Global Network Planning Strategies

January 2009
OSS/BSS Global Competitive Strategies (OSSCS)
Volume 10, Number 01
Making the Network Work – Global Network
Planning and Engineering Strategies

OSSCS 10-01, January 2009 © Stratecast (a Division of Frost & Sullivan), 2009 Page 2
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Making the Network Work – Global Network Planning and
Engineering Strategies
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ............................................................................................ 5
Introduction ........................................................................................................ 6
The New Role of Network Planning and Engineering...................................... 8
Business Requirements.......................................................................................................10
Technology Requirements .................................................................................................. 11
Vendor Case Studies ..........................................................................................13
Level 3/Telcordia ................................................................................................................13
Cable & Wireless/Oracle.....................................................................................................15
Tier 1 Wireless CSP/Netformx............................................................................................16
Tier 1 Wireless CSP/Amdocs ..............................................................................................18
British Telecom/VPI Systems ............................................................................................20
Swisscom/Aircom ...............................................................................................................21
The Last Word .................................................................................................. 24

List of Figures
Figure 1: Communications Services Growth............................................................................6
Figure 2: Example CSP Network Configuration .....................................................................7
Figure 3: CSP Product Delivery Process Sequence..................................................................8
Figure 4: Telcordia Network Engineer Architecture............................................................. 14
Figure 5: Oracle Network Intelligence Modules ................................................................... 16
Figure 6: Netformx DesignXpert Platform ............................................................................ 17
Figure 7: Amdocs Capacity Planning Solution ...................................................................... 19
Figure 8: VPI System Modules............................................................................................... 21
Figure 9: Aircom Network Engineering Suite .......................................................................22

Executive Summary
Network planning and engineering, like most OSS/BSS functions, is being reinvented to support a
rapidly evolving and changing infrastructure and service environment. While core networks have
largely been converted to run IP/MPLS over fiber, aggregation and access networks are still in
transition. Access networks include radio access networks (RANs) for mobile services as well as
copper, cable, and fiber distribution networks running a variety of protocols and applications.
Designing network infrastructure has always included cable plant, switching/routing, capacity, and
redundancy designs but now engineers must also contend with designing service elements and
access networks that include variable technologies, protocols, and capacities. In addition,
communication service providers (CSPs) that serve business customers must accommodate virtual
local area networks (VLANs), high quality unified communications, secure remote data transfer and
storage, and other complex offerings in addition to traditional virtual private networks (VPNs).
In response, vendors have developed products to design and optimize individual network segments
(e.g. RANs, fiber distribution, IP interconnect) as well as offerings that address both the physical
and logical connectivity required. Some are based on geographical information services (GIS) that
track the exact location of fibers, routers, and network elements; others are integrated with
enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems that track assets and create a bill-of-materials and
purchase orders. However, as networks converge and bandwidth becomes precious, network
planning and engineering can no longer be accomplished on a segment by segment basis. CSPs are
looking for network planning and engineering tools that accommodate multiple network segments
and access, aggregation, and core technologies while maintaining a current view of assets. Beyond
that are the workflow issues of ensuring that field personnel have access to current views of the
network, understand where infrastructure is installed, determine what changes need to be made, and
then accurately track those changes to ensure timely repairs and restoration of service. Integration
with finance, marketing, sales, fulfillment, and assurance is also becoming critical both for data input
to the planning process and access to the subsequent designs.
This report will outline the need for next generation tools to support network planning and
engineering that are inclusive of business and service needs. In addition to profiles of vendor
products, Stratecast has documented implementations of these tools that further highlight the
strategies of CSPs in specific markets.

Introduction1
Growth in the communications services market continues. There are more users, using more
bandwidth, and using more applications than ever before. These seemingly independent axes of
growth converge at the network where delivering the right amount of capacity to multiple access
platforms has become exceedingly complex and expensive. Figure 1 shows the growth axes in the
communications services market.
Figure 1: Communications Services Growth
Source: Stratecast
Traditionally, CSPs have built network infrastructure in overlays. Each service – voice, data, video –
had its own network overlay that was designed, constructed, maintained, and managed separately.
Now, as CSPs are collapsing the overlays to build a single converged network, there are good
reasons to implement a converged design and engineering function, but there are equally as many
obstacles. The sheer volume of the workload requires that engineers be assigned design
responsibility for only a portion of the network. Within each overlay there are access, aggregation,
and core network engineers. More recently, service delivery engineers have been added to the mix.
1 In preparing this report, Stratecast conducted interviews with representatives of the following companies:
• iBasis – Ajay Joseph, Chief Technology Officer
• Global Crossing – David Cooper, Vice President, Network Architecture
• Level 3 – Rob Smallwood, Senior Vice President, IT
• Cable & Wireless – Mike Waller, Principal Capacity and Optimization Consultant
• Swisscom – Claudio Spena, Wireless Access Technologies
Please note that the insights and opinions expressed in this assessment are those of Stratecast and have been developed
through the Stratecast research and analysis process. These expressed insights and opinions do not necessarily reflect the
views of the company executives interviewed.
More users--subscribers and
computers
More time online
More bandwidth per deviceCSP
Network

