SERVICE ASSURANCE

David Dobson
Executive vice president, customer solutions group
CA

End-to-end performance management of services across a network or across multiple networks has always been a challenge for enterprises and service providers alike. The emergence of cloud architectures and virtualization made all that seem like child’s play. However, as is often the case, the lack of support solutions wasn’t about to slow the advance of cloud-based services.

CA, always on the cutting edge of service assurance, decided in June 2010 that it needed to strengthen its management team to build core strengths in IT management and position itself in high-growth markets such as virtualization, cloud computing and software-as-a-service. So, it hired David Dobson.

Dobson came from Pitney Bowes, where he was executive vice president and chief strategy and innovation officer. He was also once the CEO of Corel Corporation and an IBMer for 19 years.

By November 2010 he was describing what he saw as the new normal, a transformative moment for IT that was shifting CIOs’ focus from managing infrastructure, maintenance and operations to optimizing the delivery of business services for innovation and growth. He said it was a new era being driven by cloud computing, virtualization and the consumerization of IT, not to mention the global economic slowdown. However, the slowdown didn’t stop CA from acquiring a company called Watchmouse B.V. eight months later as a way to fulfill Dobson’s mission. Watchmouse was a provider of SaaS-based monitoring for cloud, mobile and traditional Web applications.

This gave CA the ability to not only proactively manage the end-user experience but also to better identify and resolve application performance issues in cloud environments and hold cloud vendors accountable for their service-level agreements.

Dobson said that as companies extend more applications to their customers through the Web and smartphones, the performance of those applications is having a greater impact on revenue, customer loyalty and brand value. As organizations get more comfortable using cloud services, they will also get more comfortable demanding adherence to their SLAs. Dobson has helped put CA in position to respond.

BUSINESS SUPPORT SYSTEM

Robert Törnkvist
System architect
Ericsson

With a patent he was awarded this year for methods in expert charging along with Harri Hakala and Matti Halkosaari, and the market crying out for more flexible charging solutions, Robert Törnkvist’s work for Ericsson’s support solutions unit could have an impact on charging solutions going forward.

Törnkvist joined Ericsson in 1990 and has focused on prepaid and charging technology since ’96. He has made valuable contributions to Ericsson’s patent portfolio in the area of business support systems and has deep knowledge within the Intelligent Networking arena, including service-related protocols. Several of his inventions originate from customer problems that led to solutions subsequently implemented in Ericsson’s charging product portfolio.

This portfolio supports both prepaid and postpaid payment options for all user services. Törnkvist said in an article he wrote that the proper solution must integrate the management of subscribers, orders and products and be able to rate and manage balances in real time. It also must allow operators to adjust their prices, offer promotions and discounts, create bundles with new products, and enhance their service offerings. It may come as a surprise to some, but Ericsson’s real-time charging solutions are the most widely deployed in telecom networks worldwide, catering to more than 700 million subscribers at over 155 operators.

In a Revenue Management report by Analysys Mason at the end of October, the firm ranked Ericsson first in real-time charging/prepaid billing and mediation.