Pipeline Publishing, Volume 5, Issue 11

	This Month's Issue:
	Transformation

Visibility: The Key to Monitoring
Hybrid Networks

By Vincent Lesch

Fixed-line networks, which serve more than 1.2 billion subscribers worldwide, were for many years the backbone of voice communication. They were predominantly based on a single technology – time division multiplexing (TDM) - providing a single service - voice. That telecommunication’s landscape, however, is being transformed by advances in technology, the Internet, deregulation, mergers and acquisitions, global roaming, and the demand for multimedia services. Mobile networks now support more than two billion subscribers, and IP-based voice service is growing at a blistering pace. The increasing demand for multimedia content and services is driving the evolution to an all-IP network core with a variety of technologies at the edge, including cable, digital subscriber line (DSL), 2G/3G, long term evolution (LTE), and WiMax.

Today’s operators do not have the luxury of managing and maintaining a single network type. They not only interconnect with other providers’ networks to ensure global coverage, but, increasingly, own and operate a myriad of network types – mobile, fixed, cable, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), data packet and Internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) - to keep pace with changing customer demands. In this hybrid operating environment, the ability to manage, monitor and troubleshoot cross-domain transactions is critical to protect and grow revenue, ensure quality, and guarantee service delivery.

Operating a Hybrid Network: The Challenges
Each network has its own technology, protocols, and monitoring team. Who within

Today’s operators do not have the luxury of managing and maintaining a single network type.

the provider’s organization has the network-wide visibility to monitor and troubleshoot a call or multimedia session end-to-end? How can an operator identify the source of failure when several, disparate networks are involved in the route? How can providers gather vital data for subscribers roaming in their network to ensure quality of service (QoS) and capitalize on revenue opportunities? What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) that should be monitored?

These problems were underscored in an on-line webinar survey conducted by Tekelec in December 2007. Participating operators were asked to identify the main challenges they face in monitoring hybrid networks. The “lack of experienced personnel with various protocol knowledge” was identified by 56 percent as the biggest challenge. Twenty-two percent cited the “inability to perform a call trace network-wide across multiple interfaces/protocols.”

article page | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

© 2009, All information contained herein is the sole property of Pipeline Publishing, LLC. Pipeline Publishing LLC reserves all rights and privileges regarding
the use of this information. Any unauthorized use, such as copying, modifying, or reprinting, will be prosecuted under the fullest extent under the governing law.