Figure 2 shows a typical CSP network configuration. Multiple types of access networks are currently
in operation. There are the traditional switched voice/data networks originally built by telephone
and cable CSPs that deliver voice, data, and business bandwidth services. There are also all-IP
access networks that deliver primarily business IP services including IP virtual private networks
(IPVPNs), storage area networks, and Gigabit Ethernet connections between locations. In addition
to traditional data services, there are many other non-IP networks in place, including radio access
networks (RANs) for both mobile voice and data and fiber access networks (e.g. Verizon FIOS and
AT&T U-verse) that deliver high bandwidth services (including video) to nodes, premises, and even
homes. Businesses also purchase fiber connections and in some instances entire wavelengths.
Aggregation networks collect the traffic from the access networks and send it along to the core,
switch/route it locally, or transfer it to an adjacent aggregation network. Between the access and
aggregation networks in some CSP configurations are the service delivery platforms, hosting
environments, and data centers that are used to deliver both unique communication service features
and functions as well as provide managed services to CSP business customers.
Figure 2: Example CSP Network Configuration
Source: Stratecast
The core network consists of the high bandwidth optical segments that haul all the aggregated traffic
from node to node across the country and around the globe using multiple wavelengths, each
capable of carrying up to 40Gbits of traffic (OC768). Today the core network is almost exclusively
composed of optical dense wavelength division multiplexers (DWDM) that connect optical switches
MPLS Enabled
Optical Core
IP Access
Wireless
Access
SDP,
Hosting,
Data Center
TDM/Cable
Access
Regional/Metro
Aggregation
Fiber
Access

and large core routers. Multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) is used to connect the devices inside
and outside the core regardless of the protocol running on the device. That makes it possible to
connect an IP core router to a non-IP voice switch while still maintaining connection quality and
delivery speeds.
The goal for many CSPs is to transition to an all-IP infrastructure from the access network to the
core that runs over the air, fiber, cable, and copper. However, that transition has been underway for
10 years and will likely still be going on 10 years from now. Stratecast has determined that the
United States wireline core network infrastructure is nearly 90% IP, while the aggregation edge
network is less than 50% IP-enabled. The access network, including IPTV, is only 30% converted
to IP. If mobile access networks - which are almost exclusively non-IP today - are included, that
figure drops dramatically. Even 3G networks, which are faster and optimized for data, are not
routed and do not implement IP as an access protocol. For network engineers, that means that
there will continue to be the requirement to design individual network configurations AND to
design ways to integrate those configurations to share new and existing infrastructure and equipment
to reduce costs.
The New Role of Network Planning and Engineering
Network planning and engineering groups are responsible for construction of the network, creation
of capacity, deployment of infrastructure assets, and configuration of both the logical and physical
network as well as the configuration of underlying service elements. Until a basic service
component (e.g. voice) is configured across the access, aggregation, and core transport network
segments, nothing can be delivered to a customer. Once configured, a basic service can be
augmented with features and functions and sold as a product to consumers and businesses. In
general, networks are designed, services activated, and products delivered in a sequential manner. As
shown in Figure 3, a communication network is built up in stages.
Figure 3: CSP Product Delivery Process Sequence
Source: Stratecast
Once all the underlying network, service, and product components are in place – products can be
created and delivered to customers.
Infrastructure
Construction
Capacity
Creation
Service
Creation
Product
Delivery
Product
Lifecycle
Management
Network Engineering and Planning

Specifically;
• Physical infrastructure is designed, built, and connected
• Capacity is created using a variety of protocols and network equipment to connect end
points (homes, businesses, cell sites) together
• Core service components are created (e.g. voice, data, video) that configure the
infrastructure for a specific type of service
• Products are created by augmenting a service component with feature components that are
typically applications hosted on a server that includes storage and administration
• Products are delivered to customers
Each function cannot occur without the previous and each relies on and shares data with the other.
It is that synergy that is responsible for reliably delivering communications products to retail and
enterprise customers.
In the “one connection = one product” world that created the telecommunications industry,
installing the wire delivered the product. Communication network, capacity, and product changes
have made the delivery of communications products infinitely more complex and added many more
steps to the process. The role of network engineering and design has steadily expanded from
construction to include capacity creation and the logical design aspects of the service and product
creation functions.
There are CSPs that are using network planning and engineering tools to support sales, product
lifecycle management, and product definition in addition to network design and architecture. In
next generation network environments, there are rules and thresholds that have to be defined every
step of the way to minimize design and configuration errors. CSPs report definition of 2 million or
more design rules to ensure accuracy and optimization of network, capacity, and service component
designs. That kind of environment requires automation and sophisticated tools to aid network
engineers with their increasingly complex tasks. As network planning and engineering evolves from
an annual, time consuming, and largely manual effort to a monthly and sometimes even more
frequent activity, CSPs are challenged to keep current. Basic requirements, such as a current “as-
built” view of the network, are more difficult to meet when changes and updates to the network,
service, and product infrastructure are recorded manually in multiple inventories including network
inventory, service inventory, product catalog, and asset management systems.
But rules and automation are only effective if the data being used by the process is accurate. Errors
in data, from asset inventory to product catalogs, can propagate across the business and result in
order fallout, configuration changes, configuration errors, delays, and cost increases. Where network
discovery functions can help keep network and service inventory up-to-date, that typically does little
to update asset inventory. For example, adding a blade to a wavelength multiplexer will be
discovered by network and service inventory as new ports and capacity. However, only the asset
inventory reflects the fact that a new blade with a unique serial number has been added to a chassis
in a specific location and that the chassis is now fully populated with no room for expansion. A
network engineer starts with the asset inventory and the physical “as-built” view of the network and
it is absolutely critical that the view is current and accurate. However, network engineers need both

