personalized services that will ultimately lead to greater customer satisfaction and loyalty. For the telecommunications industry as a whole, the prospect of engaging in a one-to-one personal relationship with the end-consumer is priceless. Especially in today’s hyper-competitive market, the need to better understand and internalize your customer’s individual needs and wants can have an enormous impact on your bottom line. Network operators have made signiﬁcant investments in new technologies and upgrading their network infrastructures — not to mention the human cost of consolidating departments, training and refocusing their personnel. Given what’s at stake and what’s already been invested, the critical piece of the puzzle is now becoming clear — network monitoring will play a critical, if not dominant, role. Turning future business models into reality Competition in today’s communications market is intense. Not only are traditional incumbents becoming more competitive, but there are also new market entrants that are mixing it up — many of whom are coming from an internet background. Traditionally, companies have competed on the basis of lower cost, service differentiation or some combination of the two. Figure 1: High-level dashboard display of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for a VoIP service. But for carriers today, they have to adopt a twodimensional approach that focuses on bringing better services and applications to market at a lower cost. Migrating towards next generation networks and architectures is one part of the solution. But equally important is having the ability to measure your execution to plan and access whether or not you are achieving the results you need. Network monitoring solutions that are designed to meet the needs of carriers deploying next generation networks and services are already proving themselves as indispensable tools in the execution and measurement of the many new business models being adapted by carriers today. Furthermore, by designing a network monitoring solution whose hardware/ software architecture mirrors that of next generation converged networks, carriers can assure themselves that they are future-prooﬁng their investment. Key ingredients for success Ultimately, managing networks for proﬁtability is the name of the game. And for carriers, convergence is forcing a new paradigm as to how networks and services will be managed and monitored in the future. The biggest change is that carriers now need to place a much greater emphasis on managing end-to-end services and ● service performance, as opposed to viewing their network from a network, or network element perspective. Moving forward, carriers will rely more on meaningful Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as a means to understand at-a-glace how their service is performing real-time and within speciﬁc markets and customer segments. Becoming one with your markets and customers For years, the telecommunications industry’s ability to address new markets and customers with better services and applications was hindered by the huge infrastructure investment that was required to develop, deliver and maintain them. Other industries, including ones close to telecom such as the PC industry, learned early on the importance of a common platform or architecture as a spring-board from which countless, personalized applications could be launched. Fundamentally, it comes down to addressing the needs of individual users — they are the ones who use and pay for services. Designed speciﬁcally for the needs of converged network operators, Tektronix’ Uniﬁed Assurance for Converged Networks (UACN), for example, provides a monitoring framework that addresses the critical real-time and historical information needs of network operators. To understand how this type of Microwave Engineering Europe ● January/February 2009 www.mwee.com http://www.mwee.com

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Microwave Engineering Europe - January 2009 News Contents Comment Using KPIs to Ensure Quality in a Converging Network Amplifier Error Vector Magnitude Characterisation Using High-Speed Modular PXI Instruments GPS: Making a Play for Femtocells Accelerating Global WiMAX Adoption: The Move to Picocell and Femtocell Base Stations Addressing PA Efficiency for Multi-Mode Wideband Handset Applications Wi-Fi: Mobile Feature or Fundamental RAN? Products Calendar

Microwave Engineering Europe - January/February 2009

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