sets of data and would benefit from the automated correlation of ports and capacity to blades,
multiplexers, and locations which are still typically derived manually.
As CSPs roll out fiber in the access network – fiber to the node, fiber to the premises, fiber to the
home (FTTx) – they also need better correlation with the services and products that will be
delivered over that fiber so they can translate the bandwidth delivered to a home into the sizing of
aggregation and core network segments. Likewise, enabling mobile data products requires both
updated RAN and backhaul designs. Integration of the asset, network, service, and even product
inventories help designers see the design requirements from the customer to the core of the network.
Integration with the product management and delivery processes provides important customer,
product, and service requirements for the design of network infrastructure, construction, and
improvement.
Business Requirements
Network planning and engineering is no longer a static process. CSPs are adding more product
offerings with more complex bandwidth and connectivity requirements. Wholesale CSPs and CSPs
that sell to business customers are the first to begin revamping their network planning and
engineering systems. They want to be able to deliver a customer design and proposal in hours, not
weeks. Ideally, the sales force can sit with a customer and create the design as the customer shares
its requirements. Additional automation and data integration add the ability to price the solution
and schedule the delivery – all in real time. But as logical and basic as those capabilities sound, they
are extremely difficult to deliver given today’s systems and processes. Acceleration of time-to-
market and reduction of costs are the primary CSP business requirements for updated network
planning and engineering capabilities. Others include:
• Process acceleration – The design process is currently disjointed with numerous data
sources of questionable accuracy. To accelerate the process requires consistent, up-to-date
data sources as well as process automation, workflow management, and tools that both field
and engineering personnel can use to keep network inventory and design data current and
accurate.
• Error reduction – The lack of automation and inconsistent data results in numerous design
errors, incorrect budget calculations, configuration errors, delays, and increased costs.
Accurate data, strict change management processes, and automated workflow can greatly
reduce the number of design errors that are propagated across the business.
• Survivability – Network reliability is always critical to CSPs and consistent with that is
survivability of the network and the ability to restore service in the event of a regional
disaster or a local fiber cut. Design tools that can overlay network connectivity and areas
that are vulnerable to flooding, for example, can help CSPs determine where alternate routes
or extra capacity are needed to rapidly restore service.
• Field support – The biggest challenge to network engineering groups is the lack of current
data. Field personnel are responsible for recording changes and indicating what actions have
been taken to construct, repair, and activate infrastructure. Typically, those changes have
been recorded on a form that is collected by an administrator and separately entered into the
asset and network inventory systems. Automation that extends to the field helps personnel

find a specific cable, fiber, or network element; see what the current status of that element is;
and update the inventories on-line as changes are made.
• Bid support – CSPs that support business and government customers are required to create
proposals that include network design details, pricing, availability, and service guarantees.
Business customers want this information quickly and often make numerous changes before
the deal is completed. If customer engineers have access to design tools, proposals can be
quickly generated and modified that contain accurate costs, delivery schedules, and service
level agreements.
• Capital efficiency – Network infrastructure is a large capital investment for CSPs and the
ability to improve the utilization of existing infrastructure, find under-utilized assets, improve
planning efficiency, and maximize the investment is essential. New construction is
expensive; however the majority of costs are for right-of-way, digging trenches, and the labor
to install the conduit, fiber, and cables. At these times it is critical to understand future
demands so that all of the elements necessary to support growth are put in place initially
which prevents having to repeat the expense.
Technology Requirements
As the number and variety of network equipment continues to grow, network engineers are faced
with enormous complexity. Interoperability of devices as well as the compatibility of products,
customer devices, and even applications can all impact the design of the access network. Wireless
networks that deliver mobile data service have different characteristics than mobile voice networks.
Cable networks and network elements that deliver Voice over IP (VoIP), in addition to video
channels, require more bandwidth and also more quality management features. Without reliable
integrated data about the network, the devices, the services, and often specific product features and
functions, the potential for errors is unlimited. Recovering stranded assets and reducing errors are
the primary technology requirements for next generation network planning and engineering
capabilities, others include:
• Network optimization – Network engineers are under more pressure than ever before to
optimize existing infrastructure installations, identify stranded assets, and create a just-in-
time capacity delivery capability. The location, configuration, and availability of all network
elements (including cable and fiber) has always been critical to delivering reliable designs, but
engineers now need to understand the placement and utilization of individual products and
services as well.
• Data quality – Data quality is critical to eliminate errors, reduce the time required to design
infrastructure, and to determine the correct resources required to deliver new products and
services. Multiple inventories, catalogs, and data stores make it necessary for engineers to
manually reconcile network, assets, service and even customer data to determine an accurate
“as-built” view of the network before design efforts can even begin.
• Rules engine – Rules must be defined that limit configuration, connectivity, interoperability,
cost, and deployment of assets based on technological and business considerations. Separate
rules exist for construction, logical and physical design, costing, work flow, and
configuration but all are intended to reduce errors and result in a valid and deliverable design.
Automated application of those rules to the end-to-end design process is critical.

• Knowledge base – A knowledge base can include design rules, but is frequently being
extended to include network equipment specifications that can be used to develop a bill of
materials and statement of work for deployment or to include in a proposal. The knowledge
base can also be a repository for configuration details that pertain to how an individual
product is configured and activated across the network. While many CSPs keep product
data separate, it is closely tied to the network design and the configuration of individual
network elements.
• Geographic/location information – At the heart of any physical design is the location of
network elements, nodes, linear assets, poles, towers, servers, power, HVA/C, and field
personnel. Beyond seeing this data on a map, it is important for both field staff and network
engineers to understand the relationships between the multiple layers of routers, switches,
edge devices, cable/fiber, and customers to optimize designs, construction, and work force
deployment. An added benefit of geographical/location-based information is the support
that can be provided to customer care (e.g. customers affected by an outage) and the
community (e.g. call-before-you-dig).
• Change management – The accurate and timely recording of changes is critical to
maintaining a reliable design and ensuring that subsequent designs are valid. A rigorous
change management process and a system that tracks and validates changes are both
necessary to ensuring availability of timely and reliable data. Field personnel that have the
ability to enter changes as they are made, rather than relying on separate data entry at a later
date, can make updated information immediately available to engineers and support
personnel.
CSPs that have implemented network planning and engineering tools have implemented them to
support either product silos or specific network segments (e.g. core, aggregation, or access). There
are often separate tools and data for network asset inventory, network inventory, service
inventory/catalog, and product catalog. While use of these tools in isolation worked in the past, the
need to design a product from end-to-end across multiple network segments is becoming more
common and more difficult. While there are still unique aspects to the design of each network
segment, the burden of integration and compatibility is becoming greater. The access network
design can no longer meet the aggregation network at a switch or router without considering the
services, products, and even customers that will be activated onto it. The hand-off points in the
network have to be carefully engineered to consider quality of service, traffic priorities, diversity, and
destination.
These new network planning and engineering challenges are becoming urgent for wholesale and
business CSPs. Business and wholesale products are typically designed individually each time that a
customer proposal is generated. Those CSPs, more so than retail CSPs, require tools that have a
current view of the network, existing customers, and planned product offerings. Several of the CSPs
interviewed for this research indicated that up to 50% of designs for wholesale or business
customers cannot be delivered as sold. Mistakes or incomplete designs require large amounts of
rework and can result in proposals that are overpriced, unprofitable, or otherwise inaccurate.

Vendor Case Studies
Each vendor profiled by Stratecast in this report has shared a customer deployment case study.
Some are wholesale or business implementations and others are for retail CSPs. The CSPs each
have specific network, capacity, and service creation requirements and each uses its design tools in
specific ways. Some are purely for logical design of services and products that can be activated over
existing infrastructure. Others are used to design the infrastructure itself with separate modules for
the design of the logical/services portion of the network. Of the vendors included in this section,
only Telcordia has built its tools to include a geographical network asset inventory. The other
products rely on the availability and accuracy of physical infrastructure data from existing OSS and
CSP asset inventories.
Level 3/Telcordia
Level 3 Communications is an international provider of fiber-based communications products to
enterprise, content, wholesale and government customers. Level 3 offers a portfolio of metro and
long-haul services over an end-to-end fiber network including transport, data, Internet, content
delivery and voice. As the result of mergers and acquisitions combined with customized OSS/BSS
development early on, Level 3 made a strategic decision to update its OSS/BSS with commercial
off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions. Level 3 was focused on improving its provisioning time, which
drove the need for transparency between its Outside Plant (OSP) and Logical Provisioning System
(LPS). Telcordia’s Integrated Inventory solution, which utilizes Telcordia Network Engineer for the
physical inventory (OSP) and Telcordia Granite Inventory for the logical inventory (LPS), was able
meet Level 3’s critical business requirements. Systems were implemented for order management
and workflow orchestration, however Level 3 had determined that network engineering, planning,
and inventory would be the most complex update effort and left that for last. Definition and
implementation efforts got underway in 2006 to replace existing custom and duplicate inventory and
engineering capabilities with Telcordia Network Engineer and Telcordia Granite Inventory. The
transition to the new design and inventory capability for Level 3 now processes more than two-
thirds of the core network services revenue across the company.
Requirements
Rob Smallwood, senior vice president of Information Technology at Level 3, indicated that the
company wants horizontal supply chain integration such that it can rapidly deliver products to its
business and wholesale customers across networks and geographies. Specifically, Level 3 described
the following requirements:
• Integration between physical and logical network inventory – Present a single view of
assets, locations, capacity, connectivity, and customer configurations. Implement one
inventory across all properties, both legacy and acquired, and all assets from linear to
customer.
• Automatic correlation of underlying physical activity – When a change is made in the
field it is entered directly into the system. No manual recording or entry of changes.
• Seamless integration with provisioning/fulfillment system – The final design layout
record is sufficiently detailed and accurate so neither provisioners nor field personnel spend
time doing manual correlation or activation. Orders, whether initiated by the customer or

network engineers, are automatically activated based on pre-defined business rules and
policies.
Solution
Level 3 selected Telcordia Network Engineer and Granite Inventory to create a single source for
inventory and ensure that inventory data is consistent from the physical implementation through the
logical definition and fulfillment of capacity and products. The strategy is to redefine the Level 3
architecture layer by layer such that the complexity of data and logic is built, quite literally, from the
ground up. Shown in Figure 4, Telcordia Network Engineer is built on the ESRI ArcGIS Server for
location data correlation. There are tools available to network engineers, field personnel, and
downstream operations groups for remote dynamic access to the data. Field personnel can correct
drawings and note changes directly into the system rather than use paper or manual processes. The
Network Engineer database is fully integrated with Telcordia Granite Inventory and fulfillment at
Level 3, although Network Engineer can be integrated with non-Granite Inventory or fulfillment
systems
Figure 4: Telcordia Network Engineer Architecture
Source: Telcordia
Prior to implementation, Level 3 recognized that some of the data being migrated to the new system
would be inaccurate. Level 3 chose to migrate the data as-is and then support audit and clean-up
once it was all in one inventory repository. Level 3 indicated that immediate process improvement
was realized because underlying physical changes to the network are now fully correlated.
Technicians no longer have to manually fill in gaps in the data or sort through changes, resulting in
improved quality and reduced time to provision.
Database
AnalystAnalyst
Server
Explorer
Server
Explorer
Field
Assistant
Field
Assistant
Schematic
Assistant
Schematic
Assistant
Design
Assistant
Design
Assistant
Integration
Assistant
Integration
Assistant
Web
Services
Web
Services
Model
Builder
Model
Builder
ToolboxToolbox
NETWORK
ENGINEER
NETWORK
ENGINEER
• Rasters/Landbase
• Network Inventory
• Work Order
Wizard- and catalog-based
modeling and configuration
View work prints
and redline records
from the field
Automated information
sharing across systems
Read-only view of projects
for efficient decision-analysis
and work approval
Automated
schematics
ESRI®
ArcGIS
Server
ESRI®
ArcGIS
Server
Automated
design
Browser-based
access

Cable & Wireless/Oracle
Cable & Wireless serves 3000 business customers in 152 nations. Mike Waller, Principal Capacity
and Optimization Consultant at Cable & Wireless, indicated that for most Tier 1 CSPs there is a
large and continuous capital investment in core, aggregation, and access network infrastructure.
Expenditures on physical plant and equipment must be continuously optimized and leveraged in
order to remain competitive. As a result of the acquisition of Energis, Cable & Wireless was faced
with systems from multiple OSS/BSS providers including Amdocs CRM, Amdocs (Cramer)
inventory, Granite inventory, Ericsson, and Nortel. Network planners were forced to be reactive
and create capacity quickly to meet utilization thresholds. The result was network inefficiencies and
over-planning of capacity because there was no way to determine what was actually needed and
where. In addition, with 800 network sites and 18,000 km of fiber, there was a need to optimize
routing, equipment placement, and connectivity.
Requirements
• Consolidated and current network information – Network infrastructure data is stored in
numerous locations and updated from many more. A single view across assets enables
multiple users to use the same, consistent, current set of data.
• Threshold and rule management – The ability to define utilization thresholds for capacity
planning and design. Also, the ability to define rules for routing, interconnection, and cost
based on both network inventory and external systems including ERP.
• Scenario and disaster planning – The need to create scenarios for adding new customers
and capacity, or to determine under-utilized routes or potential “hot spots”. The ability to
develop disaster recovery plans to ensure that customers remain connected in the event of
facility, equipment, or other failure.
Solution
Cable & Wireless implemented the Oracle Network Intelligence (ONI) product to federate disparate
network data and keep it current as network changes are made or failures are discovered. In
addition to federated network infrastructure growth/migration planning data, ONI enables
integrated bid support, disaster planning, network optimization, and product planning. Figure 5,
below, shows the modules in Oracle’s Network Intelligence solution. The solution is positioned
between the OSS and BSS layers to federate data both into and out of the modules to ensure
consistency and relevancy.

Figure 5: Oracle Network Intelligence Modules
Source: Oracle
Cable & Wireless has used ONI to identify $1.5 million in redundant or unnecessary circuits and
most recently to optimize and win a competitive customer bid by eliminating $200,000 in overdesign
costs. In daily operational use, Cable & Wireless has determined that its design costs have been
reduced from $500,000 to $150,000 per design because network planners no longer have to perform
manual reconciliation of network and asset data. The system is configured to ensure that the
network runs at 85% utilization based on a six month build window for new capacity. ONI notifies
engineers when additional capacity needs to be designed and enforces design rules to ensure that
capacity is provided correctly.
Tier 1 Wireless CSP/Netformx
This CSP has more than 4000 people in sales and sales support roles for its business and wholesale
customers. To support its sales force the CSP is enabling rapid design of unique customer networks
using a common process that relies on reusable components and accurate infrastructure information.
Inevitably, customers make changes both during and after the sale and there is a need to
accommodate those changes while providing accurate information for pricing and delivery schedules.
Requirements
• Logical design tool – To insulate the sales force from back end systems, a tool is needed
that can be used when meeting with customers to rapidly plan and design a solution using
real-time inputs and “what if?” scenarios.
OSS
Other Inventory
systems & OSS data
UIM (and legacy)
OSS Connection Layer
BSS Connection Layer
BSS Layer
Financials, CRM,BRM and ERP
Service
Demand
Forecasting
and
Network
Planning
Forecast
Manager
Service
Demand
Forecasting
and
Network
Planning
Forecast
Manager
Core
Visualisation, Trending and Utilisations of Network Entities
Optimal
Least Cost
Circuit
Routing
Analysis
Circuit Routing
Manager
Optimal
Least Cost
Circuit
Routing
Analysis
Circuit Routing
Manager
Network
Technology/
Traffic
Migration
Planning
Migration
Manager
Network
Technology/
Traffic
Migration
Planning
Migration
Manager
Network KPI
Portal
with Email
and
Event
notification
Monitor
Manager
Network KPI
Portal
with Email
and
Event
notification
Monitor
Manager
Network
Outage
Service
Assurance
Outage
Manager
Network
Outage
Service
Assurance
Outage
Manager
(Northbound)
(Southbound)

• On-demand network and CPE data – As the design progresses it is critical that solution
engineers understand what network equipment is affected, what additions or changes need
to made, and what CPE is required and/or affected. Having the make, model, revision, and
technical information in addition to the current status and utilization of the equipment saves
time spent searching through catalogs or trading calls with vendors.
• Integration with other organizations and OSS/BSS – As the sales force finalizes the
logical design, the engineers working on the physical design must have access to the logical
design data and customer information. Keeping that data current, incorporating changes,
and notifying other work groups of changes keeps the design and delivery process on
schedule.
Solution
The CSP is working with Netformx to implement a design tool that supports the service/product
design lifecycle. By providing the sales force with views of what is in production on the network, in
addition to what has been sold, the designs are more accurate. There are policies and rules that are
enforced to ensure that the logical design created by sales is not rejected later due to
incompatibilities. The solution also connects customer data with network data and makes it
available to all the users in the process. Maintaining the current as-is view of the network and the
customer, combined with changes, ensures compatibility throughout the design and delivery process.
The CSP chose the SalesXpert and DesignCentral modules that are built upon the DesignXpert
platform as shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6: Netformx DesignXpert Platform
Source: Netformx
Netformx Public
KnowledgeBase™
Optional Custom
KnowledgeBase™
DesignXpert®
DesignCentral™DesignCentral™
MPLSDesigner™MPLSDesigner™
SalesXpert™SalesXpert™
ManagedServicesDesigner™ManagedServicesDesigner™
DesignCentral™DesignCentral™DesignCentral™DesignCentral™
MPLSDesigner™MPLSDesigner™MPLSDesigner™MPLSDesigner™
SalesXpert™SalesXpert™SalesXpert™SalesXpert™
ManagedServicesDesigner™ManagedServicesDesigner™
}}
}}
}}
CornerstoneCornerstone
FoundationFoundation
Building
Blocks
Building
Blocks

The foundation of the Netformx solution is the public KnowledgeBase that includes make, model,
specification details, and configuration rules for nearly 150,000 network and customer elements, and
1.9 million rules regarding how they are interconnected and configured. Among the vendors
represented in the NetformxPublic KnowledgeBase are Cisco, Juniper, Nortel, Avaya, and Alcatel-
Lucent. The Custom KnowledgeBase is configured to include CSP-specific design parameters,
pricing, least cost routing rules, CPE, and other parameters that apply to the design process. The
combination of the two knowledge bases ensures accuracy of the design and subsequent
provisioning order, and can be used to generate work orders that include the bill-of-material and
specific component and configuration details for the affected network elements.
The CSP expects to realize both time savings and improved accuracy in the design process as
optimized using the Netformx solution. By simplifying the process and ensuring consistency of the
data presented to other OSS/BSS, the CSP expects to design more accurate and effective customer
solutions while reducing the level of effort required to deliver them.
Tier 1 Wireless CSP/Amdocs
A Tier 1 wireless CSP in North America had a need to manage migration to a new IP/MPLS
network infrastructure. The existing in-house system provided reporting functions for only legacy
network configurations and, as a result, correlation of utilization data and determination of future
capacity requirements was typically a highly manual process. The need to review multiple reports in
order to find problems frequently resulted in costly “last minute” adjustments, fluctuating workloads
for engineers and technicians, and compromised ability to support the addition of new products.
The cost of enhancing the system to support IP/MPLS was also an issue.
Requirements
• End-to-end visibility – The ability to understand and view utilization and capacity
requirements from multiple systems and data stores. Correlation of utilization, demand, and
existing capacity data from multiple systems to create a consolidated view of both utilization
and the rate at which capacity is being used must be readily available and regularly updated.
• Lower cost of ownership and updates – Last minute changes due to insufficient or
inaccurate data are costly and require that an already extended workforce rapidly adjust,
resulting in additional expense and delay. A system that allows network engineers to plan
ahead for increased capacity utilization and network technology upgrades helps keep costs
under control.
• Automated integration with ordering and supply chain systems – Manual ordering
adds delays and the potential for errors. Whether constructed or leased, the need for new
capacity should be identified and planned for in advance with orders automatically generated,
wherever possible, based on design and schedule information. As capacity is added it must
also be reflected in inventory and asset management systems.
Solution
The CSP chose a solution from Amdocs, deployed using a two-phased approach to deliver first, an
integrated view of the network using Resource Manager, plus integrated capacity reporting using
Planning Engine; and second, adding the advanced capacity forecasting and proactive thresholding

features of Trend Planner, part of the Amdocs Planning product suite, shown in Figure 7, that
includes the following integrated applications:
Figure 7: Amdocs Capacity Planning Solution
Source: Amdocs
• Resource Planner automates the collection of network utilization data by enforcing
capacity thresholds and build templates that manage the capacity delivery lifecycle.
• Site Planner extends the network resource inventory to include asset and facility
infrastructure constraints such as space, power, and cooling.
• Planning Engine creates and maintains a time-lined repository of network capacity
consumption based on consolidated capacity and utilization snapshots determined by
Resource Planner and Site Planner.
• Trend Planner generates capacity usage projections based on the rate of utilization
increase/decrease and dynamic thresholds that predict future network under- or over-
utilization.
• Capacity Planning Packs are network-specific implementations of the toolset using the
Aria Networks AI engine (OEM by Amdocs since 2008) to optimize the network design
based on capacity, capability, and configuration to meet projected demand.
The Amdocs planning solution can be built on a Cramer Resource Manager implementation or
integrated with third party inventories and systems by adding all or some of the individual modules
Strategic Capacity
Management & Planning
Resource Management
Client
Cramer Client
Framework &
SSO
Planning Client
Planning Engine
Trend Planner Planning Packs
Future
Trends
Scenario Planning
Historic
Trends
Resource Manager Site Planner
Space, Power, Cooling
As Built Network Resource Planner
Standard Builds
Routing, Topology &
Analysis Algorithms
e.g. for MPLS
Committed
Plans
Consolidation
Planning Data Model
PM
Systems
Cap. & Util.
Snapshots
Cap. & Util.
Snapshots
Capacity
& Utilization
Snapshots
Cap. & Util.
Snapshots
Cap. & Util.
Snapshots
Capacity
& Utilization
Snapshots
Threshold
Management
Threshold
Breaches
Resource Management
Capacity Management
Resource Planning

described above. It is intended to enable a continuous capacity planning lifecycle and deliver just-in-
time capacity to CSPs and partners.
British Telecom/VPI Systems
As the British Telecom 21st
Century Network (BT 21CN) deployment got underway, the company
realized that the ad-hoc approach to network design, using spreadsheets and many engineering
hours, was insufficient to plan and manage its new infrastructure. One of the biggest issues was that
21CN design requirements are continuously changing and rather than implement an annual or
quarterly design process, BT needed a dynamic continuous design process. Beyond geographical
representation of assets and logical design, BT wanted market demand modeling and forecasting to
be included in the process to produce reliable and profitable designs with predictable costs.
Requirements
• Network design optimization – Support designs that rely on a variety of network
topologies and infrastructure (including legacy) using rules and policies for interconnection,
performance, and utilization. Designs include outside plant, in-building, and device
configuration parameters.
• Economic analysis – Using scenarios and cost-based modeling to calculate network costs
and generate forecasts based on customer predictions, traffic demands, and tariffs. Estimate
revenues and offer alternative designs that optimize costs.
• Reduce operational costs – As the access network is rebuilt to deliver more and complex
products, the design process becomes more difficult and time consuming. Beyond
addressing multiple technology deployments and costs, the system must reduce the time
spent on design by maintaining the data and automating the process.
Solution
BT selected the VPI Systems OnePlan solution to better understand both the technological and
economic variables associated with the physical and logical network designs. The process begins
with trend data and forecast data. While trend data is important, designs must include future aspects
so that the impact on the network of new products can be understood. “What if…” analysis and
disaster scenarios also contribute to design requirements for resiliency and disaster recovery. These
can be done based on geographic location or specific customer needs. Each of the modules shown
in Figure 8, below, includes the ability to perform techno-economic design analysis.

Figure 8: VPI System Modules
Source: VPI Systems
Techno-economic analysis includes project-based financial calculations such as potential revenues as
a result of implementing this design, cost structure to deliver, cash-flows, and net present value. The
scenario analysis presents a full geographic visualization of the business case, the ability to compare
scenarios based on economic factors, and the data is exportable to Excel for further analysis.
The individual planning modules allow segment design engineers to focus on the portion of the
network that is their responsibility, with the benefit of understanding the end-to-end view and rules
that prevent configuration and interconnection problems. The logical design can be optimized to
include quality of service parameters and priorities and those requirements can be extended to the
transport network. Survivability design scenarios can be augmented with meteorological and
disaster propensity data to help engineers understand which infrastructure and locations are most at
risk in the event of simultaneous failures.
Swisscom/Aircom
Managing an increase in the number of mobile subscribers and an increase in mobile data traffic,
Swisscom needed to provide its radio access network (RAN) planners with tools that allowed them
to quickly design new RF infrastructure while optimizing existing RF and backhaul network
investments. Based on traffic and usage data, the planners are being asked to optimize regional
designs that include multiple cell sites. These larger, interconnected designs require more detailed
data input, filtering, and analysis. This in turn required planners to spend more time collecting and
sorting data and resulted in overdesign in some areas and underdesign in others.
Requirements
• RAN design optimization – The RAN is a random utilization access point that is required
to support any number of users and products at any given time and those users may or may
not be customers. RAN designs must take into account multiple utilization scenarios based
on existing traffic, performance, and customer figures as well as predicted figures.
Server
Auto
Discovery
Automator DREDistribution
Legacy
Ethernet
SS7
ATM
Switch
Access TransportIP/MPLS
ServerServer
Auto
Discovery
Automator DREDistribution
Legacy
EthernetEthernet
SS7
ATM
Switch
AccessAccess TransportTransportIP/MPLSIP/MPLS

• Integration with physical and logical network inventory – The RAN design must
interoperate seamlessly with the backhaul, aggregation, and core network designs. In order
to align the network from cell site to the core, the design must be integrated with the
physical and logical network inventory as well as fulfillment and assurance OSS.
• Leverage existing infrastructure – Capital costs and the time required to construct new
cell sites are high. As customers are added and traffic and performance data trends become
more apparent, the ability to adjust and augment existing sites is critical to reducing costs
and making more capacity available quicker.
Solution
Swisscom selected the Asset Multi-Technology Radio Planning and the DataSafe configuration
design management tools from Aircom. The full suite of tools is called Aircom Enterprise, shown
in Figure 9, and provides RAN, backhaul, configuration, assurance, and integration tools. The
flagship tool, Asset, is a pc-based RF planning tool that is built on an Oracle platform to maintain
consistent and current RAN design data that can be shared and/or integrated with external
OSS/BSS. Enhancements to the Asset tool extend the platform to support backhaul and core
network planning, OSS/BSS integration to aggregate data inputs to the planning process, evaluate
performance and usage data against network designs, and expose the results of the planning process
to other CSP business functions.
Figure 9: Aircom Network Engineering Suite
Source: Aircom
The DataSafe product provides the integration point with other inventory systems and data stores.
DataSafe maintains the design and configuration data created and used by Asset and ensures that the
inputs to the design process are automatically aggregated, correlated, and formatted for use by the
system. That relieves the network planners from having to manually collect and correlate design

input data from multiple sources in multiple formats before they can even start planning the
network. Asset, combined with DataSafe, supplies critical automation of cell planning and
frequency planning that enables network engineers to optimize existing infrastructure while
determining where new facilities are needed.
Swisscom reports that existing cell sites have been optimized to handle 8% more traffic and generate
8% more revenue without additional investment in infrastructure. Additional savings have been
realized in the number of planners required to continuously maintain and update RAN designs. The
amount of time to complete new or optimized designs has been reduced and the accuracy of
completed designs has improved.
In this new era of global austerity, CSPs are anxious to leverage existing investments in costly
network infrastructure. The legacy model of continuously adding additional capacity is no longer
valid, since new infrastructure can not be directly correlated with new customers and new revenue as
it was in the past. Mobile CSPs, especially in Europe and Asia/Pacific, are struggling to deliver data
products that generate double, triple and more traffic without spending on extensive construction
projects to increase capacity. The revenue generated by mobile data products is higher than voice
and messaging, however that revenue is insufficient to justify massive capital expenditures. The key
lies in optimizing existing architectures and better utilizing existing infrastructure. Results of these
efforts include increased traffic handling and the identification of new service levels based on
utilization, time-of-day, and quality guarantees.

Nancee Ruzicka
Sr. Research Analyst – OSS/BSS Global Competitive Strategies
Stratecast (a Division of Frost & Sullivan)
nruzicka@stratecast.com
Stratecast
The Last Word
Digging down into the design of the physical and logical network infrastructure is always a challenge.
Each CSP has its own approach and obstacles to “getting it right.” There are numerous tools and a
multitude of data sources that are required to be correlated even before the design process can
begin. When network planning and engineering was an annual event and the goal of network
planning was to expand the capacity of the network, manual efforts worked. However, manual
efforts are no longer sufficient to embrace the kind of dynamic network planning and optimization
that CSPs need to cost-effectively deliver next generation communication services and products.
Network planning and engineering is no longer just about “speeds and feeds”. The plumbing that
makes up today’s CSP networks is intelligent and has to be constructed and configured in such a
manner that it can dynamically adjust to changes in usage, bandwidth requirements, applications, and
customers. As basic offerings become commoditized and bandwidth becomes inexpensive,
construction remains costly. CSPs are looking for ways to optimize existing infrastructure and
design “just-in-time” capacity. That means reducing the time it takes to plan new segments or cell
sites by reducing the time it takes to collect and correlate information and increasing automation.
Critical information includes more metrics from beyond the physical network to include logical
designs, product/service data, and even customer data. Market forecasts are notoriously poor, but if
the network planners can provide marketing with accurate and current design data, the process can
become iterative and more complete. Designs can move from planning to delivery faster, with
fewer errors and rework, if there is a way to manage the data and control the changes.
Like so many other OSS/BSS functions, network planning and engineering can no longer
exist in a vacuum. This is a primary operating process for CSPs that is responsible for
billions in annual capital expenditures and, if optimized, can greatly contribute to the
profitability of new products. There are too many data sources and too much value to be derived
from collecting data from multiple sources and using it to optimize designs. Likewise, making both
the designs and correlated supporting data available to operations functions, such as sales or
provisioning, reduces time and improves accuracy. Procurement and accounting benefit when the
planning solution can deliver a bill-of-materials or is integrated with ERP and asset management
systems.
As the transformation of CSP operations continues, there will be more opportunities to benefit
from the integration and optimization of planning and engineering functions. Over-engineering of
facilities is a solution that has become too expensive and time consuming for CSPs to continue. The
quality of the network must be ensured by careful designs that make the network work faster,
cheaper, and more efficiently.

About Stratecast
Stratecast assists clients in achieving their strategic and growth objectives by providing critical, objective
and accurate strategic insight on the global communications industry. As a division of Frost & Sullivan,
Stratecast’s strategic consulting and analysis services complement Frost & Sullivan's Market Engineering
and Growth Partnership services. Stratecast's product line includes subscription-based recurring analysis
programs focused on Business Communication Services (BCS), Consumer Communication Services (CCS),
Communications Infrastructure and Convergence (CIC), OSS and BSS Global Competitive Strategies
(OSSCS), and our weekly opinion editorial, Stratecast Perspectives and Insight for Executives (SPIE).
Stratecast also produces research modules focused on a single research theme or technology area such as
IMS and Service Delivery Platforms (IMS&SDP), Managed and Professional Services (M&PS), Mobility
and Wireless (M&W), Multi-Channel Video Programming Distribution (MVPD), and Secure Networking
(SN). Custom consulting engagements are available. Contact your Stratecast Account Executive for advice
on the best collection of services for your growth needs.
About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company founded in 1961, partners with clients to create
value through innovative growth strategies. The foundation of this partnership approach is our Growth
Partnership Services platform, whereby we provide industry research, marketing strategies, consulting and
training to our clients to help grow their business. A key benefit that Frost & Sullivan brings to its clients